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I hate being gouged, and I hate weasel word explanations even more
I have been a loyal TurboTax customer since sometime in the 90's (I threw away the floppy disks a long time ago, and I don't recall the earliest date, but it's been a long time.) I am angry about the deliberate disabling of critical features in TurboTax Deluxe. No Schedules C, D, or E. In the past, the product was functional, even though the "Premier" version provided more help and guidance. That was extra functionality and if you needed it you could buy it. But in Deluxe you got the forms, the basic help info, the IRS docs, the final review checking, printing, and e-filing. So if you knew what a schedule C or D was (it's not that hard) you could file your taxes.
Now in the name of "consistency" this has been taken away, and if I want to file my taxes using TurboTax I need to buy something almost twice as expensive. I have read the words about how Intuit labored over the vital need to be "consistent" and yes indeed after their stressful labors they did indeed cripple the product and they will try to force people to buy the much more expensive version. Please be honest -- just step up and say you decided to charge a lot more money. Instead the official Intuit response sounds like we're supposed to feel sorry for how difficult it was for them to decide to raise the price.
Raising the price is something I would object to but it's just a price increase. It's the disingenuous explanation that shows such contempt for the intelligence of customers which prompts me to give a one star rating, only because it's not possible to give zero stars.
Intuit used to be known for making products that pleased customers and surprised them -- in a positive way. It's sad to see the company's current attitude.
**UPDATE -- IT'S EVEN WORSE** OK, I'm angry but I need to do a draft of my taxes for planning purposes prior to year end. So I bit my lip and looked at ordering the Premier version. Even in the high-priced Premier version, Schedule C is crippled -- limited to $100 of deductions in a couple of expense categories. I.e. only good for a tiny hobby business, and maybe not even that. So now having forced me to Premier, even that high priced product is useless to me. Intuit, what is wrong with you people?
Everyone who reads this: Maybe you will have to buy the product in order to avoid the trouble of converting to another product. But even if you decide to buy it, please take the time to register a negative review here or at other product review sties. You don't have to write as long a review as I did -- just a couple of sentences and click on 1-star. Even if you have a rational reason for giving in to Intuit's extortion, maybe the negative reviews will cause other customers to choose other products. Maybe someday Intuit will be forced to care about customers.
December 2014 · Software