Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)I've used QuickBooks for 11 or 12 years. I can't wait until there is a reasonable alternative that will allow me to import my QuickBooks data and stop using QuickBooks.
The QuickBooks software is generally user friendly and does a reasonably good job of simplifying small business accounting transactions. However, Intuit has a very poor attitude toward its customers as demonstrated by their business practices. With every upgrade, they force the customer to buy the next version by making it impossible to productively use the old software. They make a lot of money on upgrades.
With every new version, they extract more money out of the customer through other means as well. For example, QuickBooks originally allowed manual payroll accounting, but with every new release it became more difficult to do manual payroll. Now, there is NO manual payroll accounting. There are instead a few options for their payroll accounting services, which start at $200 per year for a company with one employee. That cost has increased steadily, so check for the actual cost to process payroll. The charge seems steep for downloading publicly available payroll tax tables. Intuit obviously sees their customers as captives and they are doing everything they can to squeeze money out of them.
Your accounting data in the proprietary QuickBooks data format is used to keep you upgrading as they shake you down for more money each year. Remember when you'd purchase software? Now you lease software, and it costs more each year. It feels like the software owns me.
Here's another aspect of leased software. I tried to buy a used copy of QuickBooks. This wasn't some pirate deal where you get a CD and nothing else. I purchased the original CD with the user manual, packaging and authorization code. It wouldn't register. I called Intuit and they told me it was already registered. I told them I bought the software from the original owner. They said I couldn't do that, and I needed to buy the $499 shrink wrapped version. QuickBooks is tightly integrated to their online services and won't work without their official approval. Can you think of any other item you purchase that can't be sold as a used item? What would you think if Toyota told you that you couldn't sell your car, or you couldn't buy someone else's car, and the only way to buy a Toyota was to buy a new one from the dealer? You can buy and sell other intellectual property such as books, CDs, and DVDs. Why not QuickBooks? Even after spending a lot of money, you don't own QuickBooks. It's a $500 annual software lease, with other attached leases for payroll services, multiple user licenses, etc.
The large amounts of money paid to Intuit on a yearly basis are bad enough, but you'd at least think that you'd get some customer service. Nope. Their customer service call center is in India. You deal with the language barrier, and generally have people with no direct understanding of western accounting, payroll or taxes. You get the usual call center "support" deal, with a person reading from a troubleshooting sheet that never seems to have anticipated your problem. If it isn't in the manual, it probably isn't going to be answered by the overseas call center either.
If you are just starting out, find another small business accounting solution. I don't have any experience with the others so I can't recommend any of them, but they must be better than QuickBooks, because Intuit believes they own their customers. They essentially act as a non-government agency levying a tax on small businesses. Avoid the QuickBooks tax.
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