Customer Reviews

Peachtree Complete Accounting 2008

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

 

 

I have been a Peachtree customer for over 17 years. I had not upgraded for a few years and felt this would be the time to do so. Some of the new features looked quite attractive. The first thing I noticed after insalling the multi-user version on my network is that they had changed the datbase from the Novell btrieve format to Pervasive SQL. I thought this would be good as I have usually noticed SQL databases run faster. Boy was I mistaken. The program ran so slow it was unusable. Different windows might take 30 seconds to pop up and another screen would take 20 seconds to save. The confusing thing was the behavior was not consistent it would run fast for a few transactions then revert to running slow. Peachtree technical support told me my server was not fast enough to handle the new version even though all my other software programs ran fine on the network. I should have been suspicious because Peachtree ran this slow even when I was the only one using the network. Nevertheless, I bought a new $3,600 Server and much to my dismay Peachtree ran just as slow. Then Peachtree Technical support claimed it was my network switch so I bought a newer one for $650. No improvement. I could see what was coming next. They claimed it was my workstations. I was about to upgrade the 3 bookkeeping computers anyway so I spent $1,950 each to buy very fast systems for the 3 of them. Still no change. I have searched around the Internet and found that I am not the only one to have these problems. It seems that the newest versions of Peachtree with the Pervasive SQL database where only designed to be run in Single user mode and not on a network. They built the network functions on later. I am very upset with Peachtree technical support for lying to me. If they would have told me the truth that there where some problems with the network abilities in the new version of Peachtree and that they were working on them, I would have saved thousands of dollars in new hardware that they claimed I needed. The last thing they told me was that I just needed to upgrade to Peachtree Quantum Accounting because it ran much faster. That would cost me thousands more. They must be kidding. I will never trust them again. My old version ran fine but they tell me there is now way to downgrade my data files. I am looking around for another brand of software now. If it can painlessly convert my Peachtree data I will switch.

I've used Peachtree and Quickbooks between different jobs going back 17 years and always loved Peachtree software. It was always great value for the price.

The Good: Added some very useful reporting parameters, most reports can be by any date instead of by just periods, you can easily customize your reports in any and all manners, most of the stuff you always needed an ad-on to do you can now do within Peachtree. All the functionality and changes made were well thought out and very useful(Maintaining Vendors and customers is better laid out etc...). It IS Vista compatible, the first version that is fully Vista Compatible.

The Bad: It runs so slow you want to scream. It is mind boggling how they could screw this up. The previous versions run relatively speedy on common workstations. I have a new computer that was bought in March and was a $3000 computer: fast in all aspects and it still runs slow. You call up a vendor or save one and you get the little "I'm busy" circle for a few seconds. They sell a much more expensive version with a different style database that is suppose to run extra fast, for large files especially, I'm not sure if this is there way of getting people to spend a couple thousand dollars on that or what BUT even file size does not matter. I have companies with 2-3MB and companies with large data files and the ALL of them run slow.

Recomendation: Unless you have to have fill Vista compatibility stay with 2007 and hope with 2009 they fix the speed issue because the functionality is the best yet and the program can do more for the money than any software out there. They really dropped the ball on what should have been a great upgrade.

I've used Peachtree since the 80's when my boss brought me one of the first Mac desktop computers and gave me his credit card to buy an accounting program. I've used it on both Mac's and PC's and I've found Peachtree to be easy to use and so flexible. Since so many people are using Quickbooks these days I decided to purchase the Pro series to see if it was a better produce...that was a mistake. With Peachtree I was able to design my own report layout and I find it so much easier to use in all aspects. I couldn't even get QB to give me a total for deposits and checks at the bottom of my check register...and don't get me started on the way QB payroll reports print out. Just know that you'll have to purchase a lot more paper. Buy Peachtree...in my view....it's a far superior product. It will make any accounting/bookkeeping tasks easier.

It isn't a bad product. As long as you never need any customer service then this software is o.k. Not bad, not great, just o.k. Their customer support is lousy. I've called them five different occasions, and each time I was on hold at least 20 minutes before talking to a live person, and each time I had to be transferred to another rep, whom I had to start all over with the explanation of who I was and my question of the day. Once it took me a full 2.5 hours of being on the phone with Peachtree and my problem was never resolved. Some of the reps are kind of slimy too.

Quickbooks has much better customer service. After getting used to the lousy service from using Peachtree for four years I was so surprised at how pleasant and efficient the intuit reps were that I'm now completely converted to quickbooks and will never use Peachtree again. I was having the same problem with Quickbooks that I was having with Peachtree, but the Quickbook rep got me back on track and fixed everything in 10 minutes. I was never transferred or put on hold.

Our company's accountant insists on Peachtree. We changed accountants so that we wouldn't have to use Peachtree.

Peachtree 2008 is difficult to use in simple applications. The 2000 version is easier for simple applications. The initial screen has part of the writing partially blanked out. It is difficult to write a single check.

Roy Huckaby CPA

This product is compatible with Vista, but beware... If you have Norton installed, it is NOT compatible with the Norton firewall. I did all the "fixes" recommended and the only way it would work was if I turned off the firewall. I switched to McAfee and have not had any problems.

As for the product itself...I would highly recommend it.

We have used this software for many of our clients including our own business and rate it very high for the price, user friendly, and reports generated.

Peachtree has redeemed themselves with this version. I converted/upgraded from their 2002 version, and this was the easiest upgrade I've done. Been using Peachtree since it was for DOS in 1996!! The one glitch in converting 12 years of data was settled over the phone, and by a very competent techie, in less than 10 minutes. (alright, the hold time was over 30 minutes, but I was told to expect an hour, and techies are free of charge for the first 30 days) The software has icons for everything, or you can use the pull-down windows you may be used to seeing. Great reports, works well with Outlook for emailing invoices on the first try. We waited 2 years over the limit for a better package, since all reviews for earlier versions were negative. This version was worth waiting for.

I too have used Peachtree for years but they have lost a customer. This new version with the Pervasie hogs all the memory causing your system to be too slow to use. Customer service is the worst; I was on hold more like 40 minutes only to speak to someone with their canned answers. They wouldn't pay me a rebate that I was entitled to because I called to late; 5 days too late. Don't waste your time or money.