Get your taxes done using TurboTax

I had a terrible experience with Intuit and TurboTax today and this issue where it won't let you pay, and if you want the short version: go somewhere else to file your taxes. 

A week ago, I completed my taxes using TurboTax online. My filing required the "Deluxe" version, so that's $69 (pre 2/28 discount) right there, plus the $39 for state filing. OK. When I got to the part where I pay and file, you get presented with two choices: Pay Now (by credit card) or, Pay with Refund, for an extra $39 convenience fee. Now, I don't know who in their right mind would do that, but ok. Unfortunately, clicking "Pay Now" brought me to the spinning blue dots and wouldn't work. I tried Chrome, Firefox, and Edge browsers. I cleared my cache. I figured, site's broken, it's early in tax season, I'll try again later. To be clear: I never get to the screen where I can enter my credit card info. I click "Pay Now" and it spins. No opportunity to enter a payment method. 

Fast forward to today, 2/23. The product discount period is running out and I'm certain all forms are complete, so again, I go to file which brought me to the Pay Now or Pay with Refund options. Pay Now, once again, brings me to spinning blue dots. No form, no way to enter payment info, just spinning. I found this post, and several others like it online, and realized I'm not the only one with this issue. I tried different browsers. Chrome. Firefox. Edge. Cleared cache on each, re-logged in, rebooted, still spinning dots. I tried a different computer, same exact effect with different browsers. I tried my phone. Same thing. If you don't think this is a technical issue on Intuit's side then I don't know what to tell you. I contacted tech support for help and asked for a call back. 

Got a call back from a friendly customer service rep who really had no idea how to help me. We went through the whole thing again, together. Browsers. Clearing cache. Different computer. Mobile device. All spinning blue dots to pay with credit card. We came to the agreement, the issue wasn't me, or my computers, or my phone - it was Intuit. But there was no resolution so she walked me through paying via Refund. Now, I didn't want to do this, but she assured me the $39 convenience fee would be refunded. But you have to put in a bunch of additional info because then your refund is routed through a third party, that takes their cut, and sends you the rest. What a pain. Once that was said and done, did I get the refund? No. I got assurances that "within 48 hours" I'll get a notification that is is "pending." 

Here's the best part. As I'm going through this process, I got bumped from Deluxe to Premier - so an extra $30 on top of everything else. I talked to the rep about this, she says, sorry, I guess you had some forms that are for Premier. Do you have rental property? No. Oh, I'll send you a refund request form then. OK. 

I get the refund request form via email, fill it out, explain my situation, and provide the Case # from my call. I kid you not, I get a response back within 20 minutes:

"We are unable to process the refund for TurboTax Online product Case #xxxxxxxx because our Satisfaction Guaranteed policy only covers TurboTax CD/Download products. TurboTax Online is designed not to charge the customer until after they choose to file, so it is not covered under the Satisfaction Guarantee."

So, let's add this up:

1. Over a week, I can't pay for my Intuit TurboTax Online product.

2. I spend a not-insignificant amount of time trying various troubleshooting steps on my own: different browsers, clearing cache, different computers, mobile devices. All the same result. 

3. I spend over 1 hour (not an exaggeration, 1 hour 4 minutes according to my call log) with an Intuit customer service rep doing all the things I had done previously without resolution.

4. I'm forced to use the Pay by Refund option as an alternative with (empty?) promises that the $39 convenience fee will be refunded. 

5. I have to provide my info to a 3rd party bank in order to process the Pay by Refund request. 

6. TurboTax bumped me, during this process, from Deluxe to Premier with my realizing it.

7. Once complete, I was not given a refund. 

8. Was told to fill out a form to refund the upgraded TurboTax version. 

9. Denied a refund because TurboTax Online is not subject to a satisfaction guarantee. 

10. I'm a miserably unsatisfied customer and I hope that if you read all this, you'll avoid using the product altogether.