Terry D EA Posted January 5, 2013 Report Share Posted January 5, 2013 Doug, You have personally taken time to e-mail me asking if my problems with the 2012 software have been resolved. I do appreciate your concern and desire to help me. However, all of my problems have not been resolved. I have worked with two different support agents for the last four days. Finally, last evening, I managed to get the program updated and the CID and PID numbers installed and the program registered. I still need help with getting ALL of my clients from 2011 back into the 2011 program program after a Windows re-install. Ther person whom I spoke with last evening said she would call me first thing this morning. It is now 9:35 Eastern Time and 8:35 your time and no phone call. I can't call in as the recording tells me your office is closed and the person's extension is not a valid extension. Here is the rant: Your customer service is really beginning to leave a lot to be desired. Yes, I know we have some time and filing season has not officially started. However, the software is new to many of us which we were forced into without a choice and there is a significant learning curve. I do have rental properties and a couple of S-Corps beginning to come in and I can't process anything or retreive their information from last year yet. As many others have stated, the learning curve should have taken place back in October not now. I have used your products for the last four years and I am seriously questioning whether I will renew or not. I know you are tired of hearing this from all of us but you need to do something to ramp up the customer support with all of these problems. I have read threads where you state your years of experience within the tax industry and I respect that. With that said, you do understand the need for each of us to test a new software regardless of who the vendor is. After 17 years, I must say this is the first tax season that I feel so uncomfortable and almost to the point of panic to try another program. Please do what you can to expedite my concerns. Terry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Taxed Posted January 5, 2013 Report Share Posted January 5, 2013 Terry you do make some valid points about customer service and learning curve for all of us regardless of experience. If you will note most other vendors like ATX, Taxworks etc. are getting the same issues from their users. What really puzzles me is that all these vendors chose this year to do a major revamp of the functionality. I understand IRS is forcing them to be MeF ready, but that has to do with the e-filing aspect of it, not the user interface or program functionality. A much better route would have been to test the new user interface during off season time. I am not a software engineer so I can't tell what goes on behind the scene, but from a user perspective it is very unnerving when you can't find something that you are used to so close to tax season. I still remember years back when i switched software, i would make "cheat sheets" and some of my saavy clients would notice that I was unsure of the software! Not a good feeling at all when you are suppose to be a pro! Just from my experience with most tax software, you will NEVER be satisfied with the conversion process. Some do it better than others. One thing you have to double check are all the usual carryforwards. Here is a little handy chart if you care to use it. 1. At-risk losses 2. Capital losses 3. Charitable contributions 4. Depreciation on business or investment property 5. Home office deductions 6. Net investment interest 7. Net operating losses 8. Passive activity losses and credits 9. Points (other than those immediately deductible with respect to a principal residence) 10. Prepaid business expenses (such as rent, subscriptions, or insurance premiums) by cash-basis taxpayers Good luck this tax season. Hope we all are sane by the time it ends in April! I think I will take that cruise i had been saving for so many years! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRX 1 Posted January 5, 2013 Report Share Posted January 5, 2013 Doug, You have personally taken time to e-mail me asking if my problems with the 2012 software have been resolved. I do appreciate your concern and desire to help me. However, all of my problems have not been resolved. I have worked with two different support agents for the last four days. Finally, last evening, I managed to get the program updated and the CID and PID numbers installed and the program registered. I still need help with getting ALL of my clients from 2011 back into the 2011 program program after a Windows re-install. Ther person whom I spoke with last evening said she would call me first thing this morning. It is now 9:35 Eastern Time and 8:35 your time and no phone call. I can't call in as the recording tells me your office is closed and the person's extension is not a valid extension. Here is the rant: Your customer service is really beginning to leave a lot to be desired. Yes, I know we have some time and filing season has not officially started. However, the software is new to many of us which we were forced into without a choice and there is a significant learning curve. I do have rental properties and a couple of S-Corps beginning to come in and I can't process anything or retreive their information from last year yet. As many others have stated, the learning curve should have taken place back in October not now. I have used your products for the last four years and I am seriously questioning whether I will renew or not. I know you are tired of hearing this from all of us but you need to do something to ramp up the customer support with all of these problems. I have read threads where you state your years of experience within the tax industry and I respect that. With that said, you do understand the need for each of us to test a new software regardless of who the vendor is. After 17 years, I must say this is the first tax season that I feel so uncomfortable and almost to the point of panic to try another program. Please do what you can to expedite my concerns. Terry Terry your email said they were to call you back last night so I personally went to our support room and had one of our best techs call you back but you did not answer. We are not offically open today but sometime after 10am cst I have a tech meeting and will have some one call you following the tech meeting. We are also have webinars several days a week so if you will also check the members website you can see the schedule. Doug Hughes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry D EA Posted January 5, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 5, 2013 Thanks for the check list and yes, I will use it. I have been working on a practice return for a fictional individual. Without having checked all of the calculations, the entry of information is similar to Red Gear which relieves some of the pain. I did learn how to set the defaults within the return. One thing I haven't seen yet is how to complete a 1041 or any trust type returns that require those really bizarre uncommon forms. I have one CRUT that carries significant penalties if filed on the wrong forms and I need to be sure this program can be used to prepare the 5221 and 1041-A. I am aware of all of the issues with other software and the Mef requirement but you are correct that all of this is somewhat unnerving. I guess the best thing is to allow extra time between appointments. I do handle a significant amount of property owners who are in the rental business so I need time to ensure the depreciation calculations are correct as well. I don't even want to begin to think about accuracy with Scheduels M-1 M-2 and so on for Corps Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry D EA Posted January 5, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 5, 2013 Thanks Doug but I am sitting right here by all of the phone numbers that I have left and none of my phones are ringing. They can try one of the following numbers: Home: (919) 304-0922 Office (919) 304-6981 Cell (336) 684-9898 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry D EA Posted January 5, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 5, 2013 I checked the offfice call log and voicemail and someone did try to call yesterday when I was out of the office. I am here this morning and will be waiting for a call. Thanks, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Taxed Posted January 5, 2013 Report Share Posted January 5, 2013 Terry, Form 1041 is not in the package you got! Rentals if they are multiple units with several depreciable assets are a real pain when you switch software. I always spend extra time and effort with these returns, unfortunately I can't bill the extra charges when there is a software change. It is not the taxpayers fault that i was forced to switch software. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry D EA Posted January 5, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 5, 2013 <<<<Rentals if they are multiple units with several depreciable assets are a real pain when you switch software>>> You got that right. Now, another can of worms has opened. I never knew we were not getting 1041 items with this software. I assumed (a dangerous thing to do), that all would be the same as Red Gear that we used last year. Was not told anything different. Maybe the one of the problems is I didn't purchase the electronic filing for business returns. This was done on purpose as I was looking into Drake at the time and didn't want to spend any more than I had to if I was going to change software vendors. Even so, and without the business electronic filing, TaXWorks still contained the 1041. When I get my phone call, I will ask about this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry D EA Posted January 5, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 5, 2013 Doug, Jason called me and we are in good shape. I commend you for following through and helping me. Jason did verify that there is not a 1041 package with the software. Is this coming as an update? Thanks, Terry D. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRX 1 Posted January 5, 2013 Report Share Posted January 5, 2013 Doug, Jason called me and we are in good shape. I commend you for following through and helping me. Jason did verify that there is not a 1041 package with the software. Is this coming as an update? Thanks, Terry D. Yes the 1041 is coming along with the 990 but it will be sometime in March. You are welcome maybe you can help me keep everyone on here positive, because I will do my best to make everyone happy. Doug Hughes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crank Posted January 5, 2013 Report Share Posted January 5, 2013 Terry (and any others that are interested), I routinely reinstall windows on all my computers on a yearly basis. I hate that windows gets cluttered with digital junk from installing programs and then the uninstall doesnt undo all the changes it makes, and other misc items which slows its performance over time. Nothing like a fresh install to make your system run smoothly. I always save my backups of tax program clients to disc, external hard drive and the cloud (yes it very anal retentive I know) regularly. TRX TaxWorks backups can be found in C:TaxPrepTY11Backup In this directory are seperate directories named by date and time of the backup. You can restore your clients from the newest directory. TaxWork 2010 backups would be under C:TaxPrepTY10Backup. ATX backups are found in C:Program FilesATX2009BackUp For earleir years just change the year of the directories. Hope this helps some people. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Taxed Posted January 5, 2013 Report Share Posted January 5, 2013 Windows XP and any upgrade from that leaves behind lots of junk when you install or run a program and when you uninstall not all the files are removed. There is a shareware program called CCleaner at www.ccleaner.com that you can download and run each day to get rid of all these junk files. If you watch Youtube videos you must run this to see how much junk it cleans. Also once a month if you defragment your harddrive , you will see a noticable difference. Just let it run all night. Do you remember DOS programs and how they ran with just 640KB of memory. I still remember my first DOS tax prep software and how I had to do a screen print before I moved to the next screen, and then print the forms on a dot matrix printer. Those good old days! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crank Posted January 5, 2013 Report Share Posted January 5, 2013 CCleaner is a great program. Ive been using it for years and run it several times a day. I also have it set to run when the computer starts (in settings). You can get it here: www.piriform.com Check out the other free programs by Piriform they are also worth getting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry D EA Posted January 6, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 6, 2013 Yes, CCleaner is a great tool to use. Thanks Crank for the info on the backup locations. My backups were restored from an external device which I did know the file name and location. All clients were brought back into the program but during the rebuild, not all of them appeared. Being skeptical I didn't want to move forward on my own. I know I seemed a little axious in my posts but I seriously have one rental client and one partnership that became a sunken ship in 2012 pushing to get their returns done by the middle of January. I need time to learn the new program and no matter how many times I tell these folks that the probability of me having a completed return within their time frame is slim and next to none, and they say they understand, they contact me almost daily for an update. These are very good loyal clients and I want to do my best for them. Nice to know the 1041 package is coming and even if it isn't until March that is still good to know. Now, I can relax a little and learn the program. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Taxed Posted January 7, 2013 Report Share Posted January 7, 2013 I am not doing my rental's and partnerships until I am 100% sure that all necessary updates are done and it is ready to be filed without any glitches. I never let any client push me around to do something that i am not comfortable. Lost a few over the years but that was good riddance! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRX 1 Posted January 7, 2013 Report Share Posted January 7, 2013 Windows XP and any upgrade from that leaves behind lots of junk when you install or run a program and when you uninstall not all the files are removed. There is a shareware program called CCleaner at www.ccleaner.com that you can download and run each day to get rid of all these junk files. If you watch Youtube videos you must run this to see how much junk it cleans. Also once a month if you defragment your harddrive , you will see a noticable difference. Just let it run all night. Do you remember DOS programs and how they ran with just 640KB of memory. I still remember my first DOS tax prep software and how I had to do a screen print before I moved to the next screen, and then print the forms on a dot matrix printer. Those good old days! Hello you are showing your AGE!!! I bet the people working from me even developing for me have no Idea what we could do ourselves back in the day. One year we went out and bought new computers Packard Bell SX 486 25mhz and 170mb hardrive 4 meg of ram with windows 3.1 and a texas instrament laser printer, I thought we were going to be able to conquer the world. Doug Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRX 1 Posted January 7, 2013 Report Share Posted January 7, 2013 Yes, CCleaner is a great tool to use. Thanks Crank for the info on the backup locations. My backups were restored from an external device which I did know the file name and location. All clients were brought back into the program but during the rebuild, not all of them appeared. Being skeptical I didn't want to move forward on my own. I know I seemed a little axious in my posts but I seriously have one rental client and one partnership that became a sunken ship in 2012 pushing to get their returns done by the middle of January. I need time to learn the new program and no matter how many times I tell these folks that the probability of me having a completed return within their time frame is slim and next to none, and they say they understand, they contact me almost daily for an update. These are very good loyal clients and I want to do my best for them. Nice to know the 1041 package is coming and even if it isn't until March that is still good to know. Now, I can relax a little and learn the program. Do not relax to much you are now part of our continuing to make it better team, as with any product "even mine" we can always make it better so as you are learning the program let me know how we can make it better, if not for this year but for next. Doug Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Taxed Posted January 7, 2013 Report Share Posted January 7, 2013 Hello you are showing your AGE!!! I bet the people working from me even developing for me have no Idea what we could do ourselves back in the day. One year we went out and bought new computers Packard Bell SX 486 25mhz and 170mb hardrive 4 meg of ram with windows 3.1 and a texas instrament laser printer, I thought we were going to be able to conquer the world. Doug Let me up that. My first serious computer other than Commodore 64 was Leading Edge Model D in 1985, dual floppy. Then I got a Kaypro 386 and used EZ Tax and Tax Cut in DOS. Had to use Lotus 123 with EZ Tax and when it printed the return on a Epson dot matrix it was like magic!! I think we paid less than 50 bucks for those programs back then. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRX 1 Posted January 7, 2013 Report Share Posted January 7, 2013 Let me up that. My first serious computer other than Commodore 64 was Leading Edge Model D in 1985, dual floppy. Then I got a Kaypro 386 and used EZ Tax and Tax Cut in DOS. Had to use Lotus 123 with EZ Tax and when it printed the return on a Epson dot matrix it was like magic!! I think we paid less than 50 bucks for those programs back then. Could you imagine what people would say now if their software was like it was then. I would never get any sleep. Did you think Dos 6.0 was the greatest when it came out? I did medical billing software in unix/linux back in the day and our main computer was a Prime Computer that sat in the closet with a window unti Air conditioner and the closet all sealed off, but it worked. We need to start a thread on here about war stories from the past, WOOOOOO!!!! I bet that would be interesting. Doug Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crank Posted January 7, 2013 Report Share Posted January 7, 2013 Let me up that. My first serious computer other than Commodore 64 was Leading Edge Model D in 1985, dual floppy. Then I got a Kaypro 386 and used EZ Tax and Tax Cut in DOS. Had to use Lotus 123 with EZ Tax and when it printed the return on a Epson dot matrix it was like magic!! I think we paid less than 50 bucks for those programs back then. What a bunch of old people. My first computer was a compaq in 1984. It was the size of a suitcase with a 5 in (i think) green screen and two 5.25 floppy discs, no hard drive and if I remember correctly, 512k of RAM. Lotus123 was the softwwaqre of choice loaded with macros. In 89 I moved up to a 10MB hard drive and a modem. And of course I first got internet service in early 1996 and no one else I knew, knew what the internet was. I got my first email address and had no one to email. For the first few days I kept checking it for mail thinking I might get some sort of junk email like the USPS...geez. I was fascinated by this internet thing and ordered a 5 year prepaid dial-up subscription for $250. Oh yeah, and when I was a kid we used to walk to school in the freezing cold over 5 miles, uphill....both ways. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Taxed Posted January 7, 2013 Report Share Posted January 7, 2013 As Doug suggested it may be a good idea to start a separate post for us old timers and how much fun we had in the good old days. I learned tax prep work from my father in law who was an accountant since the 60s and used "copying pencil" and tax form overlays on a copier the size of a washing machine. I got some good stories! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRX 1 Posted January 7, 2013 Report Share Posted January 7, 2013 As Doug suggested it may be a good idea to start a separate post for us old timers and how much fun we had in the good old days. I learned tax prep work from my father in law who was an accountant since the 60s and used "copying pencil" and tax form overlays on a copier the size of a washing machine. I got some good stories! Yea my dad a copy machine too, it was a Royal you had to put liquid Ink in it and crank it by hand but no one else had one. Also remember when we got new type writters that you no longer had to use idiot ink to do correction they had it built in. WOW!!!!! Doug Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Taxed Posted January 7, 2013 Report Share Posted January 7, 2013 I still have my manual typewriter circa 1976. Can't find the ribbon even on e-bay! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry D EA Posted January 7, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 7, 2013 I still have my Smith Corona that was one of the first models to have a correct ribbon cartridge. My professor in college wouldn't accept a paper that had white out or correct ribbon marks on it. Only if the darn thing had a back and delete button. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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