Forum

• # 113002
• Tue 17 May 2016 12:56 PM

Hello,

I currently am a member of the Sage Bookkeeper club online and have a 10 user licence for the bureau of Sage Line 50. My renewal date is coming up and Sage have informed me of an increase of £761 inc VAT to keep my current level of software packages.

Sage now only do monthly subscription pricing as follows:-

Bookkeers Club £24.99+ VAT (which you have to have)

Then either £74.98 + VAT for a Sage 50 10 client licence or £72.98 + VAT for a Sage 50, 5 client licence.

So total cost for a 10 client licence would be £119.96 per month and £1,439.57 per annum.

When I initially got an email from Sage informing me of this, I clicked on the link and selected the parts of the Bookkeepers Club that i needed and it seemed that the prices were staying about the same as last year. However, when Sage called me, last week, they informed me that this was a glitch in the system and the correct price for me if I changed nothing would be an increase of £761 inc VAT on what I had paid last year. I can reduce this cost a little as I only need 5 licences this year to £1,410.77

They have also informed me that the fee for the Accountants Club is only £8 + VAT a month more for them which does not seem in proportion to the increase in fees that an Accountancy Practice would be earning. I was surprised to see that this is only £2 + VAT a month cheaper!

I have recently been training on alternative cloud based bookkeeping software anyway and am now Xero and Quickbooks online certified. I was planning to become Sage One Certified as well to try and move away from Sage 50 software due to the ever increasing Sage Bookkeeper club costs and the client licence costs as well. At the moment I am considering where my practice is going in terms of software and would appreciate anyone else's experience/views on the above. I am sure other bookkeepers are experiencing this increase as well.

Sage did this about 5-6 years ago as well when they suddenly cancelled the bookkeepers club and double the cost of it by saying bookkeepers had to become a Accountant club member instead.

I look forward to hearing your experiences.

Catherine

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• # 113003
• Tue 17 May 2016 02:40 PM

Hi Catherine,

Well what can I say? Sage up to their tricks again. I have not used Sage for years due to their underhanded tactics.

Once they have got you they make it very difficult to move to another software due to all the work involved in doing this.

However, this is my personal opinion and others may view Sage differently.

Marilyn

• A clever person solves a problem.

  A wise person avoids it.

  Albert Enstein

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• # 113015
• Fri 20 May 2016 12:50 PM

Hello Marilyn,

Thanks to replying to my post, I really appreciate it.

Lots of people have looked at this post, but no-one else has replied. It would be good to hear other people's views too.

Catherine

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• # 113016
• Fri 20 May 2016 04:20 PM

Hi Marilyn

I thoroughly agree with you about their costs being extortionate, I would not use them if my clients did not want them used.  I also think that they do not make it easy to find what the alternatives are.

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• # 113023
• Sun 22 May 2016 08:49 AM

I bought Sage Line 50 2014 version and before i'd asked the question they said you don't need to renew every year but if you didn't then you don't have support.   Ive never renewed and never needed support - other than transferring to nother computer.   

• Time can never be replaced. Spend it wisely.

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• # 113039
• Tue 24 May 2016 10:31 AM

Hi

I have just recently cancelled my Sage monthly subscription for 25 companies.  No one wanted to pay towards the huge monthly costs, so I just couldnt afford it anymore. Its like I was paying the client to use it.   Sage  havent cancelled anything yet, but I presume they will stop me using it or do they just cancel the support. Id be grateful for any response as I think I will need to use other software, but not sure how to move forward at the moment.

I still use Sage for my main clients as they are paying on site, but Sole Traders dont want to pay out.

Thanks in advance

Patrisha.

• Hi Just though Id introduce myself to this new forum What a great idea. My name is Trish and I am in West Sussex running A bookkeeping Practice as a Sole Trader Am really busy now, having started up in 2006 Bookkeeping helping out a Village Stores to start with when I was delivering early morning Newspapers then I was asked to do some bookkeeping for his brother who runs a Heavy Goods Vehicle Training Company then recommended on to someone else and it has just carried on from there, so have been very Lucky. Now have 8 clients  2 of whom I do over 20 hours a week each so I say to everyone whos looking for clients keep at it. Its not so scary once you get going All the best to you all Trish.
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• # 113054
• Wed 25 May 2016 03:53 PM

Thanks for all your replies. Has anyone else got anything to say on the matter.

I've come across free agent software and Exact which look good. Has anyone any experience of using these?

Catherine

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• # 113142
• Tue 07 Jun 2016 03:03 PM

Hello Catherine - unfortunately Sage are very good at this - they did it to me two years ago. I think if you have good broadband speed, look at a cloud based programme. Unfortunately I do not have that so have to stick with desktop systems. 

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• # 113147
• Wed 08 Jun 2016 12:31 PM

Hi

Here are my thoughts.   If the company is a reasonble size and there is lot of invoices and I mean on the purchase size.  There is no software that comes anywhere near Sage L50  on the audit trail , the speed of entry and the detailed needed for HMRC if you have a inspection.    I have several clients on Sage L50 - sage drive which means we can all work on it from anywhere.   If the internet goes down we can still all work on it.   Sage L50 has bank feeds no re entry required.

A lot of the cloud softwares are just not good enough for larger companies with a lot of invoices.   One of clients recently had a inspection  where a couple of the years where on Sage L5o and the others on cloud.   The inspector had issues with the audit trail and not been able to see which invoices had been paid by 1 payment easily.  It was a bit of a nightmare.    I would not even consider not using Sage L50 as I would lose so many of my larger clients.

That said I like xero , Sage One - kashflow and it all depends on the client who walks through the door and how the website works and looks.  If the client does not like it you are fighting a losing battle especially if they are not good at keeping their books.  They will not work with a software they don,t like.   As a company we use all the software.

My favourite cloud software at the moment is Exact because of its functionality.   It is a big learning curve and not as easy as the others above.   However I prefer its reports and detailed acitivity screens and my clients like the apps for the digital box.   To me it is more like sage L50 online and web based.

My few is Sage L50 is the best accountancy package for detailed accounts - creditors reconciliations which is very important to clients and as the best reporting structure without having to pay for add ons.     Exact allows you to set up that same very detailed chart of accounts to suit clients. I am big fan of the digital box and their activity screens I do not like to see my creditors as minus and Pluses and either do any of my clients.  I need activity screens with greater detail like sage L50 and Exact. 

However I will continue to pay for Sage L50 as I have to many customers that are larger who trust it and like it.   To give it up would be a huge loss to my business.

• Sarah Douglas C.FICB

  HouseTree Business Ltd 

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