Their online chat told me “your 2010 version will not run on your current OS anymore Marnie, you need to upgrade to the 2011 version.” This is planned obsolescence.

Last August we renewed, once again, the annual payroll subscription for a cost of $371.69. (It seems to go up every year); however, we cannot use the subscription we paid $371.69 for due to the fact ANOTHER upgrade is required to continue using the payroll. Presently I am back to doing payroll by hand.

I purchased QuickBooks Pro 2011 this week, as required, only to learn I cannot install it on the computer I do payroll on because it requires more space than my computer has available. The previous QuickBooks programs worked fine. It appears we will need to purchase another computer to continue using QuickBooks, IF we want to do the Payroll with it.

This week I received an email from Intuit stating the Payroll Subscription will be automatically renewed on 7/15/2011 at a price of $374.00, plus sales tax. This is the program I cannot use now, but have paid the subscription, due to Intuit’s Upgrades. How unethical to require purchasing a product to use with a subscription that has already been paid for!!

If another company makes a similar product as QuickBooks, I will be trying it. At this time I am not sure what direction to take. I do not feel Intuit appreciates their customers.

When I purchase a Payroll subscription for a year, I expect to be able to USE that product for a year with no interruptions for more money!! At this time I would never recommend getting started on this program to anyone!

I use Numia Online Accounting Software for my business solutions. You could also try using it. Its Free!!! No hidden charges… From the two years of usage I faced no difficulties. Best of its kind.

The best thing about it is that you can set up recurring invoices and invoices for future dates which email out to clients automatically – no more needing to make sure you are in the office on the first of the month to get your invoices out. The email reminders are also very useful and you can personalise all of it so you don’t lose that personal touch – in fact some of our customers have mentioned that they feel like its customer service when we are chasing invoices!

Before Freeagent Central accountancy software we used Sage Instant Accounts, which I found very complicated and time consuming for a small company like ours. I can honestly say Freeagent Central have quartered the time we spend doing the books whilst also making our accounts process more effective.

There is an iPhone app too, which I was very excited about. However you can’t raise invoices on it, only bill time and expenses to projects, and track your mileage etc. I’ve heard that there is a new and improved one in the pipeline but not in the app store yet.

Argh. Any other suggestions for an internet-based accounting program for a small business? Very small?

Nobody minds paying for upgrades. It’s when they just re-badge the last years version that it gets a bit steep when they ask for $800 for the re-badge. Nobody minds that they are for profit. It’s when they supply NOTHING and ask for large amounts of money for it and then DO THIS ON A CONSISTENT BASIS YEAR AFTER YEAR that customers get upset.

In answer to your question if you command 80% of the market place then the obvious way to increase revenue is TO PROVIDE SOME EXTRA VALUE! Rather than by exploiting their monopoly.

The fact that there are so many addons in the addon market indicates there is plenty of room to add on value. There is plenty of room for improvement in this product, it has significant weaknesses with respect to stock and customer management. You will see previous submissions where Quickbooks have actually taken functionality away only to add it back again at a higher cost. Or when the company has charged it’s customers to fix up faults in it’s quickbooks product.

All the Quickbooks customers are also business owners. All of them work their butts off to survive and hopefully make a profit. They don’t mind paying for value but it gets upsetting when one sees consistent laziness and exploitation of a monopoly position.