So easy to let your guard down
Today was an interesting day after experiencing a glitch in our Quickbooks online application.
Sharing so others will be more prepared if this happens to you.
Description of issue
I was trying to pay a tax, but every time I went to that section of the application, it took me back to the login. After doing it numerous times and switching browsers, I clicked on the help button in the application to look for support options.
Intuit needs to do a better job in this area - they have “experts”, etc and it is not a simple task to find a support call or chat. This is an issue!
I called one of the phone numbers listed for QB online and I felt confident that I was talking to Quickbooks support. He sent me Teamviewer so he could see my screen (my first mistake), letting him have hands-on access to my computer.
I showed him what was happening. He then put me on hold and then told me he had to transfer me to someone else.
The question here is was I talking to an Intuit tech support person and they saw a “live one”, so he forwarded me to this other person. Hard to know, but that’s how it feels.
This other person came on and told me he was the “lead expert” or some BS. He brought up a mock event viewer that showed my data was corrupt, and there was nothing I could do but a data restore. I thought it was kind of strange as I have the online version, and I asked about that. He said it didn’t matter if I had the desktop version or the online, the data issue was the same. I should have started getting suspicious at that point.
I found a post from another person that had this exact same thing happen to them. We all get so reliant on line of business applications and forget to think, as we panic.
What happened next?
He told me there were two options to get my data restored.
Use Intuit - it would take 8 to 10 days and I would have to fill out a form and send them my data.
Use them - XYZ Company (if you want more details on all this, let me know) - they could do in 1 to 2 hours.
Costs: one time restore + 1 month support - $599.00 or 1 year support with multiple restores - $849.00
What did I do?
I told him that I would go with the 849.00. He immediately brought up an online form for me to fill out my credit card information. I filled out the form but then started wondering why I was filling out a form that wasn’t Intuit.
I asked him why I wasn’t paying Intuit. He went on about telling me earlier that if I went with option two, it would be with XYZ company.
As I sat there, I started wondering how did I get to this company in the first place? Did they have a way to intercept phone numbers that were posted on Intuit’s website? Did I get some virus that caused the application to not work right?
Who knows.
How it all ended?
I told him that I would just go with the Intuit 8 to 10 days. I asked him if my card was charged and he said no he closed the form.
He had saved a text file on my desktop with contact information (supposed to make us feel good that we have a phone number for our purchased support). He deleted it before we disconnected. I restored it from the recycle bin.
I cancelled my credit card.
I reported fraud to Intuit.
My Quickbooks is working fine now???
It was time for a beer.
What was the response?
This is what I received. Not very helpful and I haven’t heard anything since.
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