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FTC judge decides Intuit’s ‘free’ TurboTax ads misled consumers

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Re: FTC judge decides Intuit’s ‘free’ TurboTax ads misled consumers

#3
Intuit is guilty of using a whole range of dark UI patterns to trick people into paying for products they don't need. Last year I almost paid $80 (surprise at the END of the entire TurboTax flow) and clicked back 10 steps to realize that they showed a deceptive screen that implied that you had to select that option.

Their marketing emails are particularly deceptive, and if you try to opt out of them and unsubscribe, they force you to enter personal information you don't readily have access to to "confirm your identity."

I lost a lot of respect for Intuit from the lack of respect they show consumers.

Re: FTC judge decides Intuit’s ‘free’ TurboTax ads misled consumers

#4
Glad to see they're facing consequences for this misleading nonsense. They got me one year where I went through the entire process only to find out at the end it cost money if I wanted to input my student loans. Due to that (and many other dark patterns noticed during the process) I will never voluntarily use an Intuit product again.

FreeTaxUSA doesn't pull any nonsense & I've been happy with it every year since.

Re: FTC judge decides Intuit’s ‘free’ TurboTax ads misled consumers

#5

Intuit is guilty of using a whole range of dark UI patterns to trick people into paying for products they don't need. Last year I almost paid $80 (surprise at the END of the entire TurboTax flow) and clicked back 10 steps to realize that they showed a deceptive screen that implied that you had to select that option. Their marketing emails are particularly deceptive, and if you try to opt out of them and unsubscribe,…

Other sites are no better. This yeah I went through the whole flow on H&R Block, and only at the end did they say they couldn't file my taxes because of one 1099-NEC. However I still had to pay full price to print out my forms. Which I had to print and send myself.

Re: FTC judge decides Intuit’s ‘free’ TurboTax ads misled consumers

#6

Intuit is guilty of using a whole range of dark UI patterns to trick people into paying for products they don't need. Last year I almost paid $80 (surprise at the END of the entire TurboTax flow) and clicked back 10 steps to realize that they showed a deceptive screen that implied that you had to select that option. Their marketing emails are particularly deceptive, and if you try to opt out of them and unsubscribe,…

Other sites are no better. This yeah I went through the whole flow on H&R Block, and only at the end did they say they couldn't file my taxes because of one 1099-NEC. However I still had to pay full price to print out my forms. Which I had to print and send myself.

I’m not going to shill too hard for a tax prep company, but I’ve used FreeTaxUSA for years and am satisfied. Cheap, simple, no hidden fees I’ve noticed.

Re: FTC judge decides Intuit’s ‘free’ TurboTax ads misled consumers

#9
post #7

At the time of writing this their stock is only down .41% or 2.41$. I’m sure they’ll get a fine of 1% of their earnings.

A company centered around accounting and taxes? They'll figure out a way to claim its 2000% of their earnings and on appeal claim that its too burdensome.

Re: FTC judge decides Intuit’s ‘free’ TurboTax ads misled consumers

#10

After a surprise bill of over $100 from H&R block I've been using FreeTaxUSA and have been very happy to pay $15 for state filing. The UI is just as good as TurboTax or H&R block.

The UI is better than taxAct which I'd been using for years. I got my taxes done in half the time without all the "wait while we calculate...".
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