Complaint Review: The Neat Co.

I have been a Neat user for over 10 years (don't ask me why I like to be frustrated and angry - I just hate to give up). During that period of time Neat had 2 major changes in their software. I can't exactly recall when the first major change started but it was around the time they introduced the Cloud Service and "Sync". The sync was a disaster. The problem was that if your kept some of your old files in the computer as back up, Sync would find them and they would sync the old files and destroy your new ones. That's when I stopped using their cloud service.

The second major change was when they got rid of their strange, cryptic, and confusing file extensions such as .nbak, .nwdb,. nwcab, .nrx, etc. and started using PDF. That's when they dumped their old system into a "Legacy" program (they should have called it "prehistoric trash") and went into the new system that has NO RELATIONSHIP whatsoever to their old system. I've sent dozens of e-mails, tech-support messages, and even signed up (and paid for) their special "Neat Care" that was supposed to provide one with fast responses (acually, after one month, I never received even one response from this "Neat Care" department.).

Don't ever sign up for this "Neat Care" it's just money down the drain.

Anyway, no one at Neat was ever able to tell me if I could somehow combine my old files and the new PDF files into one comprehensive and complete record that I could use in case of any future IRS audits.

I just can't get that out of them no matter how many ways I ask.

I therefore assume that this cannot be done and you will have to keep 2 sets of files. One for Neat (old) and one for Neat (new).

Heaven forbid if they should ever change to another iteration of their system.

As for the program itself, it's the only one that does offer relatively "fair" sales receipts recognition which no other company has. This is why I use it.

However the recognition software is far, far from even a "good" category. It still requires hand corrections on almost every receipt. Also it does NOT remember mistakes. I have one vendor (local store) from which we have some 200 receipts yearly. No matter how many times we've corrected the store name, Neat just keeps using "avenue" as the store name. The strange part is that it does so with even famous world-wide stores.

It also does not recognize tax categories for particular vendors no matter how many time you change them.

When I received my new scanner and downloaded the new version of NEAT with the PDF extensions, I somehow received a Canadian Version of the program. This is strange since nothing in my orders ever mentioned Canada nor were there any Canadian addresses, or even transactions. So all the Tax Categories are now based on a Canadian tax system. How will that help me?

There are many more such issues but these can be relatively easily be corrected albeit with a lot of TIME and PATIENCE.

Last but not least I can't understand why Neat eliminated the "combine" feature that enabled the user to combine a couple of receipts (as you get in restaurants) into one entry. Or even combine a two page receipt into one. Why this change?