Your are kidding right. A box the size of a DVD case with all the information you need to know about all versions of the software. FWIW last years box 2013 is almost identical to this years box 2014 when it comes to comparing what is in Basic And Deluxe
Scott, I believe there is a place for you at Intuit.
Fortunately, proving it is not really necessary. In the realm of consumer opinion (and many others as well) "perception is the reality." The perception that Intuit would screw their own grandmother on her death bed is out there and growing. Hope their loan business takes off and that they take a giant hit on the next bust out.
Sure, no one is disputing that.
How clear is clear? When you've been buying a product for years you think every box of crackers is the same. Every quart of oil is still a quart. Every can of coffee is a pound. . . . or looks like it.
If they raised the price a couple of bucks or it there was a sticker that said "Schedule C and D users now need the XXX Edition" there would be very few complaints.
What they did is perfectly legal, but was really poor marketing. Given the bad publicity, people that never used those schedules will be motivated to try a different software this year.
Exactly! The person new to TT should do the research, not the repeated customer.
And they send out enough e-mails that the warning could have easily have mentioned which forms would be dropped from all of less than the top tier version.
Ironically this year was the first that C was left out of all but the top tier version. Last year as well as all years in the past C was available in all versions. Now only in the top version. Along with poor marketing this was really treating repeat customers badly. Like you said if you have been buying "x" for 20 plus years and that suddenly becomes x-y with out bring attention to the change that is simply playing repeat customers as fools.
So bad is the fallout for TT they are offering the top tier version as a free upgrade to everyone that purchased a lower tier.
The WSJ interview with TT's VP indicated that "all" reps at their toll free number are authorized to give that free upgrade. My rep acted interested in helping and made me wait a few minutes while he supposedly checked and then said he could not offer the version with Schedule C for free. I insisted in so many words, he put me on hold again for a few more minutes, and came back to give me the top version for free. Even then after the article in the WSJ they continued to resist. They have authorization but still make you play the waiting game.
I will say that when Bill initially mentioned this I sorta defended TT as their cover has always been deceiving and I thought he was misunderstanding. He was right I was wrong, the foggy requirement chart provided on all of the past years boxes as well as this years still don't tell you what you need to know to buy the correct product. According to the chart for the past 10 or so you have always needed to buy the top tier for business purposes. That has not been true. I have got along just fine with the Basic.
And, I'll add, I'm perfectly willing to spend more $$ than I might on TT (presuming I count nothing for my time) with my local CPA guy. Intuit leaves such a distaste for their manner in doing business it's not just the money, it's the attitude.
That was my initial thought. Maybe a menu change and it is not easy to find or some other simple explanation. IMO, Intuit screwed up.
The other thing that I noticed in this thread was references to Quick Books and how it must be upgraded frequently. We've been using the same accounting program at work since 1998 with one upgrade about 2000.
I don't know about QB but I have been using Quicken for 25+ years.
In the last 5-8 years they started requiring you to upgrade/update every
3-4 years IF you want to use the banking down load features. I use this feature to down load all of my credit card purchases. I then check those downloaded charges against my receipts.I write 3-5 checks per month and probably have 25-40 charges per month. That feature is important to me. I manually enter the checks but not the charges. Anyway Quicken continues to work fine if you don't upgrade, you just don't get to download info from the banks.
Exactly, I don't mind spending the extra money but if I have to I want to have the option of buying another program. That is more difficult if you buy TT Basic and find that you have to upgrade to something more expensive than what a competitor offers.
Someone over at Amazon (not me) wrote, "I'd rather do my taxes with a hammer and chisel than use TT again!" I got a laugh out of that--as that's about where I am with it. I'm pleased to help point out the need for weasel-awareness, as necessary!
But to bring this all in to perspective. I appreciate the fact that every one has his principals. But there comes a point that holding a grudge does not do you any good and that company which you may hold a grudge against is pretty much unaware of your grudge and looses less sleep than you do. Basically it does you more harm, " in some cases" to keep holding that grudge. You have to pick your battles.
My son is a CPA and agrees with all of us about TT. But he said unless H&R Block has made some pretty long strides to improve their product over what it was 5 years ago TT is still the best choice for ease of use.
Unless TT goes back to they way they were last year I will most likely change but only if I can save money by making that change.
I have "delegated" one of my battles. Help spread the word! ; )
There you go! I'm just saying, TT may still be the best choice next year even if they choose to not go back to the old way. Some will refuse to consider TT even if it may very well be in their best interests to do so.
I'm right there with you on this but I will not let my feeling this year cloud my judgement next year. I'll look at all equally.
BTY, Did you get the Deluxe H&R Block version? Did it include schedule C? According to their web site you should go Premium for that.
Yes. It includes state. I paid $26.99. It looks like you already have the answer regarding Schedule C. I have not installed the software yet.
YES, I'm one of those now!!! : )
There are some "pessimists" who think TT may make their storage formats somehow proprietary so that they will not be importable by other software makers next year. This rat is jumping ship this year! : ) YMMV!
If I switched I would not want to use something generated by TT to import into a competitors program anyway. If something went wrong there would be a lot of finger pointing. I would opt for manual entry, which is what I do except for account numbers for Identification only and personal data.
Same here, started with the DOS version. I did upgrade to the 2012 when I got a new computer but otherwise, it worked for years. I don't use the online so it is not a big deal for me.
What I do like is having my checkbook balance every month in just a couple of minutes and the ability to go back and get a summary of utilities, or what you paid to an appliance dealer three years ago. I probably use 20% of the features, but I still think it is worth it.
At one time Quicken was free and then IIRC $19.99, that was in the 80's. I was using a DOS program, Dollars & Sense, that was bullet proof. It was straight forward with no "fluff". If you did something wrong you got an immediate warning and could go no further until you corrected the issue.
In the early years Quicken would let you assign a payment to an category that did not exist. Reports only showed existing legit categories. So while you knew that you spent "x" dollars, the report would show money spent only in those categories. It was a small wonder why that program was free in the early days.
I finally switched totally to Quicken in 1992 and boy was it loaded with Fluff. Did we really need to have the ability to change back ground colors, register colors, etc?
The biggest issue I have with Quicken now is that when you upgrade every
3~4 years, only so that you can continue to download banking transactions, you have to relearn the program. I have sent numerous requests to let users simply pay an upgrade fee with out having to load a new program that has changed just for the sake of mixing thing up.
I understand better now why you want to support this company that is so eager to please its customers. ; ) The only thing you have to vote with is your dollars.
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