Banned from the ATX Community

[Mainetaxguy]

Jklcpa, first your old sales person is no longer working at ATX - that is a bad sign right there. (And frankly, if I were in sales, I wouldn't be working at ATX right now either). Second, the new sales rep is giving you a hard time about the refund and wants you to wait until the problem is fixed. When? After tax season?!? This kind of CCH/ATX "blame the customer and not us" attitude is going to kick CCH/ATX in the pants after tax season when it comes time for early renewals. What were they thinking? Don't they ever learn? It's like that situation a few years ago when CCH laid off the entire sales and technical support team in Caribou, ME a week before tax season, and the phone lines were jammed for nearly two weeks because they laid off the only person in Caribou, ME who could transfer the phone calls from Caribou, Me to Georgia! While we were all struggling with technical issues (not as bad as now), all the sales and technical support people we had come to depend on all these years were standing in the unemployment line in Maine, while we were struggling to do taxes. Again, I ask you, don't they ever learn? If you are going to buy a company to cater to the small accounting market, then treat your customer right - or just sell it to someone who will treat the customers right!

[SCL]

Jklcpa, first your old sales person is no longer working at ATX - that is a bad sign right there. (And frankly, if I were in sales, I wouldn't be working at ATX right now either). Second, the new sales rep is giving you a hard time about the refund and wants you to wait until the problem is fixed. When? After tax season?!? This kind of CCH/ATX "blame the customer and not us" attitude is going to kick CCH/ATX in the pants after tax season when it comes time for early renewals. What were they thinking? Don't they ever learn? It's like that situation a few years ago when CCH laid off the entire sales and technical support team in Caribou, ME a week before tax season, and the phone lines were jammed for nearly two weeks because they laid off the only person in Caribou, ME who could transfer the phone calls from Caribou, Me to Georgia! While we were all struggling with technical issues (not as bad as now), all the sales and technical support people we had come to depend on all these years were standing in the unemployment line in Maine, while we were struggling to do taxes. Again, I ask you, don't they ever learn? If you are going to buy a company to cater to the small accounting market, then treat your customer right - or just sell it to someone who will treat the customers right!

hallelujah brother and amen!

[joelgilb]

CCH is a big joke. Shame none of us are laughing at what they did to us.

Saying your clients should wait, really?

We have 7 weeks of season left, wait indeed!

They do not understand the business we are in. They did not understand the tax product they had? And they certainly didn't and still don't understand their customer base.

Only good news is that this year alone they must have lost millions in lost customers and internal costs. Can't wait to see how Wolters Kluwer reacts once this season is over.

SCL, I do remember when they laid everyone from ME off. ATX has never been the same since. Support that year was a joke. First year out with CCH at the helm should have been a sign.

Didn't a couple of the Maine support transfer to Georgia and then get let go shortly thereafter?

[Mainetaxguy]

I heard that some of the ATX people from Caribou did transfer to Georgia shortly after the lay off of the entire sales and tech. team in Maine. I don't know if they are still working for ATX or not. However, after this tax season, if they are still working at ATX they probably are going to start looking for other jobs - unless CCH lays them off too!

[michaelmars]

Kim does give some tech help but she preaches the company line, i don't understand why everyone on the other board seems to kiss her *ss. She is just doing her job and her loyalties are to cch not the users.

[RitaB]

Wow, our clients should wait? WE should wait? Do they think we have been on vacation sipping sweet tea or something while they figure this out? Do they not know we have been working our butts off to get out 1/2 the returns? Do they think we have time machines and can hop in them when everything is working and nobody was really inconvenienced after all? Or do they think time will be magically extended so we can get everything done? I think we paid for a program with the expectation that we could produce accurate tax returns on Day 1 with at least the same efficiency as last year. That's how business usually works. WTH? And, we are supposed to be happy about all this? Really? They should be mailing out refund checks to EVERYBODY instead of busting people's chops.

[Maribeth]

Wow, our clients should wait? WE should wait? Do they think we have been on vacation sipping sweet tea or something while they figure this out? Do they not know we have been working our butts off to get out 1/2 the returns? Do they think we have time machines and can hop in them when everything is working and nobody was really inconvenienced after all? Or do they think time will be magically extended so we can get everything done? I think we paid for a program with the expectation that we could produce accurate tax returns on Day 1 with at least the same efficiency as last year. That's how business usually works. WTH? And, we are supposed to be happy about all this? Really? They should be mailing out refund checks to EVERYBODY instead of busting people's chops.

Rita dear, I believe the term is WTF. :)

[Margaret CPA in OH]

Well, we speak differently in different parts of the country, dialects or accents. I would say WTH and to-may-to, you may say WTF and to-mah-to but we all mean the same thing or mostly. It also depends on the intensity of emotion at the time of expression - at least in my case

[joelgilb]

WTF[ing]H! (ATX'es new call sign)

[michaelmars]

JOEL- you should be a lexicologist, nice word.

[BulldogTom]

Rita dear, I believe the term is WTF.

WTH = What the Hell. That is how them nice girls say it.

Maribeth...watch your acronyms...you are starting to sound like a sailor.

Tom

Hollister, CA

[joelgilb]

Just a thought here:

As many of you know, if you asked, CCH would let you switch to TaxWise. But only if you asked (Dumb move on their part their, they should have just offered it).

If you demanded with more conviction, CCH gave you full access to both Taxwise and ATX (like I did).

That said, TaxWise, is barely better than ATX, and was not enough to keep me.

What they should have done is:

1. Admit their failing with ATX; and

2. Provide CCH's Premier product ProSystem FX for free this year. Then they would have had a big win. Proved they were loyal to the users and would stand behind their mistakes. They might of even got some converts to the more expensive product next year and increased their bottom line.

And really what would it have cost them? NOTHING! They already have the product.

Now I would post that on ATX's board, but would most certainly be banned again, so not ready to go there.

[joelgilb]

JOEL- you should be a lexicologist, nice word.

Maybe I am an Abecedarian.

[kcjenkins]

I don't go over there so can't say any specifics. But we do, here, expect our members to keep it clean and reasonably polite, and I believe that makes for a board we can all be comfortable on. A post that uses HUMOR to illustrate problems is fine, especially if you avoid making it too personal. It also has the benefit of being more effective. We've had some good posts here that have used humor to get their point across,

[Jack from Ohio]

Just a thought here:

As many of you know, if you asked, CCH would let you switch to TaxWise. But only if you asked (Dumb move on their part their, they should have just offered it).

If you demanded with more conviction, CCH gave you full access to both Taxwise and ATX (like I did).

That said, TaxWise, is barely better than ATX, and was not enough to keep me.

What they should have done is:

1. Admit their failing with ATX; and

2. Provide CCH's Premier product ProSystem FX for free this year. Then they would have had a big win. Proved they were loyal to the users and would stand behind their mistakes. They might of even got some converts to the more expensive product next year and increased their bottom line.

And really what would it have cost them? NOTHING! They already have the product.

Now I would post that on ATX's board, but would most certainly be banned again, so not ready to go there.

I asked about Prosystems fx and was given a quote with a 35% discount. Product for 1,000 returns = $13K after discount.

I nearly laughed out loud at the salesperson from CCH!!!

I asked what Prosystems fx did that made it worth over 10 times as much as ATX. He rattled off some features (all of which ATX does) and I just simply, politely told him that his price was out of my budget range.

I think everyone at CCH is delusional.

[JohnH]

Just a thought here:

As many of you know, if you asked, CCH would let you switch to TaxWise. But only if you asked (Dumb move on their part their, they should have just offered it).

If you demanded with more conviction, CCH gave you full access to both Taxwise and ATX (like I did).

That said, TaxWise, is barely better than ATX, and was not enough to keep me.

What they should have done is:

1. Admit their failing with ATX; and

2. Provide CCH's Premier product ProSystem FX for free this year. Then they would have had a big win. Proved they were loyal to the users and would stand behind their mistakes. They might of even got some converts to the more expensive product next year and increased their bottom line.

And really what would it have cost them? NOTHING! They already have the product.

Now I would post that on ATX's board, but would most certainly be banned again, so not ready to go there.

You're right - this would have gone a long way toward satisfying their ATX customers. But there would have been the inevitable backlash from those who paid the full price for ProSystem FX, so maybe they calculated it wouldn't have been worth the extra grief. What's the price ratio - about six to one? Whether the long-term consequences would have been better remains to be seen.

Make me think of the time I was flying on a deep-discount airfare and got into a conversation with the guy sitting beside me. We were both headed to the same destination to conduct similar business. I'd paid $150 for my seat and he had paid about $900. He got visibly upset (not at me but at the airline). But once we left the plane he was on to more important stuff. Had we been sitting side-by-side on the return flight, he may have been more inclined to give the airline some real grief over it.

On the other hand, if the plane had arrived late and we both missed our meetings, the airline would have been much more sympathetic to his complaints than to mine. Not saying that they would have actually done anything helpful for either of us, but they would have issued a much more sincere-sounding apology to him than to me.

[joelgilb]

I asked about Prosystems fx and was given a quote with a 35% discount. Product for 1,000 returns = $13K after discount.

I nearly laughed out loud at the salesperson from CCH!!!

I asked what Prosystems fx did that made it worth over 10 times as much as ATX. He rattled off some features (all of which ATX does) and I just simply, politely told him that his price was out of my budget range.

I think everyone at CCH is delusional.

Yep, Delusional!

[joelgilb]

I don't go over there so can't say any specifics. But we do, here, expect our members to keep it clean and reasonably polite, and I believe that makes for a board we can all be comfortable on. A post that uses HUMOR to illustrate problems is fine, especially if you avoid making it too personal. It also has the benefit of being more effective. We've had some good posts here that have used humor to get their point across,

Come on KC, did you really have to admonish me for a little joke? Isn't ATX doing that enough already?

[joelgilb]

LITaxAdmin posted my CCH ProSystem FX comment on ATX's community for me!

[Maribeth]

WTH = What the Hell. That is how them nice girls say it.

Maribeth...watch your acronyms...you are starting to sound like a sailor.

Tom

Hollister, CA

Why, thank you Sweet Tom. I believe I am starting to blush . . . . .

[RitaB]

Well, I'm afraid I'm sounding like a sailor today.

I have a client that absolutely drives me crazy. Calls in August, I tell her the scoop on Energy Credits. Mail her the scoop, too. She calls in January cause she forgot what I said, and I pull out the sheet I mailed her in August.

She drops off 2/12. I tell her I will not get started for 2 weeks so chill out.

She calls 2/16 to see if I need anything.

I call her yesterday to say I'm done, and we spend 10 minutes figuring out when she is gonna pick up. Tues before she goes to Curves. (I really don't give a crap, lady.)

She calls today and leaves message: "Just wondering if you e-filed that."

I send her a text because it takes forever to get her to the phone at her work: "I will e-file after you pickup and sign."

No response.

I send her a text: "Do you receive text messaging?"

She calls: "Did you send me a text message? Cause I get them, I just don't answer them." She is chewing. I am starving.

I really want to kill her. I slammed down the phone and cussed a blue streak.

[grandmabee]

sounds so familar........ like when they say can they come for a 7:00 or 7:30 appointment so they can go home after work and have dinner first.

I want dinner too...... such is life of a tax professional

[mcb39]

Well, I'm afraid I'm sounding like a sailor today.

I have a client that absolutely dives me crazy. Calls in August, I tell her the scoop on Energy Credits. Mail her the scoop, too. She calls in January cause she forgot what I said, and I pull out the sheet I mailed her in August.

She drops off 2/12. I tell her I will not get started for 2 weeks so chill out.

She calls 2/16 to see if I need anything.

I call her yesterday to say I'm done, and we spend 10 minutes figuring out when she is gonna pick up. Tues before she goes to Curves. (I really don't give a crap, lady.)

She calls today and leaves message: "Just wondering if you e-filed that."

I send her a text because it takes forever to get her to the phone at her work: "I will e-file after you pickup and sign."

No response.

I send her a text: "Do you receive text messaging?"

She calls: "Did you send me a text message? Cause I get them, I just don't answer them." She is chewing. I am starving.

I really want to kill her. I slammed down the phone and cussed a blue streak.

It seems as though the new words for "Are my taxes done yet" are now "Is there anything else you need from me?" I called on Wed (the day from hell) because both her husband and she had called within three days of each other to see if they were done. Since they are habitually laaaaaaaaaaaate (as in, at least two invoices) payers; I wanted her to know that I needed to be paid and have the taxes picked up before I would file them. Her response was "I will mail you a check and if you file it tonight, how soon can we look for our refund?" Dense, dense, dense!!!!! What part of pay first don't they understand?

[FLORIDA TAX MAN]

Kim does give some tech help but she preaches the company line, i don't understand why everyone on the other board seems to kiss her *ss. She is just doing her job and her loyalties are to cch not the users.

Because she has the power to cut you off, and in a tax season of turmoil she has helped some, thereby being "a lifeline" somewhat. I try to stay on the good side of CCH as who know how worse my life would be to do the opposite.

[FLORIDA TAX MAN]

Just a thought here:

As many of you know, if you asked, CCH would let you switch to TaxWise. But only if you asked (Dumb move on their part their, they should have just offered it).

If you demanded with more conviction, CCH gave you full access to both Taxwise and ATX (like I did).

That said, TaxWise, is barely better than ATX, and was not enough to keep me.

What they should have done is:

1. Admit their failing with ATX; and

2. Provide CCH's Premier product ProSystem FX for free this year. Then they would have had a big win. Proved they were loyal to the users and would stand behind their mistakes. They might of even got some converts to the more expensive product next year and increased their bottom line.

And really what would it have cost them? NOTHING! They already have the product.

Now I would post that on ATX's board, but would most certainly be banned again, so not ready to go there.

Fully agree with you, but I even had trouble getting the TaxWise. It was stated over there to call TaxWise not ATX cause nobody could get through to ATX. The TaxWise salesman Bill denied knowing about a swap. I had to call again later and got a different person who contacted my ATX rep's supervisor....luckily i called again and got through to my sales rep at ATX and she fixed it up.