Mainetaxguy Posted March 17, 2013 Report Share Posted March 17, 2013 There is a great article and update about the problems of ATX in the Progressive Accountant. The article is dated March 5, 2013. The biggest take away is that while other software companies are responding very quickly to technical support issues, ATX is really lagging behind and in some cases, are not returning phone calls or e-mails (boy, what a surprise!). In any case, the link is below, but if the link doesn't work, just Google "The Progressive Accountant" + "ATX" - you will find it there... http://www.theprogressiveaccountant.com/tax/atx-taxworks-woes-continue-for-some.html 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rfassett Posted March 17, 2013 Report Share Posted March 17, 2013 Typical Internet blah, blah, blah. I never trust an article, on the Internet or otherwise, where the writer does not own up to his writing. The only purpose of the article, which is dated (anything more than a day or two old this year is dated), is to throw some more fuel on the fire. ATX's issues have been well documented and efforts have been made and continue to be made to right the ship. Reflect back on the product that was on the street 30 days ago and you will have to agree with me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Taxed Posted March 17, 2013 Report Share Posted March 17, 2013 I know Drake has been raking it in this season! I must have gotten 3 or 4 calls since january from the Drake rep saying they are signing up ATX,Taxworks users and offering a basic $100 discount off their in season list prce. I wonder if CCH and Regear is going to offer a very generous discount to win back some of their lost customers? I still can't figure out why both these companies decided to do a total revamp of their software user interface right at the start of a tax season? They could have beta tested their 2011 version last summer and then just updated the forms with 2012 version and the associated calcs just like they do each year?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mainetaxguy Posted March 18, 2013 Author Report Share Posted March 18, 2013 Taxed, the reason is simple - to save money. It appears both ATX and TaxWorks thought they could do three years worth of computer programming into one year - this way, they could lay off or fire the computer programmers that revamp the programs, and "save" money. They failed. They miscalculated the amount of work and effort it would take to do the job. Now they are paying the price. For ATX, it's the typical CCH move - you try to "save" money by doing the impossible, and in the end, you only end up losing more money. CCH has destroyed the ATX brand. While some improvements have been made, its too little, too late. It will be interesting to see what special deals or offers ATX makes after tax season. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joanmcq Posted March 18, 2013 Report Share Posted March 18, 2013 They have been working on this for two years. I was at the CCH Small Firms Conference last October and had a chance to test drive the new program and check out the changes. But they did pick a bad year to roll it out; but how is a company supposed to predict just how much of an asshat Congress is going to be in any given year? Now some of the issues are program based. But the time they would have been working on these issues, you had all of the form revamps that had to be done at the same time. My cite for this? The two software programs that revamped their platforms are really screwed this year. You think RedGear skimped on programmers, etc too? Get real. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack from Ohio Posted March 18, 2013 Report Share Posted March 18, 2013 Maintaxguy, Your posts have the tone of a personal vendetta against CCH or ATX. While we all have our reasons to be angry this year, yours seem to go deeper. Perhaps a former employee? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mainetaxguy Posted March 18, 2013 Author Report Share Posted March 18, 2013 No, just a loyal ATX customer who is tired of seeing CCH screw things up. I would agree that the last minute changes by Congress had a hand in this mess. But with any software change, it's better to take it in steps rather than do a wholesale change. Remember IntelliConnect - same deal - too much change in one year for research - created a big mess for everyone. This despite the fact that CCH claimed they hired 300 to 400 beta testers to "test" IntelliConnect, the program still came up short. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joanmcq Posted March 18, 2013 Report Share Posted March 18, 2013 Continuing to post unsubstantiated vitriol really doesn't help anyone though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Taxed Posted March 18, 2013 Report Share Posted March 18, 2013 Guys I think we are blaming the tax law changes and missing the mark. Any tax software company has to anticipate that there will be last minute tax law or forms change. That is why you have a forms update. This is not the first year we have had forms update. I think the fundamental issue is the user interface, the database engine that stores and retrieves the data and the programming language that ties it all together. In my younger days I used to write financial applications in C language for an insurance company. So when I hear that the program crashes trying to open a return or freezes midstream it has absolutely NOTHING to do with the forms/tax law change by congress. It has to to do with the way the program was written to manage resources (read/write files, memory etc.). Look Drake did NOT change its user interface and still got through the tax season with the forms update. But ATX and Taxworks stumbled why?? The user interface, programming language, computer resource management. That is where the problem lies. Any programmer worth his salt knows to test the user interface, database engine on sample data rather than live data at tax season crunch time.? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joanmcq Posted March 18, 2013 Report Share Posted March 18, 2013 I'm not saying the programming is not an issue, but there has never been as late a problem with basic forms as this season, including the amount of things effected. Sure there are always form changes. But not to the scope of this year, and at as late a date. Load that on top of a new platform, and it's disaster. Would it have been a disaster without the added form issues? I don't think anyone will know. There have been transmission errors with all of the tax software companies (with perhaps the exception of Ultra Tax & Prosystems fx-I havent heard of any with those two very pricey programs) including the sainted Drake. All these programs had to do was fix their forms & software. If it was so simple, why is every company screwed this season? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Taxed Posted March 18, 2013 Report Share Posted March 18, 2013 I think you are confusing two distinct issues. The E-file transmission errors as a result of MeF schema change at the last minute can be attributed to all software companies inability to program a last minute change within a reasonable period. In other words they could not predict and program by the time E-filing started that the schema had changed. May be they were not even aware that the schema had changed until the first E-file reject. But the software freezing trying to load a return, or running slow and other execution errors are a direct result of sloppy programming or incorrect execution of the program. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mainetaxguy Posted March 18, 2013 Author Report Share Posted March 18, 2013 I have to agree with Taxed about this. Sure, as I mentioned above, you can blame some of the last minute changes by Congress. It happens. But its clear there is something deeper about the problems and ATX and Taxworks are having this year. I just think both companies tried to do too much too soon and ended up creating a mess. And yes, you don't hear these problems from the expensive Prosystem fx or other programs. Why? Because they are more "high end" and they can afford to hire better programmers. I'm not familiar with Taxworks, so I don't know the total background about their problems. But ATX has always been a decent low cost tax prep program for the "little guys." I just think CCH moved too quickly in making lots of changes with the end game of laying off a bunch of programmers after tax season. This seems to be a pattern with CCH. The laid off the entire sales and customer service staff in Caribou, ME a few years ago right before the beginning of tax season to "save money", but all they ended up doing was creating a major mess - long holds on technical support lines, and completely uneducated (at least then) tech support people who didn't understand the ATX product at that time. Now, they are going to have to retain their good programmers, fire the bad ones, and make some tough decisions after tax season about whether to keep or fire most of their sales and customer service staff. The brand has suffered. It will take years for them to repair the damage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joanmcq Posted March 18, 2013 Report Share Posted March 18, 2013 I'm not talking about the schema changes. I'm talking about parts of forms or entire forms not being transmitted, like the Intuit MN debacle, which BTW, I heard is much more than just MN, but MN finally stood up and bitched. Neither Lacerte or Drake are transmitting Form 8958, nor are they issuing error messages when transmitting a return with that form included. Yeah, I don't like my program freezing or crashing, or trying to figure out how to enter rental income. But my 8958s transmitted! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TaxMan60601 Posted March 18, 2013 Report Share Posted March 18, 2013 ha-ha-ha Very good article indeed. In my opinion, full of bull$hitS and nonsense. Read this last week but didn't find it necessary to share with you. "But reports continue with both ATX and TaxWorks about performance, clogged or unhelpful software support and the feeling that someone was asleep at the wheel in bringing these two products to market for the 2012 tax season. Complaints continue with both ATX and TaxWorks about performance, clogged or unhelpful software support and the feeling that someone was asleep at the wheel in bringing these two products to market for the 2012 tax season. And the ATX forum, www.atxcommunity.com has a lot of discussions about the refund policy of CCH SFS. After hitting the clogged ATX support lines, Tony Servidio of Las Vegas, Nev. switched to Intuit's ProSeries. He said he got a response from customer service there in five minutes. "The support staff walked me through the installation and I was up and running in 15 minutes. Pro Series was a little more expensive than ATX but you get what you pay for," he said." In these two paragraphs only, there are more bugs than the all ATX ... anyway ... Someone was very nervous and affected Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kcjenkins Posted March 20, 2013 Report Share Posted March 20, 2013 "Pro Series was a little more expensive than ATX but you get what you pay for," he said." Boy, is that an understatement. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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