jaybird

Drake has been working on the required revamp for approximately 3 years now, unlike ATX which is performing like it decided just yesterday to rework! I did my research and we chose based on the fact that Drake is waiting until it's product is ready before it launches its new platform. We used ATX for 14 years, if they get their "stuff" together we may be back for next year, but if not, I am confident that Drake has put in enough time beta testing in-house and we won't be stuck testing for them during our busiest time of year!

Thrilled so far with the conversion from ATX to Drake, smooth transition, short learning curve, EXCELLENT customer support with short (if any) hold time! The next hurdle is to get my money back from ATX!!!! As far as I can tell, the problems are still there with ATX and our decision to jump ship was justified. Within 2 days time, we have turned the office around and the clients are finally getting moved through. Our prep time has gone down from previous years, and no crashes or software errors!!! I really wish we could have stayed with the program that we were familiar with, but the software forced us to change, and as far as we are concerned, it has been an upgrade. Good luck to those of you that are going to stick it out, i wish you the best of luck and truly hope that ATX gets their "stuff" together and your season is not a total loss!

Chowdahead, I finally had enough, after 14 years with ATX and its predecessors, we purchased another companies program today, we just can't wait any longer for a permanent fix to be created! I truly feel that I have been taken advantage of this year, being forced to be a "beta" tester without my knowledge! I cannot give clients the impression of top notch professionalism when I am clearly frustrated with the software, and I'm sure that the constant crashes and freezes make clients question our competence, and that is just unacceptable! This business is built on trust, I cannot expect my clients to trust me if I don't fully trust the software I'm using to prepare their return! Sorry if this gets some people in an uproar, but these ATX problems should have been dealt with long before its release to customers!

and i have already forgot everything i thought i knew about ATX, i thought i knew that it was a stable, easy to use, reliable and ready on time tax prep program, i forgot that 3 weeks ago when this all began to drop into the black hole of software problems!

we have tried working directly, the only reason i am remote right now is because we are 50 returns in the hole! it doesn't work on the server, or on any of the work stations consistently, there are constant random crashes on each workstation, and on the server! the printer spits out nonsense we don't request, the check boxes are ghosts, i am sick of seeing " cchfs has stopped working the program will close"! I have read the manuals, knowledge centers, and searched the internet for solutions, myself and my tech guy have spent a combined 10 hours on hold trying to get tech support. i have downloaded each and every update, praying that it would be the one that made the program stable, i am DONE! My ear hurts from being on hold and my eyes are probably bleeding from reading every possible solution on the knowledge base! sorry for the rant, I apologize if i'm coming off as harsh, but I am out of patience and options right now! There's a liberty that moved in 2 doors down, and HR block 1 street up, i can't afford to let customers walk because the software is not working!

I am not so much determined to switch, but I AM determined to get some work done, and as I type this, ATX has frozen again on the server! I am on the laptop on a different network using remote access in an attempt to get some returns going! My tech guy was at the office until 2AM this morning uninstalling and reinstalling ATX on the server and workstations (as per ATX techline reccomendation) to no avail, I have a very unhappy wife and as you men know "unhappy wife=unhappy life!" I have to have something in place before the weekend appointments show up, when you have to restart your computer 3 times to complete 1 simple return, it does not inspire customer confidence!

I have been watching my wife (Jean Stull, CPA) run her business for the past 16 years, and this year I joined her practice as a payroll clerk, and I am at a loss as to what to do about these software issues. In years past, I would install and troubleshoot her software long before she had to use it, but this year we are sitting on 50 returns, and without software, we are losing new clients to chain preparers. I am ready to jump ship and install something that is working RIGHT NOW, we are a small business, every day and every penny counts! ATX has been an issue since we installed it this year, and we are getting minimal to NO support from the company! We have used ATX for the past 10 years or so, and this year is the worst it has been! She does about 900 or so returns a season, what software is gonna work well for us STARTING TOMORROW? Please help me!