I thought it would be worthwhile to the rest of the world to share our experience with Drake Software as we tried to switch from Pro Series for the 2014 tax season.
We went to a seminar where Drake was presented to us and mainly based on the price difference, we chose to give Drake a try. Here is what we found:
Drake has been in business since 1977 and claims they have only updated their pricing plan one time since then. We quickly found out how that was possible. The interface of Drake remains in 1977. It is not user friendly and definitely makes you think, "you get what you pay for". On one hand, I may be a little biased because we were trying to switch from the expensive, but overall impressive, Pro Series. On the other hand, I worked in the tech industry for a few years and use technology every day and what they are offering is not up to par.
Drake is proud of its speed. I found that the only thing that they have footing on with speed is the software startup time. Sure it boots fast, but once you are actually using the program, the redundancies and ways of operation make it much slower in the long run. Why should I have to click a button to calculate the impact of the number I just input?
For example: After entering a number for wages or something on a 1099-MISC, you have to switch to the form mode in order to see what actually was reported and the impact on the refund/taxes due. It is surprisingly easy to duplicate information and not even know where to go in order to remove the duplication. You have no clue where the numbers reflected on the 1040 are even coming from unless you put them in yourself. This may not be an issue for others, but we have a larger practice where our front office inputs the data and the CPAs do the analysis/review. Pro Series is integrated with quickzooms everywhere and makes calculations as soon as the numbers are input. Given the choice, I would much rather take the slower boot time and fast everything time of Pro Series over the opposite, which is found with Drake.
Another thing that Drake is proud of is their quick response time with customer care. I actually found this to be true, because I had to call them all the time asking how to do things and to figure out items with the "ripping stitches" transition. They answered very promptly, but there was a vast spread of knowledge in their support staff. Talk to one person and they say you can't do something, call right back and a different person will tell you you can. Crazy.
So we gave Drake an honest effort and filed some tax returns (like anyone would) before deciding we would stick with Pro Series. I was given the task of telling Drake about our choice and found out quickly that they weren't going to give our money back in full. I eventually got in contact with one of the VPs and he said that we were not entitled to a full refund because we had filed some tax returns... "What?! You mean that because we put forth an honest effort in trying to use your software, we are penalized and not longer can get our money back?" "Yep. We have a policy..."
Unreal.
Moral of the story is, don't switch to Drake. Even if the price appeals to you, there are other options in the same price range and granted I haven't tried any of them, I can assure you that they are better than Drake. If you do choose Drake after all, I really hope you like them, because your money is now theirs and they won't give it back!
Thanks and I hope this helps.
