Quicken XG Review

Overall Rating

Functions supremely well for tracking financial info.

UI takes getting used to.
Print functions very difficult to set up.
Reports could be more versatile.

I have been a previously elated Intuit user since 1991. "XG" was Quicken XG was advertised as being the very last you would ever have to buy. And yet we have yet another newer and even more improved version for 2005. Uh-huh.

Even worse, Intuit now has a nice little blackmail deal to extort even more money out of you. If you buy the software, the feature enabling you to download financial information directly from your bank stops functioning after one year. To regain the privilege of bringing back the full functionality of the software you have already spent the better part of $100 for, you have to pay a fee of $60.00 before the due date, not that far removed from the cost of the new version. This is only available from the almighty Intuit website, via credit card only. You cannot do this through your neighbourhood retailer. Someone like me who does not have a credit card is totally out of luck. I see no choice but to buy the entire software over again.

I have actually taken Intuit's so-called customer service team directly to task on this. The rep at their Canadian site was not able to explain to me just what cost Intuit is trying to cover with this blackmail. He promised me a supervisor would call me back within a couple of days. This was a year ago, the very last time I succumbed to the extortion. Not that this is any great surprise.

It is the considered opinion of this reviewer that we have here a company, which has been overcome by its tremendous success and now is into milking it for all it can get at the expense of its loyal customer base. This is nothing short of pure greed, pure and simple.

If a real human being from Intuit would care to respond to this and set us straight, the world and I are listening. We wait with baited breath. Come down from your Ivory Tower. We dare you.

A message to Intuit's CEO. If I were you, I would resign right now in total shame. You have taken your company from one of the most admired around to total scourge.

To those contemplating buying Quicken XG for personal finances, it is one of only two real choices you have, the other being Microsoft Money. And they (at least the last time I checked) had the same kind of deal on the online capability. Tweedle dum and tweedle dumber? Same challenge, Microsoft. Show us what costs you are trying to cover with this fee. What are you trying to hide???!!!

Other than otherwise noted above, Quicken XG does function very well. I really don't see any capabilities earth shatteringly better than previous versions, but it does work well. Owing to these absurd costs I cannot recommend this to anybody. This is by far the most contemptible attitude that I have ever seen any company show to its customers. Show Intuit just how angry they have made us. Vote with your pocketbooks in droves, folks!