Grab yourself some coffee and take a load off, this one's going to take awhile.
Our story begins a few days ago, but will likely continue for years to come. Actually, it seems the story started about two years ago judging by former posts on this very forum. The issue? The TurboTax website failing to load over and over again. There's almost a beauty in how horrible the TT site has been, if it wasn't for being on the last step of finishing my taxes for 2021.
I've done the math, imported my W-2, connected API keys to crypto exchanges, reviewed and reviewed, and double-checked my math. Things were moving along albeit slowly, but progress was being made. Then it happened: I paid TurboTax $180 for an order to submit my Federal and State returns. Almost done! I cried in delight, this annual slog coming to a close.
BUT! Not so fast! TurboTax's website decided to throw a wrench directly in my face. The first issue appeared when attempting to review my documents (you know, the screen that suggests reviewing your name, SSN, and W-2 info before eFiling). No big deal, I thought. I'll review and get a chance to print PDFs for my records. Was I wrong.
A screen popped up saying, "Hang tight, this may take a moment." Then "504 Bad Gateway." Strange, but I'm seen weirder things happen. Take a beat, hit refresh. Another Bad Gateway. Not a good sign. Against my better judgment, I decide to proceed. I'm confident my information is correct as I've checked, double-checked, triple-checked my information before arriving at this yet unknown looping Hellscape.
Proceeding to "Finish & File," TurboTax proceeds as usual with the spinning circle. It's thinking, things take some time. But then I'm greeted with yet another error, "Oops!" TurboTax exclaims. "Sorry about this! Sometimes the connection between your browser and our server can be dropped as it traverses the Internet." Kitschy.
No worries, I'll click on your provided "Try Again" button. And again, "OOPS!"
Strange. I'll switch from Chrome to Safari. "OOPS!"
Okay, I'll try Firefox. "OOPS!"
Hmm, perhaps Microsoft Edge will do the trick. I've never used it, it won't have any cookies or cache stored.
"OOPS!"
Perhaps if I cycle through each browser, using their respective Incognito/Private modes? "OOPS!"
Not looking good, friends. Clear cache/cookies? That's an "OOPS!"
Be sure to disable any adblockers? "OOPS!"
Try a VPN. Maybe it's a regional outage? "OOPS!"
Try to tether to my phone's hotspot. "OOPS!"
TurboTax has an app! That has to work. "OOPS!"
TurboTax app not on WiFi? "OOPS!"
No luck.
On the verge of defeat, I decide to reach out to another human being. Maybe this is a known issue at TurboTax. Besides, I've come across forum posts dating back to 2020 with users reporting a similar issue. Surely, a 131 billion dollar company would have rectified such an issue. But you know what they say about making assumptions..
Enter Emma. She's a sweet woman, although possibly a bit out of her league when dealing with tech issues. But that's okay, she attempted to help me the best she could. We shared my screen, had a few laughs, but ultimately was told to contact my ISP because it's an Internet issue. Very unlikely not the case as my Internet is functioning just fine.
Calling back to the extremely helpful people at TurboTax, I proceeded to be placed on hold for about 20 minutes while listening to music that would very likely cause permanent hearing damage had my phone not been on speaker. But, I digress. I'm met with another woman who proceeds to place me on hold while she "gathers information." That's fine, she didn't even listen to my issue, but maybe she knows something I don't. Unfortunately, I will never know as she hung up on me.
It is said the third time is the charm. So, I dial up TT again. This time I'm met by a very pleasant Customer Service rep named Jasmine. To her credit, she was very sweet and genuinely wanted to solve my issue. Quite honestly, I think her talents are wasted at TurboTax. Alas, Jasmine could not help me as we tried sharing a screen, clearing cookies/cache, and cycling through my now vast array of browser choices. We decided that it was potentially network congestion causing the issue. Granted, it is tax season, and I'm sure there are thousands of people trying to file at the moment - but that brings up another issue in itself: the lack of preparation on TT's end for the annual influx of users to submit tax returns.
I warned you this was long.
It's now been six hours with no answers. What shall I do? Someone suggested reaching out to CEO Sasan Goodarzi via Twitter for help. Seems a bit unnecessary, but I'm desperate. I just want this story to end.
No luck.
I see TurboTax fielding Twitter complaints left, right, and center. "Please send us a DM and we'll be happy to assist you!" At this point, I seriously doubt anyone can help, but again, desperate.
This is where Kiauna, Cain, and Lindsay enter our story. Although, their appearances will be short-lived as their only suggestions are..
You guessed it:
Clear cache. Clear cookies. Restart router and modem. Try mobile app.
Sure, why not? I'll go through all of it again.
"OOPS!"
"OOPS!"
"OOPS!"
Like clockwork at this point.
So, here we are. Twenty-four hours later and still unable to e-file. Hours lost due to support not listening to the issue, or lacking any kind of knowledge about said issue, and $180 lighter in my wallet. Funny how TurboTax had no issue charging me for an order but seems to hiccup every time I attempt to file. Telling sign of where their priorities lie.
I'm reaching out to you, yes you, those reading and posting issues on this forum. Has this been affecting anyone else? Anyone have any luck resolving such an issue?
From my research thus far, the following have been found:
- June 2019: https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/after-you-file/discussion/oops-it-appears-there-was-a-drop-in-our-...
- June 2020: https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/taxes/discussion/oops-it-appears-there-was-a-drop-in-our-connectio...
- February 2021: https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/taxes/discussion/error-message-oops-it-appears-there-was-a-drop-in...
The post from June 2020 being the most promising as users started to share the servers in which they are connecting through. (For what it's worth, I'm connected through https://us-east-2.).
Now, before @DanielV01 ,@EbonyL122824, @MichelleLO, et al. come swooping in with their sage advice to clear cookies and cache, try a different browser along with Icognito modes, restart routers and modems, try the app.. this vehemently do not work. It's not a user network issue. It's not a cookies/cache issue. It's a TurboTax issue somewhere. So please, for our collective sanity, do not suggest those things. If you do, I will surely know you are automated bots and/or trying to placate frustrated users by reading from a script.
As I am bringing this story to a close, Lindsay contacted me on Twitter suggesting I follow this post: https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/tax-topics/help/why-am-i-getting-an-oops-there-was-a-drop-in-our-c...
Unfortunately, the last update appears to have been from one month ago and is marked as "SOLVED."
Sorry, TurboTax, this is certainly not solved. Please, for the love of all that is good left in this world, figure something out to fix this issue.
