Defect in Reckon Accounts Personal

Do any other users of Reckon Accounts Personal Plus software have this problem? Does anyone have any suggestions about how to get it fixed?

The software copies existing transactions to add erroneous transactions to the scheduled transactions list. The transactions that Reckon adds cannot be deleted except by running a procedure that Reckon says should not be used. I avoid using the procedure but when I used it the last time it deleted 3559 erroneous transactions. These would have been added over a few weeks, so not a long time. To enter valid scheduled transactions I need to scroll through these spurious transactions until I reach my valid ones. I have rung Reckon and posted the problem on customerservice@reckon.com, which is the only way to report problems. I have found reports of this problem as early as March 2015.

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Never had this issue and it sounds like you need to validate your data file as there appears to be some kind of corruption present.

A corrupt data file is an obvious source of problem, but it seems Reckon was not forthcoming with a solution, or perhaps Reckon was, validating the file was ‘the solution’, and @rutho is really interested in how prevalent the problem might be?

@rutho, could you please clarify if Reckon helped, or your issue is outstanding, and how satisfied you are with Reckon support?

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Hello, Thank you for following up. To clarify the problem:

  1. The transactions the Reckon software copies to create these spurious transactions may be ones that I am no longer using. For instance it has created 33 entries of a transaction I last used in August 2019. When I first experienced this problem I found the original transactions and modified then saved them. Obviously this did not fix the problem.
  2. The procedure I can run to remove the spurious transactions is
    File\File operations\Validate against my file PERSONAL.QFD in my folder Quicken2020. This validates the data BUT the problem quickly returns. Previously (that is before I reported my instance of the problem) Reckon recommended AGAINST using Validate Data to fix this problem. So, I have and am Validating my data file but as infrequently as I can. This means that I can only use Scheduled Transactions straight after running the Validate Data procedure which makes Scheduled Transactions, which I used to use daily, useless and greatly reduces the value to me of this Reckon product.
  3. Since 2015 (which is as far back as I have found this problem, NOT necessarily when it was first reported) several people have separately reported this problem. So I am not the only person experiencing this problem.
  4. I have tried several ways of contacting Reckon. None has elicited a reply, let alone a fix. I have twice reported the problem on https://community.reckon.com/reckon/, the first time on 24 July 2020, the second time yesterday. No acknowledgement, reply or response to either. I have twice tried reporting the problem by telephone with no success (I am told that problems can only be reported online - which has no effect, not by phone) and no follow up by Reckon.
    So, in Summary, the problem is definitely still outstanding, Reckon has provided ZERO help, I want Reckon to FIX the defect and I am totally dissatisfied.
    Finally, I spent my whole career in IT, including as a programmer, systems developer, system and user testing, in quality assurance and project management so believe I have some understanding of system defects.
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Thanks so much for adding that detail. Other Reckon users finding this topic will be more likely to understand the question, and perhaps offer additional advice. You seem to have been ‘around the block’ with realistic expectations; sometimes switching at whatever cost is a better way ahead then trying to repeatedly deal with something the developers are not interested in finding and correcting.

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Another option (although quite radical) would be to start new data file afresh from a particular date whilst retaining the corrupt ones. As a result a clean slate would ease some of the concerns.

I have waited a few days before commenting in the hope that Reckon would respond. Not so.
Thank you TheBBG for your last reply which matches my thoughts. However, thus far I have not found a suitable alternative software so am now asking for suggestions. Has anyone found a reliable replacement for Reckon software?
My other thought is that, of ALL the queries I have seen since joining this group, the ONLY offers for ways to address the problems have come from people who make their livelihood from such support, hence their offers require the user to pay for their help. Reckon has not once shown any interest in fixing the defects in its software. I do not see a long term life for Reckon’s software which is another reason for all to look for viable alternatives.

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I am a Quicken (US model) captive but am always on the outlook for something more modern, more reliable, with a support organisation that knows how to help or report problems that get fixed.

My encounters with Quicken support have ranged from 0/10 to 8/10, with the 8/10 for effort, professionalism and empathy, not that the problem (that I eventually discovered is with a bank’s incompetently implemented and very zealous security system; Quicken no longer has a partnering relationship so it is on me to do the work between them) got resolved. While Intuit was the owner a frustrating phone call could fix it until next time; now there is no ‘fix’ except an open ticket in both companies, ongoing.

Back to the topic, there is an online ‘product’ called Personal Capital that always pops up as one of if not the best Quicken alternative. I tried it and setup worked really well but I deleted my account since it did not tick my personal boxes. To its credit, Personal Capital, unlike Quicken (US), appears to recognise global financial institutions including each I checked for in Australia although I did not try to add them to my account for the test drive. Thus my experience was US-centric.

Personal Capital ‘tools’ as they call them are free but the company is in the business of selling portfoilio management services.

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Thank you once again for your responsiveness. We have looked at this product but we would prefer software that runs on our laptops. So we will have to keep looking; and hoping others also have suggested alternatives.

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