Preparing to be Frustrated, but NOT by the IRS!
Written: Feb 23 '03 (Updated Feb 23 '03)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Relatively cheap
Cons: It doesn't work.
The Bottom Line: Run away. Far away.
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| caradoc's Full Review: H&R Block TaxCut 2002 Platinum |
After several years of filing my returns through H&R Block's "TaxCut for Macintosh," I've had both good and bad experiences.
For TaxCut 2002, the experience is *bad*. I installed the software from the CD, told it to check for the updates (since TaxCut is never released on CD in a "ready-to-use" format) and then told it to import last year's tax return to use as the basis for this year's return.
It doesn't work. It fails rather spectacularly in trying to open a file that doesn't exist (atrPartnerinfo.xml) and their telephone "support" people tell me it's a "known issue" that should be solved by the end of the month.
This revelation occurred *after* installing the software, and then downloading their 17MB patch, and isn't mentioned anywhere on their website. Good thing I'm not on a dialup connection, eh? I think I'd be even more upset if I'd wasted a few hours downloading the patcher and then discovered that it was still broken.
Since I'd rather not spend any time entering all of the information manually (that's why I bought TaxCut again - I wanted to reuse last year's information!) I haven't bothered to try anything else in the application.
Why does Block persist in shipping software that isn't ready to use? If I wanted to spend my day troubleshooting before actually working on the tax return, I'd be running Windows instead of a Macintosh, and buying Microsoft applications.
This one's been returned to Staples. I don't have time to wait for software publishers to fix things that are broken in the box at the time they ship it.
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
caradoc
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 - Top 500 |
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Member: John Groseclose
Location: Scottsdale, AZ
Reviews written: 182
Trusted by: 133 members
About Me:
System admin, technology addict, knife thrower, and dog "caregiver."
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