Unreliable Electronic Data

I sincerely hope you are not making any important financial decisions based on Quicken or Yahoo quotes. I liked Warren Buffet's response to the Dow tanking one day last month:

"I don't watch the markets." ;-)

Bob

Since 1992 I have religiously upgraded my Quicken. Knowing full well there was not that much difference between the previous year and the new year's edition. 2008 is different. Since Intuit chooses not to listen to our voices, maybe they'll pay attention to bottom line. THE PRODUCT HAS LOST IT'S RELIABILITY! I will NOT upgrade to the 2008 edition.

Next, speaking of of Intuit revenue, do you realize that if you download information from your bank, you are paying a monthly service charge. The monthly charge is $5.95. It's not that difficult to manual enter your transactions. Plus, how reliable is the data being entered for you? And yes, the reason for the monthly charge is to pay for the service! You can bet financial institutions are paying royalites to both Intuit (Quicken) and Microsoft (Money).

Hopefully when sales decrease, someone will finally understand why! Product quality has gone down the tubes.

Done typing, done buying annual s/w upgrades and done paying monthly bank fees for a product I have to review DAILY for accuracy!!

Now, now, no need to be testy.

I just think it's telling that only a handful of the MILLIONS of Quicken users complain about quotes being inaccurate.

If *I* were Intuit, and *IF* level of dissatisfaction guided my resource allocation; this problem would have low priority, as it apparently does ;-)

Bob

Bob,

All I'm suggesting, over the last 6 months of erroneous electronic data feeds to our Quicken files, is to stop talking about it (unreliable data) and do something about it as consumers.

Is there anything wrong with asking for a company to provide the deliverables they promote?

I'll let Warren know you were thinking about him this evening.

Happy trading and manually reviewing your Quicken data.

Regards

I pretty much agree with you. I pay no bank charges aside from personalized checks. (the cost of printing them, not for processing them) ..the books I bought 5 years ago are barely used. I update prices (manually) monthly, quarterly or semiannually--depends how much spare time I have. That way I KNOW that they are accurate. It is not necessary for me to know my EXACT net worth on a daily or even weekly basis.

Hey, my bank (citibank) was hosing me 9.95 per month. I have less than ten transactions/checks per month on my checking account, and maybe 5 on my other accounts, so axed that fine service. Use the citibank website now, no charge, and manually enter whatever I do there into Quicken. Should have made this move 5 years ago.

Good move! The banks are getting billions in service charges from people who don't know better!

Agree wholeheartedly. The quote service is worse than poor. Anyone notice that even the Nasdaq index has had issues in getting updated for the past few days?

Don't pay for upgrades. Pay for a new application that is NOT Quicken!

Been doing that for years with ETrade and Quicken.

There ya' go.

Not paying for upgrades is a major contributor to the lack of funds to make Quicken a better product.

So, by all means: shoot yourself in the foot.

You will get what you pay for; so let everyone know what other product gives you more for your money.

Guess I'm losing it... Econ 101 - supply and demand

In the beginning, all of the advertised services were provided to the consumer by the company. As time went by, the level of advertised services began to diminish. The consumer communicated this to the company. The company chose not to pay any attention to the input from their consumers (hmmm Customer Satisfaction issue here?). The company felt their product had become a 'cash cow' such as 'Crest' or 'Colgate' toothpaste. The company didn't have to worry about a few folks who communicated issues to them. Reason being, the MAJORITY were happy. Well, as time went on, other issues began to crop up. The loyal customers communicated such, but the company, knowing it had a 'cash cow' chose to ignore the feedback.

All of a sudden, the revenue stream from the 'cash cow' began to diminish. The CEO did not understand. And as is corporate America, no one from the product line would tell the CEO the truth. i.e. Intuit didn't listen to feedback from their loyal customers!

The CEO had to decide to terminate the product or resolve the issues to return the 'cash cow' to it's lofty heights.

In both scenioros, it's Intuit's call. Shooting one's self is not the question here. It's expecting the product to perform as advertised!

If you, each time you powered up your computer, you had to reconfigure your CMOS data, how long would it take to replace the CMOS battery? If each time you tried to turn on the lights in the bathroom and half the time they didn't come on, how long would it take to replace the light switch?

Intuit is not paying me to be their customer! I'm paying them to provide services!

If the level of service is OK with you, whether annually, monthly, daily, or hourly, then life is good. I'M JUST LOOKING FOR PUSHING THE DOWNLOAD BUTTON AND GETTING ACCURATE INFORMATION. Sorry if that is not politically correct, but I don't have the gun in my hand and I can't correct Intuit's problem. But, if not corrected, I can correct my issues. - Don't UPGRADE the S/W. Eventually they'll listen.

Intuit's cash cow is Taxes and Payroll Software - annual upgrades are given. I doubt Intuit makes much money off of Quicken as the market is limited - but they use it to sell other services. If you look at Money and Quicken - the big 'two' there isn't really much difference and M$ has their own problems with Money.

The money for anyone is to turn it into an online service with an annual subscription. This raises other issues - I know - but this is where Intuit and M$ are going to.

Just my 2 cents worth.

Cheers!

Oilcan

Glad to see it's not just me. I bought 2008 a couple of months ago and the online portion has never been stable. Constant removal/reinstalls of accounts just to download new transactions is not what I consider automation. Currently bank #1 has become more stable but #2 is another story. Is Money any better or more of the same?

"Doesn't work in the first place"? What does that mean? It certainly doesn't apply to my experience.

Provide objective evidence of a product that does a better job for the money.

While you're at it, demonstrate that you have found a product that is better for every Quicken user (or even most Quicken users) for their money ... not just for you --- since you are making absolute claims about Quicken.

Please stop pretending that your personal experiences, and your personal evaluation, are indicative of anything that applies to others.

If you don't like Quicken, by all means, move on to a "better" product.

Well it's like the old hotel argument. The hotel has a big sign outside that says "1000 rooms-never no vacancy" Yet every time you attempt to book a room they are sold out. Do they really have 1000 rooms or is it just a come on.

And likewise just because you claim it does actually work doesn't make it so. And yes, I am about to try something else as I don't think customers should have to pay for alpha software. Maybe it will work maybe not, but it certainly can't be any worse than this very much alpha product.

Those of us who use a no-fee credit card for most purchases, paying off the ENTIRE balance every month, having bank accounts with NO service charges, having bills paid by AUTOMATIC no-fee DEBIT, are, nonetheless the best off, regardless of higher prices.

Perhaps *your* bank. Do not presume it is all banks. The fee (if any) is determined by the bank. Wachovia charges nothing if the downloads are initiated at the Wachovia website. Commerce bank still has free 'direct' connect from within Quicken. Perhaps you should look to your financial institution for a reduction in fees.

No, it's not. Neither is it 'that difficult' to pay in cash. Heck, I had one elderly friend without a checking account. She never found it 'that difficult' to go to the post office once a month and come out with money orders for gas/phone/electricity/water, etc. .... that she then proceeded to present in person to the various offices. Personally, I was happy when the written check and stamped envelope were replaced by online billpay - but, there you are. Different strokes for different folks.

As reliable as the financial institution that generates it. The figures imported into your Quicken file ARE NOT GENERTATED BY INTUIT.

Yes, financial institutions pay 'royalties' to software companies for permission to interact with the software. Merchants pay fees to process credit cards. Stores pay fees to electronically transmit your check and process it immediately (cuts down on 'bounced' checks). The cost for our convenience is paid in higher prices. Some merchants don't even accept charge cards, in an effort to maintain prices. Few customers see the value in saving a few cents while needing to write a check or pay in cash.

We all pay for it in the end.

Barrier to entry.

Complacency of a Intuit due to lack of competition.

Both well-known economic concepts. Why are you so unaware of them?

Get a new chestnut. That one's old.

Here, here! The only point you omitted was the credit card REBATES!