Don’t pop-up advertisements to paying customers (+52 Merged Votes) [edited]

jschaffe

So I saw it on my main computer one day only. Today I copied my data file to a backup machine and opened Quicken on that machine to validate that the most recent data was present. Sure enough the ad was there. Since the Quicken app hadn’t been updated on that machine, the update request overrode the ad, and I consented to the update. After reopening the file, the ad was still there, and for the second time (the first on my main machine) I had to assert “Yes, I really want to dismiss the @%+# ad!”

John Burgess

Another vote for Quicken's bad anti-customer tactic of advertising on a product we pay for.

Also, what happened to the OLD community where we could "vote" to agree?
I guess that's now in the little thumbs up / down on each comment?  Booo hiss.

Michael 102

I agree. This was not a good move. It got me to come here and vote and post.

Tamra

I echo these comments 100%. DO NOT ADVERTISE TO ME within a product I have purchased. This is totally unacceptable and I respectfully request these ads be removed NOW!

BSMidwest

Pop-up advertising is unexpected and unwanted when using Quicken.  As a paid subscriber (not shareware, freeware, trial) I do not recall authorizing third party advertisements.  Please cease and desist.  Thank you.

Scooterlam

Saw this for the first time today....What it looks like, below..  This one happens to be a Capital One ad.  What ads are you getting?

How are you (Quicken)  using my private data to send me targeted ads for my paid-for software application?   Is the "Remind Me Later" check box, in the ad, an Opt-Out for ALL future ads of any advertiser?   How do I opt-out permanently?

My paid-for desktop application is NOT your webpage.   Ads are not welcome.  Monetize Quicken for the Web if you like but not my desktop.

Vote it up...

Scott

[email protected]@

I got the same one-  This is a really cheap shot!

KenW

The poor person I got at tech support. In the past I have dumped products because of this no matter how much I liked/used them. I killed it so fast, I think it was for a bank product.

cuttermilw

I agree. End it.

gsmudge

I got the same ad for an online bank account in Quicken for Windows. NOT HAPPY! I do not pay a subscription fee in order to receive ads! Please stop doing this!!!!!

David Deemer

To continue using Quicken we have been forced into a subscription model (vs. the upgrade when compelling to the customer approach) and we "get" to see ads popup upon launch of the app. What a crummy experience, really not much better than Mint in that regard.

Don Awalt

Agree. Hate it. I will NEVER patronize any of these vendors.

[email protected]

Agreed. Total BS. Get rid it or lose your customers.

Denny50

@Quicken Kathryn , Any response on this issue? There has been several discussions on this problem but no response from Quicken. 

Can you give us some information on why we are getting spammed when using our paid subscription? Is there a way to turn this annoying function off? 

smayer97

Denny said:

@Quicken Kathryn , Any response on this issue? There has been several discussions on this problem but no response from Quicken. 

Can you give us some information on why we are getting spammed when using our paid subscription? Is there a way to turn this annoying function off? 

Notes were just updated by someone at Quicken ... but the status remains the same.

Ps56k2

Scooterlam said:

Saw this for the first time today....

I just received this on my WINDOWS Q2019 system - not just the MAC folks

thought it might be triggered since I have a Capital One credit card -

jacobs

Just to add some context and explanation for those puzzled or angered by the appearance fo the Capital One offer, Quicken entered into a multi-faceted partnership with Capital One last year, and this ad/offer for a special bonus to Quicken users who open a Capital One money market account is a piece of that.

I have not seen any other ads, only this one. I'd be interested if others have seen anything other than this one? I also don't see it pop up very frequently, so I guess I'm less angered by it than many of you have been. In any case, here's my take on why this is happening. If you're upset about the pop-up, please don't flame me; I'm not defending the practice, only explaining what I see...  

Quicken doesn't see this as an ad for a random product, they see it as an "offer" which has tangible potential value for its users. Part of the partnership with Capital One last year involves creating some Quicken-branded products that have tangible benefits for Quicken users. And note that it's not Quicken "users," but Quicken "members" in the text of the message -- and I think that's the key insight. Quicken is trying to make membership have benefits (to steal an old line from a different credit card company!) that go beyond just licensing the software. Members are more likely to be loyal customers; members have multiple reasons for continuing their affiliation. We typically use the words users, subscribers and members as synonymous, but I think Quicken's long game here is to try to build more value in being a Quicken subscription member.

If you click on the Learn More link in the pop-up, you're taken to a page on Quicken.com -- notably not CapitalOne.com -- which uses Quicken branding (fonts colors, style) to explain the virtues of the CapOne money market account and offer. And for some people, the cash incentives in this offer -- $200 to $600, depending on how much you deposit for at least 90 days -- could be pretty handy. $600 pays for a lot of years of Quicken subscriptions/memberships! (And it's certainly a much better inducement than the Quicken credit card they launched a few months ago, in a different partnership with US Bank, which rewarded new cardholders with a one-year subscription/extension to Quicken Deluxe -- possibly the least-valuable credit card sign-up offer ever.)

I think you can see more about this Quicken membership strategy if you click on one of the links on the webpage about the credit card. I can't paste a link because it's pop-up; here's a screenshot:

That, I think, gives you an idea where this is headed: a growing portfolio of Quicken-branded or Quicken-approved products which provide special deals for Quicken members -- any of which might provide bona fide value for some Quicken software users.

So if you think this pop-up is something they might just flip off if people complain, I'd say to think again, because this seems to be a piece of a much larger strategy for the company. That's why the note from Quicken in the voting box at the top of this thread says there are "no plans to change this feature." Note the wording: they want people to see it as a feature, a potentially useful offer instead of an ad which is an intrusion/annoyance. Clearly, they need to do a much better job of explaining this to Quicken users, and to make the user experience less frustrating (e.g. allowing users to turn off or limit offers, putting them in a menu rather than a pop-up, or otherwise making it less bothersome to users).

Ps56k2

Thanks for the discussion -

Here are the details, after clicking on ---> Learn More (had to signin to Q account)

https://www.quicken.com/capital-one

Here's the full scoop on how to earn your bonus:

1. Open a 360 Money Market account by 11:59 p.m. ET on July 31, 2019. To qualify for the bonus, you must have received an email about the promotion directly from Quicken. If you have or had an open savings product (excludes CDs) with Capital One on or after January 1, 2016, you’re ineligible for the bonus.

2. Deposit $10,000 or more of new money from an external bank (transfers between Capital One accounts will not qualify) within the first 10 days of account opening (Initial Funding Period). The amount of your bonus will be determined as follows:

   • $200 bonus — you maintained a daily balance of $10,000–$49,999.99 for the first 90 days following the Initial Funding Period.
     
   • $400 bonus — you maintained a daily balance of $50,000–$99,999.99 for the first 90 days following the Initial Funding Period.
     
   • $600 bonus — you maintained a daily balance of $100,000 or more for the first 90 days following the Initial Funding Period.

JoJo&Romeo

Argh - Subscription and ads. Yuck. Wow, I've been with Quicken since quicken98. It's sad that it will be no more.

So, it looks like it's just a single ad, potentially, because of a partnership with CapitalOne.

David Deemer

I've got no problem with Quicken looking for ways to generate more income by offering "features" to their paying customers. That said, here's the thing; the software model has changed to be subscription-based. This yields a more consistent revenue stream than the old model and comes with it, in my opinion, a different expectation by their customers.

Offering ads/features/preferred partners, whatever Quicken wants to call it, when not opt'd-in (or minimally, offering opt-out) of current and all future "offers" is a poor customer experience. 

LB522

Agree with @DavidDeemer ... Not a big deal.. certainly not what the infuriated, flabbergasted, personally offended folks are making it out to be.  

Quicken needs to increase its revenue to deal with all the demanding (whiny? cheapo?) customers.  Newspapers and magazines and television and movies and websites all have an initial fee to purchase and are filled with advertisements as a basic part of their business model.  So far, the world hasn't perished.

It's a higher class product if these are reachable through a menu item versus pop-ups though.

JayLee

I don't care what you call it. "Special offers" and "services" are obnoxious intrusions. Did I make a serious mistake "subscribing" and recommending Quicken to friends???

gwwilk

There's no excuse for pestering paying customers with these ads and other foolishness. [rant redacted]

jacobs

@gwwilk I'm not here to defend Quicken at all, but I'm curious how many "ads" have you seen for non-Quicken products? To the best of my knowledge, they've only done it to promote their partnership with the Capital One money market account, and for a limited time at that. But I'd be interested in hearing if some users are still seeing a lot of these ads. You used some choice words (now redacted) for this practice, but to me it's at worst a minor annoyance to click to dismiss the messaging; why is it such a big deal? You're entitled to your opinion, of course; I'm only saying that what you were ranting about doesn't seem to me to be much of a big deal.

Aside from the Capital One ad, Quicken is, of course, always going to promote the latest version of Quicken to users who are using older versions. Once you're on the subscription version, this becomes a non-issue, since you always have the latest version and there's nothing new to buy. But if you're still using an older version, then you see the reminders. I find them easy enough to just dismiss, although I do wish that dismissing them turned them off for a month or two at a time.

Your original message, part of which has been since redacted, also complained about the termination of online services for Quicken 2016. This has been Quicken's financial model for more than a decade. There are costs associated with maintaining connectivity with thousands of financial institutions, and their way of funding that has been to expire each version after three years so users would need to upgrade in that time period. Users who don't need the online services could continue using the program if they don't wish to upgrade. Now, they've switched from this pseudo-subscription model to a straightforward subscription, where users pay one annual (or biannual) fee for a bundle of online services, ongoing program upgrades, and phone & chat support. As before, a user who doesn't want online services, and doesn't want upgrades, can continue to use the program without a current subscription. 

smayer97

jacobs said:

Your original message, part of which has been since redacted, also complained about the termination of online services for Quicken 2016. This has been Quicken's financial model for more than a decade. 

Actually, this has only been the model for QWin for that long. For QMac, the first version to be sunset was QEM shortly after QM2015 came out. Then the cycle started for QMac but it only became apparent with that version after April 2018.

So for QM2016 users, who may have never been part of this expiration model, they would be seeing this for the very first time after April 30, 2019. So not a long time.

And QM2007 still has not been expired and so far it has been stated that there are no plans to intentionally expire it either.

So it is very understandable if QMac users are caught off guard, especially if they have been a long-time user of QMac.

jacobs

@smayer97 As you know, I’m well aware of the history. When I said it’s been Quicken’s financial model for more than a decade, there are multiple asterisks about the Mac products, since it’s been 13 years since Quicken 2007 came out, and Quicken Essentials was only actively supported for a few years after it came out in 2010.

In any case, I was not saying that @gwwilk should have known the history; I was explaining that Quicken moved to this sort of ongoing payment financial approach many years ago and that it was not something new and evil, as the redacted post stated.

smayer97

But since this is a QMac thread, I thought it important to give the full context, especially for any other QMac users that might read this, and to highlight that it is not unjustified for QMac users to be shocked by this not so obvious practice.

For many QMac users, it is a "sudden" change since it is very likely the first time they are running into this.

larrysw

There should be an option with every ad to opt out for all ads of any kind in the future. There also should be a setting in Preferences to opt out of all advertising and marketing messages. These distractions slow me down and annoy me. Marketing rule: "Don't annoy your customers." I hereby pledge never to do business with any company, or purchase any product, or accept any offer, that appears in a Quicken ad via popup or in any other form. I will also express my displeasure to friends and in online forums regarding Quicken's ad policy. I will also not renew my Quicken subscription if they don't provide an opt-out option.

Ramias

Just came to post on this. Give us an opt-out for popup spam. Just annoys loyal customers. I can't imagine the conversion rate is all that high.

RCinNJ

barbaraok said:

Look forward to trying the new features. But angry that I have advertising intruding as I try to use the program. Why do I pay to have myself bombarded by advertising. There is no "NO" button, just a learn more button!

100% agree!