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Quicken pricing changes after signing-in

Jeff KohlerJeff Kohler Member ✭✭
edited November 2018 in Before you Buy
Quicken pricing changes after I sign-in. I received an email this morning tell me that my subscription will expire/renew next month. When I clicked on the link in the email to Quicken FAQ, it showed Deluxe for $49.99 for 1-year but when I extended it to 2-years, Quicken offered it at a discounted price of $69.99 which was great. But when I signed in to my account and tried to make the purchase, the 2-year price changed to $99.98 so there would be no benefit to purchasing a 2-year membership. This must be a bug.

Comments

  • Dan GlynhamptonDan Glynhampton SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November 2018
    If I were you I’d nip down to Best Buy and get a copy of Deluxe for $34.99. You’ll find an activation code inside the retail pack that you can use to extend your membership by selecting "Enter Activation Code" from Quicken's Help menu:



    https://www.bestbuy.com/site/quicken-...
    US Quicken Deluxe for Windows Subscription R27.42 on Windows 10 Pro v2004
  • jacobsjacobs SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November 2018
    Jeff, it's unfortunately not a bug; it's a function of how Quicken is selling their subscriptions directly. They often have promotional prices, but those are now for current non-subscribers (e.g. entirely new users, or users upgrading from older versions and not currently on subscription). So if you just look on the Quicken website, you'll see whatever promotional price they might have at the moment, but when you log in, it knows you're on subscription and doesn't offer the promotional price.

    Of course, many companies use similar pricing strategies, but it's often not quite as "in your face" visible as Quicken. (For instance, you can probably get a new subscription to your local newspaper or favorite magazine for less than they'll charge you to renew your subscription. And you can often get a special deal to your cable or cell phone service if you're a new customer switching from another service.)

    Rather than getting mad at Quicken, simply decide which of three options would work best for you:

    Cheap & Fast. Don't purchase your subscription renewal from Quicken.com. Shop the retail channel for the best price. Often, that's at Amazon, but sometimes you can find better prices elsewhere. One thing to be aware of is that, if you find a Quicken 2018 box -- perhaps at a clear-out price -- it's fine to buy. In the past, you only wanted to buy the latest version, but under the subscription model, there is only the latest version; you're buying a subscription for the number of months shown, so the year label on the box is irrelevant. (For example, I'm currently seeing a 2-year Quicken 2018 Deluxe on Amazon from a third-party partner for $53.99, which is far better than Amazon's own normal 14-month subscription for $54.99.) If you buy a retail copy, you'll get an activation code; you simply enter that activation code on your Quicken.com account, and it will extend your subscription for the number of months you purchased.

    Cheap But Inconvenient. That rule about existing Quicken subscribers not being eligible for promotional pricing from Quicken... it goes away after 30 days of no subscription. So if you can tolerate no getting downloads for a month, you could let your subscription expire, keep using Quicken manual fr a month, and then after 30 days purchase from Quicken.com with whatever promotional pricing they have in effect at that time. This strategy won't suit most people; I'm just throwing it out as an option. Maybe you have a month-long vacation coming up that coincides wit your subscription expiration? ;)

    Expensive But Fastest. Bite the bullet and pay Quicken the full price to renew your subscription. and be done for a year, or two, in under a minute. Of course, we all like to get the best deal and spend the least, but if you're in the "time is money" crowd and decide spending a little more is worth it to just be done with it right away, renew with Quicken, forget the other options existed, and enjoy the rest f your day. ;)
    QMac 2007 & QMac Subscription • Quicken user since 1993
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