membership is now up - and very limited on what can be done with Quicken (edit)

maximus69a

I have been using quicken for many years. I bought a retail version of quicken, just as i have many times before. I paid for a program that is suppose to be fully functional. My membership is now up and i am very limited on what i can do. I cannot even add another account. I do not use this program online, nor do i want to. I would have never went with quicken had i known this, nor will i ever go with it again. I will install an older version which does not require me to pay monthly. Shame on you. i paid for a functional program and that is not what i got.

volvogirl

Quicken is not an Online program. It is still the same Desktop program. You don't pay monthly. That is just marketing showing you what the 1 time annual renew cost is broken down. Do you have the Starter Edition? That does go into read only mode if you don't renew. You need to upgrade to Deluxe or higher. That will keep working if you don't renew each year. But there will be a banner to renew taking up some of your screen.

NotACPA

@maximus69a Let's get something straight. What you paid for is a license to use Q … you didn't BUY Quicken.

And that license, which you agreed to when you installed the program, clearly stated the conditions of the agreement. Perhaps you didn't bother to read it.

jacobs

First, please understand that you are not talking to Quicken executives here. This is a community forum consisting mostly of fellow Quicken users with a handful of Quicken moderators who keep things organized and running. No one here can do anything about complaints regarding the cost or subscription system. (I will note that Quicken has been sold on a subscription basis since 2017, so this is not something which is new. )

On the retail box you bought, I'm certain it stated "One Year Subscription". The terms you accepted when you installed and logged into the program also stated that. You may have overlooked that, but you can't really blame Quicken if that's the case. You said, "i paid for a functional program and that is not what i got." Actually, you bought a license to use the program for a year, and you had a fully-functional program during the subscription. I'm sorry you apparently overlooked all the places subscription were mentioned and feel duped, but I feel Quicken is actually pretty upfront about this.

As @volvogirl suggested, you could renew for one year at the Deluxe level. At the end of that year, you could allow your subscription to lapse. You will still be able to use Quicken fully for manual transaction entry, reports, etc., but Quicken will steal approximately 25% of the right side of your Quicken window for a permanent message encouraging you to renew your subscription. If you have a large monitor, you might find that workable even though it's annoying; if you use Quicken on a smaller laptop, it's probably more painful than just paying the annual subscription fee.

Or, since you're apparently a Windows user, you can still download Quicken 2013, which predates subscriptions and Quicken IDs, and your data file can be opened by that older version. It sounds like that may be the path you'd be most satisfied with.

Ps56k2

I have been using quicken for many years. I bought a retail version of quicken, just as i have many times before

Well - you then used to pay for Quicken every 3 years - and in 2018 they changed that to every year -
What version were you using - Quicken 2010, 2013, 2017, 2018/subscription….
And - Starter, Deluxe, Premier ?
-
SO… what version were you using all these "many years" and then you bought a retail version "like many times" -
Guess we are confused on how all of a sudden you finally realize that Quicken curtails some features after you stop paying ?

volvogirl

One more point about what jacobs said. If you install 2013 or older it will NOT open a data file from a newer version. You would have to start over.

jacobs

@volvogirl said: If you install 2013 or older it will NOT open a data file from a newer version. You would have to start over.

Oh, I'm sorry if I misstated that. I thought I've read Windows users here saying the database format hasn't changed and the old version can open a current data file. If that's incorrect, I apologize for the incorrect information. I'm wondering then why Quicken 2013 gets brought up as a way of avoiding Quicken ID and subscriptions, if using it requires users to abandon their existing data.

volvogirl

I think starting with Quicken 2017 (don't know about 2014-2016) the data files are backward compatible at least to 2017.

jacobs

@volvogirl I found a post from @Chris_QPW which says you can go back as far as Quicken 2016.

As a Mac user, the way I'd approach an attempt to go back to an older version would be to export a QXF (Quicken Transfer File) and then import that into an older version. That would lose settings, saved reports, attachments, but would the data actual data would migrate okay. Is it possible to do that to go back in time with Quicken Windows, or did importing QXF format not exist at the time of Quicken 2013?

Chris_QPW

The Quicken Windows Subscription data file is backwards compatible to Quicken Windows 2016, but that might not matter (in a not so good way).

Starting with Quicken Windows 2014 you have to use/login into the Quicken Id, and that login is broken (server change). You end up with a blank login screen. If one has the Quicken.ini file from a working system (same year version that you are installing) it has the fact that you have registered Quicken in it and it might be able to be transferred to the new machine to make it bypass the registering, but it is always questionable that this will work.

As for exporting/importing a QXF file that was started in Quicken 2013, but for Quicken Mac Essentials, which means no investment or business accounts import. As time went on it got even more broken. Lately in Quicken Windows Subscription it has gotten the best it has ever been, and can to investment accounts, but only for "simple data files". For my data file it messes up.

That leaves a QIF export/import. Also problematic, especially for transfers that it usually messes up. Here is some information of how I have done pretty good by changing the transfers to regular categories (in the QIF file).

https://www.quicknperlwiz.com/changetransfers.html

eqpu

I'm wondering then why Quicken 2013 gets brought up as a way of avoiding Quicken ID and subscriptions, if using it requires users to abandon their existing data.

AFAIK Quicken 2013 (along with Quicken 2004) is made available only for converting data from older Quicken files.

https://www.quicken.com/support/how-and-when-use-intermediate-version-convert-older-versions-quicken

It is just a coincidence that from Quicken 2014 onwards Quicken Id and other stuff started making things more complex.

RobUser

I am a user since 1997. IMHO, the value for money that quicken provides is worth the yearly fee. Having worked in software, Quicken Classic for Windows is not "killing it" with respect to profitability. User base is too small. For the cost of a dinner for 4 I get an incredible suite of tools that allows me to manage two rental properties, track expenses for taxes, etc. It costs less for a year than seeing an accountant for an hour. I have no affiliation with Intuit. And— your quality is slipping. Registers are now now updating properly and showing duplicate lines of information, temporarily visually overwriting a line in the register on 1-line display. And the download reliability for certain institutions sucks. So, I am not a shill.

Chris_QPW

The way I view it, I think Quicken Inc probably figures that the people that want to use Quicken in a pure manual mode aren't really the their target audience. If an old version of Quicken will work for them that's fine but they're certainly not going to spend any time trying to support that. If people don't want the online features then the newer versions of Quicken really don't have a lot of benefit to those kinds of people.

And that seems to always be the cornerstone of why people think that Quicken is too expensive. They believe that because they're not using the features that cost Quicken Inc the most to maintain that they're being cheated. In reality they probably just have the wrong product. Of course there's this other problem and you see it from the foreign users and that is nobody really cares about this market it is a tiny little market and as such there isn't a lot of support for it and that's why people are desperate to try to get a program to fit when it wasn't designed for them.

Ps56k2

it all comes down to what Quicken is worth to you - vs not having it at all -
Is it worth the $5/month - a lunch anywhere is more than that - once a month ?

I use Quicken in a limited way for all my finances - Banking, Investments - Chase, Ally, Schwab, Fidelity, TRowe, Vanguard, CapOne -
without the online downloading - it would be useless to me…. I don't use the Budget or other stuff besides Tax Planner -

SO - if not using the online features, then it's just a spreadsheet -

jacobs

SO - if not using the online features, then it's just a spreadsheet -

For you. And that's fine. But please don't state it like it's a universal truth. There are many people who use Quicken mostly or entirely manually by choice; I'm one of 'em. To me, Quicken is much more than "just a spreadsheet".

Chris_QPW

https://community.quicken.com/discussion/comment/20432234#Comment_20432234

I think I was too "restrictive" in my description when stating "online features". What I should have said is that if people can't find any extra value in what Quicken Inc is providing on an ongoing basis, then I don't think these are the customers Quicken Inc is targeting. In fact, I don't think they are customers at all. They were customers in the past, but not now. It is like when a person comes in and says I'm a loyal customer I have been using Quicken 2000 for 24 years and now it isn't working …

To a business if you aren't making them money, you aren't a customer.

eqpu

SO - if not using the online features, then it's just a spreadsheet -

Like @jacobs I am also a Quicken user from 1998 but only in manual mode.

https://community.quicken.com/discussion/7875440/saved-reports-how-to-have-investment-reports-show-exclude-only-closed-lots

See above full post of my usage of Quicken. In fact, a superuser https://community.quicken.com/profile/Jim_Harman mentioned that I am using Quicken investing accounts in a very unconventional way.

In fact Quicken is such a good product, it can be used in many different ways as per the imagination of the user for managing their personal finances.

eqpu

if people can't find any extra value in what Quicken Inc is providing on an ongoing basis, then I don't think these are the customers Quicken Inc is targeting.

For them to remain continuing paying customers, Quicken has to mandatorily bring new features and or value add that these people require. It is true for any product or service for that matter. If a user is happy with a older product and the newer one does not bring anything worth the cost (as per the user) to the table, they will happily continue to use the older one.

They were customers in the past, but not now.

You are right. They are users now and not paying customers.

eqpu

what Quicken is worth to you - vs not having it at all

Quicken is very much a worth product and a gold standard product and is a must use product if I can say so for managing personal finances. But if you have an older version installable with patches and if it is working fine, going for a newer subscription based version is not required if you do not find any added must have features vis-a-vis getting locked into a subscription. It is a cost-benefit analysis that the user has to do for himself.

eqpu

they probably just have the wrong product

The product is definitely right and a gold standard product but if it does not have any new features or uses that necessitates buying a newer one, people are fine with older one. That is the way it works for most products or services. That is why companies have to keep on innovating to add new features or use cases for people to continue buying their product or service.

In fact, you have mentioned the same thing differently in your later post

if people can't find any extra value in what Quicken Inc is providing on an ongoing basis, then I don't think these are the customers Quicken Inc is targeting. In fact, I don't think they are customers at all. They were customers in the past, but not now.

You are right. In the present, they are users but not customers. The very fact that they are users means that the product was/is good.

To keep them as continuing customers, Quicken has to bring new features which these people will want. Instead, Quicken is resorting to restricting the users by complicating (from no Quicken Id required to Quicken Id required, from three years to one year etc.). These kind of strategies end up in some customers who are using the online features etc. paying more and on behalf of customers who are satisfied with what they already have and is working fine for them if I look at it from a different perspective.

p.s. On a side note, I find that it is not just Quicken but many more products that are going the subscription way and probably losing some customers.

To give an example, I was using Acronis True Image Home to backup my computers with a perpetual license. Now that they have started subscription based licensing only, I have stopped using that as that does not provide me with additional advantages. The older one is working fine for offline backup and I already have online backup with a different provider anyway. After trying for a long time with mails with continuous offers to replace my perpetual older license with a newer subscription based license, now they have come to somewhat midway by continuously nagging me with purchasing a newer perpetual license. The problem is that the newer perpetual license they are offering is way more expensive than the older perpetual license I had already paid for and is working fine even after taking into account inflation and other cost increases as well. Had the newer perpetual license they are offering was at a reasonable price, it was another thing.

jacobs

To keep them as continuing customers, Quicken has to bring new features which these people will want.

What's funny to me is that back before subscriptions, users repeatedly said "stop trying to create new features and just fix the bugs and improve the program." So the Quicken Windows team made bug fixes and under-the-hood improvements a priority, and people began complaining, "where are the new features?"

I'd note that it's very different on the Quicken Mac side. Since quicken Mac was rewritten from scratch a decade ago, the development team has been busy adding features users are clamoring for. No Quicken Mac user can complain about them not adding new features. (The only complaint is that we want even more, and faster, than they are able to deliver.)

I do think software users generally underestimate the work needed just to replace aging technologies, keep up with operating system upgrades, update underlying code to meet new security standards, etc. Sometimes just the fact that your software continues to work as expected on a new computer, on a newer operating system, should be considered a victory and worthwhile progress — even when there aren't flashy, visible new features.

So we're all left to assess whether the cost of Quicken is "worth it" to us personally. Some of us conclude it is; some will decide it's not and move on.

UKR

https://community.quicken.com/discussion/7950135/membership-is-now-up-and-very-limited-on-what-can-be-done-with-quicken-edit

To me it appears as if this discussion has drifted away from the original question. Unless I missed it, there was never an answer to the question of adding new accounts.

Yes, even with an expired subscription, for as long as you are / have been using Quicken Deluxe or a higher feature level, you can still add accounts.
Using Quicken Starter Edition, once expired, you cannot add or change transactions or accounts.

However, please not that you cannot add accounts which are connected online to banks for transaction download.

To add new accounts with your expired Deluxe (or higher) subscription you must add them as Offline (Manual) Accounts, as follows:
When starting the Tools / Add Account process do not search for the bank name. Click the Offline Account tab at the bottom of the view and follow prompts to add a manual account. Once added you can begin adding transactions … manually.

eqpu

users repeatedly said "stop trying to create new features and just fix the bugs and improve the program." So the Quicken Windows team made bug fixes and under-the-hood improvements a priority, and people began complaining, "where are the new features?"

That is because previously Quicken new releases were almost always made available with many bugs in the beginning and over time (next few months after release) they fixed that. It is a case with most software but I presume it was more problematic with Quicken than other programs. So, it was perhaps natural for people to complain as users do not want to have experiences that breaks perfectly working software.

New features were always asked for but now it became second priority after first priority becomes what was working perfectly fine and is now broken starts working fine like before.

eqpu

Apart from software, even hardware and automobiles have started using subscription based pricing and becoming much more expensive than before. Privacy lost is another cost you have to pay.

https://www.hp.com/us-en/all-in-plan/printers.html

HP will shut down the software in your Insta ink cartridges for your printer if you cancel the subscription even if they still have ink in them.

In fact, many other printers you might have bought in past few years will stop working if they detect a non-genuine but perfectly working cartridge due to a chip that checks the cartridge. In other words, nothing technically wrong with cartridge or printer. It is just that you have not paid the company for the cartridge and bought it from somewhere else.

https://www.loopit.co/blog/the-drive-of-a-new-era-luxury-vehicles-in-mainstream-subscription-models

https://nypost.com/2023/09/06/nissan-kia-collect-data-about-drivers-sexual-activity/

https://www.aidataanalytics.network/data-monetization/articles/tesla-automaker-or-data-company

https://www.zimlon.com/b/comprehensive-list-of-data-tesla-collects-from-their-customers-cm529/

That is why many people enjoy using old working cars which do not collect continuous data about your usage of car and many other private details and stuff not related to cars or automobiles even remotely.