John Wilson

I have been using QuickBooks Online QBO for two years. I have persevered but the effort and time consumed in trying to do things is just unbearable. If you are looking for a simple to use, intuitive accounting software package, don't choose QBO. If you want something that is difficult, non-intuitive, will consume weeks of your time, with dreadful help functionality and nonexistent customer support, QBO is for you. Two simple problems today, neither of which could be resolved. Firstly, i edited the description on an invoice that had already been paid. That change seemed to result in the revenue disappearing so i thought i would undo the change. There is no obvious way of undoing a change, so I went to help and used "assistant". All the assistant could do was tell me I hadn't signed up for payroll. I then tried "search" (in help) and it gave completely irrelevant information. The second problem, which has occurred before, is that some transactions using paypal aren't picked up. I have reported this before and basically been told I can't be right.

DP Marketing have not delivered for us and while that is disappointing what really annoys me is that I still have to pay a 3 month notice period. My recommendation is: give notice as soon as you sign with them and then keep giving it so you have, in effect a monthly rolling contract. In this way to can stop the contract if they don’t deliver.

Our business is a consultancy, we have a small number of clients who we work with for multiple years. With the nature of our business in mind, DPOM agreed that they key aim for us should be to improve our google search ranking. Unfortunately, our account manager wasn’t an SEO specialist which wasn’t a good start. Then we were told that for Google we needed to verify our address (video of our offices, workstations, branding) as a place of business. But our address is that of our accountant, so our branding isn’t visible and we don’t use their offices - we use our clients offices. DPOM, produced a few blogs for us, which weee ok, but I’m not sure the blog part of our site is set up properly.

Despite these setbacks, I persevered, for 9 months but finally gave notice when it was clear that DOOM were having no noticeable impact on our rankings. Having failed us, it’s galling to have to pay for another 3 months of failure, also sad that no one from DPOM has contacted us to ask why we are leaving.

Dreadful. I ordered an item with Royal Mail Tracked 24. Second day and I still don’t have it. Worst thing is that Royal Mail gave an estimate window for delivery so I stayed in and it never arrived. The tracking just says it has been received at Jubilee Mail Centre a day ago and is out for delivery but nothing else. No real time tracking. Basically, Royal Mail are a bunch of lazy liars. To any company thinking of using Royal Mail - DON’T. Just look at trust pilot reviews to learn everything you need to know about Royal Mail - useless.

We have just bought a new EX30 and the process has been awful if I compare it to buying a Tesla. The biggest problem is the dealer (Volvo Thames Ditton) who are completely unresponsive. Email don’t seem to get a response. The other issue is the number of forms to sign; five long documents to be read through and signed. With Tesla we paid £100 deposit, signed one document and collected the car. Volvo’s online system is a joke; if you go onto the “phone, email or chat” help there isn’t an email and chat closes at 8pm. I can only imagine the car systems will be prehistoric. So, my recommendation is “don’t buy a Volvo especially from Thames Ditton

Awful. This app is used by my employer to undertake a verification process. What an awful app. It is virtually unusable and in the end I gave up. I was using an iPhone 16 and as an example of how bad the app is, when I came to take a photo of my driving licence the photo button was so far down the screen that the image completely disappeared. Unfortunately this was and isolated case of the dreadful user interface and there are simply too many to list. The net result of my attempt to use the app was that I abandoned. Awful, useless

Hopeless. We had an Amazon delivery using Royal Mail. They came when we were out (not their fault) but then came back the next day at 5:58am and must have waited for a few seconds. They are now holding our parcel for pickup but haven't told us where to pickup! Why does Amazon use such a company with such a poor service attitude, it just reflects badly on Amazon.

It’s a real shame that legalesign make it so hard to login. The product has the potential to be really good except it fails at the first hurdle. I travel a lot and need to sign in from lots of different locations. When I try to do this the I get a message “Unable to login because of security reasons” and an email is sent to my email address. Unfortunately, the link in the email to approve the login doesn’t work or is very slow to work. Every other website would either use 2FA or allow the user to decide to opt out and take the risk. Legalesign just block the legitimate user from using their product - crazy. Unfortunately, this one error by the developers renders the product useless for anyone wanting to access the product at any location or computer other than the one where they originally signed up.

How bad can the technology of a company be. If this is a question you have ever asked yourself, just go to BA.com. The company is truly awful. I am an executive club member and wanted to check a flight, I signed in and was confronted by this
“ Verify Your Identity
Check your preferred one-time password application for a code.”

I don’t have a preferred application and BA certainly isn’t on any of my Authenticator apps. Well done BA, you are not letting me have access to my account.

I decided to use my BA app on my phone and got the following message “Sorry, we can’t currently show all of your bookings. We’re trying to fix this …..” Bla, bla, bla.

How this airline can carry the word ‘British’ in its name is shocking.

Coolrunnings provide airport transfers to lots of ski resorts and are brilliant. The are very reasonably priced, very efficient (always respond quickly to emails), have a good website and have good and polite drivers. You simply cannot go wrong with this company. I use them for all my transfers and friends are now using them with great success.

I have purchased several Shelly devices. All were delivered quickly. I unboxed the H&T gen 3 device and read the installation guide. I also installed the mobile app. Could I connect the device - NO. Was the Shelly website any help - NO. Was customer service any help - NO. was YOUTUBE or any other social network any help - NO. The simple problem with Shelly devices and the Shelly app is that they are way too complicated. In this day and age, it is not unreasonable to expect devices and apps to seamlessly connect but don’t expect this with Shelly devices. I couldn’t setup the app and device, my tech savvy kids finally managed it after. In all honesty, buy other products that are user friendly.

I have had a pretty good service from onward travel solutions. The website is easy to use and they respond quickly to requests to change information. It would be nice if they offered a loyalty scheme (I would use them more), rather than just a discount for booking on-line.

Informdiretc offer a great product. I have a small company and was fed up paying my accountants exorbitant amounts for filing basic information with companies house, or creating a new company, or changing share classifications, etc. Everything an accounting firm charges you huge amounts for, informdirect does for a very modest fee. In fact, I discovered my accounting firm used informdirect themselves and just charged me a huge markup!

I use access group for my company, which is a small financial services firm. The product sounds great but the reality couldn't be different. We want to use the product for training/continuing professional development but it is impossible! It's is a highly complicated product to navigate, we haven't been able to get it to work thus far. To be perfectly honest, I wouldn't recommend anyone buy this product, there are far better alternatives

What a dreadfull company. I wanted to transfer a domain to godaddy (where I already have many domains). The transfer was from 123reg. I followed al the instructions in the on-line guide (I unlocked my domain, I go the authorisation code, and a validated my contact details). The go daddy transfer page kept saying the domain was locked. So, I used their chat facility, first the automated then a real person. I say a real person, I got Himangshu who seemed as far from a human as you could get. I explained the situation, I sent screen shots from 123reg clearly showing the domain was unlocked and screen shots from Godaddy saying the domain was not unlocked. Poor Himangshu just couldn't understand. Here is the conversation, have a read, its good for a laugh!


Hi, this is our virtual assistant!
Tell us how we can help.
You at 22:54, Oct 2:
what is the email I can use to send a question to the help centre
AI Assistant at 22:54, Oct 2:
Unfortunately, GoDaddy doesn’t provide direct email support. Would you like me to help with your question here, or shall I transfer you to a Guide for further assistance?
You at 22:55, Oct 2:
transfer me to a guide
AI Assistant at 22:55, Oct 2:
I'll connect you with a Guide who can assist you further. Please hold on a moment.
Hi there! Thank you for contacting us-What brings you in today?
You at 22:57, Oct 2:
I am trying to transfer a domain to go daddy. I have the authorisation code from my existing registrar (123 Reg) and the domain is unlocked, but godaddy keeps telling me its locked!!
Himangshu at 22:58, Oct 2:
Okay let me check it from my end please allow me a moment to check.
You at 22:59, Oct 2:
--screen shot fro 123reg--
point 1 says it is unlocked
--screen shot from godaddy--
godaddy says it is locked! Godaddy is WRONG
Himangshu at 23:01, Oct 2:
May I know you are trying to transfer the domain within godaddy?
You at 23:02, Oct 2:
i don't understand your question. I am trying to transfer the name from my current registrar (123Reg) to Godaddy
Himangshu at 23:03, Oct 2:
Yes,
You at 23:03, Oct 2:
"yes" what?
Himangshu at 23:06, Oct 2:
--link to transfer-my-domain-to-godaddy-1592--

Please refer to this link once let me know once if you face any issue.
You at 23:09, Oct 2:
I have been through this guide. I have already sent you a screen shot from my registrar which states clearly that the domain is unlocked, I have the authorisation code, I have verified the contact info on my domain name. What more can I do, can you provide any help?
Himangshu at 23:10, Oct 2:
I would like to inform you that if the domain you are trying to transfer from one Godaddy to another Godaddy account you don't need to enter the authorization. As you will receive a code on your email and from their you would be able to change it.
You at 23:11, Oct 2:
Its not a godaddy domain its with 123reg. please can you pass me to another guide
Himangshu at 23:12, Oct 2:
I am really sorry let me help you with it. Thank you for confirming and let me help you with it as quickly as possible.
Allow me just 2 minutes. Please stay connected.
Himangshu at 23:18, Oct 2:
May I know when you have transfer the domain?
As I was unable to see the domain on you domain product page.
You at 23:19, Oct 2:
This is ridiculous. I HAVE NOT TRANSFERRED THE DOMAIN. I want to transfer the domain. How do I make a complaint about dreadful customer service, have you not read anything I have written?
please pass me to your supervisor
You at 23:29, Oct 2:
Please transfer me to your supervisor
Himangshu, I have asked you to transfer me to your supervisor, why have you not done this?
Assistant at 23:32, Oct 2:
Looks like you may have stepped away. No problem, we'll be here to help when you respond.
You at 23:32, Oct 2:
Look at the messages, I have been responding to you, I have not stepped awayI have been typing

Delivery on time and courier very helpfull

This company is a complete joke. I check on my portfolio very infrequently and today was one of those infrequent days. I logged on and the website said "There are no holdings for the current user". This is patently wrong unless they have stolen my holdings! So, I will call them tomorrow, go through a painful telephone call all so that they can sort out their mess. Just don't use these people, they are incompetent!

I have been trying to move my SIPP into drawdown. It isn't entirely straightforward but HL has such antiquated processes it is incredibly slow. Firstly, HL doesn't have a full suite of forms that can be completed on-line which means that some forms need to be downloaded, printed, filled out and returned by post. Very 20th century! HL uses a messaging system on its platform that doesn't allow attachments. In leau of this, they send you a link to Hooyu, a seperate sytem that can be used to get attachements to them. Unfortunately, this sytem is as bad as HL's own system. It requires a seperate sign on, doesn't clearly state what files are to be attached, doesn't alert to problems. Again, very 20th century. Unfortunately, HL is very slow to respond on the platform messaging system. They say 5 to 10 working days to respond, so a simple error or question takes weeks to resolve, particularly if their response isn't clear. Imagine having a conversation with someone who takes 10 days to respond! Carrier pigeons would be quicker. They then obfuscate, if legislation is changing, which has happened with pensions, they don't tell you what you could do but only tell you what you can do today. While that might be understandable, they are often weeks late with implementing changes in legislation. To top it all, their fees are just about the highest in the market. So, my recommendation is; if you have a small pot of money, don't know a lot about finance, only want vanilla products, are happy with things taking months and are willing to pay high fees, HL is for you. Otherwise, go elsewhere.

Dreadful service. I pay £85/month for 250 Mbps and we sometimes get 6 and sometimes a maximum of 90! Will virgin fix it - no of course they won't. One possible problem is their engineer put the cable under our drive and we also have coils and coils of cable (probably about 100m) which can't help the signal. Will Virgin look at it - no of course they won't.

I just did a test and got upload speed of 0.08Mbps - dreadful.

I also used the test facility on Virgin's website, which includes a home connection/kit test and this is what I got "Sorry, we can't run a test on your services right now". Of course Virgin media can't run a test the connection is too bad!

The company is a joke, the service is appalling.
So, if you want to pay a lot of money for a poor service Virgin is for you!

Stay well clear of Aviva Health Insurance. The website, myaviva.co.uk, is dreadful, its extremely hard to start a claim, it can take days to get a referral number, they never bother to contact you by phone and rarely seem to update information on myaviva. Basically it is quicker and cheaper to go through the NHS, which may well be what Aviva wants. As an example of how bad the company is: I had a referral letter from a GP, I would like to have uploaded the referral letter but the web site doesn't offer this facility. Instead, you have to explain everything that is in the referral letter plus additional information that may be irrelevant. Sadly, I left Bupa, where my experience was infinitely better!

I have found quickbooks online to be ok however I have had two problems recently and quickbooks have been dreadful. The first is that after previously being connected to HMRC for VAT, the connection has now failed. HMRC say everything is OK at their end and quick books cannot give any answers whatsoever. I have asked the Quickbooks community and every time I try and post a question I am told "authentication has failed". My accountants solution is to move to Xero, and while I am reluctant to do this it may be the only viable solution. Why on earth can't quickbooks have good help pages, a community that is accessible and able to help and more information from the software as to what the actual problem is. Within the software, the message I get is:
-----------
We can't connect to HMRC
This could be because you recently:
signed up for a Making Tax Digital account with HMRC
submitted a VAT return to HMRC
If so, hold tight. HMRC should restore the connection within 72 hours.
Has it been longer than 72 hours? Then contact HMRC.
-----------

The message isn't helpful. I need to know why quickbooks can't connect.

So, Quickbooks is OK when it works but if it doesn't don't expect any help whatsoever!


LATE ADDITION
I FINALLY CONTACTED THE HELPLINE AND DID GET THE PROBLEM RESOLVED. WHILE THIS IS GOOD IT IS FRUSTRATING THAT THE HELP INFORMATION ON QBO ISN'T AS COMPLETE AS IT SHOULD BE. ANYWAY, I CAN CARRY ON USING QBO RATHER THAN TRIGGER THE NUCLEAR OPTION OF MOVING TO XERO! I HAVE INCREASED MY RATING FROM 1 START TO 3 STAR