Customer Reviews

Quicken Basic 2006 [Old Version]

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(14)

 

 

Previously I used Microsoft Money 2000 and attempted to switch over to Money 2005 but what a nightmare!!!! I uninstalled Money 2005 and swore off money programs all together. However, I recently bought a PDA and wanted to use it to track my finances. I read the reviews and there are a few items that I would encourage you to look at if you are going to buy this product:

1. Is your bank on the list of 2000+ banks
2. Does your bank charge to download Quicken files

One of my banks that I have savings in is not on the list but this is no big deal as it is a savings account that I don't touch. And my primary bank does not charge to download Quicken files.

If your good with this than this is an awesome program. Easy to use, well set up, only as many bells and whistles as you want to use but no so confusing that it negates it basic purpose. My faith has been restored in money programs.

Furthermore, I also purchased the Pocket Quicken, which was just as easy to install and use. I highly recommend these programs.

I upgraded from Quicken '99 because I was forced to when I bought a new computer (my '99 software came bundled with my old computer.) I was perfectly happy with the seven-year-old version, but I've found a lot of impressive new features in version 2006. The most exciting is the abilitly to scan a picture of a receipt or other document and attach it to a register transaction. I haven't had the time to learn all the new features, but it is user friendly enough to start using right out of the box if you are familiar with older Quicken versions. One feature I do miss is the QuickTabs that I've used in Quicken '99 and 2001. (I've taught with 2001 in my high school finance class.) Importing my old data from version '99 was a piece of cake, too, even though it had to do an intermediate conversion.

I have used earlier versions of Quicken and found them very useful. I recently bought a new computer with Windows XP and found the existing package did not work well with it so purchased Quicken Basic 2006, hoping it would be as useful. It has been a disaster. First it locked me out of my existing files, which had not been password protected, by demanding a password, which I did not have, before I could gain access. The Company's help screen offered a password unlocking service (for a fee) but would not let me use this service because I had a U.K. address and it would only accept addresses in the U.S.A. An e-mail asking for help and advice received no reply. A long expensive phone call to the Company's customer services department yielded, after half an hour, a promise to deal with the matter within 48 hours, but no action whatsoever.
In desperation I tried to start a new date file but was not able to register the product as, again, I did not have a U.s. address. There is no warning on the product that it cannot be used outside the U.S. I have now uninstalled the product and am looking for an alternative.

Intuit's philosophy seems to have changed in recent years compared to what it was back in the 90's. Back then Intuit focused on making a great product that was easy to use.

But by slowly changing certain features over the last several years, Intuit is attempting to extract money from banks, credit unions and service companies (and existing customers), and in so doing have made the product less convenient (and more expensive) for the users of their software. This is ironic because Intuit is now becoming *less* intuitive--a move away from customer convenience, usability and service solely in the pursuit of corporate profits.

From (non-profit) Wikipedia's "Comparison of accounting software":

"Worth noting that Quicken no longer supports QIF, but while claiming to be changing to OIF (a non proprietary standard for financial software) they have introduced their own proprietary QIF format. This just makes it harder to import your data from your bank, in spite of their claims. Avoid Quicken versions after 2004 if this is an issue."

If you are going to buy accounting software, please buy it from Amazon. If you like to research before they buy, non-profit Wikipedia makes a comparison of over 50 accounting software products (...)
or if that link does not work go to wikipedia and enter
" Comparison of accounting software " in the search box.

I have Quicken 2003. I just received a letter in the mail saying that I will not be able to download transactions from banks etc. because of the Intuit Sunset Policy. The Sunset Policy means that Quicken stops allowing downloads after 3 years of use. It seems ridiculous that you can't use an important piece of your software after 3 years. That would be like Microsoft discontinuing networking and the ability to write to disk after 3 years of use.

Stupid policy

My bank allows for financial information to be downloaded in QIF format, so I thought I wouldn't have any problems. Big mistake- in an insidious attempt to wrangle money out of financial institutions, Quicken 2006 purposely disables the ability to import QIF files for nearly all types of accounts. Those institutions that don't pay up (typically smaller banks and credit unions) can't produce files in the new format (QFX), making the software virtually worthless for their customers. So, unless you enjoy entering dozens of transactions by hand or are from a select list of Quicken partner banks, don't waste your money.

UPDATE: I sent the software back to Intuit under their "60 Day Money Back Guarantee" policy and received a check in the mail a few weeks later refunding the full amount I paid. So, on the bright side, if you find that the software doesn't work for you, you can get your money back without much hassle.

I've been a long time Quicken user and decided to upgrade from Quicken 2002 to Quicken 2006 as Intuit has "sunset" the older version. I held off upgrading for last 4 versions because they were buggy and Intuit has been disabling or removing core features that I use frequently. I was aware of the flap over the elimination of the QIF format, but since I don't download data from financial institutions I thought I could live with the new QFX format. Wrong. Quicken 2006 imports to checking, savings, and credit card accunts (the most important accounts) ONLY in the new format, but has NO ability to export in the new format. This makes it impossible to transfer account data from one Quicken database to another, or to rebuild accounts if the your database file gets corrupted. After four years killing off QIF you'd think they would be able to export in the new format or provide the means to transfer between databases, a capability Quicken has had since the DOS days.

Other long time Quicken features are broken, e.g., Quick Fill's automatic drop-down lists (annoying) can't be disabled without also disabling the auto completion feature (useful), which is contrary to the online documentation, while other bugs that have been around for four or five versions still haven't been fixed.

Overall very poor execution. The new features are basically eye candy and don't make up for the loss in functionality. Stay away if you're a long time user, you're likely to be very unhappy.

Finally, their support staff, while providing timely responses via email, can't help. They only offer apologies, and recommend making product improvement suggestions.

Attempted to switch from microsoft money to quicken. Turns out quicken changed their format for banking and credit card transactions from qif to something called ofx. My bank of 15 years does not support this format.
Back to microsoft money for me.

I bought Quicken 2003 less than 3 years ago, and now it is forcing me to re-buy 2006. The customer support web page says that they are doing it for my own good.

Maybe they should print this policy right on the box with a bright yellow sticker. This way every one will know how much they care about the consumer.

"Retirement of online services for older versions of Quicken

In an ongoing effort to provide reliable high-quality products and services, Intuit periodically retires (also known as "sunsets") older versions of Quicken, thereby discontinuing online services & live technical support for these versions."

There is one and only one honest way to get money from customers -- provide value. Intuit must not think it's doing that, because it sneaks around for its money, disabling features after they were purchased to force users to upgrade. It's not the first time they've annoyed their customer base with cheap tricks.

Previously, Intuit brought out a version of turbotax that couldn't be moved from one machine to another, so if you upgraded your computer between the time you installed the software and you filed taxes, or if you had a hard-disk crash, you'd be forced to plead with Intuit for an updated license key. Like this 'sunset' policy, I don't recall that it was revealed to users anywhere on the product packaging.

There was an outcry and Intuit did not repeat their copy-protection policy. Unfortunately, their attitude hasn't changed. I have an older version of Quicken, I like it, and I'd like to keep on using it just the way it is. If my bank is willing to support the old file formats, why should I have to upgrade?