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HERE’S A LESSON IN QUESTIONABLE CUSTOMER SERVICE – DON’T MESS WITH SOMEONE WHO HAS A BLOG THAT PEOPLE ACTUALLY READ

January 13, 2011 6:37 pm / 4 Comments on HERE’S A LESSON IN QUESTIONABLE CUSTOMER SERVICE – DON’T MESS WITH SOMEONE WHO HAS A BLOG THAT PEOPLE ACTUALLY READ

By Stacie Clifford Kitts CPA

I just can’t help myself. I need to tell you because you are not going to believe what I am doing right now.

If you are familiar with popular tax and write-up software companies, i.e. you’re a CPA or tax professional, then you might recognize the number that’s showing on my phone in this picture.

Let me break down what you are looking at.

The 800 number showing on the screen represents the “customer service” number for my tax software provider. The bottom right hand number represents the time that has passed since I have been on the phone trying to resolve an issue with the software.

Now the first hour of time that is depicted reflects the time I spent with a technician who was trying to get my custom letterhead to work properly. The idea of adding your letterhead to the software is to save time. That is, when I print a tax return, the transmittal letter and filing instructions will print on my letterhead eliminating a processing step. Yeah for everyone because the less time I spend on a return theoretically the more savings I can pass onto my clients. Very cool – if it worked!

Anyway, the tech was very nice and told me he would call me back tomorrow when he had more time to figure out why it wasn’t working.

This is when I made my fatal mistake and asked to be transferred to a different department so I could resolve yet another problem with the software. The person who took this call was unable to assist me and asked if she could put me on hold to research the issue. As of the writing of this blog, I have been on hold for over 65 additional minutes (a total of 2 hours and 5 minutes of time on the phone with you know who).

What do you think? Is my friendly customer service rep who had no idea how to answer my question heading home, or maybe she’s already home getting ready for bed spending time with her family – while I languish on hold like a spurned desperate lover hoping someone will come back to the phone and resolve my problem.

That’s right loyal readers, she forgot about me. ***Ugh*** I feel like such a loser. 😦

2010 in Review – The Health of Stacie’s More Tax Tips – I Feel Like Doing The Snoopy Dance!

January 2, 2011 7:35 pm / 1 Comment on 2010 in Review – The Health of Stacie’s More Tax Tips – I Feel Like Doing The Snoopy Dance!

I think the stats presented below provide interesting insight into my blog, so I thought – what – the – heck – why not share.

so let’s see – 25,000 visitors (like I said see below) may seem like a drop in the bucket to tax bloggers the likes of the Tax Prof, but you know what – I am absolutely thrilled! I have 117 Facebook fan’s and a whole bunch of subscribers. I am turning cartwheels (well in my head) at this very moment.

Other exciting things have happened this last year as well (which unfortunately have affected my ability to post as much as I would like – but you can’t have everything :-)).

I have a new partnership, Katherman Kitts & Co. LLP – the offices are located in a high-rise across from the Irvine Spectrum (a huge shopping center) – so the fact that I have moved my stay home tax practice to an actual office doesn’t suck!

I am having the time of my life finding just the right staff and of course decorating the office space.

How do you know when you have finally “made” it? Well, my litmus test – the flat screen tv and lovely sofa enhancing the awesome view from my corner office. *heavy sigh*

I truly wish the same level of success and happiness for all my family, friends, clients and loyal readers this coming year.

Now I think this calls for a Snoopy Dance, care to join me?

The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how my blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads Wow.

Crunchy numbers

This blog was viewed about 25,000 times in 2010.

In 2010, there were 181 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 464 posts.

The busiest day of the year was December 9th with 709 views. The most popular post that day was Watch Out Mortgage Debt Forgiveness Act is A Federal Provision. Does Your State Comply?.

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were tax-debtrelief.com , facebook.com, Google Reader, and search.aol.com.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for 990 instructions, form 990 instructions, form 8941, debt forgiveness act, and mortgage debt forgiveness act.