Another update: I was forced to buy a updowngrade to Quicken 2016 to continue to use the transaction download feature.  That was bad enough.  But the incompetent software writers at Intuit somehow managed to make the product even worse.  The simplest things no longer work, such as Ctrl key shortcuts.  Example: Before you could hit Ctrl-B to backup, but now none of the shortcuts work.

And the default transaction categories no longer function.

And multiple credit cards no longer download, even though Quicken’s site insists that the problems are solved (e.g., Target Red Card).

I am embarrassed for these people and how badly they do their jobs.  If you are starting from scratch, try something besides Quicken.

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Update: Quicken did the same thing this year, only they made it worse by putting out a horrible upgrade in Quicken 2013.  Go to Amazon and check out some of the reviews.  So now you get to pay for a downgrade if you want to keep some of the features of the old product.  I’m amazed that they stay in business.  If you do have to upgrade, do it from Amazon and not the Quicken site.  You’ll save $$.

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The 2011 Netflix marketing plan will be referred to for a long time as a sure way to destroy shareholder value and irritate your customers.  Sticking it to your loyal customers is not a winning strategy.

Apparently Intuit, the maker of Quicken, hasn’t learned this lesson.  In order to “encourage” (read: “You can have your dog back once you send us some more money”) people to upgrade they are de-featuring their product.  Specifically, they will deliberately end the ability to download transactions from your credit card and banking institutions. But that isn’t a support feature, that is a core part of the product.

It is common for software companies to drop support for older versions.  I understand and accept that.  It is also common for software companies to significantly improve their products to entice you to upgrade.  Again, no problem there.

But this is a joke.  Once again Quicken throws in a few useless tools (A new cash flow graph is one of the four main reasons you should upgrade.  Woo-hoo!) and “only” requires you to pay the original purchase price again to get these great new features.  They aren’t even offering a discounted upgrade price.

Imagine if Microsoft said that if you don’t pay for an expensive Excel upgrade that you could still add, subtract and divide, but you couldn’t multiply.  Or if HP said you must pay for an upgrade or your sound system would stop working. That’s what Quicken is doing.

And it isn’t just the cost of the upgrade, it is the wasted hours installing and learning a new program to do the same things I was doing already.

I highly encourage people to use another software package.  Or if it is more cost-effective for you to give into the extortion then at least buy it on Amazon for less than Quicken charges you directly.

Please share this with others!

Side note to liberals: I think most will agree that this is a clear case of corporate greed leading to bad decisions and negative consequences for customers.  But do we need the government involved to solve our problems?  Not at all.  That would be an expensive disaster.  We just need competition and a free exchange of ideas.  Please keep that in mind.