ITS May 2013 -- Time for your ATX early renewal -- What are you

[FLORIDA TAX MAN]

going to say ?? Your ATX Sales Rep is on the line offering you their standard 10% early bird discount. Asking for your credit card data and authorization to take your money !!!

Your sales rep's name is Felix Unger.....so what are you going to tell Mr F.U. ????

[Jack from Ohio]

Mr. Unger,

You have a lot of nerve or fear for your job. The only way I will purchase any of your software for tax year 2012 will be at 40% of the price I paid for 2012. If you cannot get this approved, then your company will get $0 from me.

Save your long winded speel about apologies and "upcoming better things in store." Your 2012 softward cost my firm thousands of dollars, and even worse, it cost us dearly in "confidence in our ability to provide professional and timely service" to our clients. This will continue to cost our firm for years.

I think my offer at 40% is far more than proper as you are probably scrambling to find ANYONE who will purchase your 2013 product at ANY price.

Disgruntled, long time ATX user who had disliked CCH since they swallowed up ATX.

Jack from Ohio.

[FedupCPA]

40% discount is too much for this piece of $*%# software. Only if they paid me to use it for the next 10 years would I even consider it. I figure that's how much they owe me in lost productivity, revenue and extra unpaid hours I have had to work to get things done this year.

[Jack from Ohio]

I was asking for 60% discount. I have my doubts if there will even be the option to purchase for next year. I would only accept the 40% price to have a backup (now there is a mind numbing concept...) program when I find something in my new program I cannot do.

[michaelmars]

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THATS ALL I HAVE TO SAY ABOUT THAT

[FedupCPA]

40% discount is too much for this piece of $*%# software. Only if they paid me to use it for the next 10 years would I even consider it. I figure that's how much they owe me in lost productivity, revenue and extra unpaid hours I have had to work to get things done this year.

Oops my lack of sleep is catching up with me. I meant to say that a 60% discount is not enough. The company should be compensating us for our wasted time. I haven't lost clients, mine is not that kind of practice, but the extra time we have to take in actually getting returns out the door has made some people unhappy. Input time, in some cases re-input time, going over every entry with a fine tooth comb to make sure things are calculating correctly..that checked boxes stay checked....and on and on. Not to mention the printing issue, where no matter what we uncheck, re-check, tell it to print, the program goes ahead and prints what it wants to anyway....already used 2 cases of paper more than I did last year for the whole season. Unless my unknown sales rep calls me this very moment and tells me that they were paying me $1,500 a year for the next 10 years to use this program in the future, I will not be renewing. Oh, and I have time to write this because a return with 2 W2s and Sch B and a Sch A has now taken 11 minutes to open...and still seeing the circle go round and round. Looks like it's time to reboot the whole computer for the 3rd time today.

[Mainetaxguy]

Mr. ATX sales rep, I have more respect for a homeless guy begging for money on a street corner than you - an ATX sales rep who has the nerve to ask me for an early renewal payment. At least a homeless guy has more integrity. You - ATX sales rep - sold me a bill of goods! Release yourself from your CCH master and be free...go, I say, go...be free and work somewhere else where you can look yourself in the mirror everyday...go...and be a better person before it's too late...before you become another CCH clone...following orders, never speaking up, never offering an opinion...as you watch your co-workers and entire company flow into the gutter and end up on a beach, bloated, only to become food for sea gulls as they eat you alive and you hear yourself screaming for mercy...and you hear in the distance the screams of hundreds of angry and frustrated ATX customers, cursing the day that CCH bought out ATX, and made the company its butt boy and its customers their play toys...go...Mr. ATX sales rep...go before its too late. You still have time...you still have time...

[Guest Taxed]

Folks keep your powder dry for Mr. Marx. He said he was going to be speaking to us this year. I hope he shows up at the IRS forums this summer. Chewing out a salesperson for mistakes by management is not going to get you any significant discount. Those of us who have worked in sales know this very well. I would tell the salesperson very nicely that I am expecting a big discount for my troubles and that he should discuss the matter with his sales manager and get back to me. You can play hard to get till such time that you know you got room to negotiate.

But seriously would you want to try ATX again, knowing what you know now how the revamped software operates???

[Birddog]

But them on hold and not come back. They have wasted much more time of mine and did not care. Really I would not do this but would be fun.

I will be surprised to see what happens for 2013 with them. Will they even still be offering ATX? I know we have to spend money to make money. So I do not have a problem with the prices of most of the good tax software companies (Lacerte and Ultra too much for my size). But I do expect:

A. A working product

B. If the above does not work it should be replaced or fixed at once (In the case of a time sensivetive product).

C. When calling support for help with the broken product not to be hung up on.

D. After being told on more than one occassion we will be releasing and update to fix that then they actually do just that.

I have said this before what really happen at ATX is they did not handle the problem/crises correctly. But I will never understand how they released something as broken as it is, knowing it was broken. They should have given us all the option in Jan/Feb to move to Tax Wise, Pro System or get our money back and go else where. But instead they jerked us a long for weeks/months knowing they did not have a fix.

[Mainetaxguy]

Birddog, while I agree with all your points, you have to remember that CCH is a large bureaucracy and it's very difficult for them to respond to these types of problems. Sure, in hindsight, they could have moved us to TaxWise or Prosystem fx, but that would have involved literary hundreds of hours of e-mails between various divisions, several phone conferences, etc before someone could make a decision. That's just the way CCH is - no one takes responsibility, no one speaks up, they just go with the flow until they flow into the gutter. Even if they knew (and I'm sure they did) the problems that were coming, at the very minimum they should have hired and trained more technical support people to handle the onslaught of phone calls they knew were coming. I really don't blame the sales guys - but if they are smart - and if they want to earn a decent living after tax season - they should move on, and hire more good computer programmers.

[Guest Taxed]

Do you wonder if the big shots at CCH ever visit this board and read all the stuff. The blog at the CCH site is tame and lame!

[Mainetaxguy]

Taxed, the reason why the "blog" (and notice I'm putting that word in quotes), is because I'm sure someone at the CCH PR department is reviewing any comments before they are posted, or quickly deleting any posts that don't follow the company line. CCH is not to blame for this. Most company blogs are lame and useless. Company blogs are more of a PR and marketing tool, rather than a real way to contact with customers and prospects. A lot of companies are involved in social media (Facebook, Twitter), but they really don't follow through on updating those sites, or adding anything relevant to the real world.

I'm sure some folks at CCH and ATX are reading our posts. But does it matter? Are they really going to change? I seriously doubt it. Again, they need to bring some fresh blood into ATX - someone who will shake things up - not more CCH clones ("Yes sir, whatever you say sir, I have no opinion sir, I'm here to serve the CCH master.").

It's the "go with the flow, see no evil, hear no evil" attitude that got ATX in the mess its in today.

[ILLMAS]

I will tell him no thanks Mr F U

[joelgilb]

My response to the sales reps will be: Sorry I moved on to an alternative option.

To be honest, I feel almost as sorry for the sales reps as I did for the Caribou Maine employees that all got canned when CCH took ATX over.

[Thigpen]

I would not stay with ATX if it was free next year. The cost of the software is nothing compared to the lost productivity we have experienced. Still waiting on that lawsuit to get started.

[itsajoke]

I totally agree with thigpen!

[jmjcpa]

Before I renew, and at a sizable discount, I want to see the 2012 software fully functional similar to the 2011 software. I agree, no sales person needs to get our wrath. They are selling a product based on what management has told them the product will do. I would like to see no later than May 31st, a complete 2012 operational program that meets the expectations of the professional community. Compared to other service providers the software has a reasonable prices, but it may be that the company has cut too many corners in trying to deliver a product at a competitive prices. To me they ask software programmers to come up with a product that look technologically sleek, but the practical operational elements were left out. I would like to see the results of their Beta testing with actually professional before it was released for the 2012 tax season.

ATX go back revise the product with all the techno bells and whistles, but BY ALL MEANS GET IT TESTED BY DAILY PROFESSIONAL USERS BEFORE YOU SEND US THE UPRGRADE!

[joelgilb]

Before I renew, and at a sizable discount, I want to see the 2012 software fully functional similar to the 2011 software. ...

Guess you will be using a different software then!

[Lee B]

Per Kimmie's post today, their plan is 12.15 update on April 29th, then labels and organizer.

More of the same next year.

[Maribeth]

so what happened to 12.14? Is that already out?

[Lee B]

For some unknown reason a marketing video has been designated update 12.14 ???

[mcb39]

The software appears to be about $1200 for Max with a 10% renewal discount. No date that I could find, but paper renewals should be in the mail by the end of April. Unbelievable!

[cheering]

if they give me 2013 free, and it doesn't suck, i'll "consider" it.

otherwise, i will wish them good luck, because the competition is smoking them.

-cg

[scscpa]

A lawsuit is sounding good to me for all of the torture we endured! I might consider using next year if they pay me $1200 to use the program and I have the option of refunding any amount they deserve on April 15, 2014.

[FLORIDA TAX MAN]

_{I should be paid for being banned.}

_{A bogus blatant bewildering bugger banning bonus !!!!}