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TurboTax Deluxe 2003

TurboTax Deluxe 2003

List Price: $39.95
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Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Quicken to Turbotax Import and tech support slipping
Review: Been a loyal Quicken/Turbotax users for ten years. Very disappointed in the import with Turbotax 2004 (Tax Year 2003).

Main reason for sticking with the two products is the nice compatibility they've always had in the past.

Attempting to import Quicken 2004 data into Turbotax gives a "No information exists for Quicken." error.

No free support via phone. Phone support is $14.95 per incident if you can get through and only 8-5 on M-F. Also offer online chat for support also only 8-5 and M-F. Not very convenient for the home user. Got disconnected on the chat on the first try. Second attempt just received links on how to import txf files. Those files are supposed to be for importing from non-Intuit products. Msg'd this to the very junior tech support and his answer was "this is a new version for both TurboTax and Quicken, maybe this will be fixed in the January release." New version? It's a new version every year for both products.

After the poor quality of the Quicken 2004 product, I'm very concerned with the quality of the Turbotax 2004 product.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: news on update and filing problems
Review: Finally got answers to my problems. Many come from having a DSL connection.
One Touch Updates: you have to close all programs for start up (run: msconfig)- uncheck all the boxes on the startup page except explorer (or other web connection) and turbotax, apply, and restart. Should be able to download. Don't forget to go back and reset the start up page, or many programs might not operate correctly!

Troubles filing: comes from your DSL provider's settings. I don't have the full details, but I kept getting 3 error messages dealing with IRS network resetting, unsupported security, and another I can't remember. Anyway, after talking to support, I was able to send by using a dial-up connection - No Problems. I hope this helps, folks.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Worked well for FED. form, poorly for state form.
Review: First of all, I want to say that I am a formerly happy Turbotax user for the last 3 years. This year, however, was a totally different story. After purchasing my Turbotax software via the CD received in the mail for $39.95 including free state download, I noticed the same deal available at Target for $29.95. Okay, small potatoes. I successfully completed my Federal tax form. However, when the program offered to download updates, the problems began. My PC froze up on the download option, and Turbotax was never the same. My attempts to download my "free" state tax form were totally in vain. I called Intuit to talk to a real person, but after 1.25 hours on hold, I gave up. I wound up completing my state taxes by hand. I have changed from a Turbotax fan to a belief that the company has evolved into a money-grubbing corporation that has forgotten the consumer. I will be seeking alternative software next year, or completing taxes by hand. Thanks for nothing, Turbotax.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Solution to Direct Debit Issue
Review: FYI - Intuit has acknowledged that some customers encountered a problem with direct debit of 1Q04 estimated taxes that they did not intend to make as a result of an operation within the product. They've been working all week with both the IRS and payment processor to come up with a quick resolution for customers which they've just announced. Customers impacted by this just need to call 800-945-8400 to arrange to have the debited amount credited back to their account. There's more detailed information posted on the TurboTax support center web site (search for "debit" in the KB and it comes up as the first option) or link directly via http://support.turbotax.com/kb/ViewDocument.asp?documentId=1325&categoryId=80068 .

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Another long-time customer gone.
Review: Had been a faithful Turbotax user for 10 years but this year was the last time. Unless Turbotax makes a media statement that acknowledges they really had some bugs this year, I will never look at their products again.

Had problems during the install a few days before April 15th ... a missing file. An Internet search found a December 2003 reference in PC Magazine to the same problem but Intuit had no solution then. Hey, that was four months ago! Surely they have a solution. Nope. No reference to the problem in Turbotax knowledgebase. I contacted Support and they had no clue about the problem. I've been doing software for more than a few years and it took me about 10 minutes to identify the source of the problem ... an invalid install file. After 20 minutes, Support finally pointed me to a non-Intuit web site for a potential solution and basically said, "Good luck to you."

Well, adios Turbotax. I can barely tolerate that they shipped a product with a very discoverable install error but I CANNOT accept that they had no clue how to fix it 4+ months after it was first reported.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Surprised at all the negative reviews
Review: I am so surprised to see all the negative reviews. My turbotax worked fine. I usually do my taxes by hand, but I have used turbotax in the past. I did download any updates that became available. I also got the state version and e-filed for both. All of it went incredibly smoothly. If you just have to fill out 1040EZ it isn't worthwhile, but the auto fill in is a big time saver for 1040 filers, especially if you have to do the capital gains calculations.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Surprised at all the negative reviews
Review: I am so surprised to see all the negative reviews. My turbotax worked fine. I usually do my taxes by hand, but I have used turbotax in the past. I did download any updates that became available. I also got the state version and e-filed for both. All of it went incredibly smoothly. If you just have to fill out 1040EZ it isn't worthwhile, but the auto fill in is a big time saver for 1040 filers, especially if you have to do the capital gains calculations.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Turbo Tax 2003 was a COMPLETE RIP OFF!!!
Review: I bought this product after using Taxcut for years. Taxcut has gone rebate crazy and I thought I'd give Turbo Tax a try. Bought the product in December of 2003 for some tax planning. It would not read Tax cut files - how incredible. The update to read Taxcut files wasn't available until Jan 2004 and then it would not read state files from Taxcut. Then there was a printing problem where the solution was to manually search font files and manually delete them and reinstall the program. I wound up buying Taxcut to do my taxes. Just for comparison I entered the same data into both programs - TurboTax came up with different results- owed more taxes. Now I remember why I stopped using Quicken and anything else to do with Intuit. How this company stays in business with putting out this kind of software is hard to explain. Stay away.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: WARNING! TurboTax Overdrew My Bank Account!
Review: I have been a TurboTax user since 1986. This year, the software malfunctioned and sent the IRS over $3500 for an estimated tax payment that I did not authorize. In fact, I specifically instructed the product NOT to make estimated tax payments. This caused my account to be overdrawn and cost me a lot of money.

Product Support was terrible. I had to give my credit card number before I could even speak to someone. When I did, they told me the wrong thing. It took me two weeks and many headaches to get the money refunded. I have lost time and money because this product. I will never purchase TurboTax again.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Terrible Customer Service System
Review: I have been using Turbo Tax for the last 4 years,and though they installed spyware,I did not want to go ahead and change s/w during tax season - so I kept my system off the network ,till I filed,and once all came back ok,I uninstalled TT.
This year,I almost bought Tax Cut - but hey-known devils are better than unknown ones,and I know my way around the screens,interviews,etc of TT
So I did it,filed,all went off smoothly.
Every year,After April 15th ,I always order the IRS Transcripts and account activity for my account,so I have a copy of what the IRS has ,just to be safe.
I was happy with TT,and would recommended folks stick to the s/w they are used to ,and comfortable with - price wise there's not a huge diff.
Also,I got my mail in rebates just fine.


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