I am working with an accountant on installing ATX 2012 tax software (from CCH) with one main Windows 7 64-bit machine the accountant uses (that will be the “server”) and a second Windows 7 64-bit computer that a helper uses during the heavy tax season.
Following the user guide, I choose Network (not Stand-Alone), and choose a folder in which I shared to “everyone,” but I get the error message: “The location you selected is not available to other workstations on the network. Please select a different location or create a a shared location and try again.” I can access the locations that I tried on the other computer, but no matter where I choose, it won’t do it.
The user guide says, “Unlike stand-alone installations, network installations cannot be installed to the default Program Files directory. You must select another directory, such as a mapped or local drive.” So the guide says I should be able to, but it won’t work.
In early January I went ahead and ran the Stand-Alone installation to get it working, figuring that I would fix it when I went onsite. On January 22, I called ATX support at 11:30am. After waiting about 15 minutes to talk to a first level person, she said I needed to uninstall ATX and reinstall with the “Custom” option, not Stand-Alone. I told her there is not “Custom” option, just “Network”. She insisted that I choose “Custom.” Sensing that she had probably never installed ATX in her life, I hung up and gave it a shot. Then I ran into the problem above again. I called back and got a first level person again quickly and she didn’t seem to know anything about this error and had a very hard time typing it all in her computer very fast. After consulting with some others, she said I needed to talk to a “tech.” Since I was onsite billing the customer by-the-hour, I asked how long it would be; she replied that it would be an hour. Being that now the accountant had no ATX installed, I figured that I better wait.
After 17 minutes, the call dropped. Ugh. I cal led back, got back in line again — from the back. I searched their knowledge base, but couldn’t find anything like this problem. I logged into their customer forum site and found other that did have this problem. No solution was given, and it didn’t look like anyone from ATX bothers to read or reply to any of the posts. One user did a workaround method of mapping a network drive to a network name of a directory on his own computer, which worked. I considered this, but ATX would not work if the router was disconnected or failed, so I chose not to go that route.
I waited about 1 hour 45 minutes on hold (with repeated messages to go to the website to look for help to common problems and them telling me that the call was VERY important to them), but needed to leave to get to my next appointment. I left the call on hold anyway. FINALLY, 2 hours 22 minutes in and a technician answered. I have a tremendous amount of patience, but when he told me that this is a known issue that they were working to fix with a new release, I lost my temper.
In the end I apologized for yelling at him and said that it was not his fault, but I was extremely angry at ATX for how poorly the company is run and how they have treated me. He told me that uninstalling and reinstalling with the Network option would not work (terrible advice by the first level), as many hidden directories need to be deleted.
Just checking myatx.com today, I see this: “The target date for the 12.5 update is Monday, January 28th.” I’ll try it and report here with my finding.
ATX, why:
- do you not tell your first level group about known issues so I don’t waste billable hours of my customers?
- do you not post on the customer forum when they run into known issues?
- do the first level group sound like they’ve never done a day of tech support in their lives?
- do you not give the ability to give a call back phone number and have technician call when I’ve wait the unreasonable amount of time that you require? Do toll-free bills matter to you?
- do you not tell me how many people are waiting in front of me so I know whether I should wait or not?
- do you not give me the ability to schedule a time in advance with a technician?
- do you not hire more real technicians for the months of January and February?
[UPDATE 2/13/13] Since this post, I’ve been reading the forums popular with ATX users:
https://community.atxinc.com/forums/default.aspx?GroupID=9
http://www.atxcommunity.com/
and it’s obvious that I wasn’t alone. I’ll be surprised if ATX makes it to 2013 Tax Year.
In my case, sadly, I setup both computers as Standalone and they can’t shared anything. But it works, albeit slower than last year. CCH really blew it badly and I hope they pay a big price for running their company so poorly.
