Filed under: Software
Update on the QuickBooks situation via Intuit
A few minutes ago, Intuit posted an update on the QuickBooks community forum about the ongoing fiasco affecting QuickBooks 2006 and 2007 users. Although the root cause of the issue has not been identified, Intuit says that they believe they have resolved the problem and the update issue should not affect users who have not opened the program since Saturday afternoon. I would still recommend launching with caution, and after using the terminal command or plist edit detailed in our earlier post.As for users who HAVE been affected by whatever this "thing" is -- here's what Intuit Community Guru Nic is saying:
...For those of you who have been affected, we are testing out options for recovering the deleted files. Our recommendation for now is to shut off your machine and do not use it further. If you continue using your computer, you may over-write the area on the disk where the deleted data is stored, preventing any recovery efforts from being effective.
If you have been affected and have lost files, and haven't already posted your contact information in the original discussion, please email your contact information to Quickbooks_community_team@intuit.com. We'll get your contact information to the team that is working on this, so that you can be contacted for follow-up.
Intuit has also created a Knowledge Base article about this issue. We'll keep you updated as we get more information.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Bryan said 12:41PM on 12-17-2007
I gave up on Intuit a long time ago. Worst. Support. Ever.
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Mark Forman said 2:24PM on 12-17-2007
Class action material
I wrote this to Intuit:
QB update Failed
Had to revert to Time machine and blocked QB06 updates in terminal.
So far I have lost a day's worth of work had to send my bookkeeper home costing me $200 and the use of my computer.If Intuit does not make good on this issue I will take appropriate legal action.
Seriously yours,
Mark Forman
PistolPeet said 12:53PM on 12-17-2007
If people turn their PCs off to prevent data being wiped, how do they stay up to date on the progress being made to restore it? ;)
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Frank Furter said 1:06PM on 12-17-2007
As I have for years, I continue to wonder how Intuit stays in business. I don't use Quickbooks anymore, but am (unfortunately) still a Quicken for Mac user. It is, without a doubt, the absolute worst-written piece of expensive commercial software I have ever used. (By 'expensive', I'm referring to personal use).
It's sad, I think it's just because a serious player hasn't entered the market, and I guess I don't know why. iBank is unintuitive, a little rough. Quicken -could- be magnificent, but is a daily exercise in futility and frustration. After two upgrades that have offered little-to-no improvement (can you not even change the cosmetic appearance, Intuit?), I didn't bite on the latest. (Quicken 2008? 2007?).
So, everyone shut off their computers, don't touch them, and wait for Intuit to get their programmers in India to provide them with another hack. I mean fix.
Intuit. Bah.
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tangrams said 1:16PM on 12-17-2007
I can't recall the exact details of when it happened to me, but I certainly don't recall there being a question of whether I should install the update. It just told me that I was out of disk space - there was a button I pressed to get rid of that dialogue box, but it wasn't anything phrased in the form of a question. I really dislike how even now Intuit is putting across the sense that some sort of voluntary action by the user is necessary for the data loss to occur. All I did was launch Quickbooks.
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Christina Warren said 1:28PM on 12-17-2007
I completely agree -- I understand that they are in damage control mode - but really, when you're in this deep, it doesn't help to try to spin the situation to try to put any onus on the customer (and so what if the updater did ask permission, how were you supposed to know on Saturday afternoon that this was going to happen?). The fact of the matter is, in no way, shape, or form is this the user's fault.
Kelly said 1:19PM on 12-17-2007
So how do i get my desktop to work again?
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Dave Barnes said 1:26PM on 12-17-2007
I want to thank the people at TUAW for posting about the QB problem this morning.
I read the post and immediately changed LittleSnitch to DENY internet access for QB 2007.
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John Davidson said 2:03PM on 12-17-2007
Intuit makes the worst programs ever. Quickbooks is the most non-intuitive pile of crap I have ever seen. For a long long time, I thought they were owned by Microsoft.....
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Andrew said 9:53PM on 12-17-2007
I guess I'm lucky.. When I launched QB 2007 this AM, it told me an update was available. I clicked "Later". And have had no problems. I dislike the software intensely, no question.
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NutMac said 2:40PM on 12-17-2007
QA QB.
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NutMac said 2:42PM on 12-17-2007
Doh, HTML-escaped. Should read "QA does not equal to QB" -- lame comment either way. :)
eak said 2:57PM on 12-17-2007
To pick but one example from the list of major shareholders of this company, Scott D. Cook owns 24,317,244 shares of Intuit, as of 11/20/07. The stock currently trades for $29 per share, making his holdings worth about $700 million. He is currently an officer of the company.
Meanwhile, the non-English speaking tech support people in India demand that I pay them more money for "tech support" that is unable to fix this disaster, after I paid about $200 for this "upgrade" within the past six months, for a product that has cost me untold anguish and money-down-the-rathole paying various consultants since I started running my business off of it nearly ten years ago. Yet I dare not abandon the product -- it has nearly a decade's worth of data on it, and learning a new program would be a gigantic hassle for a one-person shop in which I am the "IT person."
Why is there nothing on the front page of Intuit's web site about this nightmare? Why are they not suspending their infuriating demands for MORE money from those who just bought the current version of this disastrous software? Why are they not BENDING OVER BACKWARD to help those of us who have been damaged by their negligence and greed?
The answer: they've got the money and the power and we don't. So, if there's to be a class-action suit, let's make sure that those currently losing time and money are actually compensated for their real losses, and not bought off with some chintzy discount coupon for more bad software.
Meantime, Scott et al.:
1) FIX THIS
2) NOTIFY YOUR CUSTOMERS OF THIS VERY SERIOUS PROBLEM
3) PROVIDE TECH SUPPORT THAT IS MORE THAN DEMANDS FOR MORE MONEY AND ACTUALLY HELPS YOUR CUSTOMERS
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matt said 5:37PM on 12-17-2007
My family's business got hit with the problem this morning. All desktop files are G.O.N.E.
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tangrams said 5:57PM on 12-17-2007
Yeah... QB was warned and it was evidently a relatively easy fix from the server side. If their customer service had been more responsive, they could have fixed this over the weekend and your family's business wouldn't have lost their files. Sorry if that sounds like I'm rubbing it in, my point is that Intuit had the power and the opportunity to prevent it from happening, and didn't.
matt said 6:12PM on 12-17-2007
My mom uses the computer and does all the invoicing. I moved them to mac so they wouldn't have so many problems and she is a basic computer user.
I pray the SuperDuper backup ran last night and they get their files back.
I also pray there is a class action lawsuit against Intuit. I'm not one to promote lawsuits but I have seen the frustration of my family trying to get QB running on the mac. Their customer service is lousy at best and they always pinch more money out of you for help, even when you paid for software and support.
I wonder why no one has come out with a competing product for the mac. It would seem there is a huge demand for it, especially with all the switching going on. Reviews in favor for QB mac are usually 100 negative to 1 positive.
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matt said 8:16PM on 12-17-2007
Hey. Whata ya know. My other brother just called me and the same thing happened to him. Luckily his desktop folders were aliases and I'm pretty sure he has his data.
ta* said 7:38PM on 12-17-2007
Burned! Thank goodness for Time Machine.
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Jeff Overton said 12:19AM on 12-18-2007
The knowledge base article referred to in Cristina's article advises QBP for Mac 2007 users: "You may have experienced this issue but no data loss has occurred. Files with names such as Desktop or Desktop1 may have been created in your User folder. You can delete these files."
Are they kidding?!!!! They are telling users that if they haven't already had their Desktop deleted to go ahead and do it themselves. How can they be so foolish?
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Cow said 4:48AM on 12-18-2007
My experience with Inuit has been one of the worst of any I've ever dealt with on the Mac (and PC), ever.
I've had quite a few "switcher" clients over the years who purchased QuickBooks for Mac with Inuit's promise that bringing their Windows QuickBooks files over to the Mac and vice-versa would be seamless. HA!
It never has worked properly and usually has been a nightmare where it doesn't work at all and ends up being a lengthy, hobbled process that involves calling Inuit's support and PAYING them MORE money for support on something they ALREADY promised would work out of the box before the product was even purchased.
The problem is, Inuit has a lock on the market very similar to the way Microsoft does and they know it. They could give one damn about how Mac users feel about them because they know many Mac users are literally FORCED to use QuickBooks anyway in order to maintain "compatibility" with their accountants/business etc.
Inuit has needed a class-action lawsuit against it for a very long time now. They milk consumers (PC and Mac) with anti-competitive practices.
Even on the PC, they try to milk you for everything. Want to share your excel files securely online? It's pretty easy and cheap. Want to share your QB files securely online? Be prepared to shell out money to Inuit EVERY month.
Like others have mentioned, their support is horrible (and expensive).. they milk you for everything under the sun and their products are criminally inept.
It's well beyond time to sue Inuit. I just hope this horrific incident will get some Mac users to grow a spine and get together a lawsuit.
Otherwise, Mac users... you are only going to get what you deserve from this horrible company.
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