Filed under: Customer relations | Tags: bad pr, Bob Meighan, Customer relations, Intuit, public relations, Quicken, Quicken 2006, Quicken 2009
Talented writing can take you only so far when it comes to breaking bad news to customers, and Intuit pushed that limit to the breaking point with its recent notice to customers that they can either pay for a product upgrade or lose critical features of the product they bought. Although most of my PR analyses are based on a dispassionate assessment of communications that don’t directly affect me, this one is different because I’m the one who got the message from Bob Meighan, Quicken’s VP of Customer Advocacy.
I bought Quicken 2006 because the accounting professional who does our taxes suggested it, and uses it herself. Now, about a year later, Intuit (the maker of Quicken) sends us an e-mail saying this:
As of April 30, 2009, Online Services and live technical support for Quicken 2006 will no longer be available.1 To maintain uninterrupted service, upgrade to Quicken 2009.
To entice us to upgrade, we are offered incentives, including a discount, free installation help and shipping, and bonus software that we don’t need. There’s no mention of the fact that this upgrade will cost us another $80, until we click on the link that takes us to the download site. And not only that, but if we don’t take this upgrade option, we lose the ability to download data from our bank account online (among other services), which is critical to our ability to conduct business.
The wording they use to describe this form of customer blackmail is:
To provide the highest service levels and deliver leading-edge solutions at a low cost, we are discontinuing online support for older versions.
Nice words, aren’t they? “Highest service levels” and “leading-edge solutions” and “low cost” sound lovely. But no amount of talented wording can cover the reality of what they’re saying, which is:
Either you upgrade from Quicken 2006 to our newest version of Quicken, or you lose some of the most critical functionalities of the software you bought from us. Your deadline for compliance is April 30.
I have no doubt that the Quicken end-user license agreement states very clearly that they can gut their software of critical online functionalities at their whim. But I’m also pretty sure that customers don’t expect to be treated like this. Intuit’s e-mail to customers is the worst kind of public relations – the kind that has to make a bad management decision sound like it’s in the customers’ best interests.
One of my former colleagues – a PR veteran with decades of experience – had a saying that applies to situations like this: “You can polish that turd all you want, but you ain’t foolin’ nobody: it’s still gonna smell like a turd when you’re done.”
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Hi Jamal,
This is Chelsea from Quicken, and to be totally transparent, Quicken PR. As you’ve stated above, it is difficult to break bad news, and no matter which way you say it, it’s still bad news. I apologize that you feel we didn’t communicate the news clearly enough.
I understand that from your perspective, the discontinuation of Quicken 2006 isn’t fun. The thing we didn’t put in those marketing messages is how much it costs the company to support downloading of data from financial institutions, and supporting of each version of the products. Each copy of Quicken comes with three years of this downloading and support. The product will still work, the auto-downloading will not.
The other piece of the puzzle is research and development. We’ve got to continue to innovate and create better products for folks, and improve our support experiences.
While I’m not sure what I’m saying here will make you feel any less dissatisfied with us, I hope it provides you with a little more perspective. Please feel free to email me directly if you’d like, and I can see how else I can help you. Thanks for letting us know what you think.
- Chelsea, Quicken
Comment by Chelsea March 6, 2009 @ 1:52 amJamal… I appreciate your perspective on my letter. While I believe blackmail is perhaps embellishing the message a bit, the reality is that “old” versions do require a disproportionate amount of our resources to support (as well as the resources of our financial partners who also have to support outdated online services and program code).
Since Intuit introduced Quicken 2007 in September 2006, I figure you’ll probably get 3.5 years of utility from Quicken 2006 that probably cost you around $50. That’s not a bad investment, especially for a task that is “critical to [y]our ability to conduct business.”
While every customer would love to never have to pay another dime for upgrades to Quicken, for us to stay competitive we have to discontinue support for old versions. This policy of discontinuing support for old versions (3 versions prior to current version) has been in existence for several years. I should also note that policies such as ours is common in the software industry. That is not to suggest it is either right or wrong, but rather a fairly standard industry practice.
I hope this information helps and I do believe you will find value in the upgrade to Quicken 2009. If it helps, we have a money back guarantee that says if you are dissatisfied for any reason, return it within 60 days for a full refund. Give it a try!
Bob Meighan
Comment by Bob Meighan March 6, 2009 @ 2:25 amVP, Quicken/TurboTax
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Pingback by Blog monitoring pays off for Quicken/Intuit « Jamal Kheiry’s Weblog March 6, 2009 @ 6:42 amThank you for blogging on the letter I sent you. As the primary bookkeeper of the family, I was pretty put out by the letter.
Not only did I get a message…upgrade or else within two months! But, the letter was patronizing. With only two months to decide whteher or not to make an $80 purchase – the price should have been in the letter! – and getting this right during tax time – let me get my taxes done first, or maybe give me a few months notice…not just 15 days after tax day!
And at least acknowledge that this upgrade is not as much for my benefit (current Quicken, is perhaps too good of a product?) as for keeping Quicken in business – which I am happy to do. I have Microsoft Money on my computer already – I chose to use Quicken instead…the tone and content of the letter undervalues the customer. Thank you for clarifying what’s at stake. Major decisions about software are going to have to be made under pressure…hopefully, Quicken’s loyal customer base will be more than happy to rejoin the club.
Comment by Wendy March 6, 2009 @ 8:11 amI had been a user of Quicken 2003, and got the same message back in 2006. That time, I upgraded, as I felt I didn’t have a choice. This time, Quicken is losing a customer forever. In fact, this year I bought H&R Block’s Tax Cut rather than Quicken. I don’t use any of the automated features of Quicken, I merely go to my bank site and download the transactions directly into the software. Come April 30, I will see if I can still download my transactions. If not, hello Microsoft Money, which has discontinued the practice of annual upgrades. I don’t buy any of what the PR flack or the VP of Customer Dissatisfaction are saying. It is easy, and straightforward to make software that continues to work, matter what the upgrades. This has nothing to do with that, and everything to do with maximizing revenue. If their research and development produce breakthroughs that required upgrading the software, we wouldn’t see a sunset of the software like clockwork, every three years. I don’t have pay to update Windows XP, Adobe Acrobat, Microsoft Word, or any other software that I buy. Perhaps the new Congress will take up the idea of software licensing, rather than purchase. In the meantime, goodbye Intuit, goodbye Quicken.
Comment by Brian March 6, 2009 @ 10:31 amWonderful written and very to the point. I am also a victim of Q 2009 and cannot believe what they have done to a very good -Q 2006-product
Comment by J H Barnett March 26, 2009 @ 5:01 pmSince Intuit also did this in 2006 (and must not have lost too many customers) I am not surprised they are again ‘forcing’ users to make the decision to repurchase Quicken, dump the product or use it without the financial downloads.
Quicken 2006 is a very good product, but then again so was Quicken 2003. Intuit must have found they could not improve the product enough to get legitimate re buys – so they use this tactic.
I also found the email signed by Bob Meighan disingenuous. Just as the claim of a $20 savings is disingenuous. Quicken Deluxe is priced at less than $43 at Sam’s Club (less than a $3 savings).
I think I will stay away from the scam this year and Intuit in general in the future. I hope MS Money is just as good. Does anyone know of other Quicken competitors?
Comment by J. Edward March 28, 2009 @ 1:28 pmI’ve been a loyal customer since 1997, using Quicken & Turbo Tax year after year. I typically upgrade Quicken every 2-3 years. I just received my “final notice” email today, though I don’t recall seeing previous emails (and I’m pretty careful when it comes to email messages). I have not upgraded from Quicken 2006 because my Credit Union has chosen not to be held hostage by high fees Intuit charges to provide this data in a newer download format (rather, my Credit Union uses the old-style, ‘open standard’ QIF format). I also have a Quicken-branded credit card so I need both features from 2006 — this situation is going to cause me to closely examine non-Intuit alternatives.
Take a look at http://www.mint.com (note that I have no stake or ownership in this company) Money magazine, Kiplingers, & PC Magazine have all given great reviews of this Quicken-like tool. It may not fit all of your needs, but it certainly handles downloads from your financial institutions. It also has an iPhone app available.
With respect to software life cycles, Windows 98 was available for purchase for 5 years (1998-2003), and WindowsXP (2001-2009) for purchase for 8 years. Note that this does NOT include Microsoft’s support cycle.
I have written to Intuit (and received an incident number), perhaps they will “make things right”.
p.s. Costco’s price for Quicken Deluxe is $39.99
Comment by Doug April 16, 2009 @ 10:04 pm