REP billing not giving credit for large payment in January NO ONE TO PHONE THAT UNDERSTANDS

[PuzzlingInGa]

Anybody else not being credited by REP for payments???? I paid a large amount early January in advance for REP (I try to get close to what I will owe for the primary season so as not to overlook a statement.  I WILL NOT enroll in auto pay for ANYTHING in my life; for heavens sake why would I trust computer systems that can't even credit my manual payments??)   I called the only number given us to talk to a human. Human wanted my credit card information. It was a though she didn't even hear me speak the fact that I OWE NOTHING at this time.    I sent a doc to Lacerte with evidence of payment. This is exceedingly frustrating, especially during our stressful time of primary tax season.   gahhhh... What is going on????

[Karl]

As gently as I can say this, and please don't shoot the messenger, I think you're wanting a custom level of service (being able to pre-pay for REP charges and get them applied) that might be difficult or impossible for Intuit/Lacerte to provide.

I'll concede that they *should* be able to easily do this. But sometimes in big organizations with big legacy systems, the right hand can't talk to the left hand in unique ways (like prepayments being applied to charges).

Think of this in terms of your practice. We all get to run our practices differently. Some tax pros will bend over backwards to make an easy and smooth experience for the client. I take a pretty rigid approach with my clients: do these things my way or you respectfully cannot be a client (upload all docs to portal, all calls must be scheduled, work is entirely remote). Every exception takes extra energy and processing time, and I am willing to forego the revenue from the clients that would want to bring me paper docs or phone me on their timetable.

The best I can recommend is to call the Support number and when they ask you to describe your issue, say "billing." That should get you over to the Sales team away from the Support team. Maybe you've already done that, I don't know from your post.

But if you want to reduce these headaches for yourself in the future, and you want to stay with Lacerte, I'd gently recommend you consider doing REP payments their way and setting whatever reminders or systems you need in place to allay your concerns and make sure you don't miss a statement.

[PuzzlingInGa]

lol. Not going to shoot the messenger.   Please understand that I have been with Lacerte since their beginnings. I have done exactly this procedure every year for a very long time: since long ago when I was several days late with a payment because mail was delayed, and they threatened to freeze my account.  SO.... if they have CHANGED their procedures so they can no longer handle this, one would think that during the past seven weeks since my payment was received by them... they'd have notified me???   OR sent me a refund if they aren't capable of handling my payment?   We're talking thousands of dollars here that I'm not credited with... for a seven week period.  Yes, I did say "billing". Yes, that got me to the Billing person on staff, who wanted my credit card information since I "haven't paid".   Thanks very much for your gentle advice.   It doesn't help me to get credited for that payment, however. 😉   (Been in business 43 years)

[Karl]

Thank you for receiving it graciously. I agree that you should have been notified if there was a process change on their end.

I'm sorry getting over to billing didn't help. After that, the only thing I'd recommend is asking for a supervisor if you don't feel understood.

I hope you're able to get it resolved soon. I know you definitely have other things to focus on this time of year. 🙂