The short of it is that I did not get personal, excellent support from Intuit when I had a problem, and so I am now a satisfied TaxACT Online customer (and I saved money by switching!)
Only as I start to research for this post did I rediscover my own writing “Lloyd, wanna quit your day job?â€. I fondly remember Paul Rosenfeld’s excellent presentation about his QuickBooks Online team at Intuit blogging; it is ironic that as of March 28, 2007 “This QuickBooks Online Edition blog is no longer active.” and the content has been removed.
Last year , I used TurboTax to file my trivial 2005 US taxes before I dealt with the challenging Canadian taxing situation as a foreign citizen. I went to do the same for my 2006 US taxes as I was living in California for the first two-thirds of the year working for Flock.
Now, I don’t have a US address, so I get to the very end of the process and discover that the way the fields work I can’t pay the $49.95 for the service, so I can’t get print or file my return. (At the time I also discover I haven’t used any of the deluxe features and I can save $30 if I switch to “free” version, but you can’t switch later, so I would have to create another account).
Customer support is measured by the support you receive under exceptional circumstances. That is when you need support, and when most companies fail to deliver.
2007-03-19 I contacted support by email:
I am trying to pay for TurboTax Online ($25.95 plus applicable tax), but I have moved from USA to Canada. I can’t enter my Visa Billing Address because I no longer have an US address only a Canadian one.
(Their support web form does not accept + in the email address although their account system does. It is a valid email character.)
I don’t recall the day, but I also phoned and tediously spelled out my account name, email address, etc, and was promised a call back, but that never happened.
2007-03-20 I receive an advertising email “Finish TurboTax to Get a Fast Refund”. I shake my head and think “I am trying to finish”.
2007-03-20 I receive an email “TurboTax Help and Support Customer Survey”
2007-03-22 I receive a similar advertising email, this one titled “TurboTax: How Big Will Your Refund Be?” Commence more head shaking.
2007-03-24 I receive a similar advertising email, this one titled “TurboTax Support: Finish Your Return in Minutes” This has become a sick joke, I guess.
Other similar please finish advertising I received to another account:
- “TurboTax Help: We’ll Help You Finish Today” I wish!
- “TurboTax Refund: Your Refund Could Be More Than $2,000″
- “TurboTax: File Now And Save $20″
No one ever got back to me from me email (Reference Number: 070319-014535) nor my phone call.
Having exhausted email and voice support, today I try my last resort, “live support”. Ugg, only supports IE or Safari. Ok, ok, I am desperate enough to use IE7.
The wait was reasonable, but once connected to support, the conversation was very jilted with me sitting waiting for long periods of time hoping the support rep received my questions. Here is how it ended:
02_Vimal Venugopal: Okay then, I’m going to disconnect the chat session believing your questions are answered..
Lloyd Budd: the answer being you can’t help me.
Lloyd Budd: and Intuit does not want me as their customer.
02_Vimal Venugopal: Yup. We are really sorry for that..
I spent less time using Firefox successfully filling out and paying $12.95 with that same credit card to TaxACT Online then I spent wondering if TurboTax’s support rep was still having a conversation with me — I don’t mind if the person has to research an answer, just say so. I guess I am luckier than Vimal thought (see below).
As TaxACT Online says on their website, there were no gimmicks.
Problem description entered in the form: I am trying to pay for TurboTax Online ($25.95 plus applicable tax), but I have moved from USA to Canada. I can’t enter my Visa Billing Address because I no longer have an US address only a Canadian one.
Please wait while we find an agent to assist you…
You have been connected to 02_Vimal Venugopal.
Lloyd Budd: hello
Lloyd Budd: hello?!
02_Vimal Venugopal: Hi and how are you doing today, Lloyd ?
Lloyd Budd: phew, this is working. I am doing well thank you.
02_Vimal Venugopal: I understand you that you are not able to log in with your password . Please do not worry, Lloyd. I will definitely help you with this issue.
Lloyd Budd: No, that is not my problem. I can login with no problem. It is paying that I am unable to do.
Lloyd Budd: I do not have an American address, only Canadian, so I can’t seem to pay by credit card.
02_Vimal Venugopal: We are sorry to inform you that you will not be able to process the credit card with the Canadian address, Lloyd.
Lloyd Budd: How can I pay then?
02_Vimal Venugopal: I would suggest you to use any of your known (friends or relatives) U.S credit card and the U.S Billibng address, where you can use and file your tax returns for the tax year 2006.
Lloyd Budd: Sorry, that is not an option. I use your other Quicken products. This is very annoying. What other options are there?
02_Vimal Venugopal: Oh.. We apologize for the inconvenience caused to you, Lloyd.
02_Vimal Venugopal: Is there anything else I can help you with today?
Lloyd Budd: Yes, I am still waiting for an answer to what other options are there?
02_Vimal Venugopal: Nope, Llyod. There is no other option.
Lloyd Budd: Well, I will probably never use another Intuit product again if I can help it. Good day sir or madame.
02_Vimal Venugopal: We are very sorry, Lloyd. Its the company policy.
02_Vimal Venugopal: I hope you agree that I have helped in resolving your issues today. You may receive a ten question survey from us through email in approximately 24 hours asking you about my performance on today’’s contact, as well as comments you may have in regards to the TurboTax product. So we can continue with our promise to provide our customers with the best support available, please take a few minutes to complete the survey.Thanks again and have a good day!
Lloyd Budd: You have to be kidding.
02_Vimal Venugopal: So what have you decided, Lloyd..!
Lloyd Budd: You have provided no options. It is absurd to suggest that I could give access to a friend to pay for your service. The details are very confidential.
02_Vimal Venugopal: IWe are sorry to inform you that we are not authorized to do such. And also I have given you a suggest. There is no other option, Lloyd. I apologize you again.
02_Vimal Venugopal: And am going to disconnect our chat session now since your questions are answered.
Lloyd Budd: There is always another option. You could have chosen to give me this ~$20.00 product free, really costing you nothing, and had a happy customer.
02_Vimal Venugopal: So I will suggest you to go ahead and use the program and file your tax returns. Then I would kindly request you to contact us through phone at 1-888-777-3066 (or) through chat at http://support.turbotax.com to assist you in processing a refund for the extra charges.
02_Vimal Venugopal: Is that okay for you, Lloyd.
Lloyd Budd: I can’t print out without paying and I can’t use your payment method.
02_Vimal Venugopal: Is there anything else I can help you with today?
02_Vimal Venugopal: But if this really does’t work then there is no other option. You have to use any of your known U.S billing address and payment method. And charge their card. Then you can pay them later on. This is just my suggestion, Lloyd.
Lloyd Budd: I guess you can’t help me, because I no longer have a US billing address.
02_Vimal Venugopal: Then its really unlucky, Lloyd.
02_Vimal Venugopal: Go ahead and please disconnect if you have no other questions.
02_Vimal Venugopal: Okay then, I’m going to disconnect the chat session believing your questions are answered..
Lloyd Budd: the answer being you can’t help me.
Lloyd Budd: and Intuit does not want me as their customer.
02_Vimal Venugopal: Yup. We are really sorry for that..
Your session has ended. You may now close this window. 
Writing this was very therapeutic.
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13 Comments
Wow! Just plain, wow.
Hey Loyd, I don’t know if you remember me. I went to UVic too and am friends with Evan Wise. Wow…that’s got to be the worst customer service story I’ve ever heard. Sorry to hear about your pain! When I moved down to the US I had fun with taxes too. In fact my first year I had to file in Canada, SC, NC and Federally…oh the fun. I’m wondering if that support center is somewhere in India…
Hi Scott, sure I remember.
Wow, I can’t imagine dealing with so many tax collectors!
Come on, the worst? It is pretty bad, but I am sure this is minor when it comes to disservice. Most often it is not worth our time to do anything about it, even here if I was smart, I would have not even bothered trying to seek help from Intuit.
I think Pete Stevens has it right, “Many times I’ve had particularly bad experiences from the customer disservice departments of large companies. Many people will be familiar with these experiences in which large companies try and ignore you in the hope that you’ll go away and stop bothering them.”
This is probably good for all of us, because it gives the small companies a chance.
India: I really don’t know, though I would not be surprised if it was not in North America because there were some nuances missed both on the phone and more evident in the IM conversation. The English was adequate. I think they could be anywhere, and be equally powerless to do what is best for their company.
You’ve got to love those “you’re kidding me” moments when dealing with tech support. Like when I found out that switching my blog posts to engtech.wordpress.com/blog instead of engtech.wordpress.com broke Technorati.
I’m with you on the TaxAct switch. I switched this year after using TurboTax for years, and every time the TurboTax promo emails came in, I couldn’t help but laugh. The answer to this company’s problems isn’t spam - and in fact, the spam indicates how far off they’ve gotten.
What a travesty! The folks at Intuit need to read your account of these events and of course do something about it. IMO, the statement “It’s company policy” should also be prohibited from use by anyone working in customer service! It’s such an unsatisfactory cop out, even if it may be the truth.
I’ve added you to my quotes file (once again) for this statement, “Customer support is measured by the support you receive under exceptional circumstances.” Just FYI, your previous quote that is stored there is “Everything is on the Internet, if you know where to look or who to ask.”
Perry, thanks for the kudos!
Thanks for everyone’s comments! The good news is that it was a situation that only costs me a little time and no money.
Someone must have a horror story with a utility company to share? They already have your money, and I am sure they take more of your time.
It also made me think, although doing your taxes is not fun, I only pay when I am done, so why not always try at least a couple of these.
Nothing quite beats voting with your feet. And then blogging it on the Internet
Lloyd,
to a certain extent I feel your pain and I recognize your right as a consumer and customer of the product to vote with your wallet but if there was a business decision to not allow non-US residents to file US tax returns then it is more of a communication issue than a “we are trying to screw you”.
That said, it was poor support that should have been more able to verbalize what I have just typed above and not suggested you “get a friend to do it” … that suggestion is rather unacceptable for many of the reasons you probably felt when they suggested it.
Evan, of course, they were not trying to screw me or anyone else. It is a limitation in how they do billing.
As you agree one problem was the support I received from “02_Vimal Venugopal”, but what about the lack of support I received before that? The gimmicks? Or the lack of taste in the emails they send?
Early in the process, I have to identify that I have a foreign address. It would be easy for Intuit’s TurboTax to warn that I need a credit card with a US billing address. Then I would know that they do not want business from Canadians that cross the border to work, or have previously.
TaxACT Online seems to appreciates my business, or maybe they just got lucky with how their system works. Still they are cheaper alternative without (as far as I know) the other problems I had with Intuit.
I dislike having to interact with utilites. The most frustrating experience I have now is when I have to phone Rogers Wireless customer service. And I get that eager voice activated robot that asks me about 20 questions (and repeats them to me) before I can speak to an operator. it was someone’s bright idea not have the option of pressing keys instead of saying “yes”, “no” “wireless”…”phone”. It is retarded. But now, I have found where to use the zero. And as soon as the voice robot starts talking I wait a bit then press 0 to cut it off get to the operator. What should be a simple experience gets more frustrating, as for every query you have they have to transfer you to another op and ask your dob, name, address,postcode each time, while they are looking at my account details on their screen!!
These companies pour $billions into advertising only to drive their customers away through their poor customer “support.”
Britgirl, I would not be surprised if someone has not published a “map” to navigate that Rogers customer support maze.
The re-ask bothers me too. Particularly when a service has you enter in your account number, and then the first thing the person asks is for your account number.
You got it. There is no incentive for them to have good support until there is real competition and we vote with our wallet for good support.
I used taxcut last year to file Federal and State. I think I cost me a grand total of around $30.00. Imagine my surprise when, after having gone through the entire process they wanted $65.00! No way man. Anyhow thanks for the suggestion of TaxAct. Did everything for only $15.00 and I was very satisfied.
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Lloyd Budd
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