In response to an earlier post, the QuickTax product manager sent the following email, with permission to post on the blog. Please note that he clarifies that all versions of QuickTax include all the forms to address any tax scenario but the tools and optimizers are specific to the product tiers.
One of the reasons QuickTax has done so well in the Canadian market has been because a lot of customer feedback is incorporated into our products. For several years now, we’ve conducted Follow Me Home programs where we go to customers’ houses and watch them preparing and filing their taxes. (We don’t help or hinder; just observe). We take the positive and negative feedback and much of it does make its way into the products. The RRSP optimizer, for example, came out of one of those ”You know what would be really helpful?” comments.
All this is to say that we pay a lot of attention when people talk about QuickTax.
On the number of returns: Sixty per cent of QuickTax users prepare only one or two returns over $25K net individual income. That means more than half our QuickTax customers will pay less this year than they did last year when they take advantage of the ECO-Choice $10 Cash Back Offer.
Extra returns can be purchased for $10 per QuickTax Basic additional return, or $15 per QuickTax Standard, Platinum, or Business Unincorporated additional return. QuickTax installed software products also include 18 returns for taxpayers with under $25K net individual income. The Canada Revenue Agency has set a 20-return limit for all NETFILE-certified personal tax software, so no NETFILE products offer more than a total of 20 returns, regardless of income.
The majority of our customers choose QuickTax because it makes taxes easy, and gives them access to the support they need to make sure their taxes are done right. In addition to built-in tutorials and videos, QuickTax’s English and French support teams provide free technical support 7-days/week by phone, chat and email during tax season, from January 21 to May 2, 2008.
Lastly, we have extended the QuickTax range this year, from Basic to Business Unincorporated. It’s important to note that all versions of QuickTax come with all of the forms to complete any tax scenario, such as declaring dividend income. However, different products will have different tools and optimizers to meet specific needs based on individual tax situations.
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56 responses so far ↓
1 Steve Heath // Jan 31, 2008 at 12:34 am
It’s nice that they are paying attention. Maybe they will pay attention to the comments that say an 87.5% price hike for those of us who had the utter gall to actually use the 5 returns was completely unjustified and we have left for other companies, resulting in more reasonable prices in future years.
1990ish-2003 : Quicktax user (I forget what it used to be called before Quicktax)
2004-2005 : Taxwiz user
2006 : Quicktax user
2007 : Ufile user
2 CanadainRetiredGuy // Jan 31, 2008 at 1:13 am
In past years I have purchased Quicken Suite which bundled an updated copy of Quicken (XG in recent years) and the current year’s QuickTax Platinum. ( This sold for $99 and from time to time I found it at Costco, Staples or Future Shop for $79 making it a bargain.)
This year I rushed out to buy it as I will be away in April and needed to get taxes started. I was unable to find it — until I discovered QuickTax Suite which bundles QuickTax Platinum with Quicken Home and Business (which seems to have replaced Quicken XG). (While writing this comment I found a blurb in the fine print on the bottom of the box which says “Quicken Home and Business replaces Quicken XG” - but this was hidden in the plastic anti-theft packaging at Staples.)
I was very close to not buying any Quicken products this season as I simply couldn’t get a handle on what was being offered.
I like the product. I feel they are beginning to gouge on pricing. I downloaded a copy of StudioTax (from http://studiotax.com ) and will be running it in parallel this year. It is free which makes the price really right.
3 fox // Jan 31, 2008 at 2:32 am
I am happy to see a QuickTax response to your blog posting CC. Well done.
“He clarifies that all versions of QuickTax include all the forms to address any tax scenario but the tools and optimizers are specific to the product tiers.”
I find the tier up sells very distracting (even upsetting) while I do my taxes. I honestly get very unhappy when I am in the middle of entering investment income only to be notified by a pop-up to upgrade to a business or investment “tiered product” for better results. If all tiered products are equal, I would prefer not to be harassed while using the product tier I bought. I figure, I already made the purchase decision to be in a particular tier.
4 Cookie // Jan 31, 2008 at 5:06 am
“The Canada Revenue Agency has set a 20-return limit for all NETFILE-certified personal tax software, so no NETFILE products offer more than a total of 20 returns, regardless of income.”
That is the most annoying thing: why did not they leave 5 returns for income over 25k as before and only 15 returns for income under 25k? Much less people would be affected…It’s like explaining to stupid people…
5 George // Jan 31, 2008 at 9:31 am
All I can say is that I’ve already mailed my copy of Quicktax back to Intuit for a refund under their “60 day satisfaction guarantee”. I didn’t realize that they dropped the return limit from 5 to 2 until AFTER I bought the product (stupid me for not reading the fine print on the box).
I’m giving StudioTax a shot this year. It’s free, and fully certified by CRA the same as Quicktax. If it works well, I’ll be sending a donation to the StudioTax developers as a thank-you.
6 Canadian Capitalist // Jan 31, 2008 at 10:48 am
Though we do only 2 tax returns, the QuickTax marketing message made it appear that you can’t use Standard for dividend income, business income etc. Tax software is a sticky application, in the sense that people hate to learn a new application for saving a few bucks, but I do know that a lot of people are trying out the competition this year due to confusing marketing message from QuickTax.
7 0xCC // Jan 31, 2008 at 11:07 am
So my question is that is they are being so generous with the $10 refund when you NETFILE, why not drop the price when the return limit dropped from 2 to 5 instead? Or do some combination of price drop and NETFILE rebate. To me it smells like they are counting on the fact that the majority of people won’t fill out the paperwork for the NETFILE rebate. Also, if 60% of their customers only file 1-2 returns why drop the return count in the first place?
I haven’t decided what package I’m going to use this year but for the past 4-5 years I have used QuickTax but I viewed it as a necessary evil (the main feature I was looking for was NETFILE and when I first started doing my own returns with software there were only a few packages that offered NETFILE and QuickTax seemed to have all the features I needed at the time ). Now that Intuit have stepped up the game playing that they’ve been doing for a few years (you can only use one computer, oh, this year you can use two computers but there were some other limitations tied to that and now the drop of the return count) I will probably be looking at other packages like StudioTax with the knowledge that the only really useful feature I’m going to be giving up is the importing of information from previous tax years.
From my standpoint QuickTax is in a very fickle market. The fact that people are spending money on a piece of software that figures out how much money they have to give to the government means that the customers are probably upset before they even install the software. Adding more frustration to the process may not be the best business decision.
8 nobleea // Jan 31, 2008 at 12:41 pm
I think he’s stretching the truth. Sure, all versions of quicktax allow stck capital gains calculations, but if you made more than 10 trades in a year (i think it’s 10?), only the platinum version will work for you.
I switched to UFile this year and it’s a great program. very intuitive interface.
9 Warren // Jan 31, 2008 at 4:07 pm
I also made the switch to UFile this year, after 4 straight years of Quicktax and/or Quicktaxweb. So far, so good.
I don’t know what their sales look like so far, but judging by the folks here they won’t be so good. Look for a possible reversal for next year.
10 Aleks // Jan 31, 2008 at 4:18 pm
I switched to UFile last year because QuickTax was pissing me off with their reduced features and constant upselling. This was before they dropped the return limit to two, so if I hadn’t switched already I would’ve this year.
This year, they mailed me a copy of QuickTax that I can “unlock” online, for the full regular price and with all the limitations. Maybe they thought I only stopped buying it because going to the store is such a hassle. The cost of mailing all those CDs out can’t be trivial, so they must be starting to notice the customer drain. Too bad their response is so idiotic.
11 Chris H // Jan 31, 2008 at 4:26 pm
Aleks, I actually received 2 CDs of Quicktax for some reason. I’m planning on using StudioTax, so it seems they’ve wasted their money.
I’ve only looked at StudioTax quickly, but one thing that did concern me was the lack on help in the product. Unless I’m missing something, there is only the one page of help information. In QuickTax, I could just press F1 on the field I was on to get help information. I guess I can go look it up on the CRA website, but it would be handy for new things that I don’t know all the rules for, like the fitness credit for your kids. Does that have to go on the lowest earning return like childcare expenses? Just something I’ll have to look up elsewhere.
12 Aleks // Jan 31, 2008 at 5:52 pm
I can’t talk about StudioTax, but I found UFile to be every bit as easy to use as QuickTax. The difference in the interface is mitigated by the fact that I only ever use them once a year and forget everything I learn in the interim.
13 barry // Jan 31, 2008 at 8:55 pm
@ Chris H
To find that info… http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/menu-e.html
Quicktax does not write the tax rules, they copy what a civil servant writes and posts on this web site. If you have questions beyond that, call 1-800-959-8281. You might as well use the service.. you pay for it.
Personally, I think Quicktax is back peddling because they caught wind of this site. Initially they chalk the plan up to good marketing.. they make people buy a product they don’t need by suggesting on the box the cheap product they sell (which is not that cheap) cannot do what they need done.
Honest and open they are not.
Now that folks are informed (ie. the net) companies like Intuit are getting what they always deserved.
I will stick with Studiotax.
14 Canadian Capitalist // Jan 31, 2008 at 10:43 pm
Chris: The StudioTax developer mentioned when I talked to him that his aim was to create software that doesn’t need any documentation (apart from referring to the CRA website).
I believe the fitness tax credit can be claimed by either spouse (just like the new child credit), since it is a tax credit, not a tax deduction.
15 MikeH // Jan 31, 2008 at 10:49 pm
Already purchased my copy of UFile. After seven years of declining value with QuickTax, I’ve had enough.
16 Canadian Personal Finance Blog » Blog Archive » Random Thoughts // Feb 1, 2008 at 8:05 am
[...] continue to procrastinate about getting Tax software, but was interested to see that Intuit responded to the Canadian Capitalist’s less than glowing review of their software package. Good for them, read what the common [...]
17 George // Feb 1, 2008 at 9:32 am
As a very general rule, tax credits can be claimed by either spouse, but tax deductions typically have restrictions (i.e. child care expenses are a deduction that can only be claimed by the lower-earning spouse in most circumstances).
Tax credits benefit every taxpayer equally (i.e. a credit of $40 means you pay $40 less tax), whereas deductions have a larger impact on people in higher tax brackets - the higher your marginal tax rate, the more beneficial it is to have deductions.
Note: I am not an accountant. Or a lawyer. This is merely a comment by “some guy” on the Internet. Take it as such.
18 Bob // Feb 1, 2008 at 3:28 pm
Been contanstly receiving Intuit/Quick Tax email ads. Intuit claims that they “listened” to their customers and have thus decided to phase-out the TaxWiz line (which I’ve been using these past 4 or 5 years). Unbelievable what their marketing folks are trying to pas on. This year, I’ll probably try this StudioTax progam everyone’s been talking about.
19 Jeff // Feb 2, 2008 at 1:56 am
Quick Tax seems to make everything conditional. They claim to give you more but are really providing less for the same money. You only get the rebate if you go via EcoChoice, and you get WAY less returns for the same money. While it may be true that 60% of the people file only one or two returns, what about the other 40%? And why do they charge LESS PER EXTRA RETURN for their cheapest product than for the normal products that they try to get you to buy? If they gave you a $10 or $15 up front discount (rather than one you have to apply via their selected way), then had a uniform flat charge per extra return, they might have an argument that they were consumer friendly. As it is, all they are doing is spin-doctoring their price gouging. They have led people along to get them onto their product, and when they get comfortable with it, they then take away features and jump the price. What they have done is effectively RAISED THEIR PRICE by $45 for everybody who files five tax returns above $25,000, rather than their spin-doctored price decrease of $10. BIG DEAL. What a rip-off!!! If I didn’t have it already this year, I would have been STRONGLY TEMPTED to go to their competition, where they seem to understand that consumers should be treated fairly.
20 barry // Feb 2, 2008 at 12:48 pm
@ disneyandbond
I know that I can access my draft return in Studiotax therefore I don’t understand your problems in relation to that. You simply save your file and open it when you wish at a later date which includes the next year (making it so you don’t have to rekey data like name, address, etc).
Although I am not a student, I had a hard time believing Studiotax would not ask for tuition fee carryforward amounts in the wizard. So I gave it a test run.
http://ca.geocities.com/barry123@rogers.com/STtuition.bmp
http://ca.geocities.com/barry123@rogers.com/STtuition2.bmp
See for yourself. It appears you missed the question.
Regards, Barry
21 disneyandbond // Feb 2, 2008 at 1:34 pm
Hi Barry - thanks for your screenshots. I see now where the tuition amount was - the trick is that I have no tuition fees to claim for this year (was working full time), and am only using up carryforward amounts. Thus, while I saw that checkbox on tuition from the wording I assumed it didn’t apply to me as I wasn’t claiming fees and thus I left it unchecked. Semantics, I suppose.
Booted up StudioTax today and the demo return I was working on was listed there with the info in all its entirety. So I don’t know what was going on yesterday but I certainly wasn’t having luck then - I would open/load my .stx save file but it wouldn’t move past the title screen. Today it’s working for me, and my demo return was even listed in the list of “Recent Returns”. Weird.
On second viewing, it looks like StudioTax does allow me to go and edit the tax forms on a line-by-line basis outside of the interview process, so that’s a plus in its favour.
Having been through both the GenuTax and StudioTax interviews, I have to say that for someone that is not a tax professional the GenuTax questions are a bit easier to understand…anyways, the quest goes on.
22 barry // Feb 2, 2008 at 1:56 pm
As a side note… Had you used Studiotax last year, it would have imported your name, etc.. which would include those carried forward amounts. Thetuition box would have been automatically checked with yes and the carryforward amount would have appeared on the 2nd screen.
I agree that the Studiotax interview is short and that the product is best for people who have some idea what they are doing or have more simple situations. Having said that.. it works for everyone.
23 david // Feb 2, 2008 at 11:51 pm
I’ve been using QuickTax for many years, and am tempted to continue because it keeps track of previous years information (capital cost carryover, unclaimed capital losses). However, I would like to paste from a spreadsheet directly into the medical and donations worksheets in the tax application, and I couldn’t do that in past versions of QuickTax. I’d like to know if any other tax software would allow it.
24 Stacie’s World » Blog Archive » Tax Time // Feb 3, 2008 at 5:35 pm
[...] prepare to 2 (for net income over $25,000). WTF? Can you say cash-grab? According to a post on the Canadian Capitalist site, Intuit says that 60% of their customers only file 1 or 2 returns over $25,000 net income. [...]
25 Jerry // Feb 6, 2008 at 11:29 pm
I heard some positive comments about StudioTax so I downloaded it to give it a try. After about 20 min after a few switches between mine and my wife’s T4 it froze and refused to load again. I guess a reboot is required. I have no patience for software that crashes and erases 20 min of my time. UFile it will be for me after 6 years of QuickTax.
26 Gardiner Westbound // Feb 11, 2008 at 10:04 am
Thank you, thank you, thank you. I almost tossed Quicktax Standard, which I have used for ten years for five family returns, into my WalMart basket last weekend. A little voice suggested I wait. I didn’t notice the bloodsuckers reduced the permissible returns to two.
Intuit’s anti-piracy policies are also a colossal pain in the a$$. Last year my computer went down a couple of times. I had to reinstall. You won’t believe the hoops they made me jump through including faxing the sales slip to them.
I downloaded and installed StudioTax. So far it looks fabulous. I will happily send a donation. It’s worth it to keep them going. As a previous Cantax and Wintax user I fear Intuit will buy them out and shut them down like the others.
27 Hans // Feb 13, 2008 at 12:50 am
I had been using QUICKTAX since the early 90’s when it DOS and called CANTAX. The product has been in decline (except for higher pricing and more versions) since it was bought by INTUIT. For me this year reducing the number returns was the last straw. I wrote INTUIT to tell them how I felt. The answer you recieved was almost word for word what I received. It appears to be their standard canned response. Regardless of how many people only do 2 returns and if the max is 20, there was no reason other than a cash grab to reduce the number of returns to 2. In addition, from what I understand to get the $10 refund is not going to be that simple either and will likely take a few extra weeks to get a refund. No doubt INTUIT has done studies on how many people will actually bother to apply for the refund. Anyway I have switched to switched to STUDIOTAX and if that doesnt work I will try UFILE. For me its anything but INTUIT.
28 John Smith // Feb 15, 2008 at 11:55 am
I was undecided between quicktax and ufile and was not aware of the drop in Tax returns allowed to 2 for quicktax. I will purhase Ufile based on the fact that more returns are allowed. Thanks folks for helping me make up my mind.
29 olicro // Feb 15, 2008 at 11:38 pm
I am new to this site and found it by accident. I have become frustrated with Quicktax even though I have used it and its predecessors for many years. For the same reasons as you folks I am going to look elsewhere. I have a specific problem in the I am running mac OS X this year. I gave up on Microsoft.
QuicktaxOnline was the only place I had to go and I am having serious problems with deficiencies in that offering.
If anyone knows of a great piece of tax software that runs well on a mac OS X tell me about it .
30 Brad // Feb 16, 2008 at 9:51 am
UFile’s online (web) version supports the MAC o/s.
31 James // Feb 21, 2008 at 12:46 pm
I have been a QuickTax user since 2003 until now. Intuit just pushed it too far. I have switched and purchased UFile. My wife and I both like it better than QuickTax. Thanks Intuit, if it wasn’t for your little push I wouldn’t have even tried UFile. At least now, I can do (my return, my wife’s return, and my 2 kids’ returns. My brother-in-law, also a former long time QuickTax user has also switched to UFile this year–not too happy over what Intuit pulled. I guess we’re part of the 40% that don’t matter to Intuit.
P.S.: If you decided to purchase UFile, for some reason if you buy it at Futureshop (other stores may sell it for same price I don’t know) it is $10 cheaper than buying it at the UFile website and downloading it.
32 Lee // Feb 23, 2008 at 12:56 pm
Glad I found this site. I’ve been using QuickTax & Quicken for years. Recently having upgraded to Windows Vista I had issues with Quicken which forced me to upgrade Intuit’s software. Unfortunately, the software upgrade didn’t resolve my issues and feedback from Intuit was “I would like to inform you that there is no problem in the investment area of Quicken, you just need to make sure that you don’t have an optical mouse. Use a ball mouse to work in Quicken.” So working with 2007 software requires the use of 15 year old technology?! Sorry, based on all the comments on this site and feedback from Intuit, I’ll be downloading Ufile this year! Intuit has lost touch with consumers.
33 Don // Feb 25, 2008 at 2:32 pm
I have been preparing five family tax returns including some self-employment income on QuickTax Standard for ten years. Intuit’s bonus offers for returning customers are always crap so I buy retail. When I got home I noticed I have to buy the $60 version and three additional returns for $105 to do what I did last year for $40. Wow, a 160-percent price increase! That’s way past greed, it’s freaking vicious. It rocketed back to the store.
I was already supremely PO’d at Intuit for the hoops they made me jump through last year for a new validation when a balky computer consumed my two QuickTax installs. After several days telephoning Intuit on my dime I was at the point of buying a second package when somebody sane relented and gave be a new validation, 48-hours before the filing deadline.
UFile 2007 was on an adjacent display. It imports QuickTax data. $20 for 8-returns. So far it’s looking real good!
34 mom // Feb 28, 2008 at 11:45 pm
I have been a Tax Wiz user since 2000. I do 20-30 returns for family & friends. I was TICKED when Icould not find it this year at my local Zellers and they told me it was on back order , INTUIT did not even notify their retailers that it was discontinued! I am glad I found your site because I was considering QuickTax. I found the box very confusing so I was looking for other options. THANKS now I am going to try UFILE or STUDIOTAX which ever works with Vista.
35 Sue // Mar 3, 2008 at 12:42 pm
I should have read the small print on the box!! It wasn’t until I had prepared the first of three returns for my family and was preparing to file, that I discovered that this year the product allows only 2 returns and that additional ones could be purchased. I’ve been using Quick Tax for years but I’ll never purchase it again.
36 Karen // Mar 7, 2008 at 7:28 pm
Thanks for all the valuable comments. We have been thoroughly frustrated with Intuit Quick Tax this year, and have found it impossible to resolve problems with this company. Has anyone else found it impossible to actually get the $10.oo ECO refund and then find a way to solve it? Would love to hear any feedback. The company has been absolutely useless.
Thank you.
37 Which Tax Software? // Mar 11, 2008 at 8:13 am
[...] you’ll have to buy the expensive versions if you have capital gains, business income etc. but QuickTax assures us that all its products can handle every tax situation but the optimizers are only available in specific [...]
38 Navroz Poonja // Mar 12, 2008 at 1:20 am
I have been using Quicktax since 1996 i still have original floppy disks and you could prepare 18 returns with no annual income cap.From last year i started using Taxfreeway $9.99
and again for 2007
39 Andre Peartree // Mar 15, 2008 at 7:30 am
Quick Tax has this 25 digit installation key /ID that it keeps asking you to read and enter evry time you need to update it. I suppose that is for my “pretection” it’s quite annoying…
40 Norman // Mar 17, 2008 at 2:05 am
Sorry, no better what, I won’t be getting QuickTax this year with QT’s marketing practice. How QT doing their business will be spread around and I will say even those need two returns will move away from QT (I am one of them). The 2006 will be my last QT purchase.
Sometime, price is not everything. The key is how you treat your customers. We are not nuts.
41 Daniel // Mar 24, 2008 at 11:29 pm
For the past few years I have been sharing the costs to purchase QT with my sister/brother inlaw. Together we file 4 tax returns in total. As I never read the 5-2 tax return limit and my in-laws already have netfiled their returns, I need to fork out another $30 for my wife and I.
I’m hoping Intuit reads this. I will NOT be purchasing anymore licences. Instead I will use that $30 and purchase one of your competitors products.
You have lost a longtime customer for nickel and diming hard working Canadians. Lets face it. for all your surveys and “Follow Me Program”, you have lost touch with consumers and your expecting your product will save you. Nonsense. You are not the oil companies with a monopoly on tax programs. There are other products out their just as capable !!!
For my part, I will be spreading the word to family, friends and co-workers alike about what QT has pulled.
I bid you adieu QT. This could be the beginning of the end for your program.
42 RBJ // Apr 3, 2008 at 6:56 am
I, too, found out while submitting the first of four over $25K Netfiles that the max number for the Quictax standard edition this year was dropped from 5 to 2. There on the bottom, in small print at the back of the box was the info about the 5 to 2 reduction. The hoops that it seemed to take on the first submission to get the eco-choice $10 rebate may seem easier on the next few submissions. I contacted the local paper since, in less than 12 hours, I had a response from Canada Revenue Agency regarding my inquiry as to why they had changed their rules and reduced. I then contacted Intuit, in english got their offshore call centre and then in french contacted their onshore call centre. The french language supervisor took all the details as I asked that someone from marketing phone me. He said that they would within 48 hours. I stayed available specifically for that purpose….didn’t happen. Waited another two weeks after filling out the customer satisfaction report available upon completing the return submission online…still no response from Intuit. So the newspaper was the final action..we’ll see where that takes us.
Too bad…I liked the program, have used it over 10 years and wouldn’t have changed if they were:
More Responsive.
More Responsible.
More Realistic.
BYE BYE QUICKTAX!
43 John // Apr 15, 2008 at 1:17 am
Intuit must think we are idiots.
“Over half our Customers will pay (say 25%) less” which even if true (very few will bother with rebate and they know it) will be generously offset with the other 40% paying roughly 100% more.
You can bet their spreadsheet forecasts even incorporate a % of the 40% that will get %#@ off and walk but the plan was still a winner. I wonder if they forecasted customers like myself that will not only discontinue use of Quick Tax Personal but Quick Tax for incorporated business as well.
I hope the genius that sold this to the board is sweating after March results.
44 Dick Moutray // Apr 15, 2008 at 6:45 pm
Changed to UFile this year. Used QuickTax in all prior years.
All data entered. Different interface, but once I got used to it, found it better than QuickTax in some respects.
When all data entered, advised that I cannot Netfile!
Why? Because I had Foreign Business Income and tax paid.
Specifically, I had (as in prior years) some T3 entries in boxes 24 and 33 and some T5 entries in boxes 15 and 16.
Same entries in prior years in QuickTax . . . . no problems.
Talked to CRA. They confirmed that those entries do NOT prevent Netfiling.
Emails with UFile help person but that person just quotes the party line . . . . can’t be done, we are right!
Now back (reluctantly) to QuickTax and, as recommended by CRA, I will be going after UFile for my money back.
Maybe they will fix it for 2008?
45 Gordon // Apr 19, 2008 at 12:27 pm
I have a very basic return and bought the basic version. The box says it doesn’t have ” RRSP optimizing tools” which I incorrectly interpreted as it doesn’t have a fancy tool, but you can still enter RRSP contributions. My frustration is not with the extra cost, but with how difficult I am finding it to upgrade to the standard version. I just want to pay my $20 enter a code and carry on with my return, but the online site is asking for shipping details.
I will consider another product next year.
46 Cherry // Apr 19, 2008 at 7:38 pm
Dick Moutray: I had a similar problem with UFile, and a no-use reply to my e-mail, but am very satisfied with Studio Tax and have now Netfiled with it - see my post under “Review Studio Tax 2007″ on this site.
47 barb // Apr 21, 2008 at 8:34 pm
I too, have been a long time QT user who is disappointed with the change in the number of returns. However, paying for the extra returns is still cheaper than H&R Block. What makes me mad is that IF you need the help line, not only is that on your own dime (can’t understand why there is no 1-800 #) but I can’t understand any of their support staff. I have a problem with the child fitness credit, and 1 hr long distance calls, several emails, uploading the return to a Tier 3 to have the ‘experts’ take a look, it cannot be resolved. I will have to netfile without the deduction and claim it after on a T1-adj. Thank you for this site, I will try this out on Studio tax, and if all goes well, I will be happy to send the price to QT to them instead.
48 Cherry // Apr 23, 2008 at 2:57 pm
Barb: is your problem with the Quick Tax programme or with CRA’s rules? I don’t think the “support” at QT has any idea how the tax return actually works. You may have tried it already, but I find that CRA’s “General Income Tax and Benefit Guide” (available at your friendly neighbourhood post office) is very helpful and does explain things well.
49 Jonathan // Apr 27, 2008 at 4:56 pm
Well I just sat down to start our returns tonight only to find we only have 2 licenses. Too bad I didn’t find this site earlier. I guess I’m one of those lucky 40% that actually use more then 1 or 2 returns. Now I’m expected to pay an additional $30 for 2 more licenses? BS!
I’ve been using this product since 2002 and tomorrow Quick tax is going back and I’ll be looking for something new so thanks for the ideas here everyone I’ll try one of the other programs that have been recommended.
Great marketing strategy Intuit: How to loose “the other” 40% of your customers.
50 barb // Apr 29, 2008 at 11:42 pm
cherry,
after a week’s worth of emails, (as they have no after hrs support for us working folk) they have admitted there is a prob with their software but blame it on CCRA. They showed me how to “fool” the software, and I was finally able to get it off my desk. Now I am presently waiting another 3 days to find out that , thanks for processing my payment, but I can’t unlock a 2006 return. SHEESH!, I think this will be my last yr with QT.
51 Rob // Apr 30, 2008 at 9:48 am
Re: Quicktax & Child Fitness credit…
I too was panicking, as the field is not working as described. Double clicking on the line does not open an entry form as the help says it will.
Sounds like enough people have complained to support about this, as my email was answered over night with the work-around.
If anyone else looking for a solution finds this site (as I did), you need to click on the “Dependant” icon, and enter the information there.
May you all have healthy refunds!
52 Ken // Apr 30, 2008 at 10:07 am
Wish I’d known about the change from 5 to 2… Read the fine print, something they clearly did not want to advertise a lot. They ( QT) lost me as a customer.
53 Deb B. // May 1, 2008 at 9:02 pm
Here’s the email that I sent to Intuit regarding the drop from 5 to 2 income tax returns for 2007. It’s now been 2 days and still no response from Intuit. They advertise a response within 24 hours. Yet another customer service blunder:
To Whom It May Concern:
What were you thinking? Is this another get rich scheme that was designed by one of your recently acquired MBA graduates in your sales and marketing department? I don’t know of any other more sneaky or conniving scheme that I’ve come across in my lifetime.
I’ve been purchasing your Standard version of Quick Tax for over 10 years. I normally prepare 3 income taxes each year, all of which exceed the $25,000 income level. I was stunned and flabbergasted to find out that you have gone from 5 income tax returns to only 2 income tax returns for the 2007 tax year. I was then outraged to find out that you want me to pay an additional $15.00 for each return? That’s absolutely ludicrous and asinine.
Yes, you might have me between a rock and a hard place for paying to complete another 2007 income tax return, but I’ll tell you one thing, don’t ever expect me to purchase your product again. The one thing that really irks me is that you didn’t even bother to properly inform your long-term customers, nor did you even bother to adhere a red label on the front of your cellophane packaging to warn customers that this huge change was taking place. No one reads the small print on the back of the package and you know it. Did you think that we would all just pull out our credit cards and happily order additional income tax returns. Surely this new approach to customer service has gone over like a lead balloon with your customers. You didn’t even bother to reduce the price for the 2007 tax software to compensate for the additional charges you were incurring once the 2 income tax returns were used up. In fact, I paid more for the 2007 software than I did for the 2006 software and now I get 3 less returns. Why didn’t you drop it from 5 to 4 and then keep dropping it by one each subsequent year until you got down to 2. That would have made more sense plus it would have soften the blow.
The only people that I feel sorry for are for your poor customer service staff who have to take all of the irate phone calls from upset customers such as myself. If I were one of them, I would approach management as a group and ask them why you threw us to the dogs plus I would take a serious look at whether I should continue to work for a company that would do this to their employees. You really ought to be ashamed of yourselves.
Please have one of your senior management staff contact me via email or phone. I’m really curious to find out why you implemented this cut-throat sales and marketing strategy. I’m not sure if your company is public, but if it is, you might want to let the shareholders know that dividends will be scarce next year.
Thank you.
54 Neil // May 2, 2008 at 11:30 am
Intuit should be ashamed of themselves with the sneaky and underhanded sales and marketing scheme that they came up with for their 2007 Quick Tax software. I’m guessing that their “Follow Me Home” program will soon apply to their employees. Once Intuit’s 2008 sales are in, there is no doubt that some employees will have to be given severance packages and asked to go home. In my opinion, this marketing ploy rates first in the top ten customer service blunders for 2008! I don’t know of any other company that has ticked off 40% of their customer base. Way to go Intuit! Congratulations to your Sales and Marketing team. They should be commended for their fine work.
55 Kathy // May 2, 2008 at 4:52 pm
This site doesn’t really need another posting, but I just want to let people know of another galling aspect of the “2 returns” debacle if they don’t know about it already.
We tried to purchase two additional returns (our noses are still feeling bruised from holding them so tightly for so long), but the web based option to do this was not working. We finally found a phone number and reached Deepak, a very kind fellow at a call centre in India, who told us there was indeed a problem with the online purchase function.
So, we proceed with our $30 purchase via Deepak, only to find out we needed to record a 20-digit confirmation number. That was too much - we were tired, frustrated, and very, very peeved. We just wanted the whole experience to end, so end it we did. We had Deepak cancel the order, downloaded Taxfreeway (highly recommended by the way - free to try, $10 if you choose to use it to efile), and got on with our lives.
When we checked our credit card activity, we learned that the final cost would have been $50 plus tax. To add insult to injury, a $20 SERVICE CHARGE was tacked on! That’s a 150% increase if I’ve done my math correctly!
I imagine at some point in one of Intuit’s boardrooms, someone very excitedly made the suggestion that a 2-return limit would be good for business, and a bunch of well-groomed heads nodded in agreement. Note to Intuit: time to go back to business school and learn about the importance of taking care of your customers, especially the (previously) loyal ones like us who used your product for many years, and for the last time in 2008.
56 barb // May 5, 2008 at 9:03 pm
Well, after seven days of emails back and forth with the support staff, I am finally able to unlock a 2006 return that I purchased. What a nightmare. I have been a long time user of Quicktax and am not a stranger to CCRA rules etc. I have never had to contact support before, and if I had run into these issues earlier, I would have run for the hills before I ever would have used this product again. While I am disappointed with the decrease in the # of returns, I can live with is, what I can’t live with is talking to India for 7 days to get a product I paid for. We are all customers, I don’t care if we purchased Basic or Platinum, we deserve an answer to our technical problems, not on OUR dime. They advertise the support line is open till 11pm EST, but I refuse to wait on hold for 45 mins. I doubt if I will cool off by next tax season to purchase tQuicktax next year.
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