Elrod Posted March 20, 2013 Report Share Posted March 20, 2013 A class-action suit was filed against H&R Block Inc. on Tuesday for the faulty filing of hundreds of thousands of tax returns that led to a delay of payment for as long as six weeks. http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/news/2013/03/19/hr-block-return-error-triggers.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack from Ohio Posted March 20, 2013 Report Share Posted March 20, 2013 This kind of publicity is good for my business!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Taxed Posted March 21, 2013 Report Share Posted March 21, 2013 I am not so sure if this just impacts HRB or many other software/transmitters. It is my understanding that many ATX/Taxwise filed returns also got that IRS 12C letter. CCH says if the issue is just form 8863 do nothing! They are dealing with this. I think in a class action situation the lawyers for the plaintiffs will cast a very wide net!!! The taxpayers will get a $20 discount coupon while the lawyers willmake millions! What a country! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mainetaxguy Posted March 21, 2013 Report Share Posted March 21, 2013 This whole thing under scores the need for good computer programmers and the need to stay really focused on what the IRS and Congress is doing. Nothing beats good quality control and beta testing. Inexpensive services like H & R Block, ATX, Taxworks, etc. are cutting corners by not hiring and keeping good people on board. As a business, they have to make a choice - do you hire good people and charge more, or do you hire lousy people and risk destroying your brand name. ATX apparently made the latter choice and they are paying dearly for it. Taxworks too. H & R Block...well, please...who would ever use H & R Block. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ari Posted March 21, 2013 Report Share Posted March 21, 2013 Maineguy you bring up a good point....how can ATX offer so much for so little..the answer is they can't! Maybe when they were in Maine they could. Drake seems to be able to; I think they're employees own the company; it's interesting they're so successful! They're also in small town USA where the costs of staff are not the same as big city tax software companies Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Taxed Posted March 21, 2013 Report Share Posted March 21, 2013 I would say every company has good and programmers. The issue here is one of leadership, vision, planning and execution. It is here were ATX, Taxworks etc. failed. Not that they have bad programmers, but the fact that the total revamp was poorly timed and executed. I bet in retrospect they wished they had NOT tacked this so close to a tax season with so much changes. In the rush to make a workable solution, more mistakes were done. Remember haste makes waste! In the end with any product you get what you pay for! If it is inexpensive don't expect 5 star service. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joanmcq Posted March 22, 2013 Report Share Posted March 22, 2013 How do you know when the revamp was started? I'll agree, in hindsight this was a rotten year to pick to revamp. But how we're they to know when they started that the Congress would be so dysfunctional as to delay changes until frikkin! January?? Would you have guessed that? CCH says they've been working on the revamp for two years. I saw a working version of the program last October. Why does everyone seem to think CCH woke up one morning around dec. 31 and said, hey, let's switch ATX all around and really screw with our customers this year? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mainetaxguy Posted March 22, 2013 Report Share Posted March 22, 2013 I still think the issue was bad programmers. Obviously, CCH leadership has a lot to answer to. And of course, no one in advance knew how Congress was going to screw things up until it was too late. Even if we believe that CCH was working on the revamp for two years, somewhere, somehow, something went terribly wrong here. There is no way that any programmer at ATX would have agreed to release this program without doing some serious beta testing and quality control. I believe it was a situation where the "little guys" at the bottom of the company ladder saw this coming, but either out of fear or out of ignorance, or a combination of both, they decided not to speak up. This has always been a common theme at CCH - the "little guys" see the train wreck coming, but they don't let the big guys know about it, and when all hell breaks loose (e.g., introducing both IntelliConnect and IntellForms the same year before tax season), everyone hides and points fingers. At least this time CCH decided to have an executive (Jeff) resign, rather than threw some lower level slob under the bus. I'm sure Mr. Marx (the new ATX executive), must be asking himself "what the hell did I do to deserve this?" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack from Ohio Posted March 22, 2013 Report Share Posted March 22, 2013 How do you know when the revamp was started? I'll agree, in hindsight this was a rotten year to pick to revamp. But how we're they to know when they started that the Congress would be so dysfunctional as to delay changes until frikkin! January?? Would you have guessed that? CCH says they've been working on the revamp for two years. I saw a working version of the program last October. Why does everyone seem to think CCH woke up one morning around dec. 31 and said, hey, let's switch ATX all around and really screw with our customers this year? ATX management, tech support and Kimmie at the ATX forum stated that it has been in the works for 3 years. Kinda makes the whole thing stink a lot worse now, doesn't it?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Taxed Posted March 22, 2013 Report Share Posted March 22, 2013 CCH may have planned the total revamp 3 years in advance and i don't doubt that joanmcq saw some "version" of the software at a show and tell. The point is that you do not ever release a total revamp of the software without extensive alpha/beta testing during off season. Someone may say well how do you know they did not beta test? The proof is right in front of you!! If you watch ATXTv you will see all the workarounds they propose and that is proof right there that the design was flawed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack from Ohio Posted March 22, 2013 Report Share Posted March 22, 2013 CCH may have planned the total revamp 3 years in advance and i don't doubt that joanmcq saw some "version" of the software at a show and tell. The point is that you do not ever release a total revamp of the software without extensive alpha/beta testing during off season. Someone may say well how do you know they did not beta test? The proof is right in front of you!! If you watch ATXTv you will see all the workarounds they propose and that is proof right there that the design was flawed. I was told... "We released 1,000 beta copies in October 2012..." I almost laughed into the phone at the tech support person.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HV Ken Posted March 23, 2013 Report Share Posted March 23, 2013 So your are CCH and you have been working for a period of time towards this new version of ATX for tax year 2012. For the years this new version has been in development, they have been programming two versions - the old ATX in the field through the end of ty2011 and the new ATX set to debut for ty2012. At the end of tax season 2011, they execute that step in the plan that says stop making changes to the old ATX and do a full court press to get the new ATX out for ty2012. As the deadline approaches, you realize "holy cow, we are not ready." Now what do you do? You have done nothing at all with the old ATX and there is no way to get it ready in time, and the new ATX is also not ready. I don't know what choice they really had but to do what they did and live with the consequences. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mainetaxguy Posted March 23, 2013 Report Share Posted March 23, 2013 All computer programmers have deadlines and goals. Somewhere in the mid-point, if they knew they weren't ready in time, they should have paid their programmers major overtime and hired more good programmers to get the job done. You do what you have to do to make software work - and if you don't..well...kiss your brand and your customers goodbye. Again, I believe the people at the bottom saw this coming, but they didn't want to tell the people at the top what was going to happen. In short, slow motion train wreck. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lloyd Hudson Posted April 6, 2013 Report Share Posted April 6, 2013 So your are CCH and you have been working for a period of time towards this new version of ATX for tax year 2012. For the years this new version has been in development, they have been programming two versions - the old ATX in the field through the end of ty2011 and the new ATX set to debut for ty2012. At the end of tax season 2011, they execute that step in the plan that says stop making changes to the old ATX and do a full court press to get the new ATX out for ty2012. As the deadline approaches, you realize "holy cow, we are not ready." Now what do you do? You have done nothing at all with the old ATX and there is no way to get it ready in time, and the new ATX is also not ready. I don't know what choice they really had but to do what they did and live with the consequences. The consequences are that I am ready to shoot somebody. I think that if I had advance knowledge of this fiasco I would have been up front about it. Yesterdays update was an improvement until we lost three extensive returns in the period of 4 hours. No auto save etc. Features that have worked for years no longer work, preferences and options are not retained. I have no idea what I would have done with advance info but at least I would have a choice in how much grief I wanted to suffer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mainetaxguy Posted April 6, 2013 Report Share Posted April 6, 2013 This whole thing underscores the fact that ATX clearly wasn't ready to launch the new version. Obviously, top CCH management made a decision to move forward, crossing their fingers that a solution would be ready by the beginning of tax season. They were wrong. Trust...so important in today's business. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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