From Eric Dunn, CEO of Quicken: Letter to the Quicken Community about the Membership Plan (November

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Comments

  • Spokey
    Spokey Member ✭✭
    edited July 2018
    mattyv123 said:

    A subscription service model puts the onus on Quicken to continue to innovate and provide continuous updates and features.  

    If they fail to do so, customers will simply stop paying and their revenues will dry up.  As a subscription-based business, the whole team is strongly incentivized towards excellence (from customer service to development) to keep their current customers happy (not someone who bought it 4 years ago, running some outdated version, and having problems).  It also provides the cash flow a tech company needs to grow and expand the software.

    I'm sure this was a tough decision, but is just one of many that gives me confidence the new owners of Quicken are serious about building the product and will give it a bright future.

    "If they fail to do so, customers will simply stop paying and their revenues will dry up."

    I don't see how a subscription puts anymore onus to continue (or perhaps begin) to innovate.  Seems like the opposite.  It's pretty well knows that automatic renewal is a much better retention method (as first demonstrated by the magazine publishers).  But if they have to 'win' my money each time, then they need to convince me it's worth while parting with it.
  • Unknown
    Unknown Member
    edited April 2018
    Geneo56 said:

    You have sold me the last Quicken you will ever sell me.2017 Premier. Your subscription program is outright thievery . i usually update every year or every other year but will not be TOLD I HAVE TO. I have to use on computer for quicken only for WINDOWS. Quicken for MAC always is a joke.

    Under your math, not much more.  But consider that in January 2015 I bought a bundle of Quicken and Turbo Tax for $59.54 and got a $40 rebate.  So I got to use Quicken for about $20 for 3 years.   A lot of other people did the same, and for us, this is a big jump in price.  A high enough jump that I will continue using the version I have, and enter transactions manually.   To me, Quicken is just a souped-up adding machine.  They made changes to it every year, which to me, were unnecessary.  I've been using Quicken since 1993 and I won't be buying into their money-grubbing subscription plan.  I don't think I'll influence your thinking...
  • Unknown
    Unknown Member
    edited November 2017
    I won't be "upgrading" either.  Especially after I found out about alternatives to Quicken on the mouseprint.org web site.  They are:  GnuCash, Moneyspire and MoneyDance.   And if they don't work out for me, I'll just enter transactions manually, like I used to do.  
  • Unknown
    Unknown Member
    edited December 2017
    As a longtime Quicken user, I snickered when I got the CD in the mail and saw the change to the subscription model.  I was used to crazy games from Intuit.  I can't think of a single useful new feature in the past 10 years.  Most of the new "features" were simply ways for Intuit to sell us more products and services.   We want stability, not bells and whistles. 

    I hope you stay true to your word and non-subscription services are still available from retailers. The recent CD shipment and hidden costs make me wonder if you're better than Intuit.  Hopefully you do improve support, but please... focus on keeping the price low rather than wiz-bang features.  It's already a competent product without any real competition.
  • Mike38
    Mike38 Member ✭✭
    edited July 2018

    Many Users who purchased Quicken from Intuit / Quicken, no longer have access to those programs. Will the past purchases, be moved to their new Quicken ID? Quicken 2015, Quicken 2016 and Quicken 2017?

    When you sign into Intuit / Quicken with the old Intuit ID, it takes you back to Quicken.com to Sign in and when you sign in the purchases associated with your old Intuit User ID, have not been moved over to the new Quicken ID.

    This includes Reward Copies as well.

    Not to mention Canadian Customers.

    Yes, the big question is if that 2 year subscription or as Quicken calls it "membership" will continue past 2020 when Quicken 2017 users sunset. I have serious doubts about that. This move was all about the bottom line now that Quicken is separate from Intuit.  They can mince and dice it anyway they want but it was the bottom line and projected revenue not the customer. So with Quicken 2017 I will ride out to the sunset and then make a decision going forward. What I would like to see is a guarantee that the 2 year model will be a permanent sales model for the retail side by Quicken. That model I can live with. In fact a 3 year model would work also.  But again I have a feeling that 2 year model will be gone soon, and it will be a yearly charge to my credit card if I want to continue each year. No choice on price.

    I have been using Quicken 20+ years and love it. But I have a feeling its about to turn into a expensive yearly charge to my credit card going forward.  
    Also Quicken is joining a whole list of auto renewals like other software, Newspapers, Sirius XM, Cable companies. The one thing they all have in common is a lack of price competition at the retail level.  That I avoid and do not support. Good luck going forward................................

        
  • Unknown
    Unknown Member
    edited December 2017
     Even with all the updates that have been done since I first started using it in 1993, Quicken basically does the same thing as it has always done.    It was nice having the online transaction downloads when that feature appeared.  When I heard about this new subscription service, I thought I would miss having the transaction downloads when my current Quicken version isn't supported any more. But then I thought about the hours I have spent trying to figure out problems when attempting to reconcile accounts (especially stock brokerage accounts).  In my experience, it would have been better to enter brokerage transactions manually, but I was too lazy to do it.  So I will go back to entering transactions manually. After doing an online search, I found that there are several free alternatives to Quicken so maybe I'll try one of those. So Quicken, it was nice while it lasted, but you've priced yourself out of the market (for me, anyways). 
  • Spokey
    Spokey Member ✭✭
    edited November 2017
    Maynard7 said:

     Even with all the updates that have been done since I first started using it in 1993, Quicken basically does the same thing as it has always done.    It was nice having the online transaction downloads when that feature appeared.  When I heard about this new subscription service, I thought I would miss having the transaction downloads when my current Quicken version isn't supported any more. But then I thought about the hours I have spent trying to figure out problems when attempting to reconcile accounts (especially stock brokerage accounts).  In my experience, it would have been better to enter brokerage transactions manually, but I was too lazy to do it.  So I will go back to entering transactions manually. After doing an online search, I found that there are several free alternatives to Quicken so maybe I'll try one of those. So Quicken, it was nice while it lasted, but you've priced yourself out of the market (for me, anyways). 

    so what alternatives that you've seen have you liked?
  • Spotteddog
    Spotteddog Member ✭✭✭✭
    edited November 2017
    Maynard7 said:

     Even with all the updates that have been done since I first started using it in 1993, Quicken basically does the same thing as it has always done.    It was nice having the online transaction downloads when that feature appeared.  When I heard about this new subscription service, I thought I would miss having the transaction downloads when my current Quicken version isn't supported any more. But then I thought about the hours I have spent trying to figure out problems when attempting to reconcile accounts (especially stock brokerage accounts).  In my experience, it would have been better to enter brokerage transactions manually, but I was too lazy to do it.  So I will go back to entering transactions manually. After doing an online search, I found that there are several free alternatives to Quicken so maybe I'll try one of those. So Quicken, it was nice while it lasted, but you've priced yourself out of the market (for me, anyways). 

    Yes, I'd like to know. I tried several this summer and none of them came close to Quicken (even with all Q's bugs)
  • Lysander Spooner
    Lysander Spooner Member ✭✭✭✭
    edited November 2018
    mattyv123 said:

    A subscription service model puts the onus on Quicken to continue to innovate and provide continuous updates and features.  

    If they fail to do so, customers will simply stop paying and their revenues will dry up.  As a subscription-based business, the whole team is strongly incentivized towards excellence (from customer service to development) to keep their current customers happy (not someone who bought it 4 years ago, running some outdated version, and having problems).  It also provides the cash flow a tech company needs to grow and expand the software.

    I'm sure this was a tough decision, but is just one of many that gives me confidence the new owners of Quicken are serious about building the product and will give it a bright future.

    Well, do not enable automatic renewal. That way they still have to win your money each year (or two years depending on where you purchase).
  • Unknown
    Unknown Member
    edited November 2017

    I am currently on Quicken 2016 Home & Business. We use it for managing one rental property and doing light invoicing for our very small business. I can tell you that, given the $100 PER YEAR charge for 2018  and considering all the software problems Quicken has  had, we will NOT be moving to the subscription model.  You have effectively tripled cost of ownership for us.

    I can't tell you the amount of time I invested  in keeping Quicken working with my credit union (reset account, rebuild account, etc. etc.) when it finally turned out that some programmer had messed up the scripting for online access. It wasn't anything the CU had done but something the Quicken scripting department had farkled. 

    Further, each new iteration of Quicken has  created new bugs to squash without adding any more real functionality. For example, in investment tracking, I have LONG wanted (and requested) the ability to create custom classes of investments so that an analysis would produce a more granular report than currently available. It's never happened.  In addition, as banks create more two-step authorization systems, Quicken has increasingly failed to properly deal with them.

    Whenever a company raises prices, it should only do so from a position of strength. I'm sorry guys, but that's clearly NOT where you are right now. "Bringing everyone to the same level" is NOT a customer benefit. It's a benefit for your company. 

    Spokey in reference to this question:
    If I can manually enter data with the new subscription model, is there
    any difference between not renewing a subscription and what I currently
    can do after the 3 years are up?
    There is no difference.  (As long as you are not using the Starter version. that one will not allow manual update after the subscription lapses.)
  • Lysander Spooner
    Lysander Spooner Member ✭✭✭✭
    edited January 2018

    I believe the real reason for this change is strictly to increase revenue. Don't try to kid anyone. I've been using Quicken for many, many years and will start looking for an alternative. This is typical for new ownership to start changing a proven product.  Very disappointed !!!  Shame Shame Shame !! 

    Kind of amazing that people are so passionate about a piece of software that they consider just bug filled crap.
  • Unknown
    Unknown Member
    edited November 2017
    Yes, "Big Bang" changes have never been a Quicken strong suit. For that matter, basic upgrades have been chronic headaches. I'm a (foolish) Quicken user who goes back to the mid 90s. Why? Dunnoh, I like mental torture, I guess.

    I'd feel better about this "for-your-convenience" change if any previous change was convenient or easy. Specific chronic migraines: downloading bank data, importing bank data from qfx files, a horrid user interface that can't render itself on the screen cleanly and the more recent dog-chasing-tail problems with new passwords.

    I'm a Q 2017 Deluxe user who's more like to try spreadsheets before I pony up more money for Quicken.

    Please fix what you've got before jumping into something new and consider perhaps that your software can't be all things to all people.
  • Unknown
    Unknown Member
    edited January 2018
    Jim Hilt said:

    The owners of Quicken have gotten greedy, there is no real competition, so they can charge whatever the market will endure. I have been using Quicken since Nov 1993, bought 8 different deluxe versions costing $208.76, 72¢/month not the $2.17/month being hawked. I don't need new features, only fix the problems artic hare so succinctly pointed out:

    1. address festering product defects and address all (new) material defects in a timely manner;
    2. improve the quality of technical support;
    3. improve the reliability and robustness of Express Web Connect (because not all of us have access to Direct Connect);
    4. improve the robustness of Q database (reduce instances of data file corruption);
    5. improve communications and customer relations;
    6. improve the way Q solicits input from the user community; and
    7. improve product testing and quality.
    Bravo.
  • Mick
    Mick Member ✭✭✭
    edited May 2018

    Many Users who purchased Quicken from Intuit / Quicken, no longer have access to those programs. Will the past purchases, be moved to their new Quicken ID? Quicken 2015, Quicken 2016 and Quicken 2017?

    When you sign into Intuit / Quicken with the old Intuit ID, it takes you back to Quicken.com to Sign in and when you sign in the purchases associated with your old Intuit User ID, have not been moved over to the new Quicken ID.

    This includes Reward Copies as well.

    Not to mention Canadian Customers.

    Totally agree. I just upgraded. Other than an irritating color pallet change, I don't see anything of value in spending $99 to upgrade. I have the home and business version. The on-line tool investment piece is never right and functionality on the site is extremely poor. More and more of the credit card companies and financial firms are quickly performing the functions that Quicken thinks it has the market cornered. I can get spending analysis on all of my credit cards and my financial company USAA allows me to view all of my accounts in one place. I can actually make trades there as well. 

    I shall give it a year. Let's hope that there are quality upgrades,. 
  • Unknown
    Unknown Member
    edited November 2017
    Geneo56 said:

    Well the move to establish new UserID was not flawless. I spent 4 hours trying to get the accounts to log on and update and by internet posts there were thousands of others with the same issue than after a couple days working..I had to do it all over again. NOW having said that....The original agreement between the software maker and the user on my 2017 Premier clearly states it will be supported through 2020 . The best I can tell this is binding with the new owner of the software. I expect them to honor it and if not it will be class action time. Just because a company is sold or spun off does not nullify the user agreement.

    I like the membership model idea, but I'm anxious about continuing because my 2017 issues haven't been resolved. I thought it was done on my last support call, then a subsequent online download did something and three key transactions didn't download even though they should have, while others did. A call to support didn't resolve the issue and in fact stopped downloads from one of the accounts from the same bank. I've upgraded just about every time and now I'm stuck, unconfident that my numbers are correct.
    How do I get past this?  EricG
  • Richard Burke
    Richard Burke Member ✭✭
    edited April 2018
    Geneo56 said:

    You have sold me the last Quicken you will ever sell me.2017 Premier. Your subscription program is outright thievery . i usually update every year or every other year but will not be TOLD I HAVE TO. I have to use on computer for quicken only for WINDOWS. Quicken for MAC always is a joke.

    jacobs,

    Your comment makes about as much sense as buying a car whose engine quits working after 12 months of ownership. You can still continue to use the car, it just won't go anywhere.

    IMO, having a copy of Quicken without the ability to download transactions is pretty useless. AND to maintain the fully working copy you do have to keep paying. That is the point!

    All that Quicken has done is spur development of competing packages by alienating their budget conscious long-time users.

    I also agree that for the additional cost imposed by the annual subscription model to be justifiable, THE PRODUCT MUST GET BETTER!!! FIX THE BUGS! MAKE IT EASIER TO DISABLE SYNCHING TO THE CLOUD.
  • Unknown
    Unknown Member
    edited November 2017
    Geneo56 said:

    You have sold me the last Quicken you will ever sell me.2017 Premier. Your subscription program is outright thievery . i usually update every year or every other year but will not be TOLD I HAVE TO. I have to use on computer for quicken only for WINDOWS. Quicken for MAC always is a joke.

    non sequitur.   A car without a working engine can't fulfill it's basic fundamental purpose.  That is to get you & perhaps your cargo from point A to point B.  Maybe I'm wrong here but I don't see that Quicken's basic fundamental purpose is to download financial transactions.

    I'd say it is to keep track of your finances.

    You might argue that a bad battery forcing you to jump start your car every morning is analogous. Doesn't stop you from using the car.  Just makes it more difficult.  I would add that I'd be rather displeased if my battery only lasted 3 years<g>.
  • Spokey
    Spokey Member ✭✭
    edited December 2017
    Geneo56 said:

    You have sold me the last Quicken you will ever sell me.2017 Premier. Your subscription program is outright thievery . i usually update every year or every other year but will not be TOLD I HAVE TO. I have to use on computer for quicken only for WINDOWS. Quicken for MAC always is a joke.

    non sequitur.   A car without a working engine can't fulfill it's basic fundamental purpose.  That is to get you & perhaps your cargo from point A to point B.  Maybe I'm wrong here but I don't see that Quicken's basic fundamental purpose is to download financial transactions.

    I'd say it is to keep track of your finances.

    You might argue that a bad battery forcing you to jump start your car every morning is analogous. Doesn't stop you from using the car.  Just makes it more difficult.  I would add that I'd be rather displeased if my battery only lasted 3 years<g>.
  • Marketing Guru
    Marketing Guru Member ✭✭
    edited April 2018
    Geneo56 said:

    You have sold me the last Quicken you will ever sell me.2017 Premier. Your subscription program is outright thievery . i usually update every year or every other year but will not be TOLD I HAVE TO. I have to use on computer for quicken only for WINDOWS. Quicken for MAC always is a joke.

    I would say that for most users, transaction downloads are a must have feature. It's a make or break for me.
  • Lysander Spooner
    Lysander Spooner Member ✭✭✭✭
    edited November 2017

    I get far more than the price in value from Quicken and I support move to subscription model/rolling improvements. What I don't understand is why it's cheaper for a new Quicken purchaser to get it cheaper in retail store for two year subscription than it is for a long time user to get into subscription model? Am I missing something or is this is a bit of a slap in the face to long time users? MYM->Money->Quicken.

    Wendy, you can get a 27 month license at Amazon.
  • jacobs
    jacobs SuperUser, Mac Beta Beta
    edited July 2018
    Geneo56 said:

    You have sold me the last Quicken you will ever sell me.2017 Premier. Your subscription program is outright thievery . i usually update every year or every other year but will not be TOLD I HAVE TO. I have to use on computer for quicken only for WINDOWS. Quicken for MAC always is a joke.

    @Richard Burke: I've used Quicken for decades and I don't download transactions; I manually enter my transactions. So for me, Quicken is useful whether I have the current product or not. But as @Marketing Guru says, for *most* users, downloads are a key feature. And yes, you do have to pay for this service because there are ongoing costs in keeping this service functional. So the question is basically whether the cost for this service -- plus getting feature updates and access to support -- is worth it to you or not, and that's a question different Quicken users will answer differently.
    Quicken Mac Subscription • Quicken user since 1993
  • Unknown
    Unknown Member
    edited November 2017

    I am currently on Quicken 2016 Home & Business. We use it for managing one rental property and doing light invoicing for our very small business. I can tell you that, given the $100 PER YEAR charge for 2018  and considering all the software problems Quicken has  had, we will NOT be moving to the subscription model.  You have effectively tripled cost of ownership for us.

    I can't tell you the amount of time I invested  in keeping Quicken working with my credit union (reset account, rebuild account, etc. etc.) when it finally turned out that some programmer had messed up the scripting for online access. It wasn't anything the CU had done but something the Quicken scripting department had farkled. 

    Further, each new iteration of Quicken has  created new bugs to squash without adding any more real functionality. For example, in investment tracking, I have LONG wanted (and requested) the ability to create custom classes of investments so that an analysis would produce a more granular report than currently available. It's never happened.  In addition, as banks create more two-step authorization systems, Quicken has increasingly failed to properly deal with them.

    Whenever a company raises prices, it should only do so from a position of strength. I'm sorry guys, but that's clearly NOT where you are right now. "Bringing everyone to the same level" is NOT a customer benefit. It's a benefit for your company. 

    Spokey - I'm not sure I understand what you are asking for. In the "Investing" tab under "Portfolio" there's a list of all your accounts and the holdings within each account. If you ht the ""Group By" drop down menu and change from "Accounts" to "Security" you see all of your holdings together.  For instance, if you have 3 positions in one stock, each in a different account, the "Group by Security" selection will show a consolidated view of that stock to one line - total # of shares, average cost per share, etc.  All of your holdings will be on one spreadsheet view. Is that what you're asking?
  • Spokey
    Spokey Member ✭✭
    edited November 2017

    I am currently on Quicken 2016 Home & Business. We use it for managing one rental property and doing light invoicing for our very small business. I can tell you that, given the $100 PER YEAR charge for 2018  and considering all the software problems Quicken has  had, we will NOT be moving to the subscription model.  You have effectively tripled cost of ownership for us.

    I can't tell you the amount of time I invested  in keeping Quicken working with my credit union (reset account, rebuild account, etc. etc.) when it finally turned out that some programmer had messed up the scripting for online access. It wasn't anything the CU had done but something the Quicken scripting department had farkled. 

    Further, each new iteration of Quicken has  created new bugs to squash without adding any more real functionality. For example, in investment tracking, I have LONG wanted (and requested) the ability to create custom classes of investments so that an analysis would produce a more granular report than currently available. It's never happened.  In addition, as banks create more two-step authorization systems, Quicken has increasingly failed to properly deal with them.

    Whenever a company raises prices, it should only do so from a position of strength. I'm sorry guys, but that's clearly NOT where you are right now. "Bringing everyone to the same level" is NOT a customer benefit. It's a benefit for your company. 

    That's not quite it.  I don't want security A combined for company x and company y**.   I want to see all securities for company x listed together.  I want to see for company x my market value, amount invested etc. so I can get a perspective for my results at the company level like I get at the security level.  For some companies, I do. 

    Because my Fidelity account has mutual funds and equities listed together, I can see how I'm doing there.  I can see for example a 3 year return or market value at the company level.  But for TRowePrice, I can't.  I have a single account, with a single logon, and I get a single monthly statement.  For some reason, Quicken insists that I create a separate account for each mutual fund for the downloads to work 

    No idea why Quicken handles the two differently.  If Quicken had a sub account (for each download) or a grouping of my choosing, that would accomplish it.  But currently, each of the investment companies I use (currently four) looks different even though in each case, again, I speaking of one account with one logon and I get one statement.

    Also, if it had sub accounts or groupings of my choosing, I could similarly combine my checking, savings, CDs etc at a given bank


    **  Actually I might want that, but that is not the issue I'm addressing.
  • Unknown
    Unknown Member
    edited November 2017

    Funny reading some of the comments here about how this is a good value.  I'm one of those people that upgrades generally every other year.  I buy Quicken Premier for Windows.  The last couple purchases I made were:

    Quicken 2017 $59.22
    Quicken 2015 $55.77
    Quicken 2012 $47.80

    So my annual cost at worst over my last 3 upgrades was $30/yr.

    So far it looks like the best price I could get with Quicken 2018 right now is from Staples for $99.99 for two years.  So that's $50/yr.

    Whatever, I guess, I'm not gonna quibble over $20/year.   I'll probably upgrade to Quicken 2020.

    I still don't see anything in Quicken 2018 that would compel me to upgrade.

    I have no interest in using Quicken's Bill Pay.  I had at one time long ago used it but it was a rip off at 9.99 /  month and switched to using my bank.  Given all the issues Quicken has had with just about everything I wouldn't trust them to manage my bill payments.

    I'm a little annoyed that they are now including Bill Pay in the subscription and bragging about what a great deal that is.  I guess that's why the software is more expensive for a feature I'll never use.

    Same with the included 5gb of Dropbox.  Who is asking for this stuff?  More gimmicks as far as I'm concerned.

    Fix the damn bugs already.  Why is this so hard for them to do?

    That's interesting. When my bank decided it wanted $9.95/mo for Quicken access I just changed banks. One rolled over to retain me, but the other had no answer.
  • mtn_living
    mtn_living Member ✭✭✭✭
    edited December 2017

    I get far more than the price in value from Quicken and I support move to subscription model/rolling improvements. What I don't understand is why it's cheaper for a new Quicken purchaser to get it cheaper in retail store for two year subscription than it is for a long time user to get into subscription model? Am I missing something or is this is a bit of a slap in the face to long time users? MYM->Money->Quicken.

    Thanks for the Amazon tip, that's great, just ordered it through them.


    Regarding all the griping, if you don't need the capabilities of Quicken because yuour finances aren't that complex then go to another product. Personally, at now about $5.00 a month Quicken more than earns its keep for me, any one section of it would be worth it for me but the comprehensive financial overview and management it offers is worth far more than $50-$60 a year to me, quirks and all.

    PS: now I just need to find a CD drive to load it with.
  • Unknown
    Unknown Member
    edited November 2017

    Funny reading some of the comments here about how this is a good value.  I'm one of those people that upgrades generally every other year.  I buy Quicken Premier for Windows.  The last couple purchases I made were:

    Quicken 2017 $59.22
    Quicken 2015 $55.77
    Quicken 2012 $47.80

    So my annual cost at worst over my last 3 upgrades was $30/yr.

    So far it looks like the best price I could get with Quicken 2018 right now is from Staples for $99.99 for two years.  So that's $50/yr.

    Whatever, I guess, I'm not gonna quibble over $20/year.   I'll probably upgrade to Quicken 2020.

    I still don't see anything in Quicken 2018 that would compel me to upgrade.

    I have no interest in using Quicken's Bill Pay.  I had at one time long ago used it but it was a rip off at 9.99 /  month and switched to using my bank.  Given all the issues Quicken has had with just about everything I wouldn't trust them to manage my bill payments.

    I'm a little annoyed that they are now including Bill Pay in the subscription and bragging about what a great deal that is.  I guess that's why the software is more expensive for a feature I'll never use.

    Same with the included 5gb of Dropbox.  Who is asking for this stuff?  More gimmicks as far as I'm concerned.

    Fix the damn bugs already.  Why is this so hard for them to do?

    The bank never asked for money . Download and bill pay are free at my bank. It was Quicken ( or Intuit back then ) who wanted to charge 9.95 per month for bill pay which was ok in the early days when it was brand new and before my bank offered it. Then I think I discovered checkfree and used it for while which was free so I got off quicken bill pay. Eventually my bank started offering free bill pay.


    So for a long time Quicken has tried to keep charging probably an ever dwindling number of users for bill pay. Now they are giving it away ostensibly but not really. Now everyone (instead of a small number of users) is paying a little for it in the subscription thru the higher prices.


    It makes sense from Quicken’s point of view. They already have this developed. So how do they make money off it if no one wants to pay 9.95 /mo. Slip it into the subscription price is what they did and then tell you it’s free!


    So something I never asked for.
  • Unknown
    Unknown Member
    edited July 2018
    I have been a loyal customer for many years, in spite of a couple of major upgrade issues in years past. I looked at it as an independent check and balance against my finances. I've tolerated a variety of means of syncing data with various financial institutions, price increases without substantial product improvements and figuring out skin changes.

    I was in the process of completing the upgrade purchase when I noticed the language committing me to automatic annual upgrade subscription, along with a bit nebulous description of what features are disabled when/if the subscription renews. At this point I reviewed the Terms of Service and evaluated the new subscription model. It just prior to the final purchase button that I realized the subscription scenario I was about to agree to.

    After further consideration I have decided NOT to purchase the new subscription-based model and will be moving away from using what has been otherwise a go-to software product for cross-checking my finances. 

    I have been inconvenienced severely from the Adobe/Photoshop move to the subscription model, including the inability to do a fresh install due to policy changes breaking the chain of previously supported upgrade paths, essentially rendering my CS6 upgrade product unable to install.

    I simply can no longer justify contributing to companies who move to the subscription model while still charging a questionable price versus value for subscriptions and/or annual upgrades. Quite simply my loyalty to Quicken has reached a breaking point.
  • Unknown
    Unknown Member
    edited July 2018
    It is clear to me that the "annual membership" strategy is merely an income enhancer for Quicken.  Unlike Turbo Tax, which must be purchased annually because of annual changes made in tax forms and laws, Quicken need not be purchased every year.  Indeed, to re-purchase Quicken annually is an unnecessary expense.  Accounting programs have allowed in the past--and should allow for the future--dependable utilization for many years.  To pretend, as the Quicken executive's letter pretends, that an "annual membership" is necessary to "get everybody on the same page" is an insult to my intelligence and a royal rip-off of a long-time customer.

    I plan on investigating the advantages and disadvantages of the many accounting programs available and make a decision on which program I will be utilizing in the future.  It's now excessive cost is not the only problem with Quicken.  Repeated glitches after downloading updates have caused me to  lose time and to lose data.  Furthermore, it's supposed link to my investment accounts consistently results in errors that throw my render investment tracking unintelligible.  I suspect that after I investigate other accounting products available, I am not likely to be a Quicken user.

    Kenneth Ward
  • Unknown
    Unknown Member
    edited November 2017

    I am currently on Quicken 2016 Home & Business. We use it for managing one rental property and doing light invoicing for our very small business. I can tell you that, given the $100 PER YEAR charge for 2018  and considering all the software problems Quicken has  had, we will NOT be moving to the subscription model.  You have effectively tripled cost of ownership for us.

    I can't tell you the amount of time I invested  in keeping Quicken working with my credit union (reset account, rebuild account, etc. etc.) when it finally turned out that some programmer had messed up the scripting for online access. It wasn't anything the CU had done but something the Quicken scripting department had farkled. 

    Further, each new iteration of Quicken has  created new bugs to squash without adding any more real functionality. For example, in investment tracking, I have LONG wanted (and requested) the ability to create custom classes of investments so that an analysis would produce a more granular report than currently available. It's never happened.  In addition, as banks create more two-step authorization systems, Quicken has increasingly failed to properly deal with them.

    Whenever a company raises prices, it should only do so from a position of strength. I'm sorry guys, but that's clearly NOT where you are right now. "Bringing everyone to the same level" is NOT a customer benefit. It's a benefit for your company. 

    Oh wow. That explains a lot. I strongly encouraged a friend to get Quicken Premier 2015 or 16 and he was trying to describe what you are experiencing to me, and I didn't believe it.  I figured he must doing something wrong.  A lot of his holdings are T. Rowe Price. Oops! Of course I couldn't help him much because I would need him to have to expose personal info (his finances) for me to trouble shoot.  I hope there's an answer to this, because it sounds like a mess and I'd like to give him some hope.  He totally gave up on Quicken, and is now looking at eMoney (which is offered free by Fidelity). I just got approved for that so I haven't tried it yet. Supposedly it's a financial dashboard that can log into your other accounts and aggregate data like Quicken does.  Good luck with your T Rowe/Quicken issue (not sure who controls this problem, but it would be nice if Quicken acknowledged it and weighed in)...
  • John44
    John44 Member ✭✭✭
    edited November 2017

    Eric, thank you for communicating with the Community regarding the membership plan. This is a significant change that merits effective change management, with active leadership and sponsorship from the top of the organization.

    I support the transition to the subscription model. In fact, I believe that the transition to the subscription model is essential to the longer term viability of Q. I've used Q for a long time - more than 20 years - and I would like to see the product continue to be available for another 20 years.

    In my view, Quicken is a good value proposition at the new/current annual cost. I use both the banking and investing features. While I could find another way to manage my day-to-day banking, Q is indispensable for me on the investment side.

    My experience with Quicken has been mixed. While I highly value the product, I've experienced some significant challenges and disappoints over the years. One of those disappointments was having to abandon my data file of ~20 years worth of history when it got corrupted through an upgrade process. Your PD team reviewed the data file and concluded that corruption could not be resolved.

    A second example of my disappoints is this... As a Canadian customer, was probably one of the first customers to sign onto the subscription plan (early in CY2017). I can't think of any particular benefit I gained from upgrading from QC2016 to QC2017; however, I am very aware of the critical functionality that I lost to a defect introduced in the upgraded product. Your PD team introduced a (officially validated) defect into QC2017 that prevents (under any circumstance) population of the asset allocation portfolio rebalance table. It simply doesn't work. I've check back regularly with Q employees and, even now that we are anticipating the release of QC2018, there is no commitment to fix this defect. One of the main reasons I use (and subscribe to Q) is to help me in maintaining the asset allocation of my investment portfolio. This is an advertised/marketed feature of the product... that simply hasn't existed in the QC2017. This really is false advertising. I didn't need to upgrade... I still had a few years of support left on my QC2016 subscription, but I chose to upgrade... and my reward for spending the money on the upgrade was to lose one of the features most important to me. And, I reiterate, despite asking repeatedly, Q has made absolutely no commitment to fix the defect.

    While I am fully supportive of the transition to the subscription model, it does, for me set some important customer expectations. I fully expect Q to do all of the following in relatively short order:

    1. address festering product defects and address all (new) material defects in a timely manner;
    2. improve the quality of technical support;
    3. improve the reliability and robustness of Express Web Connect (because not all of us have access to Direct Connect);
    4. improve the robustness of Q database (reduce instances of data file corruption);
    5. improve communications and customer relations;
    6. improve the way Q solicits input from the user community; and
    7. improve product testing and quality.
    You may notice that "add new features" didn't make my list of expectations. Sure, there are some new features that I would appreciate; however, I intentionally left "add features" off the list to make it clear that adding features should be a lower priority for Q (than the above). Addressing defects and improving tech support are far more important than adding new features... at least to this 20+ year user. ...and, I'm one of your customers that is entirely OK with the subscription model.

    Thanks again, sincerely, for communicating with community. I hope you are taking time, personally, to read our responses. I also hope that you adopt a practice of regularly communicating with the community.
    I don't mind bugs in new features of an update.  I just won't use the new feature until it is fixed.  What really really bugs me is when an update breaks something that used to work but now no longer works.  QM2017 was bug free until update 4.6.  Support blames the bugs on the FI even though the FI has not made any changes and the bugs only appeared after the 4.6 update.  Problems will still exist with updates in the new subscription model but should be fixed quicker.
This discussion has been closed.