As we approach tax time, many consumers are in the market for new tax prep software and may at the same time upgrade their financial management program such as Quicken. The bad news is that the combination deals of past years where one could get Quicken Basic free after rebate when purchasing TurboTax are all but gone. The replacement offer is less generous than it appears to be because of details in the fine print, and a change of corporate philosophy.
This year, Intuit, the maker of both TurboTax and Quicken, is commonly offering “Quicken Starter Edition” free after rebate when you buy TurboTax. If you think they merely changed the name from “Quicken Basic” to “Quicken Starter Edition”, think again. This free Quicken version is unlike any other Quicken.
MOUSE PRINT*:
Only on the back of the box are potential customers warned, “Starter Edition is for New Quicken users. Does not import existing Quicken data.1 1 … Existing Quicken users should not purchase Starter Edition 2008.”
Huh? Intuit has gotten smart (to our detriment), and has discontinued “Quicken Basic,” the product previously offered free that many of us used for upgrading our older Quicken versions. Its replacement cannot import data from other Quicken editions, so for anyone with existing records to preserve, this version is useless.
As a result, current customers must now buy Quicken Deluxe, retailing for $59.99, if they want or need to upgrade. Smart business decision (probably) for Intuit, but expensive policy change for customers.
You might ask, why bother upgrading — just keep using your old Quicken? That would be great but for an even nastier bit of mouse print that will be discussed here next week.
NOTE: Some sellers are offering very limited time deals on Quicken Deluxe free after rebate when TurboTax Deluxe is purchased… so grab them when you see them. Until January 26, for example, Staples is offering TurboTax Deluxe w/State 2007 for $39.99 and Quicken Deluxe is free after two $30 rebates. In-store, save an additional 12% off the top with this coupon.
I’ve been using Quicken for many years and I must say it is not worth the money to upgrade every year. All you get is a slightly different look! I just upgraded my Quicken 2004 with 2008 and I was quite disappointed with the “upgrades”, next time I’ll wait another couple of years.
I went for a job interview there years ago (since their headquarters is just up the road from me) and found their management and policies to be a bit shady. It seemed that they hired programmers (for TurboTax) for tax season then let them go. They certainly didn’t gain any loyalty among employees.
I’ve never been totally impressed with their products, but I suppose they serve a need in the industry.
Now seeing this new policy reminds me of the “bad old days” of when they didn’t treat workers well, and it seems they’re now doing it to their loyal customers.
It’s even worse for Mac users. The updated/upgraded version of Quicken for Macs, Starter/Deluxe/Premium, won’t even be released until the “fall of 2008”!
I, for one, hope that some other company steps up to replace Quicken!
I use Turbotax and in the past, you got an upgrade to the most recent version of Quicken for free if you applied for the rebate with Turbotax. While I agree that the “upgrade” haven’t been particularly useful I usually installed the latest version for forward compatibility. Imagine my surprise when I did the same thing this year, Quicken Starter Edition 2008 uninstalled 2007 Basic and then would not import my historical data.
Unbelievable.
Has Intuit developed a new policy to annoy what used to be a loyal customer?
Apparently. The “starter” edition was $29.99 with a $29.99 rebate. The full version is only $39.99 at Amazon – apparently my future business is not worth $10 to Intuit.
I too, got suckered by the “starter” edition. I even bought the Turbo-Tax Deluxe so that I could get Quicken. It erased my regular Quicken and left me with GARBAGE. I was able to
delete the starter program (with great difficulty) and got back my old Quicken. I am happy that I had a backup on an external hard drive. Since I am getting the $30. rebate, I really didn’t lose anything but respect for Intuit. Maybe I’ll try the H&R Block program next year.
I to just got suckered with the “starter” edition. I could not make it get past adding features. afeter several hours am now trying to go back to my older version.
It looks like Quicken has also changed packaging, probably to avoid potential lawsuits. My Starter Edition box does not include the line you picture above (“Imports your existing Quicken data”) at all. Further, in the tiny mouse print on the side of the box it says “Quicken Starter Editoin 2009 imports data from Quicken 2008 only.” Since I currently use Quicken 2008 — albeit the Deluxe version — I thought this would import my data. I wish I could figure out a way to make them do what the box says without having to pay them more.
I recently upgraded to vista, and needed to reintall Quicken 2006, but can’t find my disc. So I went to Besy Buy, and grabbed the starter edition. When I got up to the check-out I finally saw the fine print on the side, that Quicken 2009 will only import from Quicken 2008. So I figured I would have to step up to deluxe, but when I check the other versions, ALL OF THEM SAID THE SAME THING. It appears that intuit doesn’t want my business anymore for a glorified checkbook register. If I’m going to lose ALL of my data, why would I want to be forced to upgrade EVERY YEAR just to keep from losing my transaction history. If I have to start over, then I’ll just use an open source alternative. I’ve already tried several that I had installed in Ubuntu, which is also FREE.