TurboTax is emailing millions of its customers today to apologize for recent changes to its Deluxe Edition. Software maker Intuit is also offering a rebate to those users who had to spend more to upgrade to another version.
“We messed up,” writes TurboTax general manager Sasan Goodarzi in that email. “I am very sorry for the anger and frustration we may have caused you.”
TurboTax users are loyal customers. Many were furious when they learned that this year’s desktop version of TurboTax Deluxe had been downsized. The company removed Schedules C, D, E and F – the forms needed to report income from investments, self-employment and rental property income. To get that full functionality, customers must spend an additional $30 to $40 to upgrade to other versions of TurboTax.
Intuit announced that it will rebate $25 to customers who used TurboTax Deluxe desktop software last year and needed to upgrade to TurboTax Premier or Home & Business to file their 2014 returns. That rebate is available to those who apply after they file their return. To get the money back customers are required to provide their Social Security number.
In its email to customers, Intuit explained that the software changes were made to keep the customer experience consistent across various platforms. Schedules C, D, E and F have already been removed from the online version. “We owe our customers an apology,” Julie Miller, Intuit’s vice president of communications, told NBC News. “We clearly did not execute that change in a manner that was respectful to our loyal customers and we didn’t do enough to communicate those changes to them thoroughly so they weren’t caught by surprise."
IN-DEPTH
-- Herb Weisbaum, NBC News contributor