I Despise Quickbooks

We have been using QB since 2008. We are going round and round with QB. They are forcing us to go to their online platform, yet they cannot transfer our data correctly from the desktop version to online, and cannot set up our payroll so that we can issue paychecks. My wife spent roughly 25 hours dealing with their support last week and I have another 5 hours into it over the weekend trying to edit data (not what we have in desktop, but how it was imported into online). We had to issue the guys hand produced checks without any deductions last week because QB has locked us out of using the desktop version. Also, the online version does not produce certified payroll reports like the desktop version did. Oh, they do offer the service of setting up our payroll, but they want a fee of $500 in addition to the subscription that we paid of $1755, and that does not include the monthly fee per employee for payroll. ARGHHHHHHHHHH I am looking for alternatives. We pay over $2000 per year for QB, and now that they don't seem to be able to correctly convert data for a ****-ant little company like ours, it may be worth going through a learning curve again to use software from a company that actually gives a crap about their product and service. I am looking at Patriot Accounting software. It may be a little limited on available reports that we use for costs on projects etc., but they have good reviews as far as their support goes, and it seems very affordable. They do not offer certified payroll reports, but the required data is readily accessible by the looks of it. Any other suggestions? I am sick and tired of being held hostage by QB.

We use the QB online version for everything except payroll. Wife has the app on her laptop the online version links to. For older records she has to log on to the "cloud". She gripes about it from time to time but it works. For payroll our accountant offers a payroll service we use. Our pay week is Wed - Wed so we give them the hours Tuesday night/Wed morning and the guys have money in their accounts 1-2 AM Friday morning. They offer a certified payroll option however we do not need it at this time. The payroll service also deducts insurance co-pays and retirement contributions.

CM1995 said: We use the QB online version for everything except payroll. Wife has the app on her laptop the online version links to. For older records she has to log on to the "cloud". She gripes about it from time to time but it works. For payroll our accountant offers a payroll service we use. Our pay week is Wed - Wed so we give them the hours Tuesday night/Wed morning and the guys have money in their accounts 1-2 AM Friday morning. They offer a certified payroll option however we do not need it at this time. The payroll service also deducts insurance co-pays and retirement contributions. Click to expand... Thanks CM, we may have to seperate the payroll functions from QB as well as they cannot figure out how to transfer files correctly. If we did that though an old version of desktop would work just fine for everything else - except that they are keyed to Intuit via the internet and they have locked us out of our own program.

Online QB, not my favorite, but way better than the overlay garbage that we use to track quotes and jobs etc. Modern software just stinks, it's like they just fired the old guys and started with a clean slate without understanding how anything used to work.

My mother has similar complaints with Quickbooks. She has grown to despise the software. Lately, it seems every time she uses it she has to call their support line. Data is either “corrupted“ and not accessible, or it completely disappears. If anyone can recommend another accounting software, please share.

We use quickbooks. I understand the force to the cloud, but it sure isn't handy. I would hate to lose the ability to "look back" by switching to a new software, because we have so many different customers that use us once a year, or once every 5 years. We probably average 5-15 different, possibly one time use customers per week. We have a few jobs that call for certified payroll, but its usually less than 6 a year.

Birken Vogt said: Modern software just stinks, it's like they just fired the old guys and started with a clean slate without understanding how anything used to work. Click to expand... This ^^. Cat has done the same with SIS and parts online. Used to be easy to go straight to SIS on the laptop and find whatever I needed fairly quickly. Not so after all the "upgrades". Now it is really a PITA to find anything so it's become useless to me anyway. Oxbow said: Thanks CM, we may have to seperate the payroll functions from QB as well as they cannot figure out how to transfer files correctly. If we did that though an old version of desktop would work just fine for everything else - except that they are keyed to Intuit via the internet and they have locked us out of our own program. Click to expand... Our accountant's payroll service has been very beneficial for us. I don't handle that part of the business but it averages around $35 per employee per month. The total varies but that's an average of compiling the the payroll tax computations, ACH fees to the guys bank accounts and checks they mail for retirement accounts. The have software that makes it easy for them to input but still cheap IMO.

I feel your pain. We left QB behind 5 years ago. I can still access the old desktop version for really old data. Just switched to Aspen (Charter) for shop/ dealership management. Some parts are great, others, like payroll... not so much. Glad the switch is (mostly) behind us. Hoping I don't get the habit of upgrading every 5 years.

I feel your pain. My medical office has been doing our books and payroll with QB for 30 years. Until about 10 years ago we were satisfied with them. They started getting greedy. Five years ago they turned into extortionist SOB's. They lie to you, demand we use their cloud for backup with patient accounts. I'm coming to the end at my practice and if I was starting again I would look elsewhere. They are real scoundrels putting your payroll on hold without warning and basically hold you for ransom.

QB is really starting to get on my nerves especially since we went to online its really clunky it also seems like they are always changing something so your stuck trying to find details there are things about it that are handy like access from anywhere but that's not worth the brain damage We have yet to find an alternative that the accountant can access simply so until then

I recently went through the same thing. You do NOT have to go to online. Desktop is still available

Mike L said: I recently went through the same thing. You do NOT have to go to online. Desktop is still available Click to expand... How much more does the desktop version cost vs online?

Online is 25-100 per month depending on what level you get. Desktop was $1000/yr. I dont use payroll through QB. They pulled the same stunt with me and tried to get me to convert but then nobody could get my info to transfer over. After several hours and many transfers I got someone who spoke perfect English and fixed me up within 10 minutes.

We use it for payroll, so we can't use desktop, have to be in the cloud to use QB for payroll. Maybe things will get better.

crane operator said: We use it for payroll, so we can't use desktop, have to be in the cloud to use QB for payroll. Maybe things will get better. Click to expand... We use it for payroll and the three different techs for Intuit were not able to get it (payroll) set up on the online version, so back to Desktop we went.

Mike L said: Online is 25-100 per month depending on what level you get. Desktop was $1000/yr. I dont use payroll through QB. They pulled the same stunt with me and tried to get me to convert but then nobody could get my info to transfer over. After several hours and many transfers I got someone who spoke perfect English and fixed me up within 10 minutes. Click to expand... Yeah, so this is part of my frustration. In order to renew Desktop this time was $2400 for the year for us, not including the monthly fee per employee nor the annual payroll subscription price. Furthermore, we do not own our Desktop version, i.e. we cannot use it as a standalone off line without a subscription as Intuit locks up many of the features - one of which is certified payroll.

Oxbow said: We use it for payroll and the three different techs for Intuit were not able to get it (payroll) set up on the online version, so back to Desktop we went. Click to expand... So you have to manually enter all the withholding, state and federal, the online/cloud does it automatically. Although I'm sure if the program does it wrong, the fine print says I'm liable for not double checking it.... I actually don't do the payroll, that's on the office side which is my Mrs. I just hear her complaining about it. So I'm actually not super invested in being pissed about it, because I don't do it. I'm fundamentalally lazy and avoid paperwork in any form that I can get away with.

crane operator said: So you have to manually enter all the withholding, state and federal, the online/cloud does it automatically. Although I'm sure if the program does it wrong, the fine print says I'm liable for not double checking it.... I actually don't do the payroll, that's on the office side which is my Mrs. I just hear her complaining about it. So I'm actually not super invested in being pissed about it, because I don't do it. I'm fundamentalally lazy and avoid paperwork in any form that I can get away with. Click to expand... No, we get payroll updates and all the state an federal withholding is done automatically, as well as EFTPS payments, and all filings. What we cannot do is have employees enter their own time, but I track time to specific tasks and sub-jobs, so I would need need to edit anyway.

You’re definitely not the only one fed up with QB lately. The forced Online push has been a mess for a lot of small contractors. I’ve heard decent things about Patriot for support/service, and some guys move to Sage 100 Contractor or Foundation if certified payroll/job costing is important. QB support used to be way better years ago.

RichardRapie said: You’re definitely not the only one fed up with QB lately. The forced Online push has been a mess for a lot of small contractors. I’ve heard decent things about Patriot for support/service, and some guys move to Sage 100 Contractor or Foundation if certified payroll/job costing is important. QB support used to be way better years ago. Click to expand... We looked into Patriot but at the time they had no payroll. We will take a look at Sage if they have payroll. About 30% of our work requires certified payroll.