Comments on: QuickTax Disappoints http://www.canadiancapitalist.com/quicktax-disappoints/ Helping you invest and prosper Sat, 11 Feb 2012 19:27:54 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Jean-Luc http://www.canadiancapitalist.com/quicktax-disappoints/#comment-531161 Jean-Luc Sat, 14 May 2011 05:03:33 +0000 http://www.canadiancapitalist.com/2007/12/18/quicktax-disappoints#comment-531161 Did 3 yrs of Quick Tax Unincorporated/Turbotax, or whatever the minimum version that supports sole proprietorships is called. Up to 2009. In those 3 yrs, I saw the same exact clunky interface with itty bitty dialog boxes, including a T5008 entry that leads you to enter multiple transactions before it owns up that 28 or so transactions are the max. Being primarily on a Mac now, a good part of it for security reasons, I was not happy to see that my choices were limited and I was even less happy to be filing online. But I wanted to leave Quicktax. UFile Online imported my Quicktax 2009, which Quicktax 2009 would not even open anymore on a different computer (2 installs is the max). And compared to Quicktax, UFile was 10x cheaper (8$ instead of 80$, for my requirements). A joy to use. Nice data entry forms. Clear explanations. No kludgy "help on forum with registration hoops to jump through". I could enter all my T5008 except that I just summed them up. By choice, not because of some dumb software limitation. In the days of Sony and other data leaks, having my tax data online is not my preferred choice, but I'll live with it. Probably safer than locally on a Windows computer anyway. Truly, and I am a computer professional, Quicktax is squeezing the customers, hard. High prices, crappy interface, very limited improvements between releases, crappy help and file viewing policies that make it difficult to view your own past filings. I would have paid the $80, still cheaper than an accountant, but I can't stand the product laziness and general lack of polish that Quicktax provides. Did 3 yrs of Quick Tax Unincorporated/Turbotax, or whatever the minimum version that supports sole proprietorships is called. Up to 2009. In those 3 yrs, I saw the same exact clunky interface with itty bitty dialog boxes, including a T5008 entry that leads you to enter multiple transactions before it owns up that 28 or so transactions are the max.

Being primarily on a Mac now, a good part of it for security reasons, I was not happy to see that my choices were limited and I was even less happy to be filing online. But I wanted to leave Quicktax.

UFile Online imported my Quicktax 2009, which Quicktax 2009 would not even open anymore on a different computer (2 installs is the max).

And compared to Quicktax, UFile was 10x cheaper (8$ instead of 80$, for my requirements). A joy to use. Nice data entry forms. Clear explanations. No kludgy “help on forum with registration hoops to jump through”. I could enter all my T5008 except that I just summed them up. By choice, not because of some dumb software limitation. In the days of Sony and other data leaks, having my tax data online is not my preferred choice, but I’ll live with it. Probably safer than locally on a Windows computer anyway.

Truly, and I am a computer professional, Quicktax is squeezing the customers, hard. High prices, crappy interface, very limited improvements between releases, crappy help and file viewing policies that make it difficult to view your own past filings. I would have paid the $80, still cheaper than an accountant, but I can’t stand the product laziness and general lack of polish that Quicktax provides.

]]> By: Brendan in Ontario http://www.canadiancapitalist.com/quicktax-disappoints/#comment-215582 Brendan in Ontario Sat, 10 Apr 2010 22:14:26 +0000 http://www.canadiancapitalist.com/2007/12/18/quicktax-disappoints#comment-215582 If you have tax returns which are in anyway complicated, I strongly recommend that you do not use Quicktax Platinum Online. This product is extremely inferior to the CD version. In particular, if you regularly trade stock, this is product will only waste your time and raise blood pressure. Here are some examples of the limitations. 1) Interaction is solely by interview style. It is not possible to access the CRA forms. 2) The index is very slim and the online chat support is worse. I called the call center and was given incorrect information twice. 3) It is impossible to upload your data from 'Stock Trade Tracker' to Quicktax online. 4) Stock trades are limited to about 20 transactions per person. 5) Foreign Trades require each and every part of the transaction to be converted to Canadian Dollars before it can be entered. 6) There is no information on reducing expenses related to foreign holding tax. 7) In joint accounts it is impossible to switch trades between users to see who will generate the greatest tax reduction. Be prepared to do this manually! I have spent at least 20 hours trying to get this software to meet my needs. The Quicktax staff were very apologetic when I called them. However, this did not translate into a reduced price for the CD. Intuit do not respect their customers. I strongly recommend that you shop around for a similar product, on CD, from anyone except Intuit. This company has been complacent and arrogant. Maybe, if their sales drop enough they may start to listen to their customers. Brendan If you have tax returns which are in anyway complicated, I strongly recommend that you do not use Quicktax Platinum Online. This product is extremely inferior to the CD version. In particular, if you regularly trade stock, this is product will only waste your time and raise blood pressure.

Here are some examples of the limitations.
1) Interaction is solely by interview style. It is not possible to access the CRA forms.
2) The index is very slim and the online chat support is worse. I called the call center and was given incorrect information twice.
3) It is impossible to upload your data from ‘Stock Trade Tracker’ to Quicktax online.
4) Stock trades are limited to about 20 transactions per person.
5) Foreign Trades require each and every part of the transaction to be converted to Canadian Dollars before it can be entered.
6) There is no information on reducing expenses related to foreign holding tax.
7) In joint accounts it is impossible to switch trades between users to see who will generate the greatest tax reduction. Be prepared to do this manually!

I have spent at least 20 hours trying to get this software to meet my needs. The Quicktax staff were very apologetic when I called them. However, this did not translate into a reduced price for the CD. Intuit do not respect their customers.

I strongly recommend that you shop around for a similar product, on CD, from anyone except Intuit. This company has been complacent and arrogant. Maybe, if their sales drop enough they may start to listen to their customers.

Brendan

]]> By: QuickTax responds to complaints http://www.canadiancapitalist.com/quicktax-disappoints/#comment-176455 QuickTax responds to complaints Mon, 29 Dec 2008 05:16:40 +0000 http://www.canadiancapitalist.com/2007/12/18/quicktax-disappoints#comment-176455 [...] year, QuickTax frustrated a lot of loyal customers by drastically reducing the number of returns that can be filed with the Standard version. This [...] [...] year, QuickTax frustrated a lot of loyal customers by drastically reducing the number of returns that can be filed with the Standard version. This [...]

]]> By: Sherry Salim http://www.canadiancapitalist.com/quicktax-disappoints/#comment-128432 Sherry Salim Thu, 17 Apr 2008 17:14:13 +0000 http://www.canadiancapitalist.com/2007/12/18/quicktax-disappoints#comment-128432 I will never purchase QuickTax again. This is my 7th year (or s0) using the software and have nothing but issues with it. Because of the new limit of returns per disc, I purchased a 2nd disc because I was having purchasing additional returns through their software. I unistalled the first disc, and then installed the 2nd. When I tried submitting returns for the 2nd disc, it said I already reached my limit. Customer Service has been a nightmare. Their hours are 9am-6pm, which is when I am not home. Their customer service agents are in India. Nice. After 4 calls to customer service and trying their 'solution' that didn't work, I was told to send an email with a screen shot to prove their glitch. Even the EMAIL support is dealt with from India. And because English is not their first language, they did not understand the clarity at which I addressed my issue. Instead they gave responses that did not have anything to do with my query. The only way to solve my problem was to call the 1-888# again and select French. I don't speak French. When the agent finally came to the phone (after 20 minutes on hold), I asked if she spoke English. The first thing she said is that she is not allowed to handle my claim in English and told me to call another #. I cut her off and asked her to listen to my problem and that India wasn't helpful. After an additional 45 minutes, my issue was solved. So I hope. I'll find out tonight when I try again from home. I will never purchase QuickTax again. Why they are using India as customer service is beyond me. I will never purchase QuickTax again. This is my 7th year (or s0) using the software and have nothing but issues with it. Because of the new limit of returns per disc, I purchased a 2nd disc because I was having purchasing additional returns through their software. I unistalled the first disc, and then installed the 2nd. When I tried submitting returns for the 2nd disc, it said I already reached my limit. Customer Service has been a nightmare. Their hours are 9am-6pm, which is when I am not home. Their customer service agents are in India. Nice. After 4 calls to customer service and trying their ‘solution’ that didn’t work, I was told to send an email with a screen shot to prove their glitch. Even the EMAIL support is dealt with from India. And because English is not their first language, they did not understand the clarity at which I addressed my issue. Instead they gave responses that did not have anything to do with my query. The only way to solve my problem was to call the 1-888# again and select French. I don’t speak French. When the agent finally came to the phone (after 20 minutes on hold), I asked if she spoke English. The first thing she said is that she is not allowed to handle my claim in English and told me to call another #. I cut her off and asked her to listen to my problem and that India wasn’t helpful. After an additional 45 minutes, my issue was solved. So I hope. I’ll find out tonight when I try again from home.
I will never purchase QuickTax again. Why they are using India as customer service is beyond me.

]]> By: Kris http://www.canadiancapitalist.com/quicktax-disappoints/#comment-127754 Kris Tue, 15 Apr 2008 02:18:50 +0000 http://www.canadiancapitalist.com/2007/12/18/quicktax-disappoints#comment-127754 Let me foremost state I am totally disgusted with the marketing practices of Quicktax and this will be my last year using the program. I asked my wife to purchase the program with the expectation the Standard program is the same as the past 4 years. Here is my email to Quicktax followed by their corporate response which in effect told me to go fly a kite. I will never use Quicktax again, even if I have to go back to pencil and the classic tax return. To whom it may concern, Please forward this email directly to your VP Marketing. Let me first start off by expressing how disappointed I am with your changes to the 2007 Quick Tax Standard Program. My wife purchased the Quicktax Standard program to complete our family's tax returns for the fourth straight year. I now find out I cannot do so, as you have limited the returns to two returns, down from 5 the previous year. I now am told to go online and buy addition copies? As a family unit, this disgusts me I cannot complete at least four returns above $25,000 This suggests nothing more than corporate greed on your part. Quick tax has been around long enough your development costs are long paid for. Please explain to me why the changes? Need I remind your company that paper is still an acceptable form to file income taxes. At $20 per hour on the value of my leisure time and $40 dollars for this program, I think the breakeven is tilting back to paper. It truly saddens me that a Canadian owned company could not have clearly labelled the box to highlight such an important change. I am sending this email to you to actually provide you with real customer feedback. I would highly recommend you take this advice into account. Going forward, I will have no choice but to find an alternative provider or go back to manual submission. Regards, Kris The Corporate Response (Should have expected it.....market dominance breeds arrogance...) Worst part is they want me to provide them feedback in a quick customer survey!!! Hello Kris, Thank you for contacting Intuit Canada. I am sorry to hear that your experience with your Intuit software has not been positive. We do appreciate that you took the time to send us your feedback, positive or negative, as it helps us to identify what aspects of our products or policies need to be improved. If you have any further questions, comments or concerns related to any of our products or services, please do not hesitate to send them to this address: feedback@intuit.com. Although some emails do not receive answers, all emails that we receive are reviewed and valuable suggestions and comments will be passed along to management and/ or product development teams. Hope this will resolve your issue. If you have any other questions or concerns in the future, please do not hesitate to contact us. If you have a moment you can tell my manager how my service was by filling out our survey at the following link: http://intuit.checkbox.com/Survey.aspx?s=61f4a57dbf77423d93bf9e845f109fae&ForceNew=true&service=&channel=email Thank you and have a great day. Regards, Neeraj Batra Intuit Canada P.S. Tell us about your e-support experience by answering this short survey! Click here Let me foremost state I am totally disgusted with the marketing practices of Quicktax and this will be my last year using the program. I asked my wife to purchase the program with the expectation the Standard program is the same as the past 4 years.

Here is my email to Quicktax followed by their corporate response which in effect told me to go fly a kite. I will never use Quicktax again, even if I have to go back to pencil and the classic tax return.

To whom it may concern,

Please forward this email directly to your VP
Marketing.

Let me first start off by expressing how disappointed
I am with your changes to the 2007 Quick Tax Standard
Program.
My wife purchased the Quicktax Standard program to
complete our family’s tax returns for the fourth
straight year.
I now find out I cannot do so, as you have limited the
returns to two returns, down from 5 the previous year.
I now am told to go online and buy addition copies?
As a family unit, this disgusts me I cannot complete
at least four returns above $25,000 This suggests
nothing more than corporate greed on your part.
Quick tax has been around long enough your development
costs are long paid for. Please explain to me why the
changes?
Need I remind your company that paper is still an
acceptable form to file income taxes. At $20 per hour
on the value of my leisure time and $40 dollars for
this program, I think the breakeven is tilting back to
paper.
It truly saddens me that a Canadian owned company
could not have clearly labelled the box to highlight
such an important change.
I am sending this email to you to actually provide you
with real customer feedback.
I would highly recommend you take this advice into
account.
Going forward, I will have no choice but to find an
alternative provider or go back to manual submission.
Regards,
Kris

The Corporate Response (Should have expected it…..market dominance breeds arrogance…) Worst part is they want me to provide them feedback in a quick customer survey!!!

Hello Kris,

Thank you for contacting Intuit Canada.

I am sorry to hear that your experience with your Intuit software has not been positive. We do appreciate that you took the time to send us your feedback, positive or negative, as it helps us to identify what aspects of our products or policies need to be improved.

If you have any further questions, comments or concerns related to any of our products or services, please do not hesitate to send them to this address: feedback@intuit.com.

Although some emails do not receive answers, all emails that we receive are reviewed and valuable suggestions and comments will be passed along to management and/ or product development teams.

Hope this will resolve your issue.

If you have any other questions or concerns in the future, please do not hesitate to contact us.

If you have a moment you can tell my manager how my service was by filling out our survey at the following link:

http://intuit.checkbox.com/Survey.aspx?s=61f4a57dbf77423d93bf9e845f109fae&ForceNew=true&service=&channel=email

Thank you and have a great day.

Regards,
Neeraj Batra
Intuit Canada

P.S.

Tell us about your e-support experience by answering this short survey! Click here

]]> By: Notes on Filing 2007 Taxes http://www.canadiancapitalist.com/quicktax-disappoints/#comment-126737 Notes on Filing 2007 Taxes Thu, 10 Apr 2008 02:15:23 +0000 http://www.canadiancapitalist.com/2007/12/18/quicktax-disappoints#comment-126737 [...] our tax returns and filed it through NETFILE over the weekend. As I noted before, I finally bid adieu to QuickTax and UFile didn’t cut it for me either. I gave my copy of UFile to a friend and used StudioTax [...] [...] our tax returns and filed it through NETFILE over the weekend. As I noted before, I finally bid adieu to QuickTax and UFile didn’t cut it for me either. I gave my copy of UFile to a friend and used StudioTax [...]

]]> By: Cherry http://www.canadiancapitalist.com/quicktax-disappoints/#comment-126513 Cherry Wed, 09 Apr 2008 01:18:17 +0000 http://www.canadiancapitalist.com/2007/12/18/quicktax-disappoints#comment-126513 Michael (132)- even the Basic QuickTax DOES have all the forms - I found this out from another post and got the Basic just to see. Don't be misled by the advertising! The Basic will do everything you want - including professional self-employment - except bring forward last year's data, and of course it hasn't got all the bells and whistles - which you can do without, anyway. If you've got more than 2 returns to do, you can work them all out on Quicktax, Netfile the two most complicated, and hand-copy the easier ones for paper returns. And Mike (133) - I seem to remember installing Quicktax on 2 computers one year, and somehow it managed to count returns done on both. I'm using Studiotax this year - for anything a bit complicated, such as T5013s, you have to be a bit inventive, but it works fine - it's similar to Quicktax in that you can enter data directly on to the forms, which I think is the best method. You get a very quick reply if you e-mail the team through their website, and it's FREE to download. Michael (132)- even the Basic QuickTax DOES have all the forms – I found this out from another post and got the Basic just to see. Don’t be misled by the advertising! The Basic will do everything you want – including professional self-employment – except bring forward last year’s data, and of course it hasn’t got all the bells and whistles – which you can do without, anyway. If you’ve got more than 2 returns to do, you can work them all out on Quicktax, Netfile the two most complicated, and hand-copy the easier ones for paper returns.
And Mike (133) – I seem to remember installing Quicktax on 2 computers one year, and somehow it managed to count returns done on both.
I’m using Studiotax this year – for anything a bit complicated, such as T5013s, you have to be a bit inventive, but it works fine – it’s similar to Quicktax in that you can enter data directly on to the forms, which I think is the best method. You get a very quick reply if you e-mail the team through their website, and it’s FREE to download.

]]> By: Brian http://www.canadiancapitalist.com/quicktax-disappoints/#comment-126511 Brian Wed, 09 Apr 2008 00:57:53 +0000 http://www.canadiancapitalist.com/2007/12/18/quicktax-disappoints#comment-126511 I already sent Intuit an email in disgust after they downsized from 5 over 25,000 to 2. I usually do my Fathers and my wife and I together. They allowed me to do my fathers and Efile it, and then it let me do my wifes and I and Efile hers. It would not even let me print mine unless I ponied up another 15 dollars. I simply copied the reults onto a manual form and submitted it with my cheque. The customer service rep sent me a form letter, that they obviously had to put together because people are so pissed. They said their market research showed that most people who use it have taxible incomes of 25,000 or less. Nice try. I already sent Intuit an email in disgust after they downsized from 5 over 25,000 to 2. I usually do my Fathers and my wife and I together. They allowed me to do my fathers and Efile it, and then it let me do my wifes and I and Efile hers. It would not even let me print mine unless I ponied up another 15 dollars. I simply copied the reults onto a manual form and submitted it with my cheque. The customer service rep sent me a form letter, that they obviously had to put together because people are so pissed. They said their market research showed that most people who use it have taxible incomes of 25,000 or less. Nice try.

]]> By: Canadian Capitalist http://www.canadiancapitalist.com/quicktax-disappoints/#comment-126490 Canadian Capitalist Tue, 08 Apr 2008 21:32:41 +0000 http://www.canadiancapitalist.com/2007/12/18/quicktax-disappoints#comment-126490 When I tried UFile for Windows, it imported data from the previous year's QuickTax. When I tried UFile for Windows, it imported data from the previous year’s QuickTax.

]]> By: Tax Alternatives http://www.canadiancapitalist.com/quicktax-disappoints/#comment-126487 Tax Alternatives Tue, 08 Apr 2008 21:13:57 +0000 http://www.canadiancapitalist.com/2007/12/18/quicktax-disappoints#comment-126487 Update: Here are the ones I have found out so far: Here is the list of desktop software for this year: eTaxCanada (Windows) FutureTax (Windows) GenuTax (Windows) - Interview only - No import myTaxExpress (Windows) StudioTax 2007 (Windows) - Direct entry or interview - No import TaxFreeway (Macintosh) - No import TaxFreeway (Windows) - No import TaxTron (Macintosh) TaxTron (Windows) UDoTaxes (Windows) UFile (Windows) - Interview only - Yes Import Here is the list of Web-based software for this year: AceTax Online CuteTax Online EachTax.com eTaxCanada Online FileTaxOnline.ca MBOTax H & R Block Online Tax UFile.ca (BEWARE: using web-based tool does not allow importing into desktop based version ) WebTax4U.ca Update: Here are the ones I have found out so far:

Here is the list of desktop software for this year:
eTaxCanada (Windows)
FutureTax (Windows)
GenuTax (Windows) – Interview only – No import
myTaxExpress (Windows)
StudioTax 2007 (Windows) – Direct entry or interview – No import
TaxFreeway (Macintosh) – No import
TaxFreeway (Windows) – No import
TaxTron (Macintosh)
TaxTron (Windows)
UDoTaxes (Windows)
UFile (Windows) – Interview only – Yes Import

Here is the list of Web-based software for this year:
AceTax Online
CuteTax Online
EachTax.com
eTaxCanada Online
FileTaxOnline.ca
MBOTax
H & R Block Online Tax
UFile.ca (BEWARE: using web-based tool does not allow importing into desktop based version )
WebTax4U.ca

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