Into the Sunset: Quicken 2004
Do you have something to say about Quicken's sunset policy? Speak out!.After hearing from a couple of readers, I reconsidered my opinion of Quicken's sunset policy and I'm changing this post as a result:
Intuit recently started letting registered Quicken 2004 users know that as of April 30, 2007, Quicken 2004 would no longer be supported. "Not supported" means that that online features will no longer work in Quicken 2004, and technical support will no longer be available. Those who do not use Quicken 2004 online features and rely on manual data entry can still use Quicken 2004 as before, but most people use at least some online features in their software.
I hear from upset Quicken users every year when their version is sunsetted, but Intuit makes its sunset policy quite clear: Support is available for the latest Quicken version (Quicken 2007) and two versions back. This is not an unreasonable policy, and Microsoft Money (Quicken's primary competition) supports only the two latest versions. but this year, Quicken 2004 users are really angry. At one time, Quicken's sunset policy meant that technical support would no longer be available for versions that were over three years old. This is understandable due to the cost of tech support for older technology. However, I do NOT agree that any software manufacturer should remove features that consumers have paid for. If features will altogether stop working at some point, it should be noted in readable type with the feature list on the packaging. Granted, most people upgrade their Quicken version every two or three years to catch up on new features, but consumers should not be forced to do so because their software was crippled.
Discontinued online services in Quicken 2004:
- online bill pay
- downloading financial data from financial institutions
- downloading stock quotes, news headlines, and other financial information into Quicken
- uploading portfolio information from Quicken to Quicken.com
- access to the investing features on Quicken.com: portfolio tracking, watch lists, One-Click Scorecard™, Stock Evaluator, and Mutual Fund Evaluator.
More: Sunset Policy | Quicken 2006 Prices | Quicken 2007 Prices
Related Software Reviews: Quicken 2007 | Quicken 2006 | Quicken vs Microsoft Money
Comments
I’m so ticked off about the sunset policy that I’m looking for another financial package. Intuit’s hubris has always been out of whack but now it’s just absurd. They think they’re that great … fine. I’ll vote with my money. It was bad enough eliminating QIF imports (the reason I haven’t updated since 2004). Now, they crippling functionality to force me to update. WRONG! Support issues. What a load of hooey.
And just so you know Intuit, this will be the first year in almost a decade that I won’t be using TurboTax. I can’t get you out of my life soon enough.
Guess I’m glad I upgraded to Quicken 2007 when I did. However, I had 2003, and I never used any of its online features. I wasn’t ready for it, and I don’t think Quicken 2003 was either.
Its bad enough they cripple 2004 but to force one to buy a bug infested version is unconscionable. Unfortunately I hear Money is just as bad if not worse. Too bad the Open Software Foundation doesn’t have a money package - FireFox OpenOffice for me
I agree it is lame that Intuit is crippling features. Plus I understand that Quicken 2007 isn’t even written in Universal Binary, which makes it not as smooth-running on newer Intel Macs. Guess I’m taking a “forced” break from Quicken for a few months (until the next release). By that time, I may find a better alternative.
I used Quicken 2004 for online banking. Even before reading about the Quicken 2007 problems (and boy! is THAT an understatement!) I had no intention of upgrading due to the sunset policy. As has been noted by others, it is one thing to stop tech support, it is another to disable key features to force an upgrade. I’ll not do it. Sorry Intuit!
I hadn’t heard anything about this until I tried to download my account information from my bank yesterday- I got an error message saying that it couldn’t connect to my bank and that I should try again later. So I try again today and find out that the on-line banking features have been disabled for Quicken 2004.
Guess what- Intuit is offered $20 off any version of Quicken 2007 (except for Basic) if you click this link. Only when I click the link I see nothing about a $20 discount, anywhere on the site. Going to the shopping cart I see the normal price for the Deluxe Edition, but there is a box to enter a discount code… was I supposed to receive a code to get the $20 discount?
In any case after reading the article here I decided to get an unboxed copy of the 2006 Deluxe edition for $19.50.
You are very wise, Steeve!
I gave intuit another chance after the C-Dilla / Safecase nightmare with TurboTax a few years ago. I gave them the benefit of the doubt and accepted their apology. This time I’ve had enough. Goodbye Intuit.
Since there are no real choices I’ve had time to think and will do something drastic. I’m stepping out of the marketing/media fog and doing away with Personal Finance software. I can look up my bank balance and validate my receipts vs transactions online. It’s a beautiful day outside and I’m going to go out and enjoy it. Normally I would be downloading transactions and assigning categories. hmm… Maybe I should thank Intuit for liberating me…
I received my copy of Quicken 2006 today and it is undoubtably the screwiest program I’ve ever installed. The windows to enter data to register the program cannot be resized to view everything so you have to scroll back and forth. If that was my only gripe I’d be a happy camper. Once installed and registered I was looking forward to download the information from my bank to update my accounts. I clicked on “download transactions” as I had done hundreds of times with Quicken 2004 and nothing happens except that a tool bar pops up that doesn’t work as explained in the Help file. I guess I do not understand the concept behind the updates in this newer version: why would I want my bank transactions to be handled through Quicken.com? I want to deal directly with my bank, with the program only facilitating the transfer of information from my bank to my computer- I do not want any banking information to be on the Quicken.com site, which could be a likely target for hackers. (I think I did turn off the option for Quicken.com to handle my bank transactions but that did not help me connect.)
I haven’t gotten this frustrated trying to run a program for many years… right now all of my financial is tied up in Quicken but I plan to escape their grasp as soon as I can.
I started using Quicken back in 1987, when Intuit was still a very small company and you didn’t expect the user interface for *any* program to be reasonable back then. But with the Sunset policy deactivating features I paid for, and their lack of attention to details which would make it easier to run the program, I have no choice but to find another program to handle my bank accounts (anything but Microsoft Money!)
I’d hate to see what Intuit is up to with Quicken 2007!
Okay, I decided to try something else to download the transactions from my bank: I manually connected to my bank on the internet and initiated the transaction download myself, and it worked.
Now when I click on “Download Transactions”, it works exactly as it did before in Quicken 2004. Of course it would have been nice if the help file would have suggested doing this, so I still give Intuit a very low rating for customer service and user interface!
I’ve been a loyal LEGAL paying customer of Intuit (both Quicken and TurboTax).
Not anymore. Not only did they disable my software (Online services), but you also cannot MANUALLY download info.
I will no longer PAY for Quicken or TurboTax. I’ll either steal/bootleg it with no qualms on my conscience after their unethical actions, or regrettably move to Microsoft.
The ONLY explanation that makes any sense, is that Microsoft owns or paid Intuit for this action to FORCE folks to move to MS.
Where is a class action lawyer? I’ll join the suit and give 100% of the money to the lawyers!!!!! just to try and kill this disabling functionality.
i’m ticked off two.
i’m going to look for alternatives
to intuit’s products that i use,
which are quicken and turbotax
I’ve been using Quicken 2002 for years and never upgraded because of the bad things I kept hearing about the newer versions. Up until a few days ago, I was able to download into it fine, then suddenly I start getting this message that it’s not supported anymore. It seems I’ve been able to do it for longer than I should have, given their sunset clause, and the only reason I can think of is that the software updated itself, and the update contained code that went out of it’s way to break the program. I still have the CD and I wonder if I reinstall the original version if it will work. Anyway, at least I never upgraded to 2003 so I can still import qif files - an extra step, but it still works and you couldn’t pay me to upgrade into a non-qif sunset-claused product.
I didn’t mind the policy that I need to upgrade. However, I was pissed off that Quicken 2009 wouldn’t let me migrate my Quicken 2004 data over to the new software. It says only Quicken 2008 data can be opened in Quicken 2009. WTF?? I’m now essentially locked out of 10 years of financial data.
Annie, what version of Quicken 2009 are you using? If it’s Quicken Starter Edition or Quicken Online, there is no data file converter and you would have to upgrade to Quicken Deluxe 2009. If you have Quicken Deluxe or higher, the data should convert. Check out this quicken Conversion tutorial to see if there is something you can try to get the data converted.
Shelley
My Quicken 2004 continued to automatically downloaded security prices daily until about 2 weeks ago, and now it is not working anymore. Does this “sunsetting” thing mean I have no way of getting that feature to work again?
Benjamin: Unfortunately, I think the “sunsetting” thing is your problem with downloading stock data. You will need to buy a supported version of Quicken, and you may as well go with Quicken 2009.
shelley
Well, for the time being, I might just go with quickenonline.intuit.com. It’s free and seems to do all the Quicken basics pretty well, though it’s probably missing a lot of advanced features.
OMG! I got a letter today from Quicken about the sun setting on my software on April 30, 2009 and was furious because I thought it was only fair to mention such limitations on the packaging of the product too!
I googled “Quicken sunset policy” and got your blog where you read my mind.
I am very confident that known phase-outs of product features should be clearly disclosed at the point of sale or on the product’s packaging. I will be writing the Federal Trade Commission within 30 days to ask for feedback.
If Intuit is going to play dirty, you have to at least be transparent about “your dirt”. If you put the material terms and conditions on the packaging and I fail to read it, that’s one thing. Intuit’s failure to mention the 3 year life-cycle of certain key features of Quicken prior to its sale is negligent (to say the least).
If a company knowingly neglects to mention that its software has a pending phase-out of key product features prior to the consumer’s purchase of said product, then a case can be made that the company is at least guilty of misrepresentation.
I don’t want money. I want a public apology and a correction of future packaging.
Having a great product does not excuse a company from following the rules of good business conduct in the marketplace.