Customer Reviews

Quicken 2003 Premier Home & Business

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(14)

 

 

I have used Quicken for about 6 years now and love most of the program. However, the 2003 version is no improvement over 2002. The didn't fix many of the bugs and added a few new one. For example, you still can't edit your ESOP transaction once you enter them. One of the new bug is you can't resize the search results window.Also, Quicken has gone way overboard with advertising. The software in now basically ad-ware, which would be ok if they didn't sell it to you. Finally, the business functions are so cripple they're almost useless. You can't even chose the columns or entries on invoices.

I have been with Quicken since 3.0. I have loved the software and have been a strong advocate for it. Now that I have upgraded to Quicken Premier 2003, my attitude has complete changed. I have never seen such terribly written software before. This is purely pitiful.

I have recently upgraded from Quicken 2000 Deluxe and I have had nothing but trouble. First of all, of course, it couldn't convert my old data file. I had a ton of errors to sort through. Secondly, the interface constantly locks up on me (I am using XP). Thirdly, the interface is so obscure, you will find yourself running in circles just trying to accomplish what used to take minutes. The help is pitiful. The support is even worse. The interface is absolutely retched, extremely slow (I am running at 1.3 GHz) and riddled with bugs. Intuit is no longer interested in making good software.

I hate to sound so negative. I am not one who complains so much, but this software is more than a disappointment, it has been a complete waste of my time. Trust me, don't buy it, don't install it, and don't use it. You will be very sorry. Even if you are given it for fee.

If you're running Windows XP, Quicken 2003 isn't for you. Yes, the interface has grown clunky -- the mark of software that's piled on so many bells and whistles that it's become morbidly obese. But what good is any financial software if you can't print reports? With XP, you cannot. Quicken 2003 simply crashes and closes when you hit the print command.

"Windows XP is bad at processing 16-bit printing," a Quicken service rep told me today. His advice? Remove the latest and greatest HP printer drivers and install drivers for Windows 98. Of course, full-featured printing will suffer with most every other application on my computer, and XP poses serious obstacles to such a ploy since Win98 drivers are not certified for XP, but Intuit offers no other solution.

When I pointed out that I run a lot programs and that only Quicken won't print in XP, my exasperated tech rep sighed, "I know, I hear that a lot." Publicly, Intuit is clearly in denial. There's not a clue about XP printing problems to be found on Quicken's support site.

It's sad, really. Intuit once brought personal and business accounting into its full glory on the PC platform, but they've stumbled and fallen flat today. ...Unless you're one of the few still running Windows 98, forget this retro dinosaur.

As a software engineer, I am shocked at the low level of help documentation with Quicken for Home and Business. There should be What's This Help on every object in every screen. There is none.
There should be context sensitive help on every screen. In many places, p
ressing F1 merely opens the help file to the last place the user was viewing. This is frustrating to the user, who was obviously not able to find the answer during the last attempt to find help.

Register Report Printing: You should be able to print a register report with the Windows standard Ctrl-P. However, Ctrl-P prints the entire check register, not the report in focus. You have to press the printer icon to print a register report. There should at least be a warning that you are about to print the entire check register, especially when it is not even in focus. Ctrl-P should always print the window in focus. In reports, it does not.

There should be a way to assign a checking deposit to several invoice payments. Each invoice is paid for with one check. One Deposit contains many checks (each for a separate invoice payment). Therefore, there must be a one-to-many relationship between checking deposits and invoice payments. This should be able to be accomplished from the split category dialog, but it is not. The user should be able to select invoices from within the split category dialog.
The Manual Match feature of accepting downloaded transactions should have a one to one correspondence with the items being matched, but it does not. For example, It is possible to select multiple invoices using the manual match for a deposit into a bank account. When the deposit contains three checks for three invoices, the split category should clearly designate the invoices that are being paid. However, even though the invoices are selected manually, they are not referenced in the split category. In the Invoices account, the three invoices that were paid by the split deposit should have three individual payments posted to the account. However, only one posting is made, and no invoices are referenced by it. Therefore there is no way to tell which invoices have been paid.

Import and Export are buggy. I had to rename all my accounts to get it to work. This cost me a handsome telephone support fee to find out.

Customer support is free online using chat. One representative terminated the chat session without notice after I pointed out that the solution she had offered had nothing to do with the problem I had stated. Three out of three times I was told my issues were beyond the scope of chat and I would have to call in and pay a per minute charge for support. When I called for support I was told that there were no solutions for the failings in the program, but I had to pay anyway.

Poor documentation, poor support, poor features and poor programming make Quicken 2003 Home and Business a big waste of time and money for the business owner.

(I would rate this product 2 1/2 stars if I could)

I opened up a new small business and was trying to decide whether I should upgrade my Quicken 2002 deluxe to either Quicken 2003 Home and Business or the Microsoft Money equivalent. I ultimately ended up upgrading to Quicken and now think this is a mistake of epic proportion.

There is good news and bad news. First the good news. The program does a lot of cool stuff that I need to do. I pay all my bills online and have never had a (major) problem. Occasionally, I will get the little annoyances like when all my transactions were duplicated and I had to go back and delete two years of double transaction. However, I must say that the program overall is a time saver and helps me keep track of all my expenses, both home and business. I never thought I would ever need all those little accounting details until the IRS did a complete anal exam and wanted everything in excruciating detail. Sure did come in handy.

HOWEVER, for some reason, Quicken refuses to upgrade their user interface to the new millennium. There are so many features that are stuck in the 80s and 90s that it makes it more difficult to use. For example, to set preferences, you have to click the menu-preference-preference item several time to get them all. All other software brings up one preference screen with tabs in it to set all the preferences at once.

And then the big beef. Here is a "suggestion" I sent today to Intuit. I will let it speak for itself.

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This is not going to be a happy comment. So if you are not emotionally prepared for a very unhappy customer, please forward this message on to someone else. It won't be abusive or anything like that, but I am going to vent some of my frustrations.

I just purchased Quicken 2003 for Home and Business. In general, I am pleased with the product as it should do just about everything I need it to do. BUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUT, some of the marketing that is forced in my face every time I use the program is so despicable and outright onerous that some days I just feel like throwing the whole computer out the window. Why must I put up with all the blatant advertising? No other program on the market puts users through such trials and tribulations. In fact, when I was choosing between Quicken and Money, I almost bought Money hoping that it would not subject its users to such treatment. I can't tell you how much I dislike using the program knowing that every time I look at the screen, I am going to be bombarded with advertising and marketing. I can tell you, that because of it, I will NEVER use your services. That is how much I disdain your mistreatment of customers.

OK, fine. That should be enough. I think you get the idea. So my suggestion is obvious. Tone down your advertising, or at least allow the users to turn off the display of ALL advertising. For example, the little links on the bottom like "Can your business benefit from Quickbooks?"

Do I feel better? Not really as I still have to endure the painful experience of these little annoyances ever time I use Quicken. I am sure I am not the only one who feels this way. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE have more respect for your customers and their sanity.

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Bottom line, would I buy Quicken 2003 if I had to do it all over again? Maybe, but I would investigate Microsoft Money more thoroughly first. Reading the comments about Money though, seems like there is no best solution. Good luck!

I am very disappointed in this release of Quicken. This is my 3rd version, upgrading from Deluxe 2001. It's in all probability my last. I've encountered print problems with both 2001 and 2003 (different OS, different printers). Was finally able to resolve printing issue in v. 2001 with update they released. Not so with 2003. I have the latest update (R3) running XP Pro. Intuit Support is sketchy at best and I refuse to pay for it. (First and last time I spoke to them, regarding the 2001 printing issue, the response I got was "Well, you had two months to try the product and if you didn't like it you could have returned it under our money back guarantee. Now it's too late.") I have searched Intuit Support and the web and cannot find a fix for the printing issue. In order to print a Reconciliation Report, I have to save in Notepad in .TXT format, then print from there. The layout in Notepad is horrible and going through several steps to print is a royal pain.

The program's interface is bloated and busy to the point of being annoying. I don't bank online, yet every time I launch the program I'm prompted for Quicken to be the default Web Connection for data from my financial institution. Doesn't seem to be a way to turn this prompt off.

I just want to work on my finances, I don't want or appreciate their constant ads on the main page for everything from their credit card to Quicken Brokerage online.

I also have M$ Money 2003 Deluxe, and would use that soley were it not for the fact that there is no means to assign passwords to individual files/accounts and the .NET passport tie-in. Since I handle other family members finances as well, I must be able to assign passwords, hence my choice of Quicken.

The program has great capabilities, but all in all I'm extrememly disappointed in it's performance.

I have used Quicken since the 80's, and CheckFree since 1989. I've upgraded every year. I bought Quicken 2003 Home and Business the day it was available for sale. Big Mistake! It did not support CheckFree Bill Pay. I have maybe 100 payees, built up over the years. The Payee List was gone and CheckFree was not a payment option. Eventually, Intuit said that it posted a patch on it's website, but it didn't work for me! I signed up for Quicken Bill Pay, which is really CheckFree in disquise, because CheckFree said they had heard that if you converted to QBP in the 2002 version, then the Payees would transfer to Q2003. After many calls, waiting for Quicken Bill Pay to send me a password, I finally made the switch, retained my Payees, and then found that the software would not connect to Quicken Bill Pay!! Plus, you have to pay the phone call for Quicken Bill Pay support (an hour on the phone didn't solve it) where it used to be an 800#. The Q2003 interface isn't any great improvement either -- hard to find the things that used to be conveniently located on the side! ...

This company wants you to call a 900 number or provide a credit card for billing for even answering questions about their software. Does that sound like a company you want to deal with? If you find this too hard to believe just call with a technical question and see what happens.

I don't know how Quicken ever became the leading personal finance program with a program this hard to understand and with clear bugs (atleast on Windows XP). I'm GREAT with computers, but this program constantly stumps me with an interface that is FAR from intuitive.

What's worse, I suddenly experienced a serious bug in the program that wiped out my customer list! Quicken does NOT OFFER ANY FREE SUPPORT, EVEN IN SITUATIONS WHERE THERE IS A BUG IN THE PROGRAM. And the online chat support was a disaster. In order to follow the support persons instructions, it closes the chat window and you have to start from scratch. Huh? AWFUL!! Quicken should be ashamed and people should stop buying the product.

I've used Quicken along with CheckFree to pay bills for ten years. It has been an OK method to pay bills and schedule payments, and there is some limited but useful categorizing and reporting capability. There have been no significant new features for several years--just pointless cosmetic and not very helpful changes in the user interface. I don't need a package like this to manage my brokerage account; my broker has a better one.

This year I was forced to accept a "free" upgrade to receive the "exciting new features" with Quicken Bill Pay, which is operated by CheckFree. They really wanted to force me to use an Internet connection rather than an 800 number so they could save money. Some of the features in the "free" upgrade must be "unlocked" for a fee.
The transition was a nightmare and required several calls to what turned out to be CheckFree tech support.

By the way, don't forget to get on the Net before you use this package. If you aren't logged on and attempt to do anything signficant, it will crash and you will have to reboot. At least I have XP. I shudder to think what would happen with earlier versions of Windows.

The user interface is significantly worse. The 2001 and earlier versions were relatively simple minded. Good. I want to pay bills, not play mystery games with the software. This thing has numerous bugs and requires ten steps to do what could be done in a keystroke in older versions. Some things, such as changing the dollar amount of a periodic payment, can no longer be done. They now require you to completely delete the old name and address and re-enter the entire thing. You can't use this for mortgage payments with an escrow account.

At one time you could set up a recurring payment and it just appeared on schedule in the check register. Now you are required to download it from the Net and "approve" it. This is a complete waste of time. Not only that, you'd better "match" these payments with ones in your register. Otherwise you will have the same payment duplicated in the register.

Every time I open the software it demands that I register the product, demands I also register for its web site, and demands that I download my account data from my bank (horror), which does not support this software. These demands continue even after I gave up and registered a name.
I manage software projects and I would be embarrassed to put out things like this. I have never tried Money so I can't say if it is any better. But this is terrible.