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I found these guys online. They are a service bureau for Drake and they're selling the full Drake package for $700. They've got some fall promos going on this month.

www.guardiantaxsoftware.com

I talked to one of their reps named Arnie and he seems honest enough. Tell me what you think of these guys.

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Hmmm ... the website makes no mention of Drake software. There was a website called guardiantaxsolutions.com that sold Drake but the website is now defunct. Something fishy here.

taxbilly

Hey, this is the webmaster for Guardian Tax Solutions. It was brought to my attention earlier today from a new member that there was a discussion on this forum and I wanted to address the confusion with our website URL. We did have guardiantaxsolutions.com and still have this. Within next couple of days this will be forwarded to our new guardiantaxsoftware.com We have been doing a lot of changes to the website this year to bring our clients the best support they can receive including online real-time ticket tracking for our customers. I'll be checking back on this forum to answer any questions that you may have about Guardian. You can also get in touch with me by calling 888-408-9524 ext. 701

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At least their website works and is not under construction. Sometimes, I feel like we are dealing with used car salesmen.

OOPS! My husband owns a Used Car Dealership and has been an honest and respected businessman for 37 years! I will, however, forgive your slip of the lip. Lots of people don't like or trust tax preparers and accountants either. :blink:

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@Taxbilly

I think it's unreasonable to suggest that Guardian is somehow affiliated with TRX. TRX resells Taxwise, ATX, and Taxworks under one brand. If TRX was going to sell Drake software they would have done it under their TRX brand identity to further build their TRX brand. If you look at the way the websites were built between TRX / Guardian they look to be have composed by completely different web programmers/graphic designers. I think the proximity of the two companies is pretty weak evidence to suggest that they're linked.

Do you have a link to where it says they've been dissolved?

@Bob Hoffman

As far as this thread being off topic it being about a Drake software reseller; I'd like to argue it is relevant because ATX is dying. ATX has been bought out and treated like a step child by their benefactors, and I think over time this ATX product will be totally phased out. I'm shopping this year for a different software platform to move to and stay with.

@Me

I went with TRX last year and well I'm trying to find something new to put my confidence into, TRX changes software almost every year. I like the savings I got with a service bureau, so I checked these guys out. When I talked to these guys on the phone they said they were in it for the long haul and wouldn't try to drag me or other customers through the headache of adopting a new software every other year. Also, I'm through paying full price for tax software from the manufacturer - their support teams are marginally better (if it all better) than their service bureau counterparts. Service bureaus, software manufacturers, and banks all hire temps to support the seasonal rush of tax season. That's why forums and other resources like these exist, because you're more likely to find more reliable help here.

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OOPS! My husband owns a Used Car Dealership and has been an honest and respected businessman for 37 years! I will, however, forgive your slip of the lip. Lots of people don't like or trust tax preparers and accountants either. :blink:

Sorry, no offense intended. Having been born and raised in Southern California, we had an abundance of crooked car dealers (new and used).

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Sorry, no offense intended. Having been born and raise in Southern California, we had an abundance of crooked car dealers (new and used).

None taken. I posted as a knee-jerk reaction and should have stuck to the subject of the thread. I agree with those who are apprehensive in regard to Guardian or any other software that solicits through the resources of any tax board, and at this late date most of us have made up our minds in which direction we are headed. TRX is still calling me at least weekly and leaving long, detailed messages. I am no longer taking their calls.

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I have to disagree that ATX is dying. It's been added to and improved each year, not typical of a company planning to kill a product. And it fills a significant market need, which makes keeping it alive make simple business sense..

They have not told us all the changes this year, but the ability to import stock brokerage statements, added this year, is a great one.

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Thank you, Taxbilly, I think that strenghtens my argument. They have clearly LISTENED to us, and are still improving the software. That change in the Organizer options should make many happy.

That change in the Organizer options was something that we begged them to return to us and they actually listened. I, cautiously and hopefully, agree with you that they don't plan on dumping the program any time soon. I DO hope that the uni-forms will still be usable as I have nearly a box full.

:D :D

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I can see Guardian has been pretty popular since the last time I was on these forums. To start off with, I do want to thank TAXBILLY for his background research. It is always good to look up a company before preparing to buy, but there is misconceptions on the information that was linked.

http://tnbear.tn.gov/Ecommerce/Common/Fili...ngNum=000323044

Yes, there is a company listed with the name Lake Financial Services, but they was an out of state company that didn't pay the taxes to TN therefore was revoked. We are not the same company. Also, please take note that Guardian Tax Solutions is under a sole-propriety ownership and will not be listed on this website. There was a name confusion, which I take blame for, Guardian Tax Solutions is a company in association with Lake Financial Enterprises. This can be looked up on the IRS.Gov website http://www.irs.gov/efile/article/0,,id=118449,00.html (zip code 37128) and you will see Tom Harris and Company information listed.

The website (tnbear.tn.gov) states all businesses search, but in fact, if you call the phone number at the bottom of the webpage (615-741-2286) they will tell you that it not show sole-proprietary businesses. You can call the Rutherford County Chamber of Commerce:

501 Memorial Blvd. P.O. Box 864

Murfreesboro, TN 37133-0864

Phone: 615-893-6565

Fax: 615-890-7600

Toll-Free: 800-716-7560

Email Address: [email protected]

If you really do feel like we are not a legitimate company you may call them and ask about the ownership of Lake Financial Enterprises and Guardian Tax Solutions.

One thing I do want to mention is that we are absolutely, no way affiliated with TRX. We believe TRX is a bad company that gives other companies providing the same service a bad reputation. If you wanted, you can goto Yahoo.com and do a search for Drake Software, Lacerte Software, or Taxwise Software and you will see (Company Name) $299. For instance when i searched "Drake Software" on yahoo, i get Drake Software $299.99, but in reality it points to trxalliance.com. They false advertise for your money and then keep changing their products each year. They aren't pushing Taxwise this year so you already know that next year Taxwise won't be sold, same with ATX. So far the past 3 years TRX has went from Pro Series, Orrtax who then was boughout by Taxwise so they had to have Taxwise, then Pushed ATX for 1 year, then switched completely to going to the creators of TaxWorks and basically buying their way into a portion. The customer support was always horrible and time spent on calls, from what we have been told this year, was horrible.

So please do not confuse us with TRX or any other company. Yes, we are based in Smyrna, TN which is near where TRX is located, but we have no affiliation what so ever with that company.

We are a service bureau for Drake. We offer top notch technical support using top-of-the-line customer support materials to make sure your questions are answered the first time. We show all our members every ticket that was created on their account, and detailed noted that the rep took. Also we offer to have our clients be assigned to a specific representative so they are not talking to someone new every time. Each one of our representatives are trained well to accommodate a good number of people with excellent quality. Anyone is more then welcome to call us anytime during normal business hours and get any information they would like. We do enjoy this community and how carefully everyone looks after each other and thats how companies and the economy get better.

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I am truly impressed at the type and number of significant improvements made. I really appreciated the return of the condensed organizer although disappointed that the detail sheets for Sch C and Sch E didn't reappear. For those handful of clients that I have with those, I added the comprehensive organizer, too, and printed the pertinent sheets.

I edited the cover letter (I don't make appointments, etc.) and then added the condensed organizer at the top level. I then printed them all to pdf and discarded those not appropriate. It was easy to add the other C and E sheets, too.

I am in awe that they have actually included the Ohio MFJ/MFS option, too. I knew it was available in ProSystem FX having used it years ago.

Like KC, I find it hard to swallow that CCH will simply put this puppy to pasture so soon - at least that is my most fervent hope! Thanks, Taxbilly, for the link to the listing.

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I posted the website on the Drake software forum and Phil Drake responded that "Neither of these folks who are attempting to sell Drake Software are authorized dealers. I believe that their plan was to sell software at a discount and then make back the difference with added "Service Bureau Fees"

However, we neither allow nor support this kind of thing. So do not believe these ads when you see them.

We are addressing the problems with both at this time. "

There was another company that has been doing direct mail to sell Drake software for around $749

Tim

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I posted the website on the Drake software forum and Phil Drake responded that "Neither of these folks who are attempting to sell Drake Software are authorized dealers. I believe that their plan was to sell software at a discount and then make back the difference with added "Service Bureau Fees"

However, we neither allow nor support this kind of thing. So do not believe these ads when you see them.

We are addressing the problems with both at this time. "

There was another company that has been doing direct mail to sell Drake software for around $749

Tim

@Tim

I was with several service bureaus before considering Guardian and I was left unaffected by these Service Bureau Fees that you speak of. The only difference I experienced with TRX and Refunds Today before them was; I called a different support team put together by the service bureau. That was the only discernible difference I ever experienced, other than software fees. It was the exact same product for less and my service bureau fee was negligible as it was only applied to bank products and bundled into the already existing transmission fees. Usually, because service bureaus are smaller, they focus a bit harder on customer satisfaction. I suppose the software manufacturers have a transmission fee while service bureaus label their transmission fees as service bureau fees, but I never felt a difference in my pocket book from the switch. I do know that working with service bureaus is a viable option to working directly with the software manufacturer and it's the not the scam you or he makes it out to be.

That's weird, I called Drake and confirmed that Guardian is legit. They said Guardian has a license to work as a service bureau for Drake. Could you post a link to where this is discussed on the Drake forums?

@ATX is not dead

While ATX is still improving there's been a marked difference in the level of innovation and support since the buyout from CCH. Perhaps dead is not the right word, but I've noticed strong amounts of decay in service and innovation. Remember the first year through the change of ownership? That year was horrible and the support staff did not know the product. It was apparent that they sacked all their old support staff and tried to use their existing support team and retrain them to learn ATX at the last minute. I left them that year and been bouncing around ever since looking for a new home. The ATX line of tax preparation software competes with the new owners already existing line of tax software. They're certainly interested in keeping the business they already have, but the product will certainly not be upgraded to keep pace with the market and industry. I speculate that new development will stagnate in comparison to other software, as it doesn't pay for CCH to payroll a redundant set of developers and support staffers work on a separate product that undermines the market share of their already existing brands. So, while CCH didn't kill ATX immediately it will eventually erode into non-existence. I just want to be with a brand that I know has a strong interest in staying in the market.

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