Unless you bought QuickBooks before Monday, September 28, it is too late for a free QuickBooks 2010 (by buying QB2009). If you did buy before then, you can skip the phone calls by sending any type of exchange request and your original receipt (keep a copy), but not the software to: Intuit, Att: Order control, Box 2946, Phoenix, AZ 85026.
I began writing about getting a free QuickBooks 2010 upgrade in early August. Some at Intuit were unhappy because I said 2010 would be out within the 60-day no-questions-asked refund period (Google: QuickBooks Software License Agreement) before the official announcement. They also were unhappy that I said you could resell QB2009 after getting 2010. However, I wrote that the last three versions of QuickBooks came out between September 18 and 25. I also knew that our 2010 confidential pre-release tests were going well, so a release around then was almost a sure thing. The September 28 release date confirms this. I now also know that, as I said above, that Intuit is again upgrading without making you to return the old QuickBooks.
Unfortunately, my publicising this made it likely Intuit would no longer do the exchanges after the release date. I wrote exactly that in my QuickBooks-blog.com, to which you should definitely subscribe, at September 23. However, a call to someone at Intuit gave me a wrong answer Monday.
Blocktax.com now has QuickBooks 2010 Pro for $159.96 and Premier for $319.96. Even if I were to credit buyers with the 6% commission Intuit pays on this if you send me your invoice, it would be $150.36 and $300.75. However, Amazon has these for $149.99 and $249.99, with free shipping, so you definitely should buy from them or at equivalent prices.
If you bought 2009 after September 27, I would definitely return it. Yes, 2009 is an excellent program. Yes, we can even use 2010 with it, without upgrading your 2009 file, to save you just as much in accounting fees. That is why, after much thought, I will not insist that clients with 2009 upgrade to 2010. However, take a good look at all the QuickBooks 2010 features for you here. It was a shock to see so many important changes in a year. Integrated document management lets you quickly find important papers for you, Internal Revenue or your accountant. Be sure to click on the bottom left, “See what else is new in QuickBooks 2010,” though even that gives you a partial list. For example, the QuickBooks Data Recovery Service will fix any errors in your QuickBooks file free (normally $250 - $750), as long as you use a ProAdvisor like me.
Please contact me if still in doubt or if you have other QuickBooks questions. By the way, I cannot understand those unhappy with annual QuickBooks upgrades. We do not expect free new cars each year. Intuit has free QuickBooks upgrades for about 3.5 years. After that, QuickBooks loses functionality only for things like online banking and payroll. Meanwhile, computers practically double in speed each year. That means a three year-old computer is about 87% slower than a new one. It does not seem that way only because new programs make good use of the extra power, with many extra features, and because WE are the main limiting factor in computer speed. Computers also have long been quickly dropping in price. You now get terrific computers for about $500, with some as little as $120. Setting them up with your programs and network may cost more, this is why I have long called users of old computers, and old versions of QuickBooks, computer masochists! Sexual masochists hurt themselves far less badly, and for far less time, than computer masochists.
I am not a sadist or a masochist, so I only work with computers masochists when we can cure them with computer and QuickBooks upgrades.
