Dear Quicken Customer: Intuit is proud to announce the release of Quicken 2009 Spring Edition. In accordance with our new sunset policy, Quicken 2009 Winter Edition users have one week to upgrade before their bank accounts are frozen. Just another way of showing how much we at Intuit value your business and our firm belief that we have you over a barrel. -- Regards, Quicken Customer Care.
OK, the above is not precisely what the letter that Quicken 2001 and Quicken 2002 customers started receiving last week says. I think it captures the spirit, though. What the letter does say is that, under Intuit's ever-changing sunset policy, users of these two products have until April 19th to upgrade to Quicken 2005 if they wish to continue on-line banking. Thus features that were essential to many customers choosing to buy Quicken in the first place -- such as downloading account data from their financial institutions, on-line bill pay, and getting stock quotes -- are essentially being turned off for users of the 2001 and 2002 versions.
"They're doing it again," wrote one angry reader. "I just received a letter from Intuit advising that my Quicken 2002 will no longer work with any on-line features, including on-line banking. I've seen Quicken 2005 on some client systems. I hate it. It's replete with advertising and sales promos, and much of the old control-key functionality has gone away, too. I can't help but feel they really have us by the proverbial short hairs, because any realistic alternatives are more trouble than they are worth."
As we know, some of these customers were already feeling squeezed by Intuit's decision to drop QIF-file import capability for Quicken 2005 (see Intuit Pits Its Customers Against Its Partners). "I purchased Quicken because it was required at the time for on-line banking at my S&L," wrote one reader. "The S&L refused to pay the extortion Intuit wants for using its new format, so they told me not to upgrade to Quicken 2005. But now Intuit says there's no more support if I don't upgrade. Gee, what's wrong with this picture?"
Even readers who aren't really impacted reacted to the letter with some strong language. "I don't actually use the on-line services via Quicken anymore, or I'd be calling my lawyer," wrote another reader. "The idea they can arbitrarily choose to just cut people off this way is offensive. Intuit, I've got two words for you: grand larceny."
Apparently, few are buying Intuit's standard explanation for its sunset policies. "Retirement of online services for older Quicken versions lets us focus our resources on supporting our more current products, which are used by the majority of Quicken customers," is the way Quicken Customer Care letter puts it. Of course, the elimination of critical features in older versions virtually guarantees that the majority of Quicken customers must use more current products, but I guess that's just another way of saying what Intuit means.
Although Intuit has been doing its sunset thing with QuickBooks for a number of years, there seem to be some difference with what it's doing now with Quicken. The payroll and invoicing features in QuickBooks were converted to paid on-line services very gradually, and those were of critical importance to a limited minority of customers. Otherwise, users of sunsetted versions of QuickBooks mostly just have to learn how to get along without Intuit's less-than-stellar support.
In contrast, the sunsetting of Quicken has come on fast and seems to be accelerating. When Quicken 2001 and 2002 were the current versions, there was no hint to customers that critical features of the program could be turned off in less than four years. And it's interesting to note that Intuit does not say specifically when Quicken 2003, 2004 or 2005 will in turn be sunsetted.
And there's reason to wonder. Figuring from when each product was released until its official sunset, Quicken 98 users got to use their product more than six years. Quicken 99 got five-plus years, Quicken 2000 four years and eight months, Quicken 2001 four years and seven months, and Quicken 2002 three years and seven months.
Do you see a pattern there? Perhaps the only question is whether my prognostication for 2009 is overestimating how long it will take Intuit to get to mandatory quarterly upgrades. If Intuit's customers, and the customers' banks, continue to act like Intuit does indeed have them over a barrel, it could be much sooner than that. After all, as I'm sure has occurred to the folks at Intuit, real sunsets happen once a day.
Read and post comments here, or write me directly at Foster@gripe2ed.com.
1:33:56 AM 
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