ATX Consolidation Statement

[neilbrink]

I added my comment today. Good work gang.

Most recent reply on TheTechGap January 19, 2008

ATX (CCH Small Firm Services) Responds

Well there certainly has been a flurry of activity here --- but as one commenter to the original post pointed out "Those of use posting here and over on the unofficial ATX community site represent somewhere between 20-50 users out of 30,000." Having spent considerable time on all sides of this sort of conversation my analysis would be similar. The vast majority of practitioners are busy grinding away on returns with the product delivering as usual. A few others are vocally unhappy.

I'm closing the comments on the first post and ending the debate by re-quoting Sr. Vice President Lenny Holt:

I wanted to take an opportunity to apologize to those customers who have had trouble accessing ATX support this week. We have been working around the clock to address the reasons for the temporary problems—most of which were the result of the implementation of a new phone system. Call times have been dramatically reduced today and we believe the issues will be completely resolved by the end of day today. We thank you for your patience and regret any problems you have encountered. We appreciate our customers greatly and we are committed to serving you well by offering the products and services that meet your needs. I also want to reassure all of our customers that we are committed to continuing the ATX product line and that we will do everything necessary to deliver a high level of service for you this tax season and in the future.

Lenny Holt

Sr. Vice President

CCH Small Firm Services

Let's all get back to work, OK?

gll

09:26 AM | Permalink

[OldJack]

I note today that the website will no longer take comments. http://www.thetechgap.com/2008/01/cch-small-firm.html

I guess they decided there may be too many of us posting if they left it open.

[Karen Lee]

There is alot of truth in the comment about a few of us vocally unhappy and more just preparing our tax returns and getting on with business. HOWEVER...we have been misinformed about how CCH is going to treat the ATX product. It can be found on the web the original letters sent to ATX users that support and sales would still be in Caribou. Websites have not been updated to reflect operational changes. Just recently MyATX is being updated with"fixes". CCH continues to talk about the "future" of ATX but since I am not realizing the "benefits" of CCH acquired ATX as stated I find it hard to believe there is a "future" ATX and we will be the last to know. I don't want to renew for MAX just to have TaxWise to hit my door and I have to learn a new program. I would like to take control of my business and learn a new program and more specifically, a program of my choice, during November. Communication would be nice. A generic apology from a desk jockey is not my idea of communication.

The program is changing and we haven't been informed. It is by trial and error we are finding out what is going on with processing E-Files and bank products. The process for logging in for MyATX was changed but somehow I missed the notification (if there was one) and spent weeks not being able to log in and called support 4 times, reviewed the process and find out that the "Help" instructions were not clear or maybe even wrong.

I'm a one person show here. I need this forum and needed the "old" community. More problems were solved for me by just reading the forum and not having to call tech support. We had William and Kerry and others popping up to help us resolve issues. We still have KC to help us with her tax knowledge and "ATX power user" status however I think she is feeling a little anxiety about the whole ATX "future" also.

I am vocally unhappy because I want to send a message to CCH. TALK TO ME AND ALL OTHER ATX USERS. I WANT TO KNOW WHEN A PROBLEM MAY ARISE NOT JUST ENCOUNTER A PROBLEM AND THEN RECEIVE AN APOLOGY.

Karen Lee

PS What is the official attrition expected?

[Karen Lee]

Also...

It is only wise not to have redundancy in product and support such as ATX and TaxWise. Good business sense on CCH's part for consolidating sales and support. Their methodology is lacking as well as the timing.

Karen Lee