Rating: 
Summary: Agreed: great program, strange company
Review: (preface: i do NOT have QB2003, i'm a user of 2001 pro, but was thinking of upgrading then after reading this, i changed my mind... too bad, anyways i'll talk about 2001)...i love this program, learned the ins and outs of it on my own... like anything once you get used to it, for a small business, its relatively easy. i've never used another program and am currently using pro 2001. i don't use the payroll features because frankly they frighten me, i can understand the payroll service fees but their support is so bad that i won't go near it every time i really want too make the change over. The other thing that bugs me is they can sit around and think of great ways to improve the program to make themselves more money, but a simple thing like adding a 'cut, copy & paste' feature to the Notepad and To Do list, seems like it will never happen. seems like they should be concentrating more about putting out a good product and decent support system and keeping a good name for themselves for many years to come rather than nickle & diming it right now. man i hate greed. still would recommend quickbooks to a small business person like myself tho, especially if you were like me a few years ago and still doing everything by hand. i guess we'll see how long the recommendation with this product will last though.
Rating: 
Summary: I can't believe I used Quickbooks for our 2003 fiscal year
Review: .
Pencil and paper would have been faster and caused me less frustration. Yes, the user interface is at times maddening, but this doesn't make Quickbooks the worst program I've ever used - it's the critical numerical errors that earn it this title. Try the following: Set up chequing accounts in two different currencies (US and Canadian in my case). Enter some transactions from within the ledger in either. Note that if you enter more than one transaction the balance is wrong until you shut the ledger window and re-open. That's right, it cannot ADD or SUBTRACT correctly ! Once you've got some history try to make a balance sheet. Select the historical date on which you'd like to make your balance. Note that for some accounts it will use this date, for others it will use the current date, and for other accounts it will just make up a number ! Fantastic ! Here's the best. Let's say you want to do something really obscure like ... search for a past transaction based on some text. Guess what ? You can't ! I'm absolutely serious. Go to the simple find window (you won't do any better in the advanced find window). Here you will see you are only allowed to search by amount, invoice #, date and customer:Job (a fixed drop down menu). OK, so you figure you can live with this and you make your selection. NOT FOUND. Hmmmm, looks like you selected the wrong transaction type ... was that a cheque, credit card, PO or one of 8 other types of transaction you want to search for ? You'll have to try each one separately ! As an added bonus, each time you try a different one your search criteria are erased and you have to re-enter them ! If this small selection of problems doesn't scare you off purchasing this dud, then perhaps you should consider the technical support: PAID ONLY ! Yes, you have to PAY them to report their bugs ! This product represents capitalism at its worst - big advertising budgets and lousy products dominating the market. But there are alternatives. I haven't tried them yet but I'll be trying them soon - I can't imagine they could be worse.
Rating:
Summary: Read ALL of the fine print
Review: After being forced to upgrade to 2003 because they don't support earlier verions for payroll tax tables, and after I registered the man assured me that "everything was good to go" (that is if you don't plan on doing payroll with Quickbooks)!! I come to find out that payroll isn't provided until you buy the $ 169.00 subscription to the tax tables for the new version. I guess I'm wondering why you would buy Quickbooks if you don't do payroll??? If your main bookeeping computer isn't hooked to the internet, you are in for a little surprise because it seems that it is impossible to receive the update on one network computer and get it moved to the other one without an act of congress. Of course I won't even mention what kind of tech support I didn't receive. When I finally got connected to a live person it seems like my problem was always handled by another tech dept. As of this writing I'm still waiting to get my problem resolved and I'm still on hold...
Rating:
Summary: Poor product, poor support
Review: After buying the 2003 upgrade, we have had real problems. Although earler versions ran well and the computer fully meets system requirements, the 2003 version is extremely slow. When you put the cursor over the menu bar, it takes two seconds before it is recognized. Click on the item and it takes up to 5 seconds for the menu to appear. Call Intuit and they want your credit card to talk to a "software engineer." I understand how they can charge for company specific accounting questions, but charge for software problems? My advice, save your money and don't upgrade. As a long time Intuit/Quicken customer I am very disheartened with the company and their products.
Rating:
Summary: Misleading Packaging and Information
Review: After using QBpro 2002 for two years, I opted to upgrade to 2004 since it would be updated and would, I assumed, contain the new 2004 federal tax tables which I would need in doing the payroll. Imagine my surprise when setting up my payroll to find that QBPro 2004 does NOT have the 2004 tax tables and for me to down load them it will be an additional $169. Conversation with a company rep explains that it was impossible for them to include the tables as they are still waiting on some states. Since the primary focus is the federal taxes, Income, SS and medicare, I find this unacceptable as SS and Medicare rates have not changed in years and the federal tax has been known for months. I find it unacceptable to pass something off as "up dated to 2004" and then not be completely updated. I for one will not be purchasing any Intuit products anytime soon. Since I had opened the product to install it it cannot, of course, be returned.
Rating:
Summary: Alternative to QuickBooks
Review: As a previous user of QuickBooks I have to say that the product is decent, but it has gotten way too expensive, and their customer service has declined over the years, and you really shouldn't have to pay to get your product up and running. The good news is that there are other alternatives that are less expensive, offer free training and have better customer service. Check out Simply Accounting, it's about a third of the price, has been reviewed and actually beat QuickBooks and for those of you that may speak Spanish it is actually fully bilingual. Their website is www.simplyaccounting.com
Rating:
Summary: I am done with QuickBooks
Review: As a small business owner who employs between 5-8 employee at any given time of the year, I need an easy to use and relatively inexpensive accounting program. My accountant does all my tax forms except for monthly 941s. So basically, I only need to use QuickBooks for payroll and writing checks. I have used this program, in its various versions, for the past 5-6 years. However, this year I am switching to SimplyAccounting. QuickBooks $169/year tax table update is ludicrous. On top of that, their support is outrageously priced. Intuit, you just lost another customer.
Rating:
Summary: Software getting worst
Review: As a user of Quickbooks for seven years, I found that each newer versions of Quickbooks worst than the previous versions. If you download the update patches, it converts your data file so that it is no longer compatible with your accountant's version unless he install the patches also. If you upgrade to a newer version and find that it is not to your liking, you can't go back to an older version because Quickbooks converted your data files. The Tax Table updates are short of robbery. I am locked in with Quickbooks for now, but is looking for a different product.
Rating: 
Summary: Quickbooks Pro 2003
Review: As far as productivity software goes it is the best! It is as easy or as hard as you want it and performs well in either case. I use it for my personal accounts as well as a couple of corporate businesses one with payroll the other without. I could go on but I think this is enough. I have since upgraded to 2004.
Rating:
Summary: How would you like to pay for this sir ?
Review: Do not upgade...I had a problem installing 2002 upgrade, called intuit and they wanted me to pay for tech support. The problem was a software issue, finally got resolved, no thanks to intuit. The people at intuit are rude. The girl wouldn't let me talk to a tech. She kept asking me (@ least five times) what credit card I wanted to use to pay for support. 2002 is slower than my 2000 verison and has features that requires you to use intuit services. Beware the later the verison the more you will have to upgade every year. I will not upgade anymore any and my acct. told me I can submit printed reports as instead of down loading an acct. review.
| 
