Quicken XG

I actually went on the internet to seek out an old Quicken because Intuit stopped making a UK version. So what I have is the UK version Quicken XG 2004. Intuit has an attitude problem and I do not know the reason they stopped making a UK version. Perhaps it is so they could charge £200-£300 for Quickbooks; an application that is said to be a more professionally oriented product. However, I have reviewed the pro version of Quickbooks 2008 and frankly it was worse that Quickbooks 2 and 3 going back some 15 years. I have successfully installed it on a 64-bit Windows Vista. The stocks and investments module does not work. There is no longer any support for the program, but despite these shortcomings, I can find nothing smarter nicer and easier than this. I can see my entire cashflow position on one screen and there is a huge amount of functionality. To know that I went out onto the internet to buy very old software must seem quite mad to many people, but it satisfies me very thoroughly even though I run several businesses. The glitches I have found are errors on startup and errors when trying to use the portfolio function which was designed to connect to check on stocks and share prices etc. I don't need those functions. My most important need is to know exactly the state of my financial affairs at any moment in time, to be able to interrogate information, not get caught out with standing orders or direct debits. I find it curious how many people are giving this product a negative rating. My biggest curiosity is why Intuit decided to discontinue a product that was rated at the time as a world leader in personal financial management softwate. Given that one can obtain it from various places for under £30 (about the same price it was orignally) which is only a tenth of what Intuit want for their latest offerings I would strongly recommend this product and I am not a seller. I have just recently tested a reviewers copy of Quickbooks 10 and with each iteration it seems Intuit become more and more disconnected from what their customers want . They are an arrogant bunch of people and if you look on the net for Intuit generally you will find an enormouse amount of negative comment. I was extremely curious about this but having looked at a product yet to be released, it is rubbish. I don't understand what Intuit's game is. I think they've gone off their trolley. 15 years ago and up to the last UK version, Quicken XG 2004 the products were fantastic. Intuit in their infinite wisdom threw their reputation in the bin and started schemes that involved continuing ongoing sales of stationery for the product and useless upgrades and built in obsolescence. Very bad people in my opinion, sorry to sa. I suspect that something seruous happened like losing their main application delveloper. Discontunuing the best home and small business financial package is the most stupid thing for a company to do. I would never buy any stationery from them out of principal. I certainly would not buy any new Quickbooks. If you want a more commercial version of Quicken look on the net for an old Quickbooks, say version 2 or 3. Intuit, let's hear from you. What do you have to say about your outrageous behaviour towards your loyal supporters and customers of many years. Come to account for it. You have let a lot of people in the UK down badly. You carry on producting Quicken for other places, so what is the problem?

I bought Quicken 2005 XG because my 2004 XG was no longer able to download investment prices. I was upset about this, but decided to stay with Quicken. After using 2005 XG I am confident in saying that purchasing the upgrade was a complete waste of money. I would have been better off to spend the last year entering securities prices manually. The planning center calculations are wrong, and the cash flow forecasting tool (that worked well in the past) is now totally out to lunch.

For 2006 I will be looking at MS Money and not buying Quicken.

I have been using Quicken XG since Version 2 in 1992. Quicken XG 2005 is the worst upgrade I have ever used and the support at Quicken.ca is no better. Most recently I could not get Quicken to download mutual fund prices even though I had followed the help in the software and also on the website. I was told I would have to pay a fee for a technician to tell me how to download prices. Stocks work okay but not mutual funds. If their help online is not correct then why should I pay to get the correct information? No way.

For an upgraded program it is also not as easy to use as my last revision 2000. Simple things like manually entering a security price show the program to be buggy and I have a response from tech support agreeing that this is the case and it will be fixed in the next release. Why not in the next software update?

I have liked Quicken over the years but it seems that they and not paying attention to quality control or customer support. This will be my last upgrade. Next year I'll make the switch to Money 2006.

I have been a previously elated Intuit user since 1991. "XG" was Quicken XG was advertised as being the very last you would ever have to buy. And yet we have yet another newer and even more improved version for 2005. Uh-huh.

Even worse, Intuit now has a nice little blackmail deal to extort even more money out of you. If you buy the software, the feature enabling you to download financial information directly from your bank stops functioning after one year. To regain the privilege of bringing back the full functionality of the software you have already spent the better part of $100 for, you have to pay a fee of $60.00 before the due date, not that far removed from the cost of the new version. This is only available from the almighty Intuit website, via credit card only. You cannot do this through your neighbourhood retailer. Someone like me who does not have a credit card is totally out of luck. I see no choice but to buy the entire software over again.

I have actually taken Intuit's so-called customer service team directly to task on this. The rep at their Canadian site was not able to explain to me just what cost Intuit is trying to cover with this blackmail. He promised me a supervisor would call me back within a couple of days. This was a year ago, the very last time I succumbed to the extortion. Not that this is any great surprise.

It is the considered opinion of this reviewer that we have here a company, which has been overcome by its tremendous success and now is into milking it for all it can get at the expense of its loyal customer base. This is nothing short of pure greed, pure and simple.

If a real human being from Intuit would care to respond to this and set us straight, the world and I are listening. We wait with baited breath. Come down from your Ivory Tower. We dare you.

A message to Intuit's CEO. If I were you, I would resign right now in total shame. You have taken your company from one of the most admired around to total scourge.

To those contemplating buying Quicken XG for personal finances, it is one of only two real choices you have, the other being Microsoft Money. And they (at least the last time I checked) had the same kind of deal on the online capability. Tweedle dum and tweedle dumber? Same challenge, Microsoft. Show us what costs you are trying to cover with this fee. What are you trying to hide???!!!

Other than otherwise noted above, Quicken XG does function very well. I really don't see any capabilities earth shatteringly better than previous versions, but it does work well. Owing to these absurd costs I cannot recommend this to anybody. This is by far the most contemptible attitude that I have ever seen any company show to its customers. Show Intuit just how angry they have made us. Vote with your pocketbooks in droves, folks!

I would not recommend the Quicken XG to my worst enemy.

I bought the Quicken XG after having used the Quicken range for 12 years and have a huge amount of financial information tied up in the formats quicken use (eg. QIF files). I have always found it to be an excellent product. However the XG version and 2004 version are backward steps. I would avoid them like the plague.

Intuit have decided to implement a licence system that effectively means you have to pay every year for functionality that you have already bought and installed. Note, I am not talking about paying for online services provided by intuit themselves (such as share price information) but other functions such as being able to impport QIF files (eg. from your handheld PDA or from another computer's version of Quicken or from previous versions of quicken). You will not be able to download or generate electronic financial files from your Bank without paying Intuit every year for it (even though Intuit are not part of the process of downloading or importing this information). I think they have a cheek asking to be paid for services they do not provide and for program functions that they have not changed for several versions.

All the above used to work fine in Quicken 2002. Quicken XG and 2004 are backward steps. I for one have been given a monetry insentive by Intuit to try Microsoft Money instead.