I am the treasurer of a small non-profit organization. Our national organization began a new accounting system that required the bookkeeper and I to be on the same program. I had a version of Quickbooks that I had purchased at Staples (2016) that worked fine and another version before that (2010). So in February of 2020, our president purchased Quickbooks Pro desktop, apparently on a subscription basis. We did not download it until July, but found out our subscription started the day it was purchased, not when it was actually installed and used. Strike One
We elect new officers each year, new terms beginning in April. A new president was elected. When I tried too install my program, I had problems, but nobody would talk to me, because I was not the person who purchased it. I finally was able to get added as an authorized user. Then, I try to open my program and it will not let me in. I have to sign in, but it wouldn't let me because I was only a user, not an administrator. So, I went through another fiasco, where I could not pay any bills or enter any data, until I finally was able to get myself listed as the administrator, along with my payment information. They took another 740 plus from my account to pay for the second year in February.
All should be fine for the next year, right? Yeah-sure! I have a time dependent task that I need to do today. It should be a simple matter of looking at a transaction in my QB account. Should take 1-2 minutes. I can call the bank and all will be done. I try to open my file and it tells me I have been signed out. I email address is pre-populated with the former administrator's email address and it wants the password. Now remember, I got this switched. I can not close the window. In cannot change the email address to the correct one. I cannot do anything. I can't see my accounts, again. So I call customer support. We will get this corrected quite easily. NOT!!
I am trying to explain my issue to a CS rep through a language barrier. I am explaining the old email is coming up but this was changed. She connects to my laptop and next thing she is telling me I can get off the subscription service and purchase a fixed 6 year plan for $1799. I tell her I do not have the authority to do that. They she pulls up a log and finds all these errors and says they need to be fixed or I cannot get into my account. If I don't want to pay the $1799, I can pay $299.99 and get tech support to repair these files. I simply cannot get logged into my account and now they want hundreds to thousands of dollars. I tell her I cannot do that, the account is now in and she tells me that I can only see my records because I am connected to her server and when she disconnects, I will not be able to do any thing. I ask what caused these so called error. Remind you, we are a very small organization. I write checks and records deposits two days per month. No payroll-nothing else. I produce one monthly report and balance my bank statement monthly. She says it is from pop ups that I click on. No. I connect to the internet to get bank statements and our investment reports once a month. I send an occasional email and have never received a pop-up, let along clicked on one.
Then she starts telling me that I have to upgrade every time a new version comes out and 2021 came out in February. That is why I can't use it. I am subscription based and I have to upgrade. It is not the errors now. If I pay the 300 or 1799, I guess I can work again. Again, less than 2 months ago, I gave them 741+ dollars!!! This is crazy. I feel like I am in the twilight zone or it is April Fool's Day. I have used Quickbooks for years with no problem at all. I use Quicken for my personal finances. I have had problems, but not once have I had any trouble getting it fixes with a simple call.
I honestly do not know if I am being scammed here or if i am not understanding due to the language barrier. I asked to speak to someone else, but the request was refused.
Has anyone else had a similar experience? Can anyone suggest a different accounting method? I am ready to file a complaint with the BBB and contact the Attorney General's office. I paid a lot of money for a year of service and should not have trouble getting into my file every single time I open it.
