It’s that time of year – nearly spring, when a young man’s fancy turns to love, couples think about Valentine’s Day, and wage-earners think about..filing taxes.
And as their special Valentines to you, Intuit, the makers of Quicken, would like to give you a sunset..but no, not a beautiful, picturesque sunset upon which to gaze with your intended, oh no. It’s their dreaded “sunset policy”, which, just as you are thinking about getting your financials together and updating last year’s information in Quicken, nips you in the bud and says “upgrade or lose it, buddy”.
Yep, it’s Intuit’s policy to expire certain components of Quicken every year, and this year owners of Quicken versions 2001 and 2002 got the happy news: effective April 19th users of Quicken 2001 and Quicken 2002 will no longer be able to access financial and bank data online, make online payments, or get technical support.
This means that users are faced with two choices: start entering everything by hand, being no longer able to pull data from online, or upgrade.
Or, wait, oh yes..there is a third choice: vote with your feet and use another financial accounting program.
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Of course, this does explain the company’s name..you see once you’ve already put all of your financial eggs in the Quicken basket, they figure that you will be so far intuit that you’ll spring for the upgrade.
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I have 2017 version of Quicken. I was informed a month ago that I would loose the ability to download from my bank if I didn’t buy the upgrade. With the next update the whole program crashed. I cannot even open Quicken. my entire checkbook is lost. Count me in on any lawsuit
I have Quicken 2013 HAB. It seems that the users above have versions before 2010. I had upgraded to 2013 from 2011. It was a royal PITA. Balances for accounts that were zero suddenly had crazy negative balances (the cash accounts for investments accounts). If I remember correctly I had to use Quicken’s repair tool a few times.
Until today 4/22/16 I never saw a message about discontinuation of on-line services to my financial institutions. I just got the annoying message about upgrading to Quicken 2016. But why if Quicken plans to dump the product anyway?
Over the years I have witnessed a steady degradation in the quality of the software support (if you want to “stretch” that meaning ever so slightly).
If someone has contacted a lawyer (most likely one whose specialty is contracts?), what are the next steps?
My Q 2011 is bought and paid for.
What right have they to tinker with my connectionss with my banks?
Count me in on that lawsuit.
I don’t want to piss on your parade but I’ve just installed my old and faithful Quicken Deluxe 2001 under Windows 8 32-bit.
How did I do it? I just stuck the Quicken installation CD in the DVD drive and Windows 8 did the rest (Microsoft announced some time ago when building Windows 8 that the 16-bit subsystem would be included).
Anyhow it all worked just fine, copied my data across and all the numbers look the same.
Incidentally on the Intuit website they advise upgrading through Quicken 2004 to get to Quicken 2013 (as if anyone would want to!). The interesting thing is that to chieve this they provide a free unlocked Quicken 2004 for download.
Gardian… You don’t get it… It’s the loss of functionality thats the issue. The original packaging does not state limited up/download capability nor does it state that you have a limited lease. Quicken sucks, although I still use the software I am unable to connet to my bank with it. Not what I paid for. Gardian you should reread the post. Dumb ass
Keep me posted on the class action lawsuit!
I’m pissed.
Use “right” QIF and you will be able to import your transactions into all account types. CSV2QIF, Bank2QIF and FixMyQIF create such “right” QIF files. You will be fine with all Quicken versions: 3 years old or not with your bank supporting Quicken or not.
$ note: I developed these tools.
I have Quicken 2009 and it won’t work now – are you telling me that I only get 3 years of downloading from this software? That is crazy.
I think the FTC and Consumer protection office in Canada should go after Quicken for not disclosing the sunset clause on the packaging in a location where the consumer could clearly see that they are only able to use the downloading capability for only 3 years.
Count me in on that class action suite. I just spent trying to import transaction downloads I received from my bank…Won’t work, Quicken indicated it can’t verify the financial institution. How do they decide what files I’m importing into Quicken. These issues need to be addressed.
Did Intuit ever mention that their software would only work for 3+- years at the time of purchase before “selected” functions would begin “disabling”? This seems to be a very good method for the purpose of forcing upgrades to new software at a much higher cost. Critical financial software that lasts n-years, before a forced upgrade, could be quite lucrative because people will just pay. Thank goodness my old Toyota truck still runs and doesn’t just stop working on the old super-highway sometime on April 30th.
Our Company actually received a notice that, “as of May 1st, 2012, you will no longer have access to the software for this license”
Now, they verbally told me that, because of compliance issue, I needed to upgrade because the software would shut down on May 1st!
Can they do that? I read a lot of comments about online functionality being blocked (we don’t use online banking or payroll) but, can they really do that or are they leading me on?
We are using the Canadian Version
I would join a class-action lawsuit. They disabled functionality in Quickbooks, also. I knew that support was going to be disabled, but turning off key working functions? That is unforgiveable….
Yea to all the above dissension. I’ve used various Intuit products for years, including QFW, and this nonsense about turning off functionality on a whim is BS. I’m voting with my feet/wallet, and going to MS Money.
Hey Intuit – Up yours!
I am interested in joining a class action suite against quicken due to the planned obsolescence making it not possible to download bank transactions with Quicken 2008
Count me in for the class action lawsuit. They can stop supporting the program, but to disable a function (bank data download) that does not require any use of Quicken servers is criminal.
I too would be interested in a class action lawsuit against Intuit for their Quicken software. It seems the software you purchase is only a lease for 3 years until they discontinue usage to get you to upgrade.
Agreed – time for a class action suit!!! I will sign on
I have Quicken 2006 and I’m getting a mesg that come April no banking download unless I upgrade. What a bunch of crooks, there should be a lawsuit.
I just got nailed with the deactivation of online services last night WITH ZERO WARNING!!!
Having been with Quicken since 1993, I’m completely infuriated. If anyone has any info on a class-action lawsuit, I’m very interested.
Also, though I haven’t yet converted to it, GnuCash looks very promising – AND, it’s open source – if I don’t like something, I can FIX it!
gnucash.org
I have been using Quicken XG 2005 on Windows 98 and Windows XP since it came out. As of Oct 2008, the Web Connect feature has been discontinued!
The only two formats that can be imported into Quicken 2005 are either QFX or QIF, but since the Web Connect feature is discontinued, it will not even allow you to manually import a QFX file. The three different banks that I deal with only offer QFX format for downloading.
So my options are (1) Manually enter transactions, or (2) Upgrade to a newer version of Quicken, or (3) Write a program that converts my QFX file to a QIF file so I can impirt it.
I chose option 3…
Try this link to download it (scroll down to reply #14):
http://www.quickencommunity.com/webx?14@@.efd5c17/10
It was written in FreeBasic and I compiled it for Windows XP. I have no idea if it will work on any other OS or not! It’s very small, only 186 KB.
I found some information for converting from QFX to QIF for Linux. It uses the mawk utility. I found a version of mawk that runs in a DOS Window. I have created a ZIP that contains all of the required files and some documentation. Save the download data from sites that support automatic downloads into a QFX file format. Some sites will prompt you for the file to save the transaction data to (e.g. PC Financial), while others (e.g. Mosaik MasterCard) will try to link directly to your Quicken software. If they try to link directly, you can usually right-mouse click on the download link and select “Save Target As”. Here is the link to QFX2QIF.zip
Downloading updates yesterday and the spare computer (network storage, email server, webcam, etc) started spewing out spam emails! It miht be coincidence but…
I have wasted maybe an hour trying to correct an issue with my 2002 Quicken program with respect to downloading quotes to update my investment info. It would have been nice if Intuit or my bank informed me of this so called “planned obsolecense”. I thought I bought a product not time limited functionality. I wonder what MS MONEY is like – perhaps worth the switch.
I have wasted maybe an hour trying to correct an issue with my 2002 Quicken program with respect to downloading quotes to update my investment info. It would have been nice if Intuit or my bank informed me of this so called planned “obsolencense”. I thought I bought a product not time limited functionality. I wonder what MS MONEY is like – perhaps worth the switch.
I have a workaround that lets me keep using Quicken 2002 and it works with the four banks I download transactions from! Software firewalls are the right tool here. First, I backed up my Quicken data files and moved them to a new directory on my hard drive. I uninstalled Quicken 2002 and deleted everything left in the QuickenW directory. I rebooted and reinstalled Quicken 2002 to a different directory. I copied my active data files back into my new Quicken Program directory.
Then, I went into my ZoneAlarm firewall software and set the program control to prevent Quicken from contacting the Internet EVER! When I download transactions from my various banks, I always do it from the bank website, which sends the data to Quicken. I can still do this, though Quicken gives me an error message saying it can’t connect to the Internet. I just click okay and wait. The transactions download into Quicken as a QFX file just like they always did.
Now, I don’t download stock transaction information, just normal bank and VISA transactions, so I don’t know if this will work for people who need to do that. But this work-around gave me back the functionality Intuit decided to take away from me. As a quasi-techie mom, I am happy to find a work-around that beats the greedy corporados.
Intuit has done a very poor job of introducing a program change – Maybe so bad that they will be hit with a Class Action law suit – Meanwhile, literally thousands of users are under the impression that the program they bought from Quicken will soon no longer be useable – Well that is just NOT TRUE – It is a misrepresentation of the facts promoted by Intuit in order to sell an update – Read these buried Quotes From Intuit website and judge for yourself –
Quote From Intuit :
Quicken 2004 for Windows and EARLIER will continue to accept QIF Data Imports – While QIF technology is becoming obsolete ?there are still circumstances that make QIF Data Import the only way to convert your data. For these customer support circumstances we want to make sure that we leave QIF Data Import available.
Comment :
Now, at every opportunity, Quicken is warning users of 2002, 2003, and 2004 that they must update to 2005 or die ! This party line promoted by Quicken flies in the face of both this quote and logic – It is classic double speak !
As long as your checking account is with a Bank that supports the .QIF format, Not to worry !
Quote From Intuit :
Quicken Interchange Format (QIF) is a non-proprietary data format. Although Intuit originally developed QIF, and certain Intuit products including Quicken 2003. still contain the ability to import files in QIF format.. Comment :
If .QIF is non-proprietary, Banks CAN use it as a Download option rather than telling their customers they must upgrade as some are doing – That is a great way for them to loose customers ! – Intuit has convinced a few Banks that it will be easier to support .QFX than .QIF – Who are they kidding – .QFX is twice as complicated as .QIF Quicken 2005 is trying to be ?all things to all people? like Amazon is after starting with only books. Therein is Quicken?s TRUE need for the .QFX Format – It?s use allows them to develop mutually beneficial relations with more diverse financial institutions – Meanwhile, most old Quicken users just want it to provide checking account support like it does so well using the .QIF Format – They do not want to wade thru pop-ups for insurance, mortgages, or stock – Given Quicken 2005?s ability to create fresh income for Intuit, maybe it should be open and free like Amazon is.
Quote From Intuit :
Q : How do I switch from using .QIF to an .QFX download format ?
A: Register now to make sure you receive important updates regarding these changes
Comment :
Doing this means going Online with Quicken which is just what they want – Once you do this Quicken has Gotcha – A ?tweak? can be added to your program and from then on they can control the Download procedure. Later when Online with your Bank, after requesting a .QIF Download, you may not be able to use the SAVE option which loads the .QIF file direct to your computer instead of OPEN which can put Quicken back in control.
The Fix For Most Users :
Cleanup, backup and remove all Quicken Data Files from your computer – Delete your current ?tweaked? copy of Quicken – Reinstall your ?clean? original copy – Reinstall your Data Files – Then, NEVER go Online with Quicken again – Get ye to a Bank that supports .QIF Format, Download DIRECT from them and then Import it into Quicken – Why go thru Quicken to request something when you can deal direct with the Bank and have fewer mistakes.
Now – This puts users who want to get equity, insurance, mortgage data etc thru Quicken out of the loop – The fix for that is for them to do business with a company that offers the wanted data Online – There are several that have these services FOR FREE without the hazard of their computer being ?tweaked? OR they can buy Quicken 2005.
Has anyone started a class action lawsuit against intuit?
After the last Quicken Sunset(Revenue)policy forced me to upgrade, I swore it was the last time. Lost data, and mangled transactions so I could get new functionality I don’t need or want with a new interface to learn. After almost 15 years, I’ve had it with Quicken. I will give money a turn.
I tried Quicken 2005 and it wouldn’t preserve the split when I tried to schedule a split transaction. Gardian, how did you get around that?
Does one have to pay to install a copy on a laptop if you have purchased a copy allready for your desktop?
I really don’t know what all the fuss is about this. Software companies change there software all the time.
Mcaffee / Microsoft / Grisoft / just to name a few. Changes, yes, on longer support the old stuff, yes, the end of the world, NO.
I just upgraded to Quicken 2005, took maybe 5 mins. No Problems.
I think all this fuss is about MONEY, yep, Let’s scare them all so they will get MONEY.
So , don’t be scared by the BillGates Club. Quicken 2005 works just fine.
I have been using the products since 1997.
Just my thoughts, you will do whatever you decide…
Nuff said
I too got annoyed at Quicken last year and went to Money. It imported all my data and I can have copies on my main computer and laptop. Goodby Quicken.
I, too, was using version 2002 until yesterday. I found a $15 Deluxe 2005 version on eBay and it finally arrived (plus, apparently in this version they stopped the serial number hoopla).
While I’m not pleased that I would lose functionality in software I paid for, I do understand that technology changes. Software developers have to decide how long they want to support a given technology. It’s just a fact that after a period of time certain technologies just won’t work any more. So I don’t blame Intuit for having a “sunset policy.” But I still don’t have to like it….
For years, I upgraded Quicken and paid their fees. Then, in 1999 I got tired of it and quit upgrading. Since I don’t pay bills online, I’m ok. I use it to manage a small business and still use the OLD DOS plug-in QuickPay for payroll, which is not supported either. For withholding taxes, I manually tell QuickPay how much to withhold per the IRS’ Circular E. It isn’t perfect, but it works and it is accurate. I write approximately 1500 checks annually with this system and manage 4 bank accounts. I have wanted to upgrade to QuickBooks, but what I do is SO EASY I just can’t see making the switch.
There other wonderful cash generator is of course having to pay a “re-install” / “serial number replacement” fee if you need to reinstall the program. Not even microsoft is draconian enough to charge you to re-activate windows if your system crashes and requires reinstalling. Intuit has no problems doing so though (in Australia anyway). I’d like to meet their IT staff and congratulate them as obviously they keep Intuit’s systems running perfectly with 100% uptime – never having to reinstall anything.
Actually I wonder if Intuit upgrades ALL of their computer software every year – just for the heck of it – or to maintain functionality they’ve already paid for.
Yeah, I have been bitten by this in the past and will be again next year when my 2003 versin expires. They made so many changes that hindered my use of the program in that version, I swore I will never upgrade again.
Personally, I do not feel this policy is right, I paid for the product that contain certian functionality, if there have been no changes to the service that require an update, then I should not have to update. Actually, they should make it so that interface with financial institutions are provided and maintained by those institutions and not require changes to Quicken while opening those services to all software developers.
So, by next year I will either move to MS Money (which is the only other package my bank supports), or will make my own routine to download/update/ post my banking requests (my bank provides free Internet service and bill pay).