I’m disgusted with Quicktax, not only with the software but the “assistance” as well. There are clearly many issues (just look at all the posted questions) but the one that I’m having problems with is for Child Tax deductions. I am the higher earner BUT a student as well (MBA). According to CRA, I can claim the child costs but the software is not allowing it. It seems that it is missing one section on their breakdown where it should ask if the higher earner is also the one going to school (the software asks if the lower income earner is going to school…which is redundant..as the lower income, they can claim the amount regardless). I have spoken to countless rep’s on the phone…and clearly they don’t understand basic Canadian tax laws or common sense. One glitch in the system is where one must input the name of the Person or Company for the daycare provider. If it is a person, you must put in a sin number but even if you put in the Company’s name, I was getting an error. The solution suggested by the Quicktax people was first to put in MY sin, which of course didn’t work, then they suggested I put in my two year old child’s. To be nice, I allowed the person to keep babbling while I played with the company name, as I suspected that it was too long so I shortened it and it worked. I tried to explain this to the person but they were arguing with me that it wasn’t right and that I should keep trying to put in my child’s SIN..EVEN though the system took it. What a waste of time talking to these dummies. Another rep asked me to ask CRA about THEIR software, I’m not kidding. If these people are making more then minimum wage, Quicktax is wasting their money. I’m using something else next year, maybe go back to the good old, pen and paper style. I called CRA and explained the situation and they suggested that I do my best and be prepared to answer any questions……….no problem.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.