It was time to renew my virus shield with Trend Micro. I've been with them since 2000 at least. It's the best virus shield ever. I've not had any virus issues with my machine at all since I've been using this shield. Further, their support was, once upon a time, excellent. However, their support has been outsourced to the Philippines.
They charged me The $39.95 for the purchase and then they charged me $2.50 tax. This is an on line, out of state purchase. There should not be a tax. I've never paid a tax for Trend purchases. They were advised, that unless Trend had a retail establishment in MA, the $2.50 charge is an error and needs to be removed. They wouldn't do anything about it and gave me a phone number to call.
I just called the number. The rep said they cannot refund the tax. She said we all pay tax every day on food and clothes and everything. She turned me over to her supervisor.
The sup said they could refund the entire purchase but they can't refund the tax. I said I want the Trend shield. I told him that in the United States, we are not charged a tax for on line out of state purchases and that this is according to the law. He said this will be referred to Customer Relations and they will explain the legality of our orders. So I have to wait to hear from them.
Checking Trend's site, gives an address in CA with another phone number. I need to speak with a USA citizen. Not sure if this will happen or if the phone # will redirect the call overseas. I also found out that Trend was originally started in the USA but is now owned and operated from Japan. This is upsetting me but I have a Honda in my garage. The Trend shield is superior. The customer service is the pits.
My credit card co is not going to charge me the $2.50 but the refund needs to happen. It should go to the cc co.
This should not be happening. It's ludicrous.
On the other hand.......I'm cured of cancer. I can be thankful that I am free enough to be concerned about something such as this. If they are automatically charging tax to everyone, where is that money going? I doubt Trend has a retail store in MA. They haven't said that they do. I asked them.
You know...........I've just had a huge major go around with Epson s(printer) upport, also in the Philippines. SIGH!
You raise a good point -- if it's "tax" who is it going to? There is no federal sales tax, so is it going to a state other than MA?
I just checked an Amazon bill from last January. They do not have a retail establishment in MA and I did NOT pay tax on the dvd I ordered online. Unless the laws have changed in the last couple of months, you should not be paying tax on this purchase unless they have a retail establishment here.
Edit: I stand corrected -- I just checked our Webroot Spysweeper bill and we DID pay tax on that. Webroot doesn't have a store, but they do sell their software at retail stores in MA. I'm thinking if you can go out and buy your software at Staples or Office Depot, you have to pay tax on it if you buy it online. Otherwise, it would hurt retail establishments as everyone would avoid the store and buy online.
So simmer down, Ruff, you may have had to pay that tax! :D
-- Edited by KarenK on Tuesday 11th of August 2009 01:52:15 PM
The Trend Micro virus shield is sold in Best Buy. I used to purchase my camera equipment, including Nikon items, through Calumet, which at the time, only had an outlet in Illinois. Boy did I save a lot on tax dollars there. Now that Calumet has a store in Boston, the sales tax is required on every purchase I make there.
When I bought my first Nikon + lens, I went to a store in NYC. The sales tax there was 9%. The store clerk mailed it to me. When it became a mail order, I didn't have to pay any state tax.
I found a CA address for Trend, called that # and got a honest to goodness, USA operator. But she HAD to transfer me to someone in Manila. She said her name is Hershey. Yeah. Right! Ms. Hershey seemed nice. Ms. Hershey took all the necessary info and will call me back. All this for $2.50!
Yes, NYC tax is ridiculous. When we lived in the area, if we bought clothes (ie, my wedding dress and Charlie's suits), we had them mailed to NJ, where there is no sales tax on clothing. When we lived in Fort Lee, NJ, right across the river from NYC, the roadways on the weekends were UNBEARABLE with all the Manhattanites traveling to NJ for tax free clothing shopping!
Did you know they started charging the 6.25 sales tax on liquor sales in MA? I'm such a wine-o-phile that we went out on July 30 and bought up a couple of cases of wine! :D I'm all set for the next year or two, LOL!
-- Edited by KarenK on Tuesday 11th of August 2009 10:22:18 PM
My MA ordered a $1.98 CD from the TV (or maybe it was online) and got charged a $70. "membership" fee and several $3. "finders" fees. She has been going mad the last few days trying to get it off her credit card. The problem is every few days she gets another $3.00 charge and a few "customer service" phone calls on her cell phone. Life in teh 21st century.
Ms. Hershey did call back and stated they were doing everything properly according to the Dept of Revenue. She said she would send me a copy of the law but has not done that.
I called tax person. He said all they need is a presence, no matter how small, with in the state. He thinks I'm probably out of luck on this one.
If I can find another virus shield that is as good as this one, I'll switch.
Lib.......I'd be very tempted to return that CD, cancel everything and be sure my credit card people were well informed.
Life isn't supposed to be like this. People are supposed to be thankful for your business and treat you with an appreciative respect. ..... Well..first of all they are supposed to know what they are doing
I called the State Attorney General's office and expressed my concern about Trend Micro's presence in MA. I had found two possible locations via White Pages but both phone numbers are out of service. I was told to call the Federal Trade Commission/Consumer Response Center.
Then I was told to call the Federal Information Center to get the number for the State Dept. of Taxation
I was given the number for the State Dept. of Taxation and also given local numbers for the FBI
At the State Dept. of Tx. I was asked if the company (Trend Micro) is registered with the state. They wanted the 9 digit tax number. All of this information is public and available under the Secretary of State on the state's government web site. ....
Via the web site: Trend Micro is registered in the state of MA
2'd call to the State Dept of Tax. I was told if a company is registered as a MA vendor, they have the obligation to collect the sales tax. Also, the fact that my software is 'canned' (same standard version for everyone) means it is taxable. Software that's customized for a specific computer would be different but we didn't go into that since it is n/a.
Given the level of expertise I've experienced with outsourced tech supports, I wasn't ready to trust this situation without proof positive. It was an interesting little telephone journey. Everyone was a good solid MA/USA citizen. They all knew how to advise me. There was never any doubt about that. I got the information I needed and learned something in the process.
