TaxOR

I, too, hope TaxExact lives up to it's potential. It's far and away the most affordable option out there, for sure. (Assuming it actually does all that it says it's capable of! And does it correctly.) However, the recent high level of communication and information flow from TRX has NOT been the norm, and I don't think anyone here should expect it to continue. Over the course of the past year, most of my attempts at communication (email or phone calls for information, detailed requests for product features/enhancements, etc.) received no response at all. If my recent posts on this forum have been antagonistic, that's why. Maybe y'all will have better luck than I did. But I need evidence of better business practices overall from TRX before I'll be willing to trust TaxExact as my tax preparation software.

Thank you again for the info, TRX 1. To be clear, I in no way fault you for RedGear's decision to increase their price. My complaint is based on TRX's refusal to issue/offer a timely refund of renewal fees when requested by your customers, when it became clear (or even just likely) that you would not be able to offer the RedGear software at the stated renewal price.

Doug and TRX: I do appreciate the information you've provided here. This is more info than we've gotten from TRX all year about negotiations with RedGear. It's about time. That said, the right thing to do in this situation is to immediately offer refunds to all of your clients who request them. When I spoke with Karen on the phone, I told her that I would certainly test out the new TaxExact software to see if it meets my needs; however, I am unwilling to do this as long as you're holding hostage the renewal fees I paid back in May. It's a question of good will, good faith, good business practice, good everything. I paid for a renewal of the software I used last year, and since that software was not renewed, you should provide a refund. If TaxExact is as good a you say it is, then it will be an easy choice at the price you're asking. But that's a separate issue from the refund of the renewal fee. If you can show that you're willing to do the right thing on the renewal fee, I will certainly give TaxExact a fair test, along with TaxWorks, ProSeries, ATX, Drake, etc. [And just to add one more thing: if you had provided the RedGear contract details earlier in the year that you just now shared with us a few posts up, we could have offered some feedback as to whether those price increases were acceptable to us as TRX customers. Too late for that now, obviously, but it would have helped avoid a lot of problems!]

@Roberts - I agree 100%. I'm going to try and see if I can get my money back by reversing the credit card charge from last May. If not that, then I'll see what legal options are available. I've also filed a complaint with the BBB, just t get on the record. It was a bad decision on my part to renew with a disreputable company, obviously. I guess I just assumed they'd provide a refund, if they weren't renewing the same software. I was clearly wrong! The other part of this that ticks me off is that now I'm looking into other software providers, and I'm not eligible for their early season discount. So in addition to losing out on the money I paid to TRX, I'm also getting hit with higher fees from the other software providers!

So, I spoke with TRX today and they're refusing to give me a refund (despite the fact that when I renewed, they gave me the understanding that I could get a refund at any time). I'm not saying I won't in the end decide to use Tax Exact, but doesn't it seem that by refusing to give me a refund, they are demonstrating a lack of faith that Tax Exact will stand up to the competition on its own merits?? Tax Exact may be a good product, but the customer service really has me scratching my head... (I also resent being strung along all year with the promise that they were "still negotiating" with TaxWorks. That's some seriously questionable business practice right there; it sure seems like an outright lie to me. I certainly wouldn't have renewed back in May if they had been honest about the prospects for re-upping with RedGear.)

Taxworks 2012 demo/preview is still not available on the RedGear website. I wonder what their timeline is? Sounds like lots of changes this year; hopefully the program won't be too buggy.

Thanks for the update, Ed.

Thanks for all the info, Mike. I would go a step further and suggest that if TRX doesn't end up offering the RedGear software this year, and if the TRX in-house product seems insufficient, we can probably get several of us together as a bargaining unit in terms of getting a purchase deal/discount from TaxWorks directly. (I've been sufficiently satisfied with RedGear for the past couple of years at the TRX price, but if I have to pay full price, I'll almost certainly switch to ProSeries.) In any case, I think we can rest easy that TRX will refund our renewal fee if they don't offer the RedGear product this year. (And if they don't, I believe that most credit card companies will allow disputes to be filed for non-received items within 60 days of the promised date of delivery, which in this case would be December 2012. I'm not sure on that, but... good to have it as a possible backup plan!)