The Neat Company Reviews
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About The Neat Company
Neat puts bookkeeping all in one place to let users scan receipts and manage transactions. Neat connects to over 10,000 financial institutions and simplifies tax preparation by categorizing expenses and reconciling accounts. Its basic plan starts at $23 a month, billed annually, and it has a 15-day free trial.
The Neat Company Reviews
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Reviewed Aug. 21, 2020
They are scammish, ripping me off for 50.00 a month for 2 months, when I asked for a refund they said no, when I asked to stop my subscription, they said no...I want my 100 dollars back. This is the worse company ever existed and they are rip offs, buyer beware!!!!
We can take a look into your issue and work towards a resolution. Please provide your email address associated with your Neat account.
Reviewed July 9, 2020
I purchased Neat Receipts to manage all my receipts, business cards and documents, as advertised. I used it until I had to upgrade to Windows 10, then I tried recovering my files and could not. I made the horrible mistake of installing the Neat software again and now it will not even open unless I subscribe! I used it for personal purposes and don't need a Cloud. When purchased the product did not require a monthly subscription to work. The new "updated" version is not the same. What a rip-off! I purchased a product that the company has made unusable. Do not buy this item unless you are prepared to pay a monthly subscription.
The legacy software has retired as of 2015. You can continue using your Neat scanner alongside our free scanning utility which can be found here - https://support.neat.com/scanutility/install-neat-scan-utility and you will be able to scan directly to your desktop. If you need assistance finding your files on your desktop, you can follow the steps here - https://support.neat.com/smartorganizationsystem/access-local-pdfs-of-all-neat-cloud-images-offline . In order to sort your files and utilize our Neat software, you will have to purchase a cloud subscription. We apologize for any inconvenience caused and thank you again for submitting a review.
Reviewed June 22, 2020
Like all the other reviewers, things started fine in 2013, but things immediately started sliding downhill and only got worse until June 2020. When I finally had enough, I had nearly 500 document images stored. The only way to get them out in bulk was as CSV files, with the only option being to download EVERY SINGLE IMAGE, one by painful one, on a slow website. If I wanted to keep my PDF images, it would have easily consumed four hours of my time, if not more.
NEVER use this company for anything. Customer service is a joke; they ignore you completely until they notice you and then they simply won't leave you alone. I've blocked their emails and all of their phone numbers. I've never had such a disappointing experience with a product that seemed so brilliant at first. I've lost nearly seven years of important documents. This company should break itself into pieces and flush itself down the toilet.
We greatly apologize that bulk downloading is currently unavailable. We greatly value our customers and are here to assist with any issues that may arise. Could you please provide an email address or case number of your last interaction with our support team so we can further investigate?
Reviewed June 20, 2020
Beware - Do you trust the Cloud with your financial and personal information. I don’t. Neat makes a great scanner, but force you to store your data on their cloud. Their customer satisfaction is so bad, they have turned their comments section in their social media.
You may continue to use any older Neat products (at your own risk), please note, development and support for these versions have ceased since 2015. More importantly, factors outside of Neat's control such as OS updates from Microsoft/Apple, could potentially render the solution completely inoperable - putting your data at great risk!
Reviewed May 22, 2020
I was one of the first to use the portable Neat scanner and the neat desktop software. Everything was going good in the beginning until the software updates began. The software started to become unstable and now won't accept a new scan without crashing. I've tried to do research on what can be wrong and their competitors have mentioned that the way the files are stored is the main issue, namely one big database of receipts rather than individual files.
I have over 7,000 receipts and a few documents now and the software is at a point that it runs but I'm exporting everything right now so that I can import the files into my replacement receipt manger called Filecenter. To all Neat desktop users, the larger your database file gets, the more unstable it will become. Just a big setup to get you to move to a paid service as far as I'm concerned. Also I went through 2 of neat's scanners and have given up on them and now use a Doxie Go SE scanner.
We sincerely appreciate your feedback and understand your desire for a Neat desktop-only solution. Additionally, we realize the changes we have made may seem disappointing, although as with all innovative software companies, we must remain up to speed and current in our technology offerings.
Though you may continue to use any older Neat products (at your own risk), please note, development and support for these versions have ceased since 2015. More importantly, factors outside of Neat's control such as OS updates from Microsoft/Apple, could potentially render the solution completely inoperable.We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.
Reviewed May 15, 2020
Updated on 05/18/2020: I had written Consumer Affairs to try to resolve an issue with the "FREE" 15 day trial offered by Neat since they no longer support their scanners. 1st Neat Company claims they made us aware they were discontinuing the product line. I have had various registered Neat products for many years and received NO SUCH communication. I recently tried to use the original provided software disk to re-add my scanner to my computer. Unlike what Neat says you can do, it now comes up with an error message that sends you to Neat. Interesting they embedded something in the original software pointing you to their new venture.
The 15 day Free trial which requires a credit card goes like this. You download the software and it doesn't work. You call the customer support number and you get an agent whom says they don't support the trial version, you must pay for the yearly subscription to get help. I don't understand how a company offers a free 15 day trial period (credit card required) to evaluate their product, but won't help the customer get it working on their computer to evaluate it?
I did exactly as the instructions said to install the software, and it doesn't work. How in the world can you evaluate something that doesn't work. Something appears to be fraudulent, wondering now if the real goal was to get my credit card information? Perhaps they know the trial software doesn't work and are forcing people to buy the full subscription via your credit card to get it to work?
I attemped to go to their designated website to cancel my free trial and it doesn't seem to work either. It just keeps trying to load!! Tried my smartphone using the same website and it says "we detected you are using a mobile device, please go to the website from your computer." Something is not right, and possibly it is something I am doing, but with no help, what can you do? The initial response from Neat company about the problem was "we are sorry for the inconveinence, please go to our website," which doesn't work. A once Great company seems to have lost it customer focus.
Original Review: Neat dropped support for their products. The alternative is a pay service if you want to use the products. Signed up for a free trial (credit card required) and the software downloaded did not work. Called to get help and was told “NO” help for getting the trial download working without buying a full subscription. Went onlinE to cancel and the website does not respond. Once a great company, but beware of the new scam. Interesting I heard roosters crowing in the background loudly while trying to talk/understand the customer salesperson.
Your free trial has now been cancelled. We apologize for any inconvenience that was caused.
Reviewed April 12, 2020
Probably one of their 1st customers, purchased 1/26/2006. Product back then was called Neat Receipts. And yes, I am fully aware product has been discontinued by a turned greedy company, that's the issue for us all. You left us high & dry only to try and extort us for something we didn't bye into, the cloud. Avoid the cloud is probably why most of us bought into Neat, we don't want our info out there and don't want to pay into it for a product many of us paid a lot for to have it on our computers only.
Probably a good assumption on our part from past business practices is they will again extort the users of its Cloud product also someday, just a matter of time.
They will post a reply to my review but it is all just cover-up's. Don't believe a word they say, again look at the pages and pages of bad reviews and just think of all the people (the majority) that don't review, thousands and thousands more!!! Avoid The Neat Company at all costs, bad business!
We do apologize for any frustration that was caused when trying to use your scanner. The Neat company has left the scanner market in 2016 and the desktop software retired in 2015. We have made this known numerous times to our customers and it is heavily communicated on our website. If you would like to continue using your scanner without a cloud plan, you can do so alongside our FREE scanning utility that you can find here - https://support.neat.com/scanutility/install-neat-scan-utility
Once again, we do apologize for any miscommunication or frustration and thank you again for your review.
Reviewed Feb. 18, 2020
I got the first Neat Scanner as a gift from my daughter who's an accountant so that we could stay organized. That was when the neat receipt company started. We then got the desktop scanner, then neat stop supporting the scanners and an update from Apple would not allow the scanner to scan any more, then I read somewhere online that if you had an older computer, you could use neat receipts scanners. I pulled out my MacBook laptop with version 10.6.8 and guess what. I'm on it right now. Both of my scanners work and I dont have to pay for cloud subscription.
I dont feel comfortable having all of my personal info online. I liked the fact that I paid for a scanner once and if I had to pay for updates/upgrades to the scanner's software for a low fee since, updates are not done every year, I wouldn't mind but I dont think it's fair to now charge me for cloud service if I dont want it or need it if, my scanner works fine and if you dont sign up for cloud service and you dont have an older computer, then you're stuck.
I was all in when this company started since they started in Philadelphia, where I live and I feel that if they were going to get out of the scanner business then they should have said to their customers, here are scanners that you can still use with our software and then they would have happy customers. Customers feeling like they are being forced to go to cloud is not right. They are a for profit company but they could have and could still make money if they updated their software as computers get updates from manufacturers and make money that way. I have read A lot of bad reviews and I can see why. I have expressed this to the neat company but nothing has changed. So if you have an older computer or you have a disk that came with your computer to restore the older operating system, theen you can use your neat scanners. I have been using mine since 2016.
Neat has left the scanner market back in 2016 and support for the Neat Scanners has ceased. We are happy that you were able to continue using your Neat scanner and if you need any further assistance, please take a look here at our retired products community - https://support.neat.com/retired
Reviewed Jan. 29, 2020
I had been using Neat ver.5.7. Suddenly it started opening with an icon at top which said simply error. After clicking on more than 2 receipts it freezes and crashes. I have tried reinstalling but same problem. I just tried installing it onto a fresh computer which had no previous installation, but same problem as error banner on opening screen. On restoring database, the crashes start again.
No way of contacting Neat that I can find. The version installed shows copyright 2020 which tells me it phoned home and was then disabled probably because I did not upgrade! Is there any other software out there which could convert Neat data to another format? I always was skeptical of using software which had propriety files, so I should not have got myself in this position. They do not deserve one star but I have to award that in order to post this.
Thank you for submitting a review. The version of the software you are referring to has retired as of 2016. Retired Desktop Software is not supported and updates to the software are unavailable. Please take a look at our Retired products section of our support center for more information - https://support.neat.com/retired
Reviewed Jan. 13, 2020
I bought a Neat scanner several years ago. I didn't think that there were companies out there in today's world that would sell you an expensive product and then abandon you. Imagine if the Neat people were the company that sold the navigation system in your car, they would contact you later and tell you that if it breaks they won't fix it, and in order to continue to use it you have to pay them a monthly fee. That's what they did to me — sold me a product, now won't support it, and want to charge me a monthly fee. I would never do business with this company again. If you are considering buying their product read the reviews, and consider that after you load your receipts on there for a few years they may decide to no longer support you.
We do apologize for any inconvenience that was caused. Neat has left the Scanner Market in 2016. You are able to use your Neat Scanner with our Neat scanning utility which can be found here and is completely free - https://support.neat.com/scanutility/install-neat-scan-utility
Although agent support is not provided to non customers of Neat, we do have an entire community dedicated to our retired products https://support.neat.com/retired . Within this community you will find multiple support articles for any situation that may occur while using your scanner.
Reviewed Dec. 21, 2019
Hi, I bought a scanner from Neat company, I paid $450 for this equipment, so I can organize my documents and avoid having papers by transforming my documents into a digital format. It happens this company decided after some time to change their services by blocking communication between my computer and the scanner. Demanding that for me to use my equipment, I need it to buy a year's subscription to the new software. They NEVER disclosed this kind of service, neither on their tv commercial or online. I think it is very unfair for them to do this. This was a very expensive scanner. Usually, a scanner will go for $150.
But I think the fact I paid so much money for this equipment, gives me the right to use it as I please, without them controlling it. If they changed their service they should have let whoever bought their equipment use it before they changed the rules of their business model. I am trying to use my equipment and they don't even respond to the phone or confront their customers because they know what they did was wrong. This company should be penalized for it. I should get my money back, or let me use my equipment, which I have the right to do so since I paid the full price for it.
We apologize for any inconvenience that was caused but the software that came with the scanner as a courtesy has been retired since 2015. We have made multiple announcements to customers about the retiring of the software. A subscription is only necessary for agent support but you can take a look at our retired products site for your troubleshooting needs - https://support.neat.com/retired
Reviewed Dec. 16, 2019
My company tried to cancel our subscription last year because we had gone to another electronic filing system. We were told by Neat that since they had already drafted our account before our cancellation call, we could not get a refund. We told their representative to cancel our subscription and not to draft our account again. That was last December. Just got a draft from Neat for another year’s subscription. Guess we will have to go to the trouble to change bank accounts to keep Neat from debiting our account next year. Obviously, Neat does not understand “I want to cancel my subscription.”
We can for sure take a look into your account to be sure that it is cancelled.Can you please provide an email address or case number from your last interaction with our support team? We greatly apologize for this inconvenience and will do our best to work towards a resolution. Thank you.
Reviewed Dec. 13, 2019
I bought a new computer and was shocked that I can’t download the original software. To access my old files I have to pay a monthly FEE. NO THANKS. WHAT A SORRY COMPANY. Purchased the original scanner and program to support your company and you left me out in the cold.
The legacy software retired in 2015. We have reached out to our customers multiple times to let them know of the retirement and that support/development will cease for the desktop product. More importantly, factors outside of Neat's control such as OS updates from Microsoft/Apple, could potentially render the solution completely inoperable - putting your data at great risk!We greatly apologize for the inconvenience. If you would like to continue using Neat, we have multiple subscriptions that you can choose from - https://www.neat.com/plans-pricing/?utm_expid=.TCEQ8aMCQuOIu73UOdcT1w.1&utm_referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.neat.com%2F
Reviewed Nov. 22, 2019
We made the mistake of using this system to store our invoices and files in hopes of being able to get rid of our long term paper storage. We loaded thousands of files into the system. We have had nothing but issues. The delay and lag in the storage system is so terrible it is almost unusable at times. It states that it imports information off the documents for faster cataloging but it pulls random numbers from random places. We even tried editing our invoices so that the number was the first thing on the page and it still does not work with any kind of accuracy. The scanner itself has benefits over other scanners yet it doesn't do well with large volumes.
Long story short and a few struggling years later we have found another system that works well and we want to export our files out of Neat. Well that can only happen one file at a time. What?!?!?! We have thousands of files at this point. They have made it so that getting your own files out of their system a lifetime project and keeps you paying your monthly fees just to have access to the files. At this time we feel trapped and used by this Neat System. I do not recommend using it unless you have a small volume of files to store. Then at the cost it is not worth the headaches.
We greatly apologize for any issues that you have encountered while using the software. With the issues that you are experiencing, our support team would be able to help. Considering we have very limited information from you, we could not pull up any interaction that you had with our support team for assistance. We hope that you are using our web application for the uploading of your documents and not a retired software. Please contact our support team so we can assist. Thank you.
Reviewed Nov. 13, 2019
We have had several Neat Scanners in our office for 11 years. The newer model came out about 5 years ago and we upgraded. The product was so bad, that we returned them and purchased refurbished older models, which cost us more than the new ones. Now we're being told that we can't use our old scanners without a subscription, but there is a work around with the Neat Scan Utility. Problem with that being is it creates massive sized files that cannot be emailed or faxed. I was told they were aware of the issue a few weeks ago. I contacted today and they won't even speak to me anymore about this without a subscription. I'm currently being ignored on live chat (15 mins so far without a response) because I'm asking for a supervisor. Way to treat your long time customers. If you put out a decent product, we'd gladly upgrade but we use our own database so we don't need a monthly subscription on our 6 scanners.
We greatly apologize for any inconvenience that was caused. The utility is not mandatory to use while scanning and is provided to our customers as a courtesy. Since you do not have a subscription with Neat, we do not supply agent support but we do have multiple help center articles for our customers who are not on a paid subscription. Please take a look at our retired community for your support needs - https://support.neat.com/retired
Reviewed Nov. 3, 2019
I’ve had a Neat ND1000 for more than 8 years and the Legacy software was a snap to use. A scan and image quickly showed up with ability to categorize and drag into the desired file cabinet. Since I upgraded to Catalina OS, and I have software Neat does not support, I had to purchase a subscription which I did not want to do and had a Neat tech work me through install. While the old files were able to be loaded into separate cabinets, only the images uploaded and 600 plus need to be reviewed before being saved. Additionally all documents, receipts, and invoices have the same date of input rather than their original (more work). Give me back the Old software that I can keep locally. This upgrade is no upgrade. I will find a new system and start 2020 from scratch.
We do apologize for the frustration of the Legacy software not functioning properly while on Catalina OS but that software was retired back in 2015.
we have made it clear that factors outside of Neat's control could potentially render the solution completely inoperable - putting your data at great risk. We are happy that your data was able to be migrated over with the help of our wonderful support team. We are sure that you will have a change of heart once you experience all that Neat has to offer.
Once again we do apologize for any frustration and thank you for submitting a review!
Reviewed Oct. 31, 2019
Make sure you know what you're buying before you put this in your online cart. I have been a NEAT devotee for many years but now that they have changed their software I find it not nearly as useful as it used to be when it was desktop based. Let me explain... First of all this is supposed to make your life easier and allow you to stay more organized... au contraire. It used to be so simple to use but now there are far more steps to scanning and verifying your scanned receipt/document before saving it to their cloud software product. But that's just the first issue.
The real disappointment comes from only being able see the total displayed for just one default numerical column that they call "Amount" in their grid. In my case, I have the "Amount" column displaying the Total on the receipt. It does this by default. But since I also need the HST (Canadian sales tax) amount separated out, I created a second custom column called HST to display just the tax portion for each receipt. At the end of the month, I need to have not only the total amount for all receipts (the total of Amount column) but I need the Total Tax amount as well (the total of the HST custom column)... NO GO!!!
I have tried everything! There is no possible way to display totals of any columns other than the one called "Amount". This renders the Neat software pretty much useless to me and has reduced it to a mere repository for storing scanned images of receipts and not much more. I am of the understanding this is cloud upgrade was supposed to be so much better than the predecessor desktop version, but their customer service has been most unhelpful in this matter whenever I have called to ask if or how it could be accomplished. I have been told that only the Amount total is displayed on the grid and anything else cannot be accomplished even using their Reports tool.
So I have one question for the Developers... Why would the Company decide unilaterally that all users no matter who they be, should only require the total for one column (that being of the company's choosing called "Amount"). I have been very disappointed and frustrated using this product since they switched to their cloud software and I wish NEAT would take a little more heed to comments and feedback left by users like me. After all customers are your front-line users.
We do apologize for the inconvenience of being able to create the report that you would like. We do have different options that can provide the total number of that column, for example you can export to CSV and gather the total there.
We also have an ideas portal that you can access right through the application where you can submit your ideas directly to out developers.
Once again, we do apologize for any inconvenience this may have cased you.
Reviewed Oct. 26, 2019
I would give less than zero stars if I could. Canceled account and they kept billing, called several times and was placed on hold for more than an hour. Then they attempted to bill me $74.95 I called and again after waiting on hold for almost an hour they told me my account had not been canceled, and I must pay. Although I had not accessed the account for months and couldn’t. (It was frozen for non-payment) I had no access! What were they billing me for? ** scammers!!! Now they say if I don’t pay, they will send my account to collections. Burn in hell Neat Company!!!
We do apologize for any confusion that may have been caused. We would not continue to bill any customer that cancelled their Neat subscription. just to be clear, not utilizing the service does not equate to a cancellation of service. In order to investigate this situation further, please submit either your name or email address or a case number form your previous encounter with our support team and we will do our best to have the issue resolved.
Thank you.
Reviewed Oct. 23, 2019
I purchased the Neat Scanner under the impression the higher cost I was paying for this device was allowing me to organize my documents, however, this is NOT the case. This neat device is simply nothing more than an over-priced scanner! If you actually want the option to do anything other than just ‘scan’ documents, such as ORGANIZATIONAL FEATURES, THEY REQUIRE YOU TO PAY A SUBSCRIPTION! This is a total RIP-OFF! What’s the point, when most everyone already has a scanner in their household? A phone easily takes a photo to keep records of documents... printer scanners easily scans documents and saves them to your computer. The reason I was willing to pay more for the NEAT device in the first place was for the sole purpose of ORGANIZING my documents. There should be a class action suit against this company for intentionally misleading consumers and baiting to switch! FURIOUS!!! I WANT MY MONEY BACK!
We greatly apologize for any confusion that was caused. Neat exited the scanner market back in 2016 and the software, that came as a courtesy with the scanners has since retired. If you would like to utilize your scanner, you can do so along side our Free scanning utility which you can find here - https://support.neat.com/scanutility/install-neat-scan-utility , If you would like to use our services for document storage, sorting, transaction matching, line itemization, etc. then yes, a subscription is required.
Once again, we do apologize for any confusion and thank you for the review!
Reviewed Oct. 10, 2019
When I bought the Neat scanner there was a program disc that I installed onto my computer, no cloud, or subscription. Well my Scanner outlived the desktop it was partnered with. When I went to install onto the new desktop it gave me an error message that the program was unloadable due to the windows version. Ok I tried opening the already installed version on my older laptop and it made me go online, which it had never done before. I chatted with support and they informed me that for only 90 dollars they'd recover my data and reinstall it onto my computer via the cloud, just so that I could continue to pay them 90 dollars in perpetuity for a product that I had paid for already.
It's like Ford making me pay an annual subscription for the right to drive my own car that I already paid for and was never informed that I might have to pay said subscription for in the future. Maybe I shouldn't be giving Ford any ideas. Neat is super shady and very unethical. Don't buy any Neat products or services unless you like getting gouged.
We apologize for any inconvenience that was caused when you were unable to utilize the Legacy desktop software. The software that came along with the scanner you purchased was included as a courtesy and has been retired for quite some time now. We now provide a cloud based software that requires a subscription to use. We do provide a free scanning utility for customers who do not want to use the cloud. The scan utility can be found here - https://neatcompany.helpdocs.io/scanutility/install-neat-scan-utility
Once again, we do apologize for any inconvenience and thank you for your review.
Reviewed Sept. 9, 2019
Let say you have a customer and he gives you a card and you create a contact on NEAT. Then a week later, or anytime later, you meet another person working for that company. CAN YOU BELIEVE NEAT HAS NO WAY TO COMBINE THESE CONTACTS???? VERY BAD PRODUCT.
We appreciate the feedback. When saving a contact within Neat, our system will automatically save the name of the company that is listed on the business card. We apologize that we currently do not have a combined contact feature but we’d like to mention a change Neat has implemented both internally and externally. We’ve recently opened up an “Ideas portal” -available right inside our application- where our users can provide feedback, request new features (or old features), and even vote on ideas their peers have already requested. The portal has democratized the process in which we can receive the vital information we need to stay innovative, with YOUR voice helping to guide and steer our future direction.
Reviewed July 26, 2019
2019 07 26 - I upgraded my computer and was installing the Neat 5.7 software into it, but I forgot my original password. I cannot reset the password since I do not have a paid account and there is not way to do so. This is no different than ransom. I pretty pissed-off.
The reason why you cannot reset your password is due to the version of Neat you are utilizing. You are using our Legacy software that has been retired since 2015. You are more than welcome to sign up with any of our subscriptions or a free trial to see if you are interested in using the software. We would also like to provide you some additional options:
1. Migrate your data to our latest Neat web application and take advantage of an offer exclusively available to our desktop users.https://www.neat.com/neat-legacy-desktop-faq/#target-select-bundled-scanner
(Our newest update brings back many of the features from our older solutions!)2. Utilize our FREE Neat scan utility to continue scanning items - directly to your desktop
https://support.neat.com/scanutility/install-neat-scan-utility
3.. Move/export your data out of the application using the steps provided here:https://neatcompany.helpdocs.io/migration/windows-export-to-pdf-guide
We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused and thank you again for submitting a review!
Reviewed May 27, 2019
Neat is a company that only wants you to buy subscriptions. But not everyone needs their cloud service. Neat hasn't produced any workable software or drivers that works with Windows 7 SP! Without crashing 100 times a day. Their software engineers are incompetent. The corporate of Neat is Beneath any dignity, because they refuse to provide any ability to enjoy their products without a subscription. Don't waste your time or money with them. I rarely write product reviews, but this one deserves to be known to caution future victims.
We are not a company that will force a subscription onto any of our customers that are using our legacy programs. While we did stop phone support for the legacy software and the scanners- we still have a community that is dedicated to our long term customers. Pease take a look here for more information on how to utilize neat without a neat subscription
We do apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.
Reviewed May 23, 2019
I purchased a NeatDesk scanner to digitize household documents, hoping it would be quicker and more efficient than my 3 in 1 printer. It will not correctly install the necessary drivers to connect the scanner to my computer. The related program folders are completely empty after installation! Simply put: the driver will not install rendering the scanner useless.
I contacted Neat customer support only to be met with an automated message stating, "After reviewing our records, it appears that you do not have an active Neat subscription under the email address provided. Agent support is reserved for current Neat subscribers." The automated "help" only redirects you to the driver download page. In short, Neat scanners only work with cloud subscription and customer support is only available for cloud subscribers! Thanks to Neat's unavailable drivers and their subscription-based business model, I would not recommend purchasing a Neat product and will be returning my scanner.
The Neat Desk scanner can be utilized without a neat subscription. You can locate more information here on how to use your scanner without purchasing a subscription with Neat. We have discontinued our phone support for our legacy products for quite some time but we do have a community that is accessible 24/7 with many answers for questions you may have about our legacy products. Lastly, if you are having issues with downloading a driver for your scanner, please take a look at our website.
We do apologize for any inconvenience you may have experienced by this.
Reviewed May 11, 2019
Recently my computer hard drive with my Neat Software crashed. Once I re-installed a new hard drive and reloaded my Neat Software, it will not recognize my Neat Database. I even tried opening one of my older backup files and it will not open. This has put me in a very bad situation since all my receipts for years has been scanned into a Neat file on my data drive which did not crash and is separate from my program file drive. It seems impossible to get support from Neat. Apparently Neat requires a subscription to their cloud service in order to get help in opening my files. This is unethical and frankly smells of extortion. If I cannot get some resolution, I am contacting my attorney to take legal action.
If you need help with migrating your information over to our cloud based software the yes, you will need to sign up for a subscription. If you prefer to utilize your scanner without the Neat software, you can definitely do that as well.
Please view this article for more information - https://support.neat.com/scanning/using-your-neat-scanner-without-the-neat-software-2
Reviewed May 7, 2019
I began using NeatDesk with it first roll out many years ago. Since then I have purchased newer versions both NeatConnect and NeatReceipt. The scanners worked just fine until a few months ago Neat got rid of the Legacy software support and encouraged the use of a newer software which now produces blurrier, grey, unclear scans. I have been dealing with technical support for almost 6 months to a year to get my scanner working properly to no avail. I see I’m the reviews that Neat is stating it did not make customers do the upgrade BUT that is not true. If you want to use the cloud it is required as far as I’m being told. I have recently acquired an address for corporate to have requested my support log of the past few months. Neat should replace my systems or issue me a refund for all 3 machines if they want to make software changes that ultimately cause the machines to become obsolete.
We have removed ourselves from the Scanner Market back in 2016 and the Legacy software has been retired for a few years, not a few months. The scanners that you currently have can be utilized without the Neat Software - and that is correct, if a customer would like to utilize the cloud based software provided by Neat, a subscription is required.
We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause you.
Reviewed May 7, 2019
I bought the Neat scanner four years ago to use in my bookkeeping business. Going paperless had been a dream and NEAT made it possible. I tried the cloud version along with QB online, but it was far to slow to work efficiently and I remained with the Desktop version of both Neat & QB. Now, NEAT doesn't offer any support for desktop, and they don't make the damn scanner any more. Their customers who prefer NOT to be in the cloud have been effectively SCREWED! I'm sitting here with a dead scanner, a colossal pile of work, and no viable solution that keeps me working on my desktop. I will not go into the cloud. This disgusting business practice of bringing people into the system and then changing the terms of the game should be illegal. I will NOT work with NEAT in the cloud... I'll go back to paperless before they get one cent of my money, let alone a monthly obligation. NEAT - YOU ARE A DISGUSTING COMPANY!!
We do apologize that you are not satisfied with the growth of the company but we have moved out of the scanner market back in 2016 and the Legacy desktop software has been retired for a few years now. The Neat Scanner that you have can be utilized without purchasing the Neat software.
Once again, we do apologize for any inconvenience that was caused.
Reviewed April 27, 2019
When originally purchasing "my" NeatDesk scanner and software in 2016, I paid nearly $400 for the device and its ability to function locally on my computer system until it died - that is the deal that Neat and I agreed to. Though a cloud(ish) based system was also offered, I had no use for, nor was I able to utilize the service.
Now Neat has INTENTIONALLY crippled these devices from continuing to function, though the device has been paid for. Neat has intentionally pulled all software packages that provide the functionality of the hardware so that when an owner of a paid product needs to re-install the software for whatever reason (new computer, crash, failed hard drive etc), it is no longer possible due to Neat's intentional acts.
Not only is this unethical business practices, it is extortion. Users are now FORCED to utilize Neat's cloud based lesser functional systems whether the user can or wants to use that system. Neat has failed to realize that there are still users that may not want or cannot have their computers connected to the Internet, nor may they desire to incur additional monthly fees that are completely unnecessary for the functionality of an already paid for device.
I NEVER wanted, nor need the cloud for my purposed and I surely do not want Neat to cripple the functionality of a device that they DO NOT own. Support and development stopped for that device is understandable but holding users hostage by not posting software that was previously purchased and offering the user a monthly or yearly paid substitution? That is the definition of extortion.
Neat "C" levels, my suggestion is simply this... meet with your attorneys and come to an agreement to grandfather the users that have paid for a fully functional device. Provide those users with the software required to operate the previously paid for device and then offer the cloud service as a software platform for those new users looking for a solution. I could not imagine a car manufacturer or household appliance manufacturer selling products and later crippling those products in some manner and it being acceptable!
Hello Michael,
We're sorry for any frustration you may have experienced with the scanner. You can certainly continue to use your scanner and we have actually provided a brand new free-of-charge scan utility that you can use with your scanner. It does not require a cloud subscription so you can use it right away and if you do get a cloud plan, you can use it to send your scans to the cloud.
We must clarify that we have not done anything to prevent or disable older software from working correctly. Please keep in mind that the older versions will start to experience issues naturally as you update your operating system since we are no longer updating retired versions of Neat software. We do not provide downloads for retired software because it will not be compatible with current operating systems. We do regularly update our current software as well as add new features. The new features come at no extra cost and are included in the plan along with unlimited cloud storage and access from our free mobile app.
No one is forced to upgrade to the cloud if they do not wish to use the cloud and you are free to continue using an older version of Neat software, however, please remember there will be no further updates or support for software that was retired a number of years ago.
You can download the free Neat Scan Utility from this FAQ (in the first question and answer)We hope you enjoy this new free utility that will allow you to continue using your scanner in current versions of Windows and Mac.
Thank you,Neat Customer Care
Reviewed April 26, 2019
I purchased a Neat Receipts mobile scanner in 2009 from Costco and installed the software on my Windows 7 computer. I have an updated Windows 10 computer now. The software can't be installed on that OS. I would have to pay $49 to Neat to get a Cloud subscription to be able to have access to all my old scanned documents (the originals were shredded). Contacting them only results in suggestions that are not applicable, ie, installing a driver that they say on their website is not available for my model.
We're sorry to hear of the inconvenience. As you know, the original software you received in 2009 is now a decade old and not guaranteed to work on current versions of Windows or Mac. Even if you were switching to another Windows 7 computer, without the Neat cloud service, you would still need access to the files on the older computer so you could copy and transfer them to the newer one. If you still have access to the files on the old computer then you should still be able export them out of the retired Neat software as PDF files that can be used on your Windows 10 computer.
If you're still using the scanner, you can also try the free Neat Scan Utility to continue scanning images to PDF files in Windows 10. Please see this article which includes a download link to the Neat Scan Utility in the first question and answer.
Thanks,Neat Customer Care
Reviewed April 22, 2019
I have been using Neat since 2019 and loved it until it went to a subscription, I believe in 2017. Since then, I’ve had nothing but grief. Right now, I’m unable to continue the scanning I started today because it froze up after I scanned a 26 page document. I exited the system and waited for two hours before trying again. Now get a message ‘scanner not connected.’ Ridiculous! Also, You cannot enlarge a document without cutting off part of the page. You cannot enlarge the viewing area so if you need to see something on the sheet, you have to print it. I called on this and they said they know about it, but have no plan to change it in the near future.
Again, ridiculous! It’s slow and takes twice as long to scan and pull up documents. Long delay. It didn’t used to be like that. It was fast and you could enlarge a document and move it around to see all areas of the page. Unfortunately, Neat got greedy and was not happy about selling the system for a one-time fee. I have no problem paying annually, but I do not like the change in use which is definitely not for the better. I used to brag on the system, and two of my friends purchased one years ago. I’m sorry I did, as they are as unhappy as I am. One chose not to go on after the change. I’m seeking other alternatives as I cannot tolerate this system any longer.
Thank you for sub mitting a review! We apologize for any inconvenience that you may have experienced while using Neat. Have you reached out to our support team for the issue with your scanner not being connected? Our agents can definitely help you with getting your system set back up correctly.
We also provide a free scanning utility which will allow you to zoom into your documents that you scan so that you are able to see more details : https://support.neat.com/install-new-neat-scan-utility/
We also are gearing up to release a new product later tis year which will solve issues that were encountered. Once again we do apologize and we appreciate you as a customer of Neat!
The Neat Company Company Information
- Company Name:
- The Neat Company
- Formerly Named:
- NeatReceipts
- Address:
- 1601 Market St., Suite 3500
- City:
- Philadelphia
- State/Province:
- PA
- Postal Code:
- 19103
- Country:
- United States
- Website:
- www.neat.com
