Why Do YOU Dislike QuickBooks?

I have to admit, I am VERY intrigued...

While watching tweets flutter by, and after reading various blog posts, I couldn't help but notice a fair number of comments being posted such as "QuickBooks Stinks" and "I Hate QuickBooks" (among other comments that can't be printed here).

My question is WHY? These tweets and posts never elaborate on the specific reasons behind those thoughts and feelings about QuickBooks.

That's really too bad.

TAKE THIS OPPORTUNITY

If you have these feelings about QuickBooks, I urge you to take a moment and elaborate on the WHY behind them by posting a comment below.

Here's why...

• I can put together some future blog posts to help clear up issues of confusion or frustration you may be experiencing within QuickBooks. Your input can certainly help me and the thousands of other certified QuickBooks experts out there better understand your trouble spots with the software.
• We can coordinate the submission of a product enhancement request (or more than one) if there is a feature or function within QuickBooks that is lacking, desired, or simply not user-friendly.

With this type of feedback, it's possible to get the insight behind the tweets and posts and understand what's on your mind. I know that Intuit, the makers of QuickBooks, monitors this blog as well, and this will be great feedback for them too.

Granted, your QuickBooks situation may be too far gone to offer any insight. However, my hunch is that there are some common themes behind these posts and tweets.

A BONUS

Between now and September 30, 2009, I am going to do a random pick of one comment that has been submitted and reward that person with a $25 Amazon gift e-card. I really appreciate you taking the time to post a comment.

Your comment may just pay dividends down the road...

Comments

[Metro Ethernet]

totally agree, i don't know why people hate it.
for me is so helpful, and easy to use!
everyones have their own opinion, i like QuickBooks, some people don't

[Paul]

While I can write a book about the dis-likes, there is 1 main reason I HATE QB Pr 2010 at this moment.
The reason is back-ups....
Directly backing up the data files (xxx.QBW), is simply not working as those files seem to be locked?
It seems that the ONLY way to create backups of the company files, is to use QB backup (via the program itself) or to use their (expensive!) online backup tool.
The manual way (via QB) is not dummy-proof for our accountant; she changes the path for it, as she needs to send the file(s) to someone else. Then simply does not think of stting it back to the network path, from where the server backups are made.
So then there is the "online" backup tool from Intuit itself... Yup, grab your wallet again!!

Yet we have an off-site server ourself, where ALL backups are sent to, EXCEPT QB, because of the issues above.

It seems Intuit is forcing you to use their service OR forces the sys-admin to stand with a whip behind the accountant, to make sure the path in the 'scheduled' backups in QB are set correctly after she saved a backup to her local computer...

Hopefully someone has ran into an alternative?
But so far I have not found 1 good solution to this issue and untill I do... QB 2010 Pro SUCKS for sys-admins!

[Andrew Montague]

Their support is garbage - I'm currently trying to update 2008 Pro to 2010 Pro and the upgrade wizard is failing at the point of making a backup. The support person hasn't yet understood that I already have a valid backup and need to skip this stage to actually get the data upgraded.

I've never had this issue with Sage and their support is superb (and not based out of an Indian call centre where the staff have no clue about their product).

WORST. EXPERIENCE. EVER.

Go with Sage, this product sucks.

[Ben Crew]

I run a small business, 2 employees, 200 customers, and around 800 sales "items." These items can be broken into 10-12 categories which are marked up at different rates and require different price levels. I don't use inventory tracking because I deal with raw materials that would always end up not adding up. I recently switched to quickbooks Premier 2010 from Pro 2009. I did so because they advertised price levels per item which I didn't have and an ability to paste multiple item list entries from Excel. both of those sound great. In reality both of those functions are essentially useless to me. Here's why;

1) There is no way to break your "non inventory item list" into groups which might make it possible to batch edit those prices. Nor is there any way to select say 45 entries randomly from the list and edit those.

2) you can show a column in the item list that displays pricing for all items at a certain price level but there is no way to import that price from excel or edit it with the new "paste from excel" feature which leaves you to hand enter all new pricing for levels other than your standard price. If I wanted to hand enter pricing I would just go back to printing an excel spreadsheet every month and perusing it for every item price as i write an invoice. I thought the idea behind quickbooks was to simplify some of these things?

3) While trying to import from excel its usually only about a 25% chance that it won't crash quickbooks. The program has been flawlessly stable other than that. Why make it possible to link with excel if it more likely than not will crash the program?

4) The new "Paste from Excel" feature is a complete joke. You can't select anything on the quickbooks spreadsheet to be deleted or modified. If you ahve a matching spreadsheet in excel which you modify some entries and try to paste into quickbooks as a batch it tells you that entry already exists and must be fixed, there is no option to replace with the new entry or combine them. The only way I could see it being useful is putting items, customers etc into a new company file.

In most other cases QB saves more time and frustration than I can comprehend handling the paperwork end of my business. But not for items, its like they almost made it useful and then stopped for fear it might make the program to good. I have done some searching online for a add-on, third party, or stand alone poduct that would handle this and not cost thousands of dollars with no success.

I can't be the only one. Am I?

[Scott Gregory, QuickBooks Expert]

Hi Deb:

Just curious - have you downloaded all the software updates to QuickBooks 2010?

Sometimes those updates can make some of these hassles go away.

If not that, have you tried to uninstall and reinstall?

I hope your luck has improved with the software since your post.

Scott Gregory

[Deb]

Quickbooks 2010 has been nothing but problems! Stops responding and shuts down unexpectedly every day.

[dan diller]

how can i change fonts in a report to print on less pages? report stands now at 50 pages..thnx!

[Christopher Carter]

I've been an Intuit product user since the early days and started using QBKs in 1999. It was a great little accounting system then. The 2002 version was not bad either. Since then the system has become increasingly bloated and here is the worst of it... linked and pop-up advertising. In ver. 2009 I've noticed the preference setting "claiming" to disable pop-ups (which I enabled) but we shall see. It's rumoured it doesn't stop all of them. The linked advertising remains INCLUDING with the latest 2009 upgrade an entirely new main menu item called SPECIAL OFFERS. Small businss owners wear many hats, take many risks with their small businesses. Time management is CRITICAL. We do not (are you listening Intuit?) want to pay for software, computers and broadband connections so that you can interupt us all day with an ad in our licensed copy that we payed for. Get it? We payed for the license and DO NOT want to be pitched all day. Having ranted now, let's be honest. Intuit has sold so many copies because there are some great things about this product for the price. I just wish they would RESPECT their customers. My software company produces a companion software system that integrates directly with QBKs extending its capability (like price levels which are almost a joke in QBKs). We think (I think) Intuit has done some great things, lately however, "keeping it simple" is not one of them.

[Scott Gregory, QuickBooks Expert]

Hi Kris:

Thanks for sharing your thoughts and frustrations about QuickBooks.

Have you seen my guide on handling deposits and Undeposited Funds in QuickBooks? Here is the link:
http://www.betterbottomline.com/funds/index.shtml

I think you will find it to be very helpful in reducing your frustration with QuickBooks in this area.

Scott Gregory

[Kris Jowell]

I hate the fact that to deposit money it is so INVOLVED. My heavens how many steps should you have to go through, but after I go through them, then, somehow, I end up with lost deposits, and my boss yelling at me. I hate QB. I have had numerous items disappearing and I know for certain I have put them into the system and then they are just gone!

[Scott Gregory, QuickBooks Expert]

Here is the corrected link for Xpanded Reports - sorry about that:
http://sn.im/s6uip

Scott Gregory

[Scott Gregory, QuickBooks Expert]

Stephen:

Be sure to download the latest update to QB 2009 (Help > Update QuickBooks) - within that update, they have made most of the online banking problems go away and offer the ability to use that feature in the "old mode" (2008 and older).

Scott Gregory

[cd]

Nice sharing regarding Quickbooks.I would like to see Xpanded Reports fir this functionality.The link provided by Michelle is not working please share the other.
Thanks in advance.

[hard drive]

NOT HAPPY WITH 2009 VERSION
worse !!! bankiing transactions take too much time...i dint understand why they change so much!!! dont buy it ! keep your old version.

[Tanya]

I'm a bookkeeper. I use Simply Accounting. However, since QB is much cheaper, a lot of my clients prefer that I use that when I do books in their office.

From experience, as well as what I've been told, Auditors (at least here in Canada) are much harder on you if you use QB, because it's so easy to fudge the books in your favour - there is no trail of what you did when.

Also, when entering data, I don't like that you have to use the drop down menu to choose what account to post to. In Simply, I use the same account numbers for certain accounts, no matter which company's books I am using. When I enter a transaction, I can type the 4 digit number into the account field, and it quickly brings up the exact one I want. Saves me time and frustration!

[Scott Gregory, QuickBooks Expert]

Michelle:

Thanks for taking the time to post your comment. Glad to hear that overall your experience with QB is a good one!

Have you checked into Xpanded Reports for this functionality (http://www.xpandedreports.com)?

Scott Gregory

[Tim Hawkins]

This isn't a "I hate" comment -- but how about a "suggestion" comment?

I'd like to see a QB reminder function that operates outside QB to send reminders even if the company file isn't open. We have payments due, and want the reminders, but don't always open each of the 5 companies we have every single day. I'd also like the option for the reminder to send a email, text, IM, tweet; either to send a message to each, or better yet an escalation concept in sequence if the reminder wasn't acknowledged within X amount of minutes.

[Michelle Coover]

I'll throw my current gripe into the fray...I just discovered it earlier today at a client's office when I was trying to pull a report. (And, I will say for the record, that I love QB, but I definitely have a wish list like everyone else!) My current issue: Generating a customer report by price level. After not using this field for years, I've just spent a lot of time going through every active customer record (about 500) and assigning them to one of our six price levels. I'm not using it traditionally though, in that it is linked to inventory, as this business doesn't carry inventory. Instead, I'm using that field as another "customer type" field. (Many of our customers already have a Customer Type, but I need to group them in a different way, hence I used Price Levels.) Now, I assumed that I'd be able to tweak a customer list report to print out each customer name and the Price Level they are assigned to. Imagine my surprise, dismay, and then super irritation when I realized that the Price Level field is one that is not available in any type of report to list with a customer name!!! I can't begin to imagine the rational behind this, I mean really......QB has such fantastic reporting capabilities......What's the big deal with price levels and reports? So, I've search QB user groups, etc, and I've been told repeatedly I can't do what I want to do. ARGH! I am not a happy camper right now. Someone suggested contacting one of the companies out there that do super custom special QB reports, like what I need....but there's a hefty fee, of course, and when I consider the time I've already spent....GRRRRR...
So that's my "I hate QB" reason for the day. But, usually, I can say I love my job!!! :)
--Michelle

[Scott Gregory, QuickBooks Expert]

Howie:

Thanks for taking the time to post your thoughts on QB.

A couple of thoughts to send back your way:

1) A 3GB data file, even in Enterprise is huge. Have you considered simply cutting over to a clean, new data file, maybe as of the beginning of a new fiscal year? Granted, there are issues and concerns with that approach, but they may take a back seat to the performance improvement you'd get.
2) Have you looked at Xpanded Reports for QuickBooks to try and take care of the reporting needs you mention? http://xpandedreports.com/
3) When it comes to inventory and QB, I always proceed slowly as QB is usually weak in many cases when it comes to any advanced inventory needs. Have you taken a look at Acctivate for these needs (www.acctivate.com)? It can handle a much, much bigger database than Enterprise, has more functionality to it, but still integrates with QB Enterprise so you can leverage that investment. I'd be happy to have my contact at Acctivate contact you so you can learn more about the possibilities.

Here's hoping QB Enterprise 2010 helps resolve some of these concerns for you!

Scott Gregory

[Scott Gregory, QuickBooks Expert]

Jaya:

Thank you for taking the time to post your comments about your experiences with QB to date.

Your perspective on the home screen that shows the flow of "work" and information is very interesting. I know Intuit has spent a great deal of time trying to simplify the navigation through their software for the business owner - someone such as yourself (and not their bookkeeper).

You are correct about QuickBooks market position - the last time I saw any stats, they had something like 92% of the small business accounting software market. Indeed, anyone looking for a job simply learns QB, as that is in high demand.

Have you looked at the other alternatives like FreshBooks or WorkingPoint just to see if their overall approach to your accounting needs is more intuitive? (no pun intended).

I'm guessing that maybe if you had been paired up with a QB specialist early on (back in 2006) that was able to help break down what you were seeing in the software and what it was doing, it would be less stressful for you today. Just a guess though.

There are many folks out there that are skilled in QB and in helping you put it to best use in your business if you decide to stick with it. I believe it can bring the control you are looking for back to the business.

Thanks again for taking the time to post.

Scott Gregory

[Howie Friedman, CPA]

I can make some comments. We have been using QuickBooks Enterprise since its inception. We currently are using QBES 9.0. It is also important to note, before I begin my gripes, what type of user we are. Our company file is over 3GB and we generally have between 15-18 concurrent users. We are a distribution company and we process all of our orders and track our inventory within QuickBooks. We process 150 orders a day and we have 10k customers and 13k products.

Now for the issues:

• The speed of QuickBooks is painfully slow. Depending on the day it can take five minutes to save an invoice. We are in a terminal server setting and diagnostic tests show that our server’s CPU and RAM are more than sufficient. It is a database issue within QuickBooks.
• The reports, a point of contention for some, to us seems awesome. It is easy to export to Excel (though slow – see previous comment) and you can drill down within the report simply by double clicking. Several key reports included in other software packages are noticeably absent though. Two examples are
1. A Reorder Report. This would be a report that aligns Qty sold over a given period with the QTY on hand. So, for example, the report would show that we sold 350 of “Widget A” within the last three months and we have 200 on hand currently. We would then know that we need to reorder 150 if we want three months stock on hand.
2. A Gross Profit by Invoice Line report. This would be similar to the Sales by Rep Detail report except it would also include the cost applied and the gross profit.
• The inventory adjustment function is laughably hard to use if you have thousands of products.
• There are not enough custom fields for vendors, customers, and items.
• The user controls are inadequate. Some examples:
1. You cannot limit access of rep to his or her customer’s data. The user should be ableo to be tied to a rep and there should be an option to block access to only that rep’s customers.
2. You cannot create partial access to customer data or item data, such as allowing someone to edit addresses but not see credit card numbers or change reps.
• You cannot print a vendor bill.
• You cannot see avg. cost within the item list unless you click into the item

I am sure there are other issues that I cannot think of. But overall we love QuickBooks and are very reluctant to upgrade to a more “robust” system. I have experience with MAS 200 and 500 and they have many more issues than QuickBooks. But we just wish they would adjust QuickBooks Enterprise to be appropriate for the larger company.

[twitter.com/JayaSchillinger]

Okay, I'll bite. After spending +6hrs today trying to fix my books, I'm a bit testy though.

The biggest complaints I have about QB are:
-Ugly, hard-to-read, impossibly small fonts and screen layout. That flowchart on my home screen makes NO sense to me whatsoever.

-Designed for bookkeeping professionals, NOT small biz owners (despite their ad campaign.) I don't know (or want to know!) accounting terms. Give me plain English.

-The help section is HORRIBLE. There are no definitions of accounting terms. Help will say to go to a certain area of the program, without telling you how to navigate there, which leaves me lost! Their "help" section is singularly the worst help guide I've every "tried" to use.

-Calculating commissions for my 1099 referral partners is hard (money flows both ways between us.) It's confusing to have them listed as Vendors (even though I don't 'BUY' things from them) and also as sales reps and also as employees. Stinks. QB can't handle anything beyond simple employer/employee arrangements.

-You can't download a bank statement more than once. Since I deleted some unmatched transactions by mistake today, I'm screwed. Looks like I have to manually enter 2 months worth of banking now.

-Trying to restore from a backup file (as a way to undo my mistake today) failed.

-It's non-specifically buggy. When reviewing items with my (former) virtual bookkeeper, we'd experience glitches and bugs all the time. The program is generally annoying that way.

Mostly I just hate that I feel stuck with QB because they have a monopoly on the bookkeeping schools. In my experience, no one knows any other program, so unless you want to do it all yourself, you have to use QB. I feel that I have far far less control over my money and my business ever since I switched to them in 2006. Previously, I used the also-crappy MS Money Small Biz. That was glitchy, but at least I was able to learn it quickly. At this point, as much as I hate not being able to outsource, I'm going to take control over my business again and DUMP QB--even if it means I have to do my bookkeeping myself again.

Hope that helps.