I buy a lot of crap online. Much of it comes from Amazon, of course, but I also order stuff from other online stores – Walgreens, Home Depot, Office Depot, Chewy for cat food and supplies, various suppliers of appliance maintenance equipment like refrigerator water filters, gaskets, and whatnot. This is all very convenient – particularly during a COVID or Zombie apocalypse, but it is not without hazard.
For the past few years, I have ordered my TurboTax products online, and most often downloaded the software directly to my computer. Before I go on, let me say that I think that tax preparation software is a racket. Most tax preparation could occur online at the offices of the IRS were it not for a tax preparation industry lobby that has influenced Congresspersons to stifle the IRS’s development of free, online tax preparation.
Let’s hear it for lobbying, Yea! Desgraciados.
Today, I downloaded TurboTax Premier and TurboTax Home and Business from Amazon’s site. The former lets me file my personal taxes and includes the ability to report income from investments. The Home and Business version is required if you are self-employed (I’m retired) or are the trustee for some kind of trust (I am). Together, they cost ~$150. I chose to download these apps from Amazon because they had the best price. Target and Office Depot have discounted prices for them as well.
After the downloads, I installed the Premier version without incident. But when I tried to install the Home & Office version, I slowly realized that what Amazon had given me was just another version of the Premier version – same software but with a different product picture. In other words, I didn’t get the actual Home and Office version. I hunted for ways to report the problem to Amazon – no joy. Susan searched online for a remedy – she too hit a stone wall. Crap!
After exploring other ways of securing the software, I decided to order the CD-ROM from Amazon. I should have done that from the start. Now I know, if Amazon sends you the wrong disc, you can return it; if they send you the wrong download, you’re focked.
The actual physical artifact costs no more than the download, and it cuts into Amazon’s profit margin a bit more because they have to deliver the CD-ROM to your house. I say Fock Them!