I’ve just had about the worst imaginable experience with TurboTax Online and Intuit’s tech support. They’re both badly broken, and I just wasted an hour of my time getting nowhere. Here’s what I wrote to offer to Intuit as feedback. Unfortunately, their feedback form was apparently designed to only accept a much smaller amount of feedback, as this wouldn’t fit in the text field.
Hi, I would like to offer some feedback on your TurboTax Online product and on your online live tech support. My experience with both have been very poor, far below the standards I’m used to from Intuit.
First, I tried out TurboTax Online for the first time today. When I went to import last year’s tax return from my desktop version of TurboTax 2004, the web app never imported the data. Instead, it displayed a screen that says “Updating…” which never went away for over 30 minutes.
Second, I looked through your online knowledge base for troubleshooting problems important previous years’ data. It had instructions for doing the import, but nothing about what to do if the import is unsuccessful. That’s an area where you could improve your knowledge base.
So, I finally tried out your online live help through text chat. After waiting in the queue for much longer than was reasonable, I got connected to a support agent who was less than helpful about the problem. I got the feeling he didn’t really even know the TurboTax Online product, as he was asking me questions relevant to the desktop version of your software. For example, he referred to importing files through the File menu, but TurboTax Online doesn’t even have a file menu! The final straw was when he suggested I reboot my computer and try again. Given that this is a web application and none of the code resides on my computer, this is a ridiculous suggestion. Any technician who really understands how web applications work would know that rebooting the computer running the web browser isn’t going to fix anything.
Now I’m left with a bad taste in my mouth about the quality of both your TurboTax Online software and your online tech support. They both need work to bring them to the standards of quality I would expect from Intuit.
Sincerely,
Todd Bradley
In case you want to see the gory details, here’s my exchange with the online tech support guy. It really started off on a bad foot when I had to wait something like 15 or 20 minutes to get to chat with an agent in the first place. And then the first thing I learned was that the full description of the problem I already typed in somehow didn’t make it to the agent, so I had to repeat the whole story.
It’s enough to make me want to hire someone to do our taxes, for the first time ever.
Allan A: Thank you for contacting TurboTax Help and Support, my name is Allan A. How may I help you?
Todd: Hi, did you already read the long description of the problem I entered?
Allan A: im sorry but not yet, pls do send it again
Todd: are you serious?
Todd: The chat system asks for a fully detailed problem description and then discards it after the user has taken the time to describe the problem?
Allan A: You have been idle for more than 5 minutes. If you have sent your question and we have not yet replied to it, please resubmit your question.
Todd: ah
Todd: ok
Todd: I’m trying to use TurboTax Online. I used the non-online version last year.
Todd: I tried to import last year’s tax return file into TurboTax Online.
Todd: Once I selected the correct file and clicked the button to the do the import, the web page changed to say “Updating…”
Todd: and now it’s stuck in that state
Todd: It appears that TurboTax Online is stuck trying to import the file. It’s been over 20 minutes now and the screen still says “Updating…”
Allan A: non online? the desktop turbo tax?
Todd: yes
Allan A: Thank you for holding, I am still researching this issue could you hold for another moment please?
Todd: I checked the online help for assistance in troubleshooting what to do when the TurboTax Online import becomes unresponsive, but there was no help that I could find.
Allan A: Is this PC or Mac?
Todd: PC
Allan A: when your doing the import,did you choose the file menu, located at the upper left side?
Todd: no, TurboTax Online doesn’t have a file menu
Todd: I used the file selector dialog box that popped up when I clicked the Browse… button in the middle of the web page.
Allan A: did you save your last year tax return in the same computer?
Todd: yes
Allan A: before you import, did you clear your online data first?
Todd: no
Todd: this is a new return
Todd: and I didn’t see an option to clear the online data
Todd: how is that done?
Todd: ah, now I see
Todd: it’s Other Options -> Clear My Return
Todd: I just did that and am attempting again to import last year’s return
Allan A: follow the process, until the part it will it prompt you to import
Todd: OK, it is once again at the “Updating…” screen
Todd: How long should I expect to wait for the import to happen?
Allan A: are you using dsl?
Todd: no, cable modem
Todd: about 2 Mbps
Allan A: just wait for it to finish,pls dont interrupt the updating….
Todd: ok
Todd: it’s still updating
Todd: so far, it’s been about 5 minutes
Todd: last time it was over 30 minutes before I interrupted it
Allan A: if thats still the case,pls. reboot your computer,restart..then try importing again..
Todd: So I have a feeling there’s a bug in the web app software, since it’s definitely not taking that long to transfer a 1258 KB file.
Todd: Reboot my computer? You’ve got to be joking! This is a web application. All the application logic resides on the TurboTax web server, not on my computer. What do you expect to gain by rebooting the computer that’s just running a web browser?
Allan A: its just a part of general maintenance procedure…..we are just narrowing down the issue.
Todd: I could understand that for a desktop application, but for a web app it’s ridiculous.
Todd: I don’t see that this line of troubleshooting is really heading toward a resolution of this issue.
Todd: It sounds like your general maintenance procedures need to be improved.
Todd: Thanks for your help and patience. Goodbye.
Allan A: Thank you for contacting TurboTax Support.