Tuesday, April 18, 2006

TurboTax Update
For the first installment of my working with TurboTax2005, please see this post.

So I heard back from TT fairly quickly. The first response was the typical, "We have received your support request," email. That pinged back fairly quickly from the web-form I filled out.

The second response was:
Thank you for contacting the Sales & Service Department. . . . I have forwarded your original message to our Technical Support department for assistance. You will receive a response from one of our agents within 8 hours. . . .
Respectfully,

Rajkumar Raju
Intuit Tax Products Customer Service & Support
"Revolutionizing how people manage their financial lives"
Again, boilerplate email, but no problem. I understand that they've got make sure that their incoming emails get appropriately screened. And I did hear from them within 8 hours.

The third email I received was the first one which actually attempted to solve my issue:
Dear Macon Stokes,

Thank you for contacting Intuit Tax Products Customer Service & Support.

I have researched this issue for you and have found some links that shoulsd be useful in resolving this problem. We must also apologize for any inconvenience that this may have caused you .Should yo ahve [sic] other questins or concerns please call tech support at 1-877-266-8909, or use the live chat or phone options of your program.

Title: The Refund or Tax Due Amount Changed After I E-Filed
URL

Title: Amend a State Return
URL

Title: TurboTax Accuracy Guarantee
URL

Title: TurboTax Satisfaction Guarantee
URL

If after using the information above you still need additional help, please use the link below.
I hope you agree that I have helped in resolving your issues today. You may receive a five question survey from us through email in approximately 24 hours asking you about my performance on today's contact, as well as comments you may have in regards to the TurboTax product. So we can continue with our promise to provide our customers with the best support available, please take a few minutes to complete the survey.


turbotax.com/support

Respectfully,

Marc Holdaway

Intuit Tax Products Customer Service & Support
"Revolutionizing how people manage their financial lives"
A nice email, which I even think might have been actually typed out by Marc, given the typo. It looks like these links will be helpful. I begin with hope.

As directed, I walk through the "Amended Return" steps, which have you essentially step through the entire State Return process. At the appropriate step, I indicate which W-2s are related to our time in NC and which W-2 is related to our time in TX. Up & until that step, all of the data that I'd previously entered in the original return has stayed the same. At the W-2 "Wages Allocation" step, all the W-2s are assigned to NC, which was the default the first time, and which I changed the first time. It looks to me like somewhere along the line in filing, TT reset to the W-2 default assignments. So I change the assignments and go on with the rest of the return. Again, except for the W-2 assignments, everything is the same as I'd entered it the first time. This is reassuring to me, as it seems to indicate that there's only one bug here. What's also reassuring is that with the W-2s correctly assigned, I'm back to getting a modest refund from NC

I continue to click through and get to a point where I'm given a chance to print the amended form. I take the opportunity to do so and am rewarded with a completed form D-400X "Amended North Carolina Individual Income Tax Return". The information on it is correct as far as I can see. I'm feeling good about this now.

I continue to click through, getting to the point at which I need to run the error check. TT identifies one error to correct, which is that I'm not eligible for electronic filing. No problem. Except that when I go down into the actual form, the "manual filing" box is checked. I can't figure out what to do to fix the perceived error. So I click "continue" and return to the page which says, "if you fixed errors or changed information, run State Review again." So I do. And get the same error. And I experience the same frustration with not being able to fix it. So I get back to the page where I'm given the "run review" option and skip the review option.

Now I'm congratulated for finishing my State Return. I "continue" and select the "file by mail" option. I am given the option to print my NC return so I may file it by mail. I do so. And . . .

Wait for it . . .

It's wrong.

It no longer reflects the changes I made to the W-2 "Wage Allocation" part of the program. Somewhere along the way TT reverted to it's W-2 default settings.

And I'm sure about this, as I did the above process three (!) times. This is a bit frustrating.

So I go back to my third email from TT to see what I should do next. I look for the link that Marc said I should click if his email didn't help. It turns out to be a "live chat" link for the TT helpdesk. I click on it. And, voila, I'm hooked into their live chat. Except that, like most people who work for a living, you know, the one's who have an income and so are paying income taxes, I work during normal business hours: 8ish to 6ish (Central). I get home, eat dinner help put Aidan to bed, then pull out the computer and TT to work through these issues. It's 8:30 when I start. It's 9:30 by the time I get to needing the helpdesk live chat.

The helpdesk closes at 5pm Pacific. And it's not open during the weekend. I'm unclear how they feel good about appending "help" to this "desk".

Marc has indicated in his email that I'm not to reply to his email. What, exactly, should I do? I'm pondering going back to the webform for another salvo.

But now I have some new questions: Should I send in my D-400X? I think it's correct, but you'll forgive me if I'm having doubts about TT's accuracy. Also, I still have to send in a form to NC to complete my original online submission. You know, the form to which I'm supposed to attach a check with the payment? I consider putting D-400X in with that first form (without a check), but then I notice that the first form has one address you're supposed to send it to if you're sending money, and one address to send it to if NC owes you money. Hmmmm. That's tricky. I think I might just call NC to see what I should do.

Regardless, so far I'm not impressed with TT this year.

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