I’ve been a bit annoyed at Quicken in the past, but my recent experience has put me over the edge. Now, in fairness, it’s not all their fault. It’s also my bank’s fault.
This is a rant. You’ve been warned – so let’s take these on one at a time, shall we?
Quicken: Would You Like to Upgrade? Yes or Yes!
A few months ago, Quicken 2005 Premier started telling me that I needed to upgrade or it would stop downloading from my banks. First of all, I don’t know how that’s even legal, as I’m pretty sure it violates some legal standard of the various international Sale of Goods Acts.
Anyway, I moved back to Canada, and Quicken refused to import data into my newly created Canadian dollar accounts. It could download the files. it could read the files. It just didn’t feel like importing the details because, apparently, Canadian zeros and ones are quite different than US zeros and ones. So I had to upgrade – fine, because I’m sure the new product is better than the old one, right?
But Upgrade to What?
I should have known this wouldn’t be easy. When I bought my last version of Quicken in 2005, there were three versions: Quicken Basic, Quick Premier, and Quicken Deluxe. Now there are only two versions: “Cash Manager” and “Home and Business”. The packaging provides no details on the appropriate product for me, given my previous purchase. Looking at the feature list, it appeared that Quicken Cash Manager was all I needed, given that Quicken Home and Business had a number of features I didn’t require (customizing invoices, etc). However, after installing the product, Quicken refused to import the old file, stating that it included features not available in the version I purchased. So, now I had to go buy the upgrade to the other version.
Hello? Why are you making it so hard for me to give you my money? A map of old versions to new versions would have been really helpful.
Actually, You Need to Update Just One More Time
After purchasing and downloading the (final?) upgrade, the Quicken installer asked if I wanted to check for updates. This is an odd thing to ask, especially as the software was just downloaded directly from Quicken’s site, but whatever, I proceeded. The installer reported no updates available. But when I launched Quicken, it automatically checked for updates (again), and this time it found an update to Release 3! Did they really release a new upgrade in the fifteen seconds since the last update check? Highly improbable.
Well, at least the worst is over, right?
HSBC, The Doctor Will See You Now
One of the most powerful features of Quicken is its ability to download and update your accounts with a single click. Imagine my joy upon learning that this feature doesn’t work with HSBC. Now, this isn’t entirely Quicken’s fault – many banks have adopted rigorous, non-standard authentication mechanisms to thwart phishing and other security attacks. However, this is a trend that’s been understood for the past four years, one that Quicken should have moved to address a long time ago.
Now, having to download into Quicken manually doesn’t seem very difficult. Except when you use HSBC. Instead of a single download for all your accounts, you need a separate multi-step download procedure for every account. Times two if you have a spouse and you’re the guy who manages the money. And double it again, because HSBC runs a separate web site for their MasterCard customers for some inexplicable reason. Which means that it takes about ten minutes to simply download your account data before you’re even in a position to start updating your accounts.
One Last Kick In The Groin, For Old Time’s Sakes
But wait, there’s more! If you try to manually download to Quicken from the HSBC MasterCard site, it doesn’t work, stating “Quicken is currently unable to verify the financial institution information for this download”. I have no idea what this error means. I have no way to fix this. The only way to make it work is to download the old .QIF format and manually import it into Quicken.
Is this the bank’s problem, or the user’s problem? Honestly, users don’t care.
That’s All Folks!
So, in summary for those of you following along at home, the Quicken 2008 product:
- Offers a poor purchase experience
- Requires multiple updates to a product right out of the box
- Doesn’t really do much different from the Quicken 2005
- Will, in all likelihood, forces you to upgrade in the future for little additional benefit
and, when used in combination with HSBC in Canada:
- Is incapable of performing “one-click” updates
- Fails to import MasterCard records from HSBC MasterCard
In short, Quicken (when used in combination with HSBC) fails to provide exactly the functionality its users are seeking in the product: easy money management. Buyer beware.
(Incidentally, I have logged these bugs with both Quicken and HSBC. I encourage you to do the same)
That’s complete bullshit. I use their tax software for small, unincorporated business (which jumped up $20 all of a sudden) and it’s pretty good and I own a copy of Quickbooks 2005 but I never use it.
If I started using it again and found out I had to upgrade, I’d hit the roof too. What do they think this is? Software as a Service?
As of today, May 3rd, 2008 my version of Quicken 2005 Premier Home and Business r6 will not accept the download from HSBC or Mastercard.
From HSBC i get a message that reads “Quicken is currently unable toverify the financial institution for this download. Please try again later.
For my master card i click the Download Transactions button and ge a windows called Online Update for this account. Has this version been de-commissioned?
Yes, I believe it has. That was the subject of my previous complaint. Quicken starts disabling functionality over time, even though you’re downloading the data from your bank directly, not through an online service offered by Quicken.
The kicker is that downloads don’t work for HSBC Mastercard on Quicken Home and Business 2008 either.
I’m getting less and less happy with Intuit.
The $20 jump in price for QuickTax was certainly not warranted.
I, too, have discovered that my Quicken 2005 has planned obsolence integrated into its design. Whatever the reason for tis, it is deceptive on the part of the manufacturer (Intuit) to sell a product without this warning stated clearly somewhere on the packaging or manual. There is no reason to not allow download file formats to be backwardly compatible with old versions of software….to a limit, of course. To me, 3 years is not old enough. But, oh, how convenient and lucrative for Quicken.
Don’t Panic
My financial institution (credit card) allows me to download data as a .qif file.
My quicken 2005 allows me to import .QIF data.
File -> Import -> QIF file.
Problem solved.
First, I also uninstalled Quicken, and reinstalled it without letting it update in any manner. (I unplugged my network cable) And I don’t know how long this will last. But tonight it worked.
It might also be possible to download the MONEY format file, and hack it so that you can import into Quicken 2005. But I don’t know how to do that yet. Start web searching.
Yes, Rich, that is true, but it kind of misses the point. I purchased a product to make managing my finances simpler. When I was in the US, updating my accounts was a one-click effort. I now have to login multiple times to multiple places, download multiple files, and in some cases know which file format to download.
That’s really not a pleasant experience.
I am furious about this. I’ve been getting this error message for my bank (Citibank) downloads for the last 2 weeks and I couldn’t really figure out why. I called Citibank and they told me that it was due to their system upgrades. Today, I try again, same message. Then I found this site. Is there a sort of class action lawsuit against Quicken/Intuit, because I really think them discontinuing a portion of the service originally purchased like that has got to be illegal in some way.
Yes, I agree, time for a CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT against QUICKEN for their FORCED UPGRADES which provide NO meaningful value. Email me at dad789 at rszabo.com if you agree