Shall We Rant?

I don’t think I’ve ever bad mouthed a product publicly before. I’m going to now. Shame on you, Intuit, for QuickBooks Online.

Let me start by saying that I’m not against the entire product line, just one aspect. For more than a decade I used QuickBooks for Windows, which I like. For a bit less time than that I’ve used QuickBooks for Mac. Although everything doesn’t work quite as well as in the Windows version, QuickBooks for Mac is a fine program.

Then there’s QuickBooks Online (QBO). BOO! I do some subcontracting work for a local business and picked this up as another job for them. I started using it about a year ago. YUCK!! Ok, I admit, it’s not helped by the fact that I have a not-very-new Mac; QBO doesn’t really like my 10.6.8 operating system, and I’m not inclined to upgrade to the new OS because I’d have to upgrade all my software, too – a costly proposal. This is compounded by the fact that I have satellite internet, my only option. No matter what speed you have on the satellite it’s slower than the same speed on cable modem or via phone lines. It is what it is.

Still, I’m used to working with my Mac and my internet speed. Until I get to QBO. S….L….O….W.

And Intuit has chosen to make the 3 versions of QuickBooks NOT be compatible. So it’s not like I could work in QB on my Mac and then just upload to QBO. In fact, the way they laid out QBO is dramatically different than the layout of the other 2 versions. Even the terminology is different, for cripes sake! Plus, in the Windows & Mac versions you can have several QB windows open at once – Reports and Deposits, for instance. Not online! One window at a time, further slowing things down.

Worst of all, though, is the fact that with an online program you have no control over upgrades. When the company wants to do an upgrade, they do, and you can’t choose to stay with your old version. In my personal opinion, QBO’s upgrades are similar to Facebook’s upgrades; things that used to be easy no longer are. (That’s just one of the reasons I’ve consciously avoided having a Facebook page for years.)

Yesterday was the last straw for me. I spent a full hour poking through their decidedly unhelpful help screens (they used to be helpful but no more) trying to figure out how to do something that used to be very easy, accomplished with a simple mouse click. In the end I couldn’t do it. At all.

I decided the frustration was not worth the contract amount, and told the company I work for that I’m ending that specific piece of our relationship. I won’t beat my head against that particular brick wall any more. I didn’t want to leave the company in the lurch so I did provide the name & contact info of someone who may be interested, in case the company doesn’t already have someone in mind.

After spending a total of 3.5 hours doing what would have taken me a max of 45 minutes in QuickBooks for either Windows or Mac, I couldn’t WAIT to get back to my loom – you’ll see my baby wrap progress tomorrow!