I misinterpreted your original question at the start. It didn't mention that you had already paid for a product. I thought you were seeking that free product to use. That's why I provided info on it, how to switch, etc..
You have since asked: "Should TurboTax have automatically determined that I qualify for Free File when it was running it's fancy animations checking for every deduction?"
They don't mention it among their regular Online TurboTax products. So the "should" is certainly debatable. But their product selection tool does not do that.
This is mainly a user community forum. I'm a fellow user and longtime forum helper, and I don't work for TurboTax. I don't agree with a lot of their marketing strategies. I agree TurboTax doesn't make the IRS Free File Program easy to find. For people who go to the IRS website to seek a free product (where there are several choices of companies and some have different qualifications), if they choose a TurboTax product there, they are taken directly to the special TurboTax IRS Free File website.
That being said, they are not alone in that regard. So maybe the IRS requires that they keep them separate. I just went to two of the well-known companies listed at the IRS site, and the links from the IRS website took me directly to their special IRS Free File page. I then navigated on my own to each company's main webpage and sought a product. Those 2 companies also didn't have any mention of their IRS Free File product in their main product selection page--at least not in the few minutes I spent trying--so I don't know how easy it is for their users to find their Free File website who initially go to their regular product page. I don't know if they have links in any of their secondary pages or not.
In any case, if you want to discuss it with folks at TurboTax, here's how. I don't know if they will do anything, but plead your best case, tell them you qualified for the IRS Free File program but couldn't find it. They may say that continuing on to pay indicated your acceptance of the terms. But it can't hurt to try.
Hours are 5AM-9PM Pacific (8AM-12 Midnight Eastern) 7 days/week.
You can use this contact form to get a phone number:
https://support.turbotax.intuit.com/contact
Or we can tell you how to send email to the office of Intuit President, if you wish to leave Corporate a comment.
