Customer Reviews

QuickBooks Basic 2004

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

Buyers beware! QuickBooks will not even allow you to write a simple paycheck! Intuit makes you sign up for their "Do-It-Yourself Payroll" and charges you an additional $169. That's what Intuit calls a "Great Value".
If you run a really small company, look somewhere else for your accounting software. You'll be purchasing a new version of Quick Books every year as well as their "great" overpriced services.

It's amazing that a company can sit for 3 years and add SO little innovation.

Having used quickbooks for over 5 years i am really dissapointed with the the 2004 release. It's basically a re-wrap of a product from over 4 years ago. Definately NOT worth the value. Consider other options unless you are absolutely stuck.

Nothing to look forward to in this version.

Poor support. No support, even the free stuff without handing over your credit card first. Updates are just charges for new version numbers. You can't use the payroll system without paying for their monthly service. Irritating pop-ups trying to sell you more stuff while you are trying to do book work. And yes I still own it and have for a few years. It has its good points. Pretty easy to set up and use. Kinda stuck at the moment. Believe it or not I switched to this from a worse program, Peachtree. My only salvation is I only need it for two more years then it goes in the trash.

1/10/07 - As promised, in the trash. Sold my business in April. They happily charged another years Payroll service to my credit card last month , even though the information they have on file is outdated. The only good point is the girl in the Phillipines I talked to about the charges quickly and politely reversed them.

I will be sooooo glad when some other company besides Intuit comes up with a quality accounting program. Intuit's greed is really getting out of hand. I was basically *forced* to buy this new 2004 version due the "sunsetting" (their own stupid term) on Business Services for the 2001 version. Business Services is crucial to my job, because I'm constantly e-mailing invoices, which, of course (!) has to be done through Quickbooks Business Services. I was totally happy with my 2001 version and did not have any other need to upgrade! This should be against the law. I used to just enter paycheck amounts by hand (I did not want to shell out for tax tables, because we only have 2 employees, and let's face it it's not that hard to do yourself for just 2 employees), but not anymore! Now I'm being *forced* to subscribe to a payroll service! And I can only presume that this is the way it's going to be every few years...shell out a few hundred bucks for this garbage even when you don't need it, otherwise they won't provide Business Services to you...like I said, a RIP OFF!!

As an accountant I have experience with almost every version of QuickBooks. Real improvement to QuickBooks since the 1999 version has been scant. So-called improvements since 1999 amount to little more than odious marketing hooks positioned to sell other financial products.

I am amazed at the comments I have read about the popup advertisements and the payroll application in Quickbooks. You unhappy Quickbooks users...find a Quickbooks Pro Advisor on the Quickbooks website!!! Those of you who dislike the popups...turn them off!!! Click the box to not show you this reminder or message again! And those users who do not think they can write a payroll check in Quickbooks without buying the payroll tax service...for heavens sake, YOU CAN WRITE A CHECK AND ENTER THE AMOUNTS AND PAYROLL TAXES MANUALLY. You simply select to prepare your payroll manually instead of buying the payroll tax service. Please, find a Pro Advisor in your area!!!

The CD that I got from Amazon did not work - would not install despite trying everything - caused some endless loop. I called Intuit and ultimately got connected to someone in India. After spelling my shipping address at least 8 times, received a new disk 2 days later (despite address being mangled).
Installed software and called the 800 number to get a "registration number." This is a ruse by some so-called "customer support" person who obviously has past experience selling used cars, since it was just a charade to try to strong-arm me to sign up for payroll and support services. Entire conversation was offensive, and he ultimately said to me, snidely, "Well, I certainly HOPE you don't get AUDITED." Lucky for him we were separated by a phone line....
Havent' used the software enough to tell if I like it, but it was recommended by our accountant in order to save money on tax prep, so I'm sure it will do what it needs to do.
Was entirely offended by Intuit and would avoid their products in the future.

I used to like Quickbooks, but all it seems to be now is a cash cow for Intuit. My Quickbooks 2002 works just fine, but it will stop working next year so that I have to buy a new version with absolutely no new features we need. You can't use the payroll function without paying a fortune for periodic updates of the tax tables (even if your state doesn't have an income tax, or if yours doesn't change.

It's a good example of a company rapidly killing the goose which lays the golden egg. If there's a viable alternative out there, I'll buy it in a minute.

The last time I experiences bad software like this was in 1993. Second, the nag ware is equal in annoyance as getting locked into a web site that keeps spawning new pages when you attempt to close one. It makes this program a painful and frustrating experience.

(...)

My opinion, why even bother to expose yourself to this potential mess. If you have read this "opinion" and still decide to buy this software, only blame yourself when you want to fling your PC across the room.

Look at all the prior write ups and ask yourself "why am I going to be any different?"

I have used Quickbooks for business accounting software for over a decade. It easy to process information . It gives you many options. I chose 2004 basic because I did not want to spend hundreds in getting an advanced more updated version when In my case I did not need it. But whatever your needs are, stick with Quickbooks on whatever version or model you choose and you will never go wrong. For small business it is essential.