How to turn off advertisements in Desktop product / stop mis-selling - after expiration ?

starrynights9

I purchased Quicken (Home, Business & Rental) Desktop on 7/24/2020, based on Quicken telling me the product is for life + no further payments ever needed if I dont want the upgrades or online access. But now 25% of the screen is taken up with advertisements insisting I pay for a subscription. And there's no way to say "no thank you" and be done with it. You can ask, but you can't cut down the functionality of the product (i.e. numerous extra clicks to get past silly renewal messages, and much smaller interface). I didn't pay for 75% of the product [Edit-Rant]!

[Edit- Speculation] (which I had trialled) - from US banks and especially from foreign banks (which QB was able to handle).

I could easily be a customer for the next 25 years (paying for WORTHY upgrades in a few years) and had been vocally recommending Quicken in my community, [Edit-Disruptive]

Boatnmaniac

Sorry, but since your subscription has expired you will get that banner and it cannot be turned off.  Quicken has been requested to provide an option to turn it off but they have said they are not going to do that.  So if you want to get rid of the banner you will need to resubscribe.

Another option, since it appears that you do not want or need the online services and are OK with just manually managing your accounts is to try to find a copy of Quicken 2017.  Then uninstall your current version and then install the 2017 version.  2017 is the last of the non-subscription products and your current Quicken data files will be backward compatible with it.

Edit-Additional comments:  I should have mentioned that 2016 is also compatible with subscription so you could also use that to get away from the banner issue, if you wish.  If do go with 2016 or 2017, you can download the last patch updates for them from http://www.quicknperlwiz.com/quickenpatches.html.  

Boatnmaniac

Sorry, but since your subscription has expired you will get that banner and it cannot be turned off.  Quicken has been requested to provide an option to turn it off but they have said they are not going to do that.  So if you want to get rid of the banner you will need to resubscribe.

Another option, since it appears that you do not want or need the online services and are OK with just manually managing your accounts is to try to find a copy of Quicken 2017.  Then uninstall your current version and then install the 2017 version.  2017 is the last of the non-subscription products and your current Quicken data files will be backward compatible with it.

Edit-Additional comments:  I should have mentioned that 2016 is also compatible with subscription so you could also use that to get away from the banner issue, if you wish.  If do go with 2016 or 2017, you can download the last patch updates for them from http://www.quicknperlwiz.com/quickenpatches.html.  

splasher

Add your vote here: Expiration-Banner

jacobs

starrynights9 said:

I could easily be a customer for the next 25 years (paying for WORTHY upgrades in a few years) 

@starrynights9 While I definitely understand your frustration, I'm sorry to say you have an unrealistic expectation. Quicken changed their pricing model five years ago to annual subscriptions (replacing an old system which was essentially a three-year subscription). You're suggesting you should be able to dictate the terms of paying whenever you want to — every few years — when that's just not their business model anymore. Many other software vendors, like Microsoft and Adobe, moved to subscription pricing in the past decade in order to have a more even and reliable flow of income to continue updating and enhancing their products. Quicken never says so directly, but it's apparent that they weren't making enough money with their old pricing scheme, which is why the products had stagnated under former parent company Intuit. Subscription pricing was a way for them to charge more, while delivering more frequent updates and better customer service to to users. 

When Quicken originally announced their subscription pricing plans in 2017, they said the software would become read-only if someone's subscription expired — users could access their existing data but not add to it. Users raised a stink, and Quicken management agreed to a change they called a "compromise": they'd allow users to continue using the software manually (no downloads), but in return, they'd insert offers to get users to re-subscribe. As it turned out, their "offers" were implemented as an obnoxiously large renewal solicitation — but it does allow people to continue using the software if they are willing to put up with it. (By contrast, if I drop my Adobe subscription, I lose all access to the data I've created using the software; Quicken's approach, while definitely annoying, is better because it at least allows the software to still be used.)

I don't think that any of us who are fellow Quicken users here think it's a brilliant strategy to try to annoy their customers into renewing, but they apparently decided that annoyance will drive a certain percentage of people to renew, which is, of course, their goal. As for those users who decide to leave, Quicken management apparently believes most of those people have decided not to be regular paying customers, so they're not losing customers who are valuable to them (e.g. they can't survive on customers who will pay only every few years). They've had this system in place for nearly fours years of renewals now, so they have ample statistical data to know whether they are retaining most customers or driving too many away with their pricing; the fact that they haven't made any changes over those years suggests the former, not the latter. 

In the end, each of us must decide whether we derive enough value from Quicken to pay the price they charge. And if you feel it's not worth what Quicken charges, you then need to assess whether there is some other software platform you can find which offers all the functionality you need for a lower price. If yes, you've found your answer. But many other personal or small business finance products cost as much or more than Quicken, so it may not be as simple as moving to Product B. We all use Quicken differently, and have different needs, so there's no single right answer for everyone. Best wishes whatever you decide.