HTC and Intuit answer for busted ringers and incomplete tax advice

My mailbox is rife with requests for solutions to less-than-earth-shattering but irksome gripes. Though I often handle them individually through email, they can sometimes be instructive to other readers as well, so I thought I’d share a couple.

Sound off: An HTC/Sprint phone that won’t ring

Alesia asked if I could track down a solution to a truly irritating problem with her mobile phone: The HTC Snap phone she bought through Sprint stopped ringing for incoming calls a few weeks after the purchase. She thought to fix the problem by changing the ringtone, but the effort brought her face to face with another issue: “If I try to change the ringer, I get an error message that the settings cannot be saved.”

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A phone that won’t ring is nearly useless for anyone not trying to hide from creditors, but Alesia wanted a phone that would let her know when someone was calling. She went to a Sprint kiosk for help, not realizing this would be the beginning of an epic journey. From the kiosk, she was sent to a Sprint Store for better help and then to a Sprint Repair Center for expert help. This voyage led her right back to where she started.

She reports, “The repair center informed me that an HTC web update ‘broke’ the ringer on a number of HTC Snap phones and there is a fix in the works.” However, no one at the repair center knew when it would be available. Instead, they offered to lend her another phone, but that would mean transferring all her data to it, followed by transferring it all back when the problem is fixed.

“Of course I have nothing else to do except serve at the cell phone companies’ convenience,” she says.

I didn’t fare much better — it appears HTC really doesn’t know when the fix is due. A spokesperson told me, “We are aware that a recent software update to the HTC Snap for Sprint created an issue where ring tones can no longer be changed. HTC is working on an update to rectify this issue but we do not have specific timing on when this update will be available.”

Can you trust TurboTax?

Rich asked me to put a strongly worded question to Intuit because, he says, “Contacting Intuit directly is impossible.”

His question is, essentially, about trust. His was brought into doubt by what he sees as a major omission on the part of the software. “On April 5,” he says. “The IRS issued a directive for NJ residents affected by the March storms that allows taxpayers in affected NJ counties to postpone filing and tax payment until May 11th.”

He thought his TurboTax software should have shared this bit of information with him. Instead, he asserts, “there is nothing in the TurboTax application to alert us NJ residents of this. I allowed a check for updates each time I started the software but it continued to ask if I would like to file for an extension. TurboTax has the state and municipality codes so there’s no reason it cannot alert me of this extension. Isn’t this what we’re paying Intuit for … helpful guidance on filing our 1040s? Now I’m wondering if there are other IRS directives that we may be missing.”

I was able to reach Intuit, and a spokesperson told me: “TurboTax is always up to date with the latest tax law changes. There is not a change to the tax code for taxpayers who have been affected by the recent flooding in the north east. The IRS extended the filing deadline for several counties in MA, NJ, RI and WV until May 11th. TurboTax has done what it can notify and help taxpayers affected by the flooding including posting an FAQ on TurboTax.com, putting up a blog post on the TurboTax Blog and offering free tax help for affected taxpayers at FreeTaxQuestion.com.”

In fact, there appears to be a lot of useful information at that TurboTax blog. While researching Rich’s complaint, I decided it was worth subscribing to its free RSS feed. Now I’m glad I filed an extension because I might have missed some tax credits.

Got gripes? Send them to christina_tynan-wood@infoworld.com.

This story, “HTC and Intuit answer for busted ringers and incomplete tax advice,” was originally published at InfoWorld.com. Read more of Christina Tynan-Wood’s Gripe Line blog at InfoWorld.com.