Complaints about Email Invoice with eSignature

[David10]

I am unhappy with the feature - "Email invoice with eSignature" in Lacerte. (product name is intuit QuickBooks Payments)  This product- which integrates with eSignature, does not work as well as it should. It doesn't provide a quick and reliable way to verify payment status.

Small business owners need to receive fast and accurate updates of paid invoices. I really need to know if client paid or not. This product is clunky and slow to give payment status updates. DocuSign signature status is fast , but this product - intuit QuickBooks payments lags  Here are the main issues:

1) The eSignature dashboard does not give accurate and fast update of payment status. Its states that client has payment pending, even though client never opened an email or did anything remotely related to making a payment.

2) There is no confirmation that client received invoice and no timely update when payment made. I don't see any reliable tracking method for whether client got email , opened it, etc.

3) Inconsistency. Sometimes, payment status is updated immediately through an email. Other times, it takes 2-3 days.

4) Could be redundant, but the eSignature dashboard doesn't give me a clear picture of whether client actually paid or not !

Please correct these issues. The product looks great on the sales page. But, in actuality, it doesn't work as well as its presented.

[abctax55]

@David10 

Probably all valid points, but you need to know that this Forum is mainly populated by fellow software users.  It is NOT Intuit support; any product suggestions should be directed to Customer Support, or perhaps your account representative.  No one here has any power to change the program.

[David10]

I think that Intuit would monitor this site, if they are interested in keeping clients satisfied. But, thanks, I'll post suggestion to specific customer support forum. 

[abctax55]

They sure as hell *should*, but they don't.  There are a few moderators that wander by on occasion.

And, unfortunately, submitting suggestions thru the proper channels is largely ineffective. 

But I do wish you luck.

[David10]

That's the issue with Intuit-huge company where you end up going around in circles looking for appropriate forum or support site or department.  Its not ideal. 

Also, Intuit is  great at sales part of the transaction and making product look better than it is. I've never seen a sales person tell me "Jeez-our system is slow today-we can't collect your payment."  The sales and advertising at Intuit are skilled at overselling and embellishment. After you start using the product, its just not as good as they seemed to promise. 

[glenwoodcpa]

Have you tried to view your activity on merchantcenter.intuit.com portal?  It is only a regular merchant portal, there isn't any information regarding the emails to clients, but it is more information and reporting than inside the e-signature dashboard.  Hope this helps.

[David10]

Thanks.  So, I actually decided to send the invoice directly from QuickBooks Desktop.  I have my business gmail account integrated with that.  So, I can track the sent email. Also, QBD provides me with confirmation that client read/opened email. 

Thanks for the reply anyway. Stay safe ! 

[JoanChanning]

I'm not happy with the e-signatures period.

It turns out we only get 5 free ones in total, not 5 free ones every year.

Once you start the free trial, those 5 sigs expire by 12/31 of that year.

And that if you pay for one after you've started your free trial then you've cancelled out your remaining unused free ones.

Why pay for one if you have unused free ones?
Because if you've sent out all 5 free ones, but a client doesn't use it, you can void it & it goes back into your free pile.  But in the meantime you've had to pay $2.99 for the 6th e-sig, now you've lost the right to your 5th unused free one.

None of this is told to us at the start.

This is a chintzy benefit from software that costs thousands of dollars annually.

And if they want us to help stop COVID-19 they should give us unlimted free e-sigs until the pandemic is over.

[THL]

1) They also force you into offering credit cards even if you just want to offer bank transfers as a payment option.  I was on support with QB Payments and Lacerte Technical Support and QB payments said Lacerte would have to offer the option to turn off credit cards on their end.  QB Desktop and QB Online both integrate with QB Payments as well, but they give you the option to turn off credit cards.  Many CPAs work with clients that are affluent enough to not need to put their bill on a credit card - it is just unnecessary cost for many practitioners.  This is probably a lack of understanding of their customers, lack of clear thinking, or aggressive sales tactics - if they are getting a cut.

2) I can't find a way to manually update the payment status.  I have a client that paid me with a check, and it seems it will forever say "payment pending."  Did they ever consider that someone might not pay online?  It makes it difficult for useful tracking as a result.

3) You can't resend the payment email to a client if they lose it or didn't get it.  I called support about this also.  The only way to do this is to void the entire DocuSign and start over!!  Apparently, someone on the design team thought that was a good idea.

I feel the influence of Intuit's approach to customer service is starting to strangle Lacerte.  Intuit is so large, their own employees don't know half the products they offer - just look how many versions of payroll they have as they have acquired companies over the years.

Sorry about the frustration.  I have submitted feedback to Lacerte, but it is hard to tell if it ever makes a difference.

[RangerZ]

@David10Can you please help?  What is suppose to happen to an invoice that is attached to the E-Signature request once it hits the Merchant account?  We have a merchant account setup in Desktop which we use to send invoices from QB, but not clear where or how the payment makes it into QB or Lacerte

https://proconnect.intuit.com/community/lacerte-tax-discussions/discussion/e-signatures-and-quickboo...

[David10]

Hi RangerZ:

I saw your other posting here E-Signatures and QuickBooks (Merchant Account) Integration   

I don't like the Lacerte eSignature invoice feature.  You should just use Lacerte to send the eSig request. For the invoice, email that to the client from QuickBooks Desktop. . It'll save you headaches and issues , trust me ! 🙂 

Even though it requires more work to create the invoice and separate email,  from QuickBooks Desktop, I found that I had a better handle on the billing process. 

With QBD, I  am able to  verify that the customer received the email. Plus , I can easily apply the deposit to the invoice created within QuickBooks Desktop. I'm able to track everything much more closely. Also, there's a record of the sent email in my Gmail account- since QuickBooks Desktop is connected to Gmail account.   

I hope that helps. 

[THL]

As an alternative - I will explain what we ended up doing.  I don't like using QB Desktop invoices for tax returns as we use QB for time tracking, so it creates an entry for every bit of time logged.  Yes, you can aggregate them by item code, but I still like to see the detail internally if I want to look back at the bill.  So we prefer to use Lacerte invoices for presentation purposes for tax returns.  Our work around to get payment was to create a standard payment authorization .pdf.  Then we upload that with the DocuSign as an additional document to sign with each DocuSign request.  We set up some customized fields for things like name, amount, routing number, account number, date, signature field, etc. (which the Lacerte DocuSign process allows you to save so you can use it from one client to the next).  My admin staff drag and drop the customized boxes onto the .pdf each time (takes 30-45 seconds per return).  Then we get back a signed authorization to process their payment.  We don't offer credit cards and just offer bank transfers since the cost is vastly different (flat $3 for a bank transfer).  When we get the DocuSign back with the signed authorization we then go into "Receive Payments" in QB and enter the info. under e-check and it processes and applies it against the invoice and the funds are automatically deposited.

[Denise-Alexander]

Thank you for sharing your process for the work around.

How is your adoption rate on ACH? I am just wondering how much push back I will have versus credit cards.

I just wish Lacerte could make this easier for us to only accept ACH through e-signature.

[THL]

Everyone pays by ACH or check.  I would say 70%-80% of the people that we offered ACH to said yes during this coronavirus year.  Otherwise they sent or dropped off a check.  If they picked up they just brought a check generally.  For DocuSign returns most paid by ACH.  We have never taken credit cards.  It has never been an issue.  A lot of higher dollar professional services don’t take credit cards.  It might depend on your clientele.  Our clientele is not financially strapped to NEED to use a credit card.  They would LIKE to, to get points, but if anyone asks I just explain we would have to raise rates if we accepted cards.  If they are willing to go somewhere else simply because another firm accepts credit cards, they are thinking of you as a commodity, and probably not really valuing your expertise.  I think even if you switched a client base to not accepting cards that the vast majority would stay if they value you and like you.  But you would likely want to give them several warnings in advance so if it really is a hardship that they have time to find someone else.  Also, so that their hardship doesn’t become your hardship when they don’t have the cash to pay you!  We also take a flat standard retainer upfront for every return we do.  It is pegged to be about 50% of the average tax return cost.  We don’t release returns until paid either - with an exception here or there.  The combination of these two policies has been a fantastic business decision and has resulted in virtually 100% collections and very little time wasted chasing A/R. Some other practitioners I talk to can’t imagine asking for retainers, but again, why would you want a client base that either can’t afford a retainer or trust you with it?  The client having skin in the game levels the playing field if there is a disagreement as well...you have invested time and expenses, and they have invested some cash.  I think existing practitioners could implement a retainer system slowly over a few years and communicate the plan.  Maybe $50 the first year, then $100, and so on.  Camico advises taking retainers.  You could always blame it on insurance!

[Denise-Alexander]

Thank you!

Our clientele is high end but the person I bought this practice from 7 years ago accepted credit cards and they many of them are just use to it and of course want the points!

I would say only 50% pay with credit card and only about 5% might actually have cash flow issues. I don't mind credit cards once in awhile but I just need to be more firm. 

Thanks again for your input - I am going to do it for this tax season. I still wish it could all be done with e-signature which is also going to be new for us this season. 

Changes.... ugh...

[christine2]

But this is the website Lacerte takes you to, when you click on "Feedback" from the Tax program.