Subscription Model Prices vs. "Old" Purchase Model

dmillerdotcom2 · October 6

Does anyone remember the good old days? I've been using Quicken since its DOS days. I would purchase a new version every 2 years just to be sure my database version didn't get obsoleted. Back then it ran anywhere from $29 to $49 for the Deluxe version. It has always had its bugs but was usable. Now it costs over $70 annually {…}. It's been over a year now that my bug reports have been in a status of In Process. I can't have 2 different accounts with the same institution. Everything either falls apart or throws errors when I try to add my wife's credit card while mine exists. Lately, I've been experiencing issues with reminders. When I adjust them, they shift to some unknown date picked out of the air. Another feature that has followed the application for decades is report issues. No matter how many times you adjust columns the report always gets condensed to an unreadable format and require adjustments on every printing. Transaction memory has been exciting. It randomly adds categories and tags to repeated transactions. You have to be very careful that unwanted categories and tags don't get assign due to the applications decision to pick them out of the air.

After 30 plus years it is getting very tiresome paying this extraordinary amount for a problem riddled piece of software. [Edited - Readability]

retird · October 6

@dmillerdotcom2

I too get randomly added categories and tags to repeated transactions. Very frustrating…. have to manually adjust the categories as necessary.

As far as number of accounts with one financial institution I have 19 accounts. Some of them are my accounts, some are my wife's accounts, and some are joint accounts. More than 1 card is attached to the joint accounts. All are contained in one Quicken file. Are the cards tied to the same account for payments, do the cards have the same card numbers and verification codes, and etc. ? I ask because your post doesn't go into much detail about the cards and how they are set up.

dmillerdotcom2 · October 12

My account expires tomorrow, 10/13/2024, and I just cannot justify spending over $70 for 12 months of errors. Especially when I could not connect to my account for several weeks in October of 2023 due to Quicken security issues with bank security changes.

We have separate accounts with Chase, each with one credit card, and Quicken will not allow me to attach to the second account to add the card. It responds with an error when I attempt to add the second card/account. We have the same situation with another institution and it allows me to attach both cards/accounts but on every download one of the two cards show an error. The download seems to complete successfully though. The "fix" option does nothing. Deleting account, shutting down, rebooting, relaunching Quicken, and attempting to readd accounts yields the same results.

Error:

=======================================================

{Institution}

CC-800 | {account user name} 1 accounts @

It appears one or more accounts) at First Bankcard have been deleted. This could happen if you have restored from a backup file. You must add the accounts) to Quicken again. Select Fix it to resolve this error. For more information see the FAQ.

Fix. It

========================================================

retird · October 12

@dmillerdotcom2 so when your wife accesses her account on line at the bank her bank username and password is different than yours? And when you added her account to Quicken you set it up with her bank username and password in the One Step Update so the One Step Update accesses two usernames and passwords at the bank?

dmillerdotcom2 · October 12

The account is under a different user, yes. When I attempt to add at Chase, after authenticating at Chase, Quicken says that there are no accounts to add. If I delete my account, I can add hers. If I than try to add mine back Quicken says it does not exist. This problem started about a year or so ago. We had no problems for many years prior to that. I've actually had her stop using that credit card. If I remember right, it was around the time that several banks started to upgrade their security models. I followed all the recommendations of deleting, exiting, launching, and readding with no change to the results.

A fun fact, today, the last day of my current subscription, I downloaded my transactions for my checking account. Somehow a check to my granddaughter for her birthday got matched to a charitable donation from 6 months ago. They were for the same amount but the dates weren't even close. I corrected this on accepting. Now, any time I highlight that transaction it shows the charities name. It's the first I've seen this. A new feature?

retird · October 12

I wouldn't think it should have matched as you said since the check numbers are different if you wrote a check for the charitable donation. Strange but seems recently I read numerous posts about Chase issues…..

jacobs · October 12

If I delete my account, I can add hers.

It sounds to me that Chase is preventing one Quicken file from accessing more than one Chase account. Why would they do that? Trying to minimize the chances of fraud/data theft. But they clearly don't understand some of their customers do have multiple accounts. I can't say for certain, but I'm pretty sure this is Chase, not Quicken, at fault. (Not that it matters in the end; you just want it to work!)

NotACPA · October 12

I have 2 credit cards from Chase (but no other accounts with them) and haven't had a problem connecting/downloading into my Q registers from them.

dmillerdotcom2 · October 16

This is awesome!! I've chosen not to renew. Now I can't even manually balance any of my accounts. Sounds like a case of mini ransomware. Over 30 years and this is what loyalty gets you. It's just like politics and modern christianity. The golden rule, "screw them before they screw you."

jacobs · October 16

@dmillerdotcom2 What level subscription did you previously have? If it was Starter, then it has been well publicized for many years that you can only use it as “read only” after your subscription ends. But if you had Deluxe, then you absolutely should be able to manually add new entries, create reports, reconcile accounts, etc. What subscription did you have?

As for “loyalty”, no, there is none in a subscription pricing model — from any company. WCan you still get cable TV and Internet if you end your cable service? Can you still listen to music if you end your Spotify/Apple Music streaming service? With some software — Adobe particularly — you can’t even open your files after your subscription ends.

dmillerdotcom2 · October 19

I have had "Deluxe" for as long as I can remember. I've just uncovered another great "feature". Quicken had matched a download to the wrong payment reminder prior to my expiration. I corrected that. Now, a few weeks later I find that when it made that mismatch, it deleted the reminder, and I am now late on that payment. On another note, I admit oddly, Verizon has actually given several adjustments that are temporary but have not gone away yet in the past several years.

dmillerdotcom2 · October 19

I did inadvertently find that while all menu and ribbon references to reconcile are gone, I accidently hit Control-R while in the register. This brough up the reconciliation module. I hope I didn't expose a mistake and find that they remove it in a future update.

Boatnmaniac · October 19

https://community.quicken.com/discussion/comment/20458347#Comment_20458347

Manual reconciliation should always be available when using Deluxe or higher, whether or not the subscription is current. What should have gone away (including all references to it) when you let your subscription expire is the ability to reconcile to the Online Balance.

Boatnmaniac · October 19

I've just uncovered another great "feature". Quicken had matched a download to the wrong payment reminder prior to my expiration. I corrected that. Now, a few weeks later I find that when it made that mismatch, it deleted the reminder, and I am now late on that payment.

If the download was incorrectly matched to a reminder:

What usually happens when a download is not matched to the correct reminder: Quicken will prompt the user to decide whether or not the Quicken matching suggestion is correct. One also has the option of accepting downloaded transaction matches prior to entering the transactions into the register in the Downloaded Transactions tab beneath the account register. If one accepts the suggested match instead of rejecting it, then that is not a Quicken issue.
Whenever a a specific reminder transaction is deleted from the account register (whether it has been matched to a downloaded transaction or not), that specific reminder will be deleted from Quicken. The user then needs to either create that reminder again (if it is a 1-time reminder) or, if it is a recurring reminder, the recurring reminder needs to be edited to reset the "next date". It is not a Quicken issue when this is not done.

Now, if deleting 1 reminder (of a recurring reminder) is deleted from the register, it should not be deleting the entire recurring reminder. It that happens, then that would be a Quicken issue.

mshiggins · October 20

I recall a prior discussion where the user could no longer access the reconcile and other account actions menu items as the egregiously large expiration banner covers that area of the Quicken screen. I believe @splasher had posted a picture showing the banner and the egregious amount of screen real estate the banner blocks.

dmillerdotcom2 · October 24

@Boatnmaniac I guess over the many years I trusted that Quicken would not match a transaction if the names and dates were no where near each other. For that reason I did in fact accept the transaction in error. It's a coincidence that this happened for the first time in 30+ years just as I'm giving up my subscription? Odd huh?

@mshiggins yes, I am seeing the top and right banner pushing you to renew. In my case it takes about 30% of my screen. This makes settling investment transactions very interesting.

Does anyone ever hear back from Quicken on social media? [Removed - Sarcasm] does Quicken monitor groups like this to get the average user's experience in hopes of improving their product? [Removed - Sarcasm]

dmillerdotcom2 · October 29

This week's "quirk". I've found that an annual library donation that I completed in October now shows as a monthly donation starting in January of 2025. How in the heck could the application change a reminder from yearly to monthly as well as skip November and December to start in January. As Forrest Gump would say, "This application is like a box of chocolates!!"

dmillerdotcom2 · November 8

Responses from Quicken have been that the app is worth it. They went on to say how much effort they put into connecting with all the banks. While the connecting feature is critical it seems to be a moot point if the application is riddled with bugs.

That said, I just happened to Google "Quicken Deluxe Sale" and it returned a 50% off sale (on the Quicken site) that usually does not apply to existing users. I gave it a try and it allowed me to get a current subscription (yes same email address/login). The warts on the app are much easier to accept at $36 than at $72. Just putting that out there.

dmillerdotcom2 · November 8

Not more than 1/2 hour after activating my account I have another mystery edit. In May of 2024 I updated the dollar amount on my annual home insurance payment reminder. When checking my major expenses for the next few months I found a reminder that starts in February of 2025. It is for the new amount but rather than annually in May it is schedule for the last day of EVERY month starting in February. How in the world does editing a dollar amount shift the date and frequency? Why starting in February? Why the last day of every month. That's pretty specific.

Boatnmaniac · November 8

I just Googled "Quicken Deluxe Sale" and saw that same "Flash Sale" announcement and it took me to https://www.quicken.com/lp/em/flashsale/. . And I saw the 50% sale prices there but I also noted that those discounts are footnoted (very small footnote marking):

The footnote is at the very bottom of the webpage and in very small print that is very hard to read. It does say that the 50% off price is for new subscribers which is why you were charged the full price. The following picture is much bigger than the actual size on the website.

So it does appear that you missed the footnote. At a minimum I think Quicken should make it much more apparent that the offer is restricted to new subscribers only, perhaps placing a single line note about it in the ad itself, maybe right below the price that is shown. This is a rather common complaint by people when they buy their subscriptions on Quicken.com. If you have not already done so, you might want to contact Quicken Support and complain about that misleading ad (and, yes, I agree that it is misleading they way it is listed there) and the pricing you got. Maybe they can offer you something to soften that blow (I've heard that they can and will sometimes do that).

I've found that the non-Quicken retail sites tend to be much more transparent about their pricing and they often meet or beat the pricing on Quicken.com. The best price for current subscribers that I found at other online retailers right now is $59.88 at samsclub.com. It's not that 50% off but it's better than the full retail price of $72.

Regarding that reminder issue: I have sometimes (not very often) seen recurring reminders I've set up showing the wrong recurring schedule. When I edited the recurring reminder to see why that was I noticed that the wrong repeating criteria was selected. I have always assumed, since it happens so infrequently, that I probably just entered the wrong schedule information. So, I just corrected them and after that they were fine.

One thing I have noted with reminders: When I have selected a criteria in a recurring reminder, if I hit the scroll down button on my keyboard instead of the Enter or Tab buttons, the selection I had made will change. But that is, I think, not a Quicken issue. It is instead a fat-finger issue because it happens in other areas of Quicken and in many other apps and website forms, as well.

dmillerdotcom2 · November 10

Oops! I did not get contested. I used my current subscription email to login and was only charged the 50% amount. What luck! Would not have expected that from Quicken. Just logged out of the application and back in again and I was back in business.

Unknown · November 28

This content has been removed.

nomadintrovert · December 7

https://community.quicken.com/discussion/comment/20460596#Comment_20460596

I doubt Quicken is going to make the fine print later considering they're already disclosing that information to you. When consumers see the fine print, they have the option of enlarging and highlighting the text on their browser. Most companies know that the average consumer is not looking at the fine print, hence why it's only large enough to satisfy the lawyers.

Boatnmaniac · December 8

Yes, I don't think Quicken will be making the fine print larger but I don't think that really is needed. If they would simply do what most sellers do by placing the footnote in the general proximity of the listing instead of at the far bottom of the webpage I think it would be sufficient. But I'm pretty sure they won't be doing that either.

jacobs · December 8

If they would simply do what most sellers do by placing the footnote in the general proximity of the listing instead of at the far bottom of the webpage I think it would be sufficient. But I'm pretty sure they won't be doing that either.

What I don't understand is why they constantly and repeatedly insist on antagonizing/annoying/frustrating their existing customers with tactics like this. For potential new customers, make the 50% off offer big an enticing. But to avoid ticking off their existing customers, make the "new customers only" message clear and apparent. Instead, they always use the tiny footnote marker, the footnote buried way down the page where most people won;t see it, and very tiny text for the footnote itself. It gains them nothing to be deceptive, except the wrath of their existing customers. Why? It's an unforced error by the Quicken marketing people. But they've been doing it for years, so they apparently don't care.

Subscription Model Prices vs. "Old" Purchase Model

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