Whirlpool

Hi,

Looking at some accounting software - has anyone used 2clix before? Any thoughts?

Also looking at Sap BusinessOne and Arrow.

Its a medium size implementation - about 20-25 users.

Anyone have any thoughts on this software as your opinion would be most appreciated. Thanks

Bump: so people who work sane hours (such as 9-5) can see (rather then my haphazard all over the place hours :) )

Im sorry that this is probably off topic but what does 2clix do? I have heard of it as an application that a business unit where i used to work had it running but i never knew what it actually did.

2clix is basically an accounting application which does thinks like General Ledger, Point of Sale, Accounting, Payroll, Job Costing, etc. It also has some CRM and other functions included. You could say its a suped up MYOB with way more functions and greater capacity to expand.

Ah cool. I always wondered what it was. Because we used to get calls about it sometimes but it wasn't a supported system by our group so we never touched it.

We use it. If you are thinking of purchasing, I would be happy to give you an account of our experiences with both the software and the company behind it.

I know this is an older thread, but if I can help this person from making a HUGE mistake then...

As a user of 2Clix for over 2 years, and the primary IT support person for my company - I would advise you to AVOID this program at all costs. I won't go into all of the details here and now as there are legal issues becoming involved, but should you wish to know more (privately) then please let me know and I can get you in contact with our company accountants which will explain a lot more about the problems than I can.

Hi All,

We installed 2clix and ended up throwing it out two weeks after going live. This company has many problems and I would strongly recommend that any potential users look else where. Do as many checks as you can on their back ground and be ware. Not prepared to comment further online, happy to off line.

I'm the IT operations manager for a small firm and while not quite at the stage that I want to throw 2Clix out but ......there are those days that I could do without the stress
There are a few issues that I've been trying to get resolution for a few weeks now but i've had no luck.....I live in hope!!!

Greetings,

I'm the new I.T & Support Officer for 2Clix Australia Pty Ltd. If you have any issues or queeries please feel free to contact me and I will endeavour to get back to you as soon as possible. If you are a 2Clix user and have a support issue that needs resolution please call our office on 07 55758 588 and ask for support. Else you can PM or E-mail me.

Hope I can help in any way possible.

Regards,

Simon

I have been using 2Clix for nine months and as with any implementation there is headaches but I cannot say they were attributed to the software more staff acceptance at change.
We have had good support and always resolved our issues sometimes not as quick as I would like but then the issues were not theirs they were ours.

Juve, Not sure what industry you are in but it makes a big difference when you begin the review process as I am sure you'll find out soon enough. Some packages do some things better than others. In a nutshell they all have to be measured on their own strenghts and weaknesses and you just have to find the one that suits your industry type best. We are a medium sized manufacturer in the food industry and have been using 2Clix since late 2005. When you establish your shortlist, get references and speak to the people that are using the system on a daily basis and ask them how they feel about their chosen system, what they would change, how good is the support. My advice to you is whatever your choice make sure the package is supported locally.

Hi
We've been looking for an ERP software for nearly a year. We just heard 2clix last week. They are going to come and show us next week. But from this forum, I find most of the people don't recommand it. What do you think? We are a medium size clothing importing and wholesale company. 30 users, statewide.
thanks

If you deal in Foreign Currency at all, I would avoid it. It was one of the BIG issues we faced in that we dealt with both import and export clients using at least 6 different currencies and the conversions were never accurate and many times worked in the complete opposite way to how they were supposed to.
And don't get me started on the inventory and manufacturing system - what a joke.

Sharakhan,

It would be interesting to know what version you were working on as there has been many upgrades since original versions.

Also if the software has become such a problem for you, why are you not contacting me for support issues? It seems from what I can see that you are very happy to sit here and anonymously slander our product but are unwilling to ask for or accept help to resolve any issues that you may have.

What I also find interesting is that out of our entire client base you are the only one that seems to have a problem with the Inventory & Manufacturing section of the software, without intending to sound rude. Could it be that you are using the software wrong or possibly just a mismatch between the way your procedures work and the way the software works. I have contacted our entire client base asking them if they have any issues that need resolution and have not come across any complaints about the sections you are openly slandering.

Again I re-iterate my previous post, If you are having any issues that you need resolved or questions you need answered please do not hesitate to contact 2Clix Support. Either through whim on here, through e-mail to support@2clix.com.au or by phone (07) 55758 588

Regards,

2Clix-Support

I've just started reading these Threads and would like to recommend that if you are looking at 2clix make sure that you go into a great deal of detail in the product demo. Have them prove that it does everything they say it does. I know of two organisations that have purchased this product and thrown it out. There are too many negative comments about this product for you to ignore.

I think you might be better off looking at other solutions.

Ah, now we're starting to see the common language of the 2Clix support.

This people, is a very typical response the whole "maybe you are using it wrong" or more often "perhaps you need some more training" was a constant response to tech support queries.

The other response to note is the "No one else has any complaints about that" or "no-one else is having that problem" was also a very common.

And the 3rd notable is the whole "what version are you on" as yes I understand there were many upgrades along the way and we stuck with them and installed them as we went over the period we had the software, however when calling tech support was often told, well that must be fixed in our version because it's not happening here. Ask "so can we upgrade to that version": response: "no it won't be available for 2 to 3 weeks" (which usually meant 4-6 weeks from experience).

The software became such a problem that we threw it out recently in favour of another SQL based system. We stuck with it for over 2 years but in the end the many hundreds of lost hours of work and high stess levels was not worth it.

I am not attempting to slander this software or the company, merely relaying my companies experience with the product to possibly better assist others in evaluating their own choice of package.

thanks, sharakhan
Can you tell me which software did you jump to recently? Also what do you think of MYSQL compare to MSSQL? Apart from the comments you made, is the accounts part in 2Clix good? (Compare to MYOB and ACCPAC) Can I ask what kind of business are you in?
thanks so much
Jane

Jane
I had spent many hours looking for an ERP software system before settling on 2 clix. We use foreign currency and have not had any problems. our problems have pretty well all been due to staff acceptance of the system. Been using now for nearly ten months. Set up is a pain but will be for any system of this size
There is a big difference between mysql and sql especially from a management and maintenance viewpoint. Mysql needs less IT knoweldge

All software has negatives but from my research 2 clix was the best value for money. If I was buying again I would recommend 2Clix

Some of 2Clix systems are well in front of any systems I evaluated and we looked at plenty.
I only came in here by accident as I am now researching VOIP phone systems (my next project )
have a look at 2Clix and make your own mind up

Best finding yourself an "independent" consultant to do the leg work. Could be money well spent. All decent sized implementations involve risk. Its a case of minimizing them. I was formerly with a US based ERP vendor, for what its worth.

Hi everyone,

Wow - didn't expect this old thread to come up with so much passion 7 months on.

In the end we evaluated 2clix, but as a manufacturing based business with as many as 10 make to order jobs, and multiple sites, we didn't feel 2clix was up there.

To provide some feedback back to the forum, here is my brief evaluation from demos and whom we ended up going with.

2clix - Manufacturing wasn't upto scratch, interface looked one of the better ones out there. What I really didn't like was the fact that you didn't buy the software, you bought the licence to use it for a year at a time. So if in 2 years time, you wish to switch for example, and no longer paid your licence, the software would lock you out as it required another activation. If i'm spending close to 100k on software I want to have the right to keep it (albeit without updates etc).

Arrow - Very much an accounting based system, but manufacturing was very basic and not upto scratch.

SAP Business One - Very slick, did everything we wanted, Integrated Report writer was fantastic, very nice peice of software, but price wise was expensive to buy and implement.

Compiere - Very versatile, Open Source, Interface nowhere as nice as the others, but there was no significant software purchase price. Source code was open which allowed us the flexability to modify it, which we have extensively done, to suit our business. The money we saved by not goign with SAP Business One, we could spend on modifying the software our to exact requirements. The key ti Compiere software is not the software, but the implementors. Does everything we want it to do apart from Payroll (which we use specialised programs to do)

We suffered a few hiccups initially, but that was mostly due it being a bit of a rush job due to acquisition constraints, and not neccesarily due to the software or implementors. From go ahead to implementation we had 6 weeks to roll it out across 3 sites with 40 heavy users of the software and 15 less heavy users. Any bugs which we found, could be fixed by the implementors themselves by modifying the Java code directly.

Thanks to everyone on their feedback.

In response to the comments posted here on the forum, I do agree with tangerine58's comments about forums not being the best place to get feedback on software.

With regard to Cbster and the comments about him being an employee of 2Clix, this is inaccurate speculation. I am the only 2Clix staff member posting on this thread and the only authorised staff representative at this point in time to post on this forum regarding our product.

To confirm tangerine58's comments about the number of our users, it is approximately over 6000 to date.

In response to your comments gelati about my tone. I do apologise if my comments were interpreted as rude or impolite, this was not my intention. I like to think that I have a good working relationship with all of my clients and often call/e-mail them just to catch up and see how things are sailing.

My aim at this forum and in my position is to create a closely knitted and friendly working relationship between our company and our current or prospective clients.

Again, I offer my contact details up to anybody that wishes to get in touch with me for any reason what so ever, whether it be support related or an enquiry. I am here to help. Please use my services and assistance as you see fit.

Regards,

Simon
2Clix Support

Simon,

If these are anonymous postings, how are you so sure that it is not a 2Clix staff or especially a sales team member / representative of your organisation.

Since you are the only authorised company spokesperson, why would they own up to it, especially if they have not had your approval.

6,000 users to date???? You mean 6,000 you have taken money from, but how many of those 6,000 are still actively using your software and are happy and how many have lost their hard earned money on your software that are listed as users, but not?

When you cannot even produce one active “Happy” user that can be contacted.

Come on, guys, don't be too rude.
I think 2clix is made in australia (young and free), we should give them a chance.

Well....well....well..... Look what I just stumbled across!

So much for the 6000 users! Explain this Simon?

According to one of 2Clix programmers who started working for 2clix in march last year, and is seeking employment elsewhere, 2clix over 200 users. Most people
exaggerate the truth slightly on their resume, so that it looks impressive, not play them down. So I am inclined to believe this programmer rather than Cbster and Simon from 2Clix

I think there is a slight difference between over 200 and over 6000.

In his own words "We are at the moment on the process of developing a business solution package called 2 Clix, which is having over 200 users all over Australia"

Can this be taken as an admission, that as at the 28th of September 2006, 2Clix still has not as yet not developed the software. That explains all those BETA versions, but never the real mackoy.

Check it out for yourself.

www.nowhiring.com.au/454

here comes the marketing spin you need to be careful of...

you need to ask a specific question.

I'm guessing thr 6000 users are not 6000 companies who have the software installed - but maybe a few hundred which each have 20 or 30 so users each... hence the total users will a (a few hundred) x (20 or 30 users) = total users.

Marketing spin at its best :)

Tangerine58

I have never been a user of 2Clix and I am not using this forum with two different user names. I f you look back at my first posting you will see that I didn’t put down 2clix, rather I suggested that the person looking at it go into detail with the demo.

I have looked at 2clix during a software review. It was in Melbourne and it was for one of my clients. Some of your sales guys have met me during the sales process but my client did not end up buying 2clix. We short listed and excluded 2clix – it did not meet the requirements on a functional level.

I genuinely have had two clients in Melbourne that have replaced your product after a very short stint of ownership. I have also seen this happen with other software, SAP B1 being another product that clients have replaced after a short time using it. Both these products are similar as they are fairly Young in their developmental evolution. Time will tell if they evolve to be great products.

I believe that Simon responded aggressively to one of the other postings and I responded to that. It is clear to me that employees of 2clix have participated in this forum in order to balance out the debate. I wish your company luck – we need Australian ERP products in the market place. I just think that there are better ones out there than 2Clix and I believe that I am entitled to my opinion, having worked with ERP products for 15 years and having reviewed at least 30 of them.

I'm suspicious of those who have posted in this thread and have a low post count.

I mean, c'mon - we've got like half a dozen people whose FIRST POST has been in this thread, and haven't posted in any other thread, ever.

Full Disclosure : I work for an Australian ERP developer (no, not 2Clix).

Before any decision is made on accounting software, ensuring that it passes the ATO requirements for tax reporting would be a must.

203.98.78.35/disclaimer.asp

Go to the link, accept the terms
Mouse over "The Product Register" to bring up the choices and select "Product Index"

All the approved software that meets the ATO standards are listed here with the results. Click on any software listing and it will give you details of the tests passed and the ATO scrutiny of that said software.

Any Accounting/Payroll Software that isn't on that list, i would be asking their sales/support deparment why?

MMmm,

Well the old saying goes - "Where there's smoke, there's fire".

I think Markinson and Momentum Pro is the same company - I think that Markinson develops Momentum Pro.

Mike456 - the homercomputer website is a pretty good one to help start your evaluation process. They list most of the ERP products out there.
Just remember that this company makes money from providing evaluations.

I doubt that you do support all of those products - There is no consultant or company out there that supports all of those products. First of all Pronto and Markinson dont use external consultants or resellers, they sell and implement their own solution. Resellers of Dynamics generally only sell and implement Dynamics (NAV, GP, AX). Same goes for SAP B1.

I think that you will also find 2Cix on this website.

Anyway - it is important to remember that you are buying software for the medium to long term (10-15 years), you are probably spending a fair chunk of money and for that reason you should evaluate carefully as you dont want to be runnning through the same process in 2 years time.

Hi outbakoz,

Unfortunately your proposition to go to the ATO Website does not guarantee that the product operates as it states in its advertising material. It only states that it meets the ATO requirements. The ATO do not get a working model to use to test and approve, and as indicated on their site as a disclaimer.

"Software producers who register and provide the declaration may list their software on this Register. This, however, does not constitute an endorsement, sponsorship or approval of such products by the ATO. "

"The ATO accepts the veracity of the declaration without scrutiny and does not accept any liability for, or arising as a result of, the listing of software products. You should seek independent advice if you believe that a statement made by a software producer is false and/or misleading. "

We were mislead by the fact that we found it listed on the ATO website and "assumed" it would not be on this site if it was not up to scratch. We did not read the disclaimer.

AND for anyone else who wants some good advice:-

Unless you are given a dummy to try out before you buy DO NOT BUY IT.

This dummy must be able to handle all the functions and features you require, before you buy. It must be functioning without any glitches. Do not believe them if they tell you anything else, or give you an excuse why it is not functioning. Be very cautious....actually do not buy it. If something doesn't sound right or work right....then it probably dosen't.

If I was sceptical before and got stung....I'm even more sceptical now.

I have been watching this topic for a while (found it via a google search for 2Clix) and would be interested in any information for or against the product. I sent messages to a couple of the users listed, but have had no reply. We are looking at purchasing the product and any info would be appreciated. I can be contacted off line if you wish.

Hi I am very new to this stuff and can't believe how childish some of the comments are getting! (Particularly MiaMia!!) I am searching for a multi user system for my bosses business and was recommended to look at 2clix by a few other businesses. I typed in 2clix into google and got this forum. I also typed in 2clix feedback and found two businesses that recommend the company, so I don't know what Miamia is talking about with no happy active customers. Theres seem to be the only unhappy comments I have found but there is heaps on the other systems. I really question there motives - maybe working for a rival company?. Or no life and has to stalk a company!
Anyway, Can anyone recommend a good multi user system for 20-25 users??

I think the others protesteth too much....

sickofmyob writes...

Anyway, Can anyone recommend a good multi user system for 20-25 users??

What do you need it to do, and what's the budget ?

I thought I would throw in my 2 cents.

The company I work for did try to migrate to 2clix before I joined but decided to throw it in during parallel running. There were several issues that I know of that made this decision obvious.

Poor performance, the system was very slow on our multi line invoice inputs with our data entry staff being far faster than the system when X number of rows were reached on invoice.

More troubling than this was the fact that whenever colonisations were made to suit our business, previous colonisations were wiped out and the job had to start over again.

At the end of the day our company should have invoiced 2clix for the training we gave them during the relationship.

We are in the final stages of going to SAP Business One, going live on 1/11/06. For those that wish I can detail my SAP B1 experience more down the track. I have been working on migration and colonisations needed for our business so far and I am very impressed with the flexibility that SAP B1 gives us.

MrTurkey writes...

colonisations

What's that ? Or did you mean "Consolidations" ?

Sickof,

I do apologize if I offended you.

This entire forum has become a bit of a joke.
It is obvious that certain people have entered it with other motives.

One of the later comments is the best one I have read so far.

Do your own bloody homework and you should be ok. And this is one of the comments that I made at the very beginning. Make sure you evaluate carefully!

What product have you decided on?
And why was 2clix not a match?

Hi Everyone,

I was put onto this forum recently after discussion with peers, about how frustrated, dissatisfied and ultimately RIPPED OFF I feel after purchasing 2clix earlier this year.

I am amazed to read some of these postings - Wish I had of come accross this earlier.

Our company has been trying to implement 2clix for sometime now and we are still in the implementation process and feel like we are gettting nowhere fast.
A lot of time, effort and money have been put into this. We are now at the point we have to make some sort of decision.

Anwers from support are usually "there is a new version coming that will fix that" or "that's only because it's the Beta version"
We need it to work now. What is this Beta Crap anyway??? We should not be updating versions on such a regular basis to iron out bugs. I would expect there to be upgrades when changes are made to tax and maybe a few other minor upgrades a year.

For others considering purchasing, please do your homework. Other people may or may not have vested interest in either 2clix or rival products. However I can guarantee that is no the case for me. I am definately one UNHAPPY customer.

I am a little suprised that you are dealing with a support desk as you mentioned you are half way through an implementation.
In all of the projects i have worked on involving at least 10 different ERP products, i have never had to deal with the support desk while implementing the product.

You normally get handed over to the support desk when you are live. During the implementation you should always be dealing with the consultants and PM working on your project.

gelati writes...

In all of the projects i have worked on involving at least 10 different ERP products, i have never had to deal with the support desk while implementing the product.

I guess everyone is different. Our support desk had been known to be involved before the implementation process. Depends on who's implementing it I guess, and what their strategy and experience is.

Everyone,

Again I offer my services as the Support Manager for 2Clix.

If you are unhappy or require assistance then I need you to get in contact with me. I have made this offer many times and have not yet had anybody from this thread take me up on my offer.

Please contact me if you are dissatisfied and I will find a solution.

My Contact Details are as follows:

Phone: (07) 55758 588
E-mail: support@2clix.com.au

Kindest Regards,

Simon

Wow, been away for a little, this thread is still going strong.

Came across another couple of issues myself just today so please bear with me while I rant a little.

<rant> I believe that Juve noted this earlier in mentioning the licensing of 2Clix, we have changed over to a new package and the 2Clix license for our server has expired. No problems there, we don't plan to actively use it ever again.

The issue that I have is that while a lot of our data was able to be converted out into our new package, there were several items that unfortunately were not able to be simply due to the way they were stored within the 2Clix database.

As part of my duties as IT Manager I am required to generate various reports for certifying bodies and simply can't give them the information. If I could access the data simply in a read-only capacity to generate these basic reports, problem would be solved, however due to the way 2Clix operates unless you pay their ongoing licensing fee (which by the way has increased by approx. 50% in 2 years!!!) you are completely locked out of all of your old data. </end rant>

Whew, feel much better now.

And Nothappjan2 - I feel you there. There was a period when we were using 2Clix that there was updates almost fortnightly - I love spending a couple of hours each fortnight kicking all my users out of a program, then manually running round to each workstation and updating them individually. Great for workflow and profitability.

The new system we're using (Exonet) you update in one location on the server and it flows on to all workstations instantly. *sigh of contentment* I love systems that work.

Hi All,

Thought I would log on since my first posting 50 days ago and find over 60 new postings. Doing a google search on 2clix brings this forum in the top 6 hits....not good for 2clix.

Yes it is hard to tell who is honest on this forum but reading thru you get an idea of the fakes.

Do a financial check on them, we found that they have only been registered as a Pty Ltd since January 2006 and have traded under many names in their 10 year existence. All project managers are now sub contractors in stead of employees and they have down sized. The shares split is also interesting. It was our beleif that the company was in financial trouble, so as insurance we made the very hard decision to return to our previous system to avoid being caught with our pants down if or when they go under.

If you feel 2 clix is the one for you then my advice is:

1) ask if they can build an off site version and have them test it with you before going live
2)withhold at least 30% payment until after successful commissioning
3) discuss your project managers experience and level of accounting knowledge
4) do not let them rush you thru the demos, really dig in with all and any questions
5) do a financial check on them in an effort to find out what their financial standing is

We wasted over 3 months, we have now licked our wounds and moved on.

The best any users can hope for is that the company is bought out.

Good luck.

For those finding applying software updates a pain, the group policy features of Windows Server (2000 and 2003) allows you to automatically deploy updates.

Have a read of this : support.microsoft.com/kb/314934

You do need the installation package to be a windows installer package - ie: you must have an .MSI file. Some packages only have a setup.exe - but you may find that the .MSI is inside the setup.exe, and there are ways to extract it.

Any user interaction required by the installation can be automatically fed into the installation using response files (which are pre-recorded responses).

Again, I don't work for 2Clix, so any 2Clix users should contact their support representatives for advice on this.

Sharakhan writes...

problem would be solved, however due to the way 2Clix operates unless you pay their ongoing licensing fee (which by the way has increased by approx. 50% in 2 years!!!) you are completely locked out of all of your old data.

That's odd - I thought 2Clix was using MySQL as the database ?

Can't you just connect to that and pull queries out - ie: MS Access or Excel via ODBC or similar ?

Hi Silvia

Yes 2Clix is built on a MySQL database, however it also runs a service (2clixservices) over the top of the MySQL service which allows/denys access to the specific databases - this service is linked directly to the expiry process and so your data becomes innaccessible/encrpyted or whatever once your license period is up.

Yes we did attempt to pull as many queries/reports, etc out as possible via ODBC before the changeover/timebomb, however we even had as Ex-2clix programmer working on the project and he couldn't get it to happen either with some data and was quite confused/bemused by where the data was going when he found some of it.

Was talking to an ex 2Clix user yesterday and they also said they could not get back into THEIR data after the licence expiry. They may not want to use the program but they should have access to their own data. Reputable accounting systems let the site continue to use the software for reporting or enquiry purposes in read-only mode, if their licence has expired.

pumpkinmash writes...

Reputable accounting systems let the site continue to use the software for reporting or enquiry purposes in read-only mode, if their licence has expired.

Agreed.

License should be for the software, not the data.

I guess 2Clix should put a * after any advertising that they use MySQL.

The fact that you had an Ex 2clix programmer unable to extract the data sounds a little strange. If what you and others have said is true, 2clix has got a lot to answer for - not allowing you access to the data once your lic has expired.

Are you sure that your ex 2clix programmer knows what he is doing?

The other possibility is that 2clix has no idea how to extract the data themselves. Even with all the negative stuff written about them, i doubt that this is the case.

Anyone looking at buying this product should look very carefully into this and should be seeking assurances (in writing) that they will be able to extract their data should they chose to drop the product.

Simon from Support, can you tell us if this is possible and if so, HOW?

Good afternoon everyone.

My name is Stephen Tritton and I am the National Sales Manager for 2Clix Australia.

More than happy for you to email me to organise a comprehensive demonstration of our software. More than happy for you to play in our software and to use it personally.

I would be more than happy to hear from you where I will also email you with a comprehensive list of clients that are happy with 2Clix and you may call all of them at your leisure.

Give me a call to try it for yourself. 2 hours well spent.

Kind regards,

Stephen Tritton
National Sales Manager
07 55758588
0405 533570

Everyone,

Again I offer my services as Support Manager for 2Clix. Please contact me personally to discuss any concerns or issues you have, my contact details are as below

If we have mistakenly charged you for a genuine problem then please contact me and I will immediately resolve that, If you feel that you have been wrongly charged again please contact me so we can resolve this happily.

I would love to speak to you and address any issues you have. Please contact me on the following details:

Phone: (07) 5575 8588
Email: simon.metcher@2clix.com.au

I am supprised 2clix support can not confirm the questions:
1. updates need to be done on every workstation.
2. customer can not get their own data after expire.
Simon, if you don't answer, that means it's true.

longlong writes...

I am supprised 2clix support can not confirm the questions:
1. updates need to be done on every workstation.
2. customer can not get their own data after expire.
Simon, if you don't answer, that means it's true.

It's normal for software applications to require an installation at each workstation.

Centralised distribution and automatic deployement are nice features, but not many package currently have this. And really, updates (as a general rule) for software aren't that frequent anyway. Nobody forces you to take the lastest upgrade.

I doubt 2Clix are willing to provide any kind of support or comments here. After all, that is why they have a support desk / support consultants / support channel.

Silvia Saint,

I also doubt 2Clix are willing to provide any kind of support or comments here.

Your comment about not being forced to take the latest upgrade might upset a few people on this forum.

Most of these people are complaining about 2Clix. Most of them are saying the product doesnt work or that it has lots of bugs. Simon on 2clix support agrees that people should be contacting him with their issues (there must be plenty of them)

The point i am making is when a product has lots of bugs, the only way you can resolve these issues is by upgrading to the next release, patch or bug fix. I imagine that 2Clix would be releasing a patch to fix bugs at least several times a month. i would be quite annoyed as a customer if i had to upgrade to new patches that regularly.

Hello again peoples.

Silvia, yes I know that it is common to install on all workstations - and my gripe certainly isn't about that, it's with the frequency that the updates came out, I recall there was one week where I had 3 updates (total time taken out of my normal schedule for updates that week was a little over 6 hours).

The way their update system worked though, if you updated the server package even with a small patch/fix, you still had to update the client by reinstalling from scratch (no simple update/patch/hotfix) and while the server-side updates may at times be less than 1MB, the client download required for each update towards the end was well over 100MB.

I acknowledge your point about not being forced to update, and there were times where it wasn't essential so we didn't worry about it, however you didn't get any support at all unless you were running the latest update - kind of a catch 22 there.

An interesting note though was that it got to a point with the updates where we were actually told that we "can not update to the next version as your data isn't compatible with the new version" and the only way we could upgrade was to "manually re-enter all the transactions and rebuild the database from scratch" - no assistance was offered (at least certainly not free assistance) - and this was one of the major reasons that we changed over in the end.

Oh, and anyone who uses the system who has speakers on their PC - would get told every time they started up "2Clix quite simply the best" - as we had multiple company entities and had to switch in and out regularly (could not run multiple instances on the program) this started grating on people more than a little. We asked them if there was a way to disable the sound.... They replied that they'd see how difficult it was but it may cost us!! as "no-one else had requested that feature".

Sharakhan writes...

anyone who uses the system who has speakers on their PC - would get told every time they started up "2Clix quite simply the best" - as we had multiple company entities and had to switch in and out regularly (could not run multiple instances on the program) this started grating on people more than a little. We asked them if there was a way to disable the sound.... They replied that they'd see how difficult it was but it may cost us!! as "no-one else had requested that feature".

I'm hoping the audio is stored in a file, and simply removing or altering the file will fix that.

You can monitor all files being accessed via a utility called FileMon - get it from www.sysinternals.com/Utilities/Filemon.html

It should reveal which file (if it is in a separate file) contains the audio data.

Hi Silvia

Thanks for the advice, but in the end after we got sick of waiting for a response/reply on that from 2Clix (took them well, I think we asked shortly after they implemented the sound and over 12 months and several requests later there was still no response - I only waited about 3 weeks).

I found the audio piece that was actually stored as part of an SWF that was called upon running the program and removed the offending file. This greatly increased the speed at which the program initiated too :)

This simply became standard procedurewhen installing each update - just had to remember to remove the file.

This thread is a laugh to me. One of my ex-customers jumped onto this system a couple of years ago. It was a dog, ran like a dog, and used a deprecated port of MySQL to run on. The customer hated it, and was always at 2Clix to fix one thing or another. Then 2Clix sold him a new server to "fix" the problems, which was a very poorly specced Intel clone server that sounded like a jet engine. Naturally enough nothing was actually helped by this. I shortly thereafter divorced this customer as they were a pain in the bum, but my dealing with 2Clix support were shocking. Hopefully they have improved.

Open Mind I think you are just another one of the many victims. In doing our due diligence on the product we have continued to hear so many stories of people who have paid upfront and then when the system didn't work they haven't been able to get their money back. In speaking to the users I was able to find they all tell of the same story great salemen BUT the product and support doesn't live up to any of the promises

Hmmm. 2Clix. Just wish I saw this forum a few months before it was created.

Just make sure as someone previously said that you:

1. See detailed demo's (yes more than one) of what you need from 2Clix, SapB1, Accpac, Greentree, MYOB Exonet, Pronto etc

2. Talk to at least three clients of the ones you shortlist

3. Don't pay it all up front

4. No matter what the salesperson says don't make a quick decision

5. Get a very specific quote and a letter that says these are the costs you should expect

As someone who meets about 6 new SME's every week (I'm an accountant for my sins) you meet business who between them have had issues with virtually every solutions on the market for many of the reasons previously written by others including users that don't care or want more sophisticated solutions that work 'just the same as MYOB Premier'

But, the software that in my conversations with SME's seems to have a real core of very upset clients would have to be the subject of this thread 2Clix and yes there are those that say they will be taking legal action but I doubt the practicality of that.

A good point there gelati.

Calling them always seemed to be the only way to get things done (and even then it didn't work 90% of the time) but the cost for calling them was always prohibitive.

They did have a support email address, however we were told on more than one occasion by more than one support person that they "pretty much ignore those emails".

So basically you have an issue, give them all the details, screenshots, procedures on how to recreate the error, wait for a week or two, follow up with other emails, eventually resort to calling them.

Talk to a support person for about 2 minutes, get put on hold for about 10-15 mins while they "talk to the programmers" about the problem, get told that "we don't have that problem in the version we're running here", get sent a bill immediately via email for $100+..... for "support".

End result: You still have an issue, you can't go to "their version" as it won't be available for public release for 2-3 weeks (months), you have a nice little bill to pay which, if you contest the charges, they simply ignore you completely until you've paid in full.

Just another thought. Have you looked at Sybiz Sage evolution or Vision/Visipay accounting/payroll software . We use Vision/Visipay and works a treat. Very fiew issues. Provides all relevant reports. The sage evolution is SQL bound with extensive properties.

Hello to everyone,

I would like to repeat my previous post again:

I offer my services as Support Manager for 2Clix. Please contact me personally to discuss any concerns or issues you have, my contact details are as below.

If we have mistakenly charged you for a genuine problem then please contact me and I will immediately resolve that.

I would love to speak to you and address any issues you have. Please contact me on the following details:

Phone: (07) 5575 8588
Email: simon.metcher@2clix.com.au

-----

P.S. It is good to see that those of you that have taken us up on our offer have had their issues resolved at no cost.

Please don't believe everything that you might be told or see in the sales spiel. They may show you a beta version which works both ways for the salesperson. He may then show you stuff that isn't available for release (he may not tell you) and if for some reason he gets any bugs during the presentation he might then say "it's just the beta version and I'm testing it out".
What a shonk! Be very, very careful before you give any money to these people.

I can vouch for the fact that we have contacted 2clix support, and we have been invoiced for this.
We disputed the invoice and we were put on credit hold whilst they look into our query. I believe we are still waiting for a reply on this.
We are still struggling to make this system work for us. A very expenses mistake that is still costing us. I strongly encourage anyone looking at this product to do your homework, and a lot of it, prior to making a deposit.

Nothappyjan2,

Please get in contact with me or send me a PM with details that I can contact you on so that we may discuss any mistaken charges. If we have charged you incorrectly I will have the invoice refunded immediately.

I look forward to resolving this for you.

Kindest Regards,

Simon Metcher
2Clix Support Manager

(07) 5575 8588
Email: simon.metcher@2clix.com.au

I am a user of 2clix. I am not affiliated with 2clix in any way but I don't want to give away who I am, not because I am personally concerned about the consequences (I know the definition of slander and believe I am capable of only saying what I can prove if pressed), rather I haven't sought approval from my boss about commenting here and don't wish to jeopardise the relationship we have with 2clix. I have experienced much of what people have complained about above, but feel that I can add a fair unemotional account of my experience. I can provide plenty of specifics about the software and my experience for anyone who doubts my authenticity.

Here's what I want to say:

1. The reason I want to add some positive input is because there are positive things to say and I would hate to think the people reading this forum will dismiss 2clix out of hand for not hearing a fair account.

2. Simon has copped more than he deserves here. I regularly deal with him and find him generally helpful if sometimes slow to respond. He is actually fairly new to 2clix, prior to him, I used to deal with a different person in support most weeks so he is an example of change for the improvement of the company.

3. Although most people in our company have experienced frustration with the software, they are all frequently pleasantly surprised about some new feature or functionality after I show them. At one point in the training I received I remember being continually impressed with the features of the software and the potential I could see for how I could use the various lists and reporting to my advantage.

3. Testing of 2clix is largely done by Beta users so if you are impatient stick with stable releases only. With the large number of bugs I have identified (and I cannot believe I am the only one having this many problems - yes I have had variations of that line a few times - to be fair I think that is because the support staff were generally Project Managers called in to do their share and they weren't around long enough to be familiar with all reported bugs) I believe 2clix needs a full time testing department on their staff. I suspect they don't have anyone testing full time.

4. Our company only has a fairly small number of users, so workstation installs of updates aren't a real problem (apart from finding a time between customers to get everyone out). Having done quite a few, it's actually a fairly quick process - most times I can do the server and all the workstation updates within 15-30 mins not including the time to download the files (happens in the background anyway). It's longer when services need updating, cause the server has to be restarted, but that isn't very often.

5. We have had one major data issue with payroll that 2clix fixed after we proved it was a replicable error of 2clix. We have a loss of data issue currently that Simon is looking into (to do with changes to a module we requested). So to Simon - before you tell me to contact you, I have and will continue to, don't worry.

6. I think most of the users complaining here would have been operating on Beta versions, not stable releases. The reason I think this is that anyone requesting changes to the software must go down the Beta route to see their changes implemented and most people looking here are usually somewhat tech savvy therefore will be chomping at the bit to get the latest with the most (not sure if I'm making sense here). Working in the Beta versions is the reason for the bugs and many updates (too many of both, yes). Users on the last stable release have only had one update, AFAIK.

7. As to speed, the software has preferences to turn off features that will speed up the software a lot at the expense of having absolutely live data absolutely all the time. So with Auto refreshing of lists after save turned off (lists reload more or less instantly after a save instead of taking a few seconds), and with batch updating before every report turned off (batch update takes between 45 secs and 90 secs for us), we don't have a problem with speed.

8. Last thing before I go to bed: the data problem after licence expiry - from memory I think that was Sharakhan - I can't help with how to get your data out after your licence expired (I don't know much about that), but I notice you indicated you had access to the database prior to expiry of the licence. Sorry to tell you now, but you could have used the customised reports feature to do straight Select queries on any and all tables in the db. The report can then be configured to print to a tab delimited file (or csv, I think). This would be somewhat laborious and very slow on some tables due to the way ReportBuilderPro works a page at a time (at least in 2clix's implementation) and of course you would then need an experienced db programmer to put all the files back together into a new db and link them up again.

9. Despite 9 months of Beta bugs and heartache, I am still eagerly awaiting a fully bug-free and functional version release and I don't think it's far away (they just will not commit to when). Also, I believe things will improve again with the implementation of MySQL version 5. There are some things I could do with that version that would make the ReportBuilder app even better.

BTW - if anyone wants to trade tips on the Customised Reports and Templates please let me know. For those not in the know, if you have experience with Access forms and reports and a little SQL, then you should be able to pick up the ReportBuilder stuff pretty easily.

Well well, 2clixuser, where to start...

2clixuser writes...

He is actually fairly new to 2clix, prior to him, I used to deal with a different person in support most weeks so he is an example of change for the improvement of the company.

Over the 2+ years we put up with 2Clix we saw changes in support staff every few weeks and each time this changeover would occur we'd have to go through and reestablish what our issues were, etc and even train these new people where to look in the program. I'm sure that Simon is attempting to be helpful and we haven't personally had any dealings with him so I can't comment there.

most people in our company have experienced frustration with the software, they are all frequently pleasantly surprised about some new feature or functionality after I show them

Yep, that's the 2Clix way, "oh that doesn't work right now so forget about that and look at this wonderful new feature".

I remember being continually impressed with the features of the software and the potential I could see for how I could use the various lists and reporting to my advantage

I've never argued against the "potential" of the program. As an IT professional I can certainly see where they appear to be heading with it and EVENTUALLY they MAY have a good product, but right now, no thanks.

I believe 2clix needs a full time testing department on their staff. I suspect they don't have anyone testing full time

Interesting here, the support personnel appear to only support the latest version and continually you're told that "that's fixed in the version I'm using here" and you're virtually told all the time to go and update, so yep, it's the users of 2Clix that are the full time testers.

I can do the server and all the workstation updates within 15-30 mins not including the time to download the files

Well that's fine, but for larger deployments (20+ users) with larger data files it took far longer.

We have had one major data issue with payroll that 2clix fixed after we proved it was a replicable error of 2clix

We had a problem with that too, and eventually bought a different package to do the wages outside of 2Clix because it just didn't work (at the time). They may have fixed it but once bitten twice shy...

think most of the users complaining here would have been operating on Beta versions, not stable releases.

We were operating on several "stable" releases as well as beta versions over the time we used the program and the one we ended up on was a supposed "stable" release, however it still fell over several times per day/week.

As to speed, the software has preferences to turn off features that will speed up the software a lot at the expense of having absolutely live data absolutely all the time

Yes it does have those features and even with them turned off it was still about 5 times slower than at least 4 other packages we looked at.

and with batch updating before every report turned off (batch update takes between 45 secs and 90 secs for us),

Without a "Batch Update" though, you never got a true reflection in your reporting so yeah, we turned off the auto update, but still when generating monthly/yearly reports would have to update a dozen or more times in a day (when it worked as it would often stall the system requiring a service restart).

you could have used the customised reports feature to do straight Select queries on any and all tables in the db

This is what we ended up doing to retrieve our data, however due the the sheer amount of data and the number of tables AND the strange locations that 2Clix appeared to store them in we unfortunately didn't quite manage to get absolutely everything out. But we tried.

Despite 9 months of Beta bugs and heartache, I am still eagerly awaiting a fully bug-free and functional version release and I don't think it's far away (they just will not commit to when)

Nope they won't commit and good luck with it when they do. We waited for close to 12 months on a "stable" release (after being told that our "data was not compatible with the newer version so we couldn't update without reentering all transactions from scratch")

Simply put here, from the very first install of this program on our network until we eventually threw it out, I could always see the "potential" in the program but it never quite lived up to the marketing hype.

Have you asked 2clix for a refund?
Leading into Xmas might be a good time to ask them - you never know........

Some software companies might be willing to give you a refund for 2clix in consideration for buying their solution. You might want to ask around.

They will probably look at how long you have owned 2clix as a criteria. I wouldnt have thought that they would refund you for the services you have paid to date though.

Open Minded,

After throwing 2clix out I wanted blood, however after careful consideration I realised I was ill prepared for legal action and felt we would waste more time and money on this company. In the end we simply licked our wounds and moved on. So I am not prepared to join you in pursuing them legally. If we had real evidence of mis representation then maybe I would have seeked advice.

We are now Ttrialing a system called ATREX check it out at www.atrex.com/atrex.shtml it is very very cheap buts seems capable. I know someone who set up Weight Watchers on this system. In any case we going very slow and in no hurry to implment anything yet.

Has anyone any knowledge of comments on ATREX?

Anyway Open Minded I wish you luck. I would imagine that 2clix will destroy itself within short.

To Everybody,

Just a notice to let anybody who hasn't been in contact with me yet that I will be here over the Christmas break.

Excluding the dates:

- 25th December
- 26th December
- 1st January
- Weekends

If anybody needs to get in contact with me, my details are below. Furthermore I would like to wish everybody a happy holiday and the best of luck for the new year.

Kindest Regards,

Simon Metcher

Phone: 07 5575 8588
Email: simon.metcher@2clix.com.au

I enjoy reading this thread (yes I am in a mental institution :-) ) and thought I'd take a look a the 2clix web site to see how the company presented themselves.

In large letters on the left hand side of the screen is the quote "Quite Simply The Best". The text is not clickable and is not attributed to any particular user or reviewer.

Is this just marketing BS or have I missed something?

Hi there ArnStar

Quite simply.. it's a load of BS Marketing just as you suspect. In fact if you go back a little further in the posts, you'll see where I've mentioned that on start-up, the program has a flash screen with audio that states "2Clix quite simply the best" - voiced by none other than the company owner!!!

This particular piece of audio was so annoying I went to great lengths to remove it.
The "quote" as such is self admiration and ego-tripping a little on the owners part - from what I can tell.

Sharakhan writes...

"2Clix quite simply the best" - voiced by none other than the company owner!!!

That would have been two hours of development and testing which could have been better used elsewhere!

geese who would of known what my Initial question would of thrown up 8 months later!

ArnStar writes...

Is this just marketing BS or have I missed something?

What else would it be, though? It's their website for marketing their product, not a 3rd party review of their system. Surely you have more to discuss than this tiny aspect of the company's website?

I think that 2clix's problem is not the software itself. We had some small problems with how system worked with two different sites and how the system updated the data base with multiple order entries done simultaneously.

I think their biggest problem is their handling of customer issues. 2clix have had trouble solving our issues and made us feel like it was our fault. We were seriously unhappy about the way we were treated. This was the final factor that has turned us away from using 2clix.

It is in quotation marks, implying it was said by somebody. A quote should be attributable. This is not. I wouldn't have mentioned it if it was without quotation marks.

Without quotation marks it would be a slogan, which I can accept without comment.

Hi,

I just want to add my 2c worth of comments to this thread.

It is that all software has bugs and missing features. Some bugs have not been found yet. OSS is the best as the source code can be fixed and the features adjusted to work for the clients interest, not on the whim of a software vendor.

Presently I work at a MYOB Consulting business and I customise and implement reports using the Clarity report writer in Exonet.

ArnStar writes...

It is in quotation marks, implying it was said by somebody.

I see plenty of slogans in quotes on trucks and other vehicles all the time, so I wouldn't read too much into it. I guess my point is most companies "blow their own trumpets" on their own sites, so the trick is to look past that and get to the core of the company's product(s), and not dwell too much on an unattributed quoted comment on a web site. After all, if you bought the product would you really be concerned about how their web site looked?

Writing software is difficult. You just won't believe how incredibly, hugely, mind- bogglingly difficult it is. I mean, you may think it's easy to write a little application, but that's just peanuts to commercial software.

RIP Douglas