Beware of 30-Day Free Trial!!
I just wanted to share a very disturbing experience I recently had with the new online personal finance and budgeting application Mvelopes. I signed up for their 30-day free trial and, although impressed by the application, felt that it would be too time-consuming for me to keep up. I knew I was closing in on the 30 days (or perhaps past it) but I assumed that they would send an email to inform me of the expiration of the trial period or, if I was past the 30 days, notice that they had charged me for one month (which would have been acceptable). I received no email and it turns out that on day 30, they charged my credit card $189.60 for a 2-year service agreement!! What a huge assumption on their part that anyone in their right mind would want a 2-year subscription to anything in the fast-changing Internet world!

Needless to say I contacted them by phone to ask that they refund the charge. Their response was that they didn't offer refunds and that I should contact their dispute resolution team. I did just that and here is their e-mailed reply:

"We have reviewed your account, and although it is not standard policy, In2M will provide you with a pro-rated refund less a processing fee of $24.95. The pro-rated amount is based on the number of months of past service at a rate of $15.95 per month. You were originally billed for the bi-annual service plan at $189.60. Your total refund, then, will be $148.70 ($189.60 less $24.95, less (one month at $15.95). By providing this refund Mvelopes Personal, including bill pay, will no longer be available to you."

In my opinion, this is some of the worst online service conduct that I have had the misfortune to run into in quite some time. This service may look nice -- but beware of the scam!!

I have yet to receive the refund so I will continue to follow-up.

Opposite of the user above, I have never had anything but exemplary service from Mvelopes Personal. I have used the product for more than 2 years and am in a better financial position because of it.

I am sorry the user above didn't have a good experience with Mvelopes, but I hope that others don't hesitate to try it because of that.

Mvelopes has helped me to reduce my debt, increase my savings, and reduce my spending. I recommend this product to everyone i know... and obviously even a few that I don't.

I had cancelled my subscription before the 30 day trial period, yet they still charged me! When I brought it to the attention of the mvelopes customer service, they gave me their b.s. letter (attached below).

Btw, jzzz sounds like some guy from In2M trying to sell their product.

Original Letter:

I understand that you were charged for your Mvelopes Personal service because you did not cancel the service before your 30-day free trial period expired. As you know, we do not offer a refund for unused service as stated in our terms and conditions policy http://www.mvelopes.com/support/user-agree.php. We have also reviewed your account and have found that you were not billed in error.

We make every effort to keep the costs of our services as low as possible. Once a trial has expired, there are fixed costs that we incur. For this reason, we cannot issue refunds.

However, we will continue to make your Mvelopes Personal service available to you for the remainder of your current billing cycle. Please keep in mind you will have continued access to our Product Support team. They are willing to assist you with any questions you may have concerning the set-up or usage of Mvelopes Personal.

Mvelopes Customer Service

Hi all, I just wanted to give you a glimpse of my experience with mvelopes.

I decided to try the 30 day trial, and was impressed with the service and the software, however there was a problem on my bank's end.

I contacted the customer service people, and they extended the trial period starting from the day the problem with my bank was fixed.

In addition to this, they emailed me a notice about a week before the trial was to end. I opted for the 2 year plan instead of the 1 year plan, which was my original choice.

I love the service and would recommend (and have) it to friends, family and even strangers.

If you have written proof that you cancelled prior to the 30 days then you have a recourse. Make sure you document everything. Locate all of your e-mails and/or phone bills and then contact this web site: http://www.ic3.gov/complaint/
At the bottom of the page select I Accept and fill out the form on the next page. What will happen is they will verify your info and contact the local law enforcement to take action. I had an incident a few years ago and they were a lot of help in recovering 100% of the money that I had paid someone on eBay but didn't get my product after a year of hassles. Good luck.

bump

Hello all,

I read the posts and really shocked on what you are saying about Mvelopes customer support. We have used Mvelopes budgeting system for about five months now and ran into a few areas where we needed their customer service help. Not only did they walk us through what we needed but helped us set up the program. Their rep was very friendly and helpful.

Many people dont read that after the 30-day free trial you get billed - thats pretty standard with services. Either way, I strongly recommend Mvelopes as it has helped us manage our spending and on our way to paying off our remaining credit cards.

Best of luck all.

Yes

I very recently began my free trial period and only then did I start reading reviews. A little too late I first thought, however after reading your review as well as the other positive reviews I am encouraged. In further reading their site if you take care to read all the information provided it is very clearly expressed that you will be immediately be billed for your subscription plan upon your enrollment; that is after the end of the trial period. It didn't immediately occur to me that if I continued past the trial period my credit card would be charged for the 2 year subscription price however this was not the fault of Mvelopes but me not paying closer attention to details provided. Additionally even with this information I would still prefer the one time payment for the 2 year subscription as it is a considerable savings.

So far I am enjoying the service and think it's the best budgeting tool I've come across yet.

I just got off the phone with customer service and got the whole "we don't give refunds" line as well. What I don't understand is they waited about three months to charge me something. Just when I don't have a job and the money they charged me came out of my rent money. Customer service is dead.

I just finished setting up my account for the free trial and had a problems with my bank not being accepted. I used the email and Mvelopes extended my trial by 30 days and now all is working fine.

I also have used chat on several times and have always found them to be very helpful.

I signed up for two years to save money and know that before the end of the free trial that it is my responsibility to know when and stop the service if I do not wish to continue.

Whining about the trial period is caused by not reading the agreement that you agreed to when signing up. Instead of blowing by it like we do any other yada, yada...try reading it before you sign up.

I've used Mvelopes for the past two years and their product surpasses any others. Some complain about it being a monthly charge, but there are constantly upgrades to the program. Those would have to be bought with annual upgrades from Quicken, etc.

Controlling and planning your budget is importand and this software provides the best tool I've found for doing so.

I use both a Mac and Pc, and often am on different computers. Because this is all online, it means I can access from anywhere I have a browser and an internet connection.

I suggest going for other software. I recommend Parcus Group’s. Check it out here www.parcusgroup.com/index.html

Took your suggestion, but sorry, this looks weak for budgeting. (It may be helpful for long term financial planning?) But you would have to manually enter all your transactions and other data and there is no forward thinking planning of how you are going to spend your money like there is in Mvelopes. If you want to just "track" your spending trends, go use something like quicken or money.

I haven't tried to cancel my Mvelopes subscription so I can't comment on whether they hold you to the agreement you signed up for, but I know that they have been helpful whenever I needed help USING the tool.

Yes its a great system but my wife can not use it. I emailed them to cancel and got an email back below. They make no exceptions, WHY CANT WE CANCEL BY EMAIL MAIL OR FAX? Not good business sense.

DONT USE THESE RIP OFF ARTISTS...

Thank you for your message about canceling your service.

Just a reminder: In order to protect our customers, and as stated in the terms and conditions, service may not be canceled via e-mail, postal mail, or voice mail. Please call Customer Service at our toll free number 1-866-683-5673, Option Two. Customer Service hours are Monday - Friday 8am - 5pm MST.

IMPORTANT: You must cancel service on or before the expiration date of your 30 day trial or before the end of your next billing period, as stated in the confirmation email sent upon enrollment. If you call after the expiration date for the trial or the billing period you will have already been charged the full amount of the service plan in which you selected.

We do not offer refunds for subscription service provided. Your account will remain active until you have received a cancellation confirmation number and unused service which has been charged after your trial period is not refundable

So, I am reading all these posts on how they got charged....

its YOUR fault for not reading that after the free trial you will get billed if you dont cancel - Mvelopes is not doing anything deceptive, Blockbuster, Netflix, and many other subscription services do the SAME THING!

If you find use for the product - then use it and enjoy how good it can be to help you manage your money - if not..then cancel before the free trial period --- so if there is anyone to blame... BLAME yourself.

And calling a company to cancel is not a big deal - pick up the phone, dial the number and tell them you are cancelling....

I sure wish I had read this site before I got involved with mvelopes. I have had a membership for a couple of years. I just found it too confusing to use.
My year subscription was up in May 2007. (or so I thought)
The credit card I had on my account had expired in Feburary of this year. This week I recieved my statement with another year's $129.60 taken out for Mvelopes. I called Mvelopes to cancel. I was told that there is no refund and that my cancellation can't be until May of 2008. Evidently it's in the print somewhere.

I had to ask repeatedly to get a name and address to write my complaint. I was assured that no one in the company will give me a refund even though they used my expired credit card. It's pretty sad when a company has to keep users even when they don't want to be.

Beware!!!

What IS pretty sad is that so many cannot grasp the concept of being held accountable to the contract to which they agree.

It all sounds like fair and standard practice to me:

You missed the deadline... you pay what you agreed to pay.

You want to cancel by email... you agreed that it would be done over the phone if necessary (omg what a terrible thing)

You signed up for a year and agreed to renew the contract after that year, well that's what happened (YOU missed the deadline, not them).

Quality customer service shouldn't be judged based on whether they'll let you out of the contract they presented to you. That is, unless it is unreasonable or unfair for some reason - in this case there was not one post that described such a case. This is all VERY standard across all internet subscription services.

From the lack of responsibility shown in these comments with regard to customers following up with user agreements (on time), it's no wonder there's such a market for budget management. It's a similar short-sighted mentality that allows consumers to fall into the traps they do, resulting in being neck deep in bills to pay. In my opinion, those bashing the service are the ones who likely need to stick to the agreement and who most need to use the tool.

I think the Mvelopes product is useful but the company’s internal structure to support it needs work. I signed up for the free trial and about five days before the trial expired, I changed to the quarterly subscription rate from the one-year rate. I received an email confirming the change. Great. However, my checking was still billed $129.60. Not so great. This $90 difference caused a transaction to overdraw my account. I spoke with a rep and was told the credit would take up to 14 days to post.Not so great. BTW, I have been diligent about balancing my checkbook shortly after purchases are made. Three calls later, I spoke with a rep that although apologetic, minimized the seriousness and the company's part in this situation. I have asked for the quarterly amount to be refunded to offset the additional charges I will incur. I was told it would be discussed with a supervisor who would not be in until 10:30 a.m. MST and I would receive a call back. The ONLY reason I was that I did not become more angry is because I like the product and only one nsf fee was generated. For some of you, the company’s billing error would not have cause the same chain of events. Nevertheless, I believe that prior complaints about customer service and billing have merit.

I cannot recommend Mvelopes due to their deceptive marketing practices.

When you sign up for the "free trial", you see that there are monthly, quarterly, and annual billing plans. Your eye is attracted to the annual plan, because they show you that the cost per month is lower. We all want save money, right?

I signed up for the quarterly plan. My daughter signed up for the annual plan. We signed up at the same time.

I chose to cancel the service - four days after the thirty day "free" trial. My fault. I followed the procedure to cancel, which they did. However, they charged my credit card for the quarter. I was enrolled for 34 days. I was billed for 90 days. There is no refund based on actual usage.

My daughter has been using the service. She has credits from her credit card (from returning items to the store) that are coming through as charges on the Mvelopes system. The system has errors. When she inquired about canceling, she was told that she would not be refunded any portion of her ANNUAL payment. She will use the service for about 60 days. She was billed for 365 days. There is no refund based on actual usage.

Others have referenced their "fixed costs" response. They have the same fixed costs with me and my daughter. However, they have three months of my money, and one YEAR of hers. The "fixed costs" response is simply untrue. The easiest and fairest way for a company to recover legitimate costs is by charging each customer a fee up front (processing, membership, etc.), or by having a cancellation fee on the back end. Whatever the fees are, disclose them plainly up front, and make them consistent for everyone. It is unreasonable for Mvelopes to keep a customers money based on the term that the customer chooses (variable) in order for Mvelopes to recover a "fixed" cost.

I will readily admit that Mvelopes has covered themselves in the fine print of their lengthy contract. They say that it is a PREPAID plan (only in the fine print) and that you will be billed for whatever plan that you sign up for regardless of use.

Cell phones companies, satellite services, etc. all have fine print. However, they market their plans up front as CONTRACTS with penalties. Mvelopes does not. It appears that they clearly want you to sign up for the annual plan, only to keep your money for the entire year even though you may have only used it for 34 days.

NOWHERE does Mvelopes market this service as a contract or as prepaid. In fact, it is marketed as quite the opposite. It is only in the fine print that this is disclosed, and the reality is that most consumers will not read the fine print anyway.

Are their practices legal? You be the judge. Are their practices unethical and deceptive? In my opinion, yes. If they really believe in their product, then I challenge Mvelopes to fully disclose - UPFRONT - that this is a PREPAID plan, a contract, with a no-refund policy. Then, dissatisfied customers like my daughter and I, and others on this website, would not be compelled to warn others.

For those that want to scold others for not reading the fine print, may I suggest that this is not the solution to the problem. Mvelopes simply needs to be honest and ethical from the beginning. I would encourage everyone to write them with this request. Please post on every ratings/review site that you can find until they improve their practices. Their future customers will be better off in the end.

Thanks.

This is Nick Thomas, COO and co-founder of Finicity, the makers of Mvelopes. Though several of our customers have come to our defense, I wanted to engage this forum to provide a clarification of our current Billing policies.

Mvelopes is a subscription-based software as a service model. We make money from consumer subscriptions to quarterly, annual, or 2-year "pre-paid" plans. The longer your commitment to the product, the lower your effective cost per month. We currently offer the following pre-paid plans:

2 Year Plan: $189.60 automatically charged every other year - Best Value (equivalent to just $7.90 per month)

1 Year Plan: $129.60 automatically charged every year
(equivalent to just $10.80 per month)

Quarterly Plan: $39.60 automatically charged every 3 months(equivalent to only $13.20 per month)

To lower the risk to you that the product/service will not work for your situation, we provide a free 30-day trial to try the service. If you cancel within 30-days, you are not charged. If you cancel after the 30-days, you are charged for the full amount of the service plan you selected.

We communicate in our marketing pages, as you are signing up, and in the email you receive immediately following enrollment in the service that you can cancel within the 30-day trial. If you do not cancel your service within 30-days, 1) You will be charged for the plan you selected, and 2) We have a no refund policy after the 30-day trial.

We also communicate that in order to cancel your service, you have to chat with a Live Customer Service Representative. Email cancellations are not valid for a variety of operational reasons, but mainly to ensure that we are cancelling the right account and communicating the cancellation to you for future reference.

If a customer chats in and cancels after the 30-day trial (day 31, lets say), our support team will remind you of the contract which you signed up for and re-state our no refund policy.

For the renewal of a plan, we send out an email 10-days prior to your billing (to the email address you have current with us) letting you know that your billing cycle is up. We communicate to you how much and when you will be charged and instructions on how to cancel if you do not want to continue your service. For contract renewals, we also have a no refund policy.

Some customers are dissatisfied with the policy. Either they intended to cancel or didn't remember that they had signed up in the first place and the charge in their account generated a reminder to chat with support. For these cases we offer a dispute resolution path where the customer can make their case for why they should not have been charged at the end of their 30-day trial or upon automatic renewal of a plan.

As other epinions writers in this thread have mentioned, the policies and business model we are using is common in the Software as a Service industry. I think we communicate our model clearly and fairly.

If you do not feel like you were treated fairly according to the process outlined above, I would welcome an objective phone call from to discuss your opinions at 801.984.4210. All of us at Mvelopes are highly interested in providing real value to you and your objective feedback is welcomed and encouraged.

Nick Thomas
COO
Finicity

After writing my review above, I placed a call to Mr. Steve Smith of IN2M (now Finicity), the parent company of Mvelopes. I left a voice mail and referenced my post for his review. The next morning, I promptly received a call from Mr. Nick Thomas, their COO, who was very professional and polite, and was genuinely concerned about my experience . As Mr. Thomas suggested, our conversation can be divided into two parts: (1) their business model, and (2) their communication (website).

(1) Mvelopes Business Model:

Mr. Thomas stated that their model was common in their industry. Specifically, he is stating that it is common to charge a customer $189.60 for a two year subscription, offer a 30 day free trial, have the customer cancel on the 31st day, and keep the customer's $189.60. I respectfully disagreed and stated that this only creates enemies, who tell others. I also stated that I have never experienced this “common” practice. I offered my experience as follows (details added):

A. T-Mobile: two year contract, fully disclosed/consistent cancellation penalty for all ($175.00 when I signed up), billed for actual monthly use upon cancellation, customer keeps the phone.

B. Packet 8 Voip: One year contract, fully disclosed/consistent cancellation penalty for all ($59.00), billed for actual monthly use upon cancellation, customer keeps router.

C. Earthlink Internet: six month special, pay monthly, cancel anytime with no penalty, billed for actual use.

D. Netflix: two week free trial, pay monthly, cancel anytime with no penalty, billed for actual use.

I stated to Mr. Thomas that their practice was not common to me. I believed it to be uncommon and unethical.

(2) Communication (website):

View this link: http://www.mvelopes.com/mvelopes/service-plans.php

Note the heading “Low Monthly Membership” on the left side of the website page. One is then enticed to sign up for the two year plan at $189.60 - "Best Value" - at $7.90 per month. (Note: as of 01/10/2008, this has been changed. See post below dated 01/10/2008)

Fact: there is no monthly membership. Why have a large heading of “Low Monthly Membership”, followed by a monthly breakdown of the cost, when nothing of the sort exists? The combination plants the seed of a monthly plan and fee. (Note: Sadly, Mvelopes relegates the fact that they will charge you the full service plan fee to a small footnote at the bottom of the page.) I stated to Mr. Thomas that this is clearly deceptive.

Dispute Process:

Mr. Thomas then stated that if anyone was dissatisfied, then they could enter into their dispute process. I offered my opinion that most people do not enjoy disputes. It makes better sense to engage in business practices that avoid them in the first place.

Conclusion:

My original position remains. I publicly thank Mr. Thomas for his call, concern, and utmost professionalism. He offered to do anything necessary to ensure my complete satisfaction. For this treatment, I am very grateful.

I just reviewed the post from Mr. Nick Thomas. I thank him for using the terms "Prepaid" and "No-Refund Policy" which are missing from the main pages of the website. His explanation of Mvelopes is so good that I have the following recommendation:

1. Delete "Low Monthly Membership" heading from the Mvelopes website (since it is simply not true).

2. Replace it with "Note from co-founder Nick Thomas".

3. Upon selecting the link, the user would then see the text from his well written post prominently displayed in a new page. This would clearly explain the program.

(Yes, I am being facetious - mostly)

OR - Mvelopes could simply create a website that clearly presents the facts. Respectfully, their current model and communication (website) are unacceptable.

I find it interesting that (a) Mvelopes dedicates precious resources to a dispute resolution process (which is to be commended), and (b) their co-founder offers his valuable time for dispute resolution as well. Does their data suggest that a customer will go this far? (Perhaps yes, if their money is taken for two years.) My observation is that, given the competition and choice that we enjoy as American consumers, dissatisfied customers simply move on. They do not provide reasons as to why they left. And if they are mad, they now let the world know why through internet ratings and reviews. (Side note: I am suspect of the positive reviews here. Not that they are not true or undeserved, but, sadly, customers rarely take time to intentionally search for a forum to leave positive feedback, or furthermore, to dispute negative feedback on a product or service, unless they are encouraged to do so.)

Would Mvelopes be better served by redeploying their precious resources from the back end to more clearly and accurately telling their story on the front end? I believe this would create a win-win for all.

I searched Mvelopes to sign up for it from quickly viewing it the other night. I saw this website, and now am deciding against using it. I will wait for the online version of Quicken. Thanks for sharing your personal experiences to save others from the same hassles.

The replies to the COO indicate we are all intelligent people, but I still cannot believe the apparent ignorance. I read the information on the web site, no fine print included, and found it very obvious how the whole billing process works. It is a contract people, and it isn't a very complicated one. I haven't signed up for the service yet, because I want some information on the software as compared to others. The information on this site indicating there is a billing scam is a waste of time because, as it seemed to me, their billing practices are right out in the open. Does anyone have info on how good the system actually works, how useful it is? Thank you.

As a follow up to my previous posts, I would like to commend Mvelopes as follows:

1. I commend them for changing the reading of their website from "Low Monthly Membership" to "Low Membership Plans".

2. I commend them for refunding the money on my daughter's plan. After speaking with Mr. Thomas (as previously noted), we followed the dispute resolution path. We received a prompt response with a subsequent refund.

While my disagreement with their billing practices remains, Mvelopes has clearly demonstrated to me that they listen and are responsive to their customers.

Try myfinancialbook.com! It is a free budgeting tool!

I have been searching and searching for a product that would help a non-financial person like myself easily manage my finances.

A co-worker showed me Mvelopes and I have to say I am very impressed with what it does and I would like to try it out. My problem, and the reason I have not signed up, is this business model they are using.

With sites like Quicken on-line, Mint, Budgettracker, etc popping up everyday and only charging $2 -3 dollars a month I cannot see the justification of spending $12 - 13 a month.

I realize that the features in Mvelopes are somewhat unique but I don't feel they justify a the premium cost that surpasses the off the shelf complete financial management programs like Quicken and Money.

Sorry...but this business model is completely stupid. Remember, this is a service that is supposed to help you save money but they charge three times what everyone else does. Just doesn't make sense.

No wonder it's off most people's radars.

My experience with MVelopes customer service was fine, though it's been a couple of years. I did the trial, was quite impressed with the product, and had no trouble cancelling.

However, there are two major reasons I will not use MVelopes:

1. Security - I will not trust my financial information to be completely stored and managed on someone else's hard drive. I insist that my data be stored locally. I have no need to access my data from anywhere; I do it at home. I want the software installed locally, and I want my data stored locally. Period.

2. Cost - With Mvelopes, I have no choice but to pay for any and all updates. Over the last few years, using MS Money, I have had the choice whether or not to buy each upgrade (with the caveat that some online services expire if you don't upgrade, but that's a different complaint). The forced upgrade cost of MVelopes is just too high.

I never have did use the "advanced" features of MS Money, and am generally dissatisfied with Microsoft's heavy-handed policies anyway, and have since switched to Moneydance. It is a work in progress, but is very good for the basic account management features that I use.

If MVelopes ever steps up to the plate with a locally-installable version (which I suggested to them numerous times. They indicated they have no interest in doing so.), I may consider them. But not before.

I just wanted to thank the gentleman who posted that it is indeed Mvelopes policy NOT to refund a user's money in a prorated fashion. This is terribly business practice, and I was unsure of whether to attempt the 30 day free trial until reading this. Now, I know to steer clear of this company altogether.

Thank you

I just have to say again, after having read more posts, that even if this was normal business practice for this industry, WHICH OF COURSE IT ISN'T, the right thing to do, and the thing that engenders the most respect and probability for future business and reference of future business would be to refund all monies charged for services that have yet to be used.

I don't think anyone would argue that they shouldn't pay for the extra days over the 30 day free trial for which they neglected to cancel their membership. But it is downright stealing, to charge them for a service that they will no longer have access to, nor that they want!

For 3 days Ive been trying to cancel my 30 day trial for Mvelopes (expires on 14/05/08) but the phone number supplied does not connect when calling from Australia. Thanks to epinions.com i have the number of the COO from Finicity, and i have left a message on his voicemail. International directories in Australia say there is no business listed in Utah under the name Mvelopes or Finicity? As email is not an acceptable way to cancel the trial, my only hope is a call back from Finicity. If this doesn't happen by the 12/05/08-Monday morning my time, i will have to cancel all my credit cards to prevent being charged, as my toddler chewed up my notepad and i don't remember which one i used.

Mr. Thomas,

Thank you for clarifying your subscription options and refund policy.

I just signed up for the 30-day trial after a positive review from a money management article on yahoo.com, confident of your product's utility.

Noting that cancellation was only possible through e-chat, I tested out the e-chat.

I asked whether there was a pro-rated refund upon cancellation, and the customer service representative, Justin, said no after listing the subscription plan options.

Losing confidence, I thought, "No refund on a two-year subscription if I'm dissatisfied after 3 months? That doesn't sound like a company that plans to be around in two years."

He continued, stressing that once charged, the payment would not be refunded.

That he stressed this fact was positive. He was being straight forward with me.

As I was typing my next query about whether I could change my subscription plan during my free trial period, he added, "We do not have a refund policy."

Mr. Thomas, if you don't give refunds after the trial period ends, and this is a definite, determined course of action by your company to not give refunds, isn't that a policy?

I suggested it silly your company would rather lose a potential paying customer during the trial period than allow them to adjust their subscription plan to suit their needs.

He replied, "I have provided you with our company's terms and conditions."

In fact, I read the terms and conditions on your company's website. He provided me with partial information from your company's T&Cs, but he certainly did not provide the clarification for which I was looking.

Please allow me to provide you feedback on your customer service:

I believe he's a solid employee with an inadequate script and/or lack of understanding of your terms and conditions.

I don't like the fact that you don't provide a pro-rated refund policy. It suggests to me that either you're not confident in the longevity of your product or you're a scam artist.

Laura Rowley wrote an article on Yahoo! Finance, referring to Mvelopes. She was convincing, which is why I've just signed up for the free trial. I sincerely hope it's a "FREE" trial.

If your product is as good as it appears, time-efficient, and safe to use online from an information security standpoint (you immediately instruct the user to input all their banking account information - that's pretty bold without any visible sign of security/incryption/etc.), I can't wait to use it and you'll have my business.

To note, the Better Business Bureau seems okay with you. Also, you're coming from the same tech haven as Novell and WordPerfect (Utah)... with time as your company and product evolve, perhaps you'll reflect that same sound foundation. American Express also has a significant enterprise in your area; you could use a few lessons in customer service. You may not have AmEx's capital to support a "full money back guaranteed" refund policy, but you can pro-rate, you can indicate the capital risk upfront, and you can better educate your customer service reps.
*********
Please provide me with further detail on the security of my information once entered into your website.

Also, please indicate if I can change my subscription plan before the end of the 30-day trial period, or if I'm committed to either a) remaining with the 2-year plan I fell for because of the monthly savings marketing, or b) canceling and finding another budgeting tool.

Sincerely,
Your Potential Customer

I was going to give this service a try until i read this....
This company probably wont be around that long, if they cant grow a customer base.. just reading this alone has put a damper on my decision to even take a trial, why bother?

We are trying to get our finances in order, we are trying to build good habits.. 30 days is clearly not enough time to remember to check on a trial, they actually make that a point in there information demo...

SHAME ON THEM.
I'm reluctant to believe management of this company is US based, doesn't seem like an American culture thing to just take money, then again I've seen it happen in business's that have fallen in less than 2 years of with this kind of service.

NOTICE:
Current members start looking for another solution now!
If your an entrepreneur, you might wanna take this concept & put some real financial sense to it, & make it better - they have a good idea, to bad they can't execute on it!

Example #1
I'm not even a customer & took the time out to write this just to warn other people... go figure

P.S.
I honestly don't believe anyone is defending the mvelopes platform.. someone has to pay for the good responses that are posted here, why do you think they keep peoples refunds!

Thanks for the feedback on the no-refund policy post 30-days. For those that are spooked by the policy, please take notice of your trial period end-date included in your confirmation email. I would also recommend choosing a quarterly plan to lower your risk... 2-year plans are really for customers that are committed to our solution and want to pay less for it.

BUT... PLEASE TRY US. Our service is helping thousands of people reach their financial goals and could work for you too.

All businesses must prove themselves to their customers by providing value equal to or greater than the amount charged or they will cease to exist. We do this every day by providing award-winning tools and a community to help you reach your financial goals.

I reiterate... please call me directly if you have any questions about our service (801)984-4210. I openly publish my phone number on our forums and here and encourage feedback from our customers. RickLaugh (a poster in this forum) and I had a great chat and we modified some wording on our site based upon his feedback. We do listen to our customers and potential customers.

Best Regards,
Nick Thomas
COO
Finicity, the makers of Mvelopes

Below is one of hundreds of customer testimonials we have received:

“My wife and I have been using Mvelopes for almost 2 years. I could tell you how Mvelopes helped us pay off credit card debt, save hundreds of dollars in interest and now earn reward points. I could tell you about the countless hours saved mulling over a paper budget and transferring funds to pay bills. I could even tell you about how we can now concentrate on paying our mortgage off in less than 10 years and being debt free.

Instead, I want to tell how Mvelopes saved my marriage. When my wife and I got married the financial responsibilities fell to me. I soon felt like the bad guy. She would come to me and ask "How much money do we have for this?" or "Can I buy this or that?” A lot of the time I would answer no because I was not sure. Over the years the anxiety and tension about the state of our finances increased. After a few months of using Mvelopes we both admitted to each other that we were not feeling the tension toward each other anymore. She no longer felt like I was keeping her from doing things and I no longer felt like the bad guy. We created a budget that we both agreed upon and it tells us what we can do. Now we both know how a purchase will affect our finances.

So Mvelopes, I would like to thank you for the money saved in counselor fees, lawyer fees and most of all the untold pain and suffering a failed marriage would have caused our 5 year old son. Thank you!”

James
Ooltewah, TN

Has anyone compared this Mvelopes to Quicken? If so what did they find? What about Quicken Customer Support, also Quicken Bill Pay Customer support? I would like to know, as I too want my finances straighten out.

The problem is that most people don't pay attention. There is no "gotcha" if you pay attention during your registration and you don't need to read the fine print. It's all very clear when you sign up for the trial. Why do you think they ask for the credit card?

I have no sympathy for those that want to be bailed out from their own ignorance. Stop whining. Doesn't matter if its McDonald's Hot Coffee or adjustable rate mortgages, understand what you're dealing with or you might get burned.

I've been using Mvelopes for over 4 years. It had great support and I have had only on problem with them in that time that was evenutally resolved.

I like that they had a help phone line you could call and speak with a real person. Now all they have is a chat line (which seems to be on dailup judging by the speed of their responses) that if they can't resolve your problem they give you a 4 hour window when someone will call you back on particular day.

Recently, they integrated their billpay into mvleopes and, oh my god, what a disaster. Apparently, long user names (such as email addresses which they recommended Mvelopes users to use as their bill pay userid) causes hits a bug during the integration process and you can't get to your Bill Pay until they fix the problem (It is 7/26/2008 and my bill pay broke two days ago on Tuesday and the support person said that the earliest it will be fixed is the beginning of next week).

I ahve been managing software implemenation project for the last 18 years and you can not tell me that they had a beta and not seen this problem. There hasn't been a targeted email to those users (with long user id) impacted by this issue to tell them to sit tight and wait for further info before going through the integration process, nothing. Very frustrating, not very proactive and lousy customer service.

People, please use your powers of reasoning to evaluate this company's policy! Cancel on day 29-no charge. Cancel on day 31, and they keep 2years worth of your money. 730 days worth of charges. AND They expect you to agree that on day 31 they have incurred costs that justify their keeping two years worth of fees? And the COO writes in to defend that policy?
And what costs? Once your information is on their system, especially if it's no longer being used, there is no cost to them other than digital storage. Pennies over two years, if that.
There is absolutely no good reason they cannot give an unhappy customer a pro-rated refund, and even charge a cancellation fee. To just keep your money, whether it be three months or two years worth, is morally indefensible. The COO hides behind the phrase; "it's our policy not to give refunds." Well guess who can change that policy? HE can. Face it, the money they get to keep from canceled, unused contracts is pure profit, and likely a profit center in their business model.

The COO seems unfazed by all the negative exposure here, and even tries to defend their policy. Any business person knows that satisfied customers tell one or two people, and dissatisfied customers tell twenty or thirty. That alone tells me this company is not being run by savvy business people and is a warning to stay away.

I'm extremely disappointed because I had thought I found the solution I've been looking for for years, and was excited to be signing up. However these posts, and the COO's response, in particular, have shown me this is a company without integrity and certainly the LAST company I would want handling my finances.
I will continue to look....elsewhere.

I had this same problem during the first couple of days after they released the integrated Bill Pay. However, I was able to migrate my Bill Pay account last night, so I assume it has been fixed. You might want to try to import your Bill Pay account again.

I have been browsing the epinions of the mvelopes online system. I am probably a strange one in that I've been a customer for over 2 years and in fact tried them back when it was software loaded as a client on your PC. Although there are some areas of improvement needed in the interface (reports etc. vs. excel) I love the system in general. Anyone looking at this who likes the envelope method of budgeting will find this the best one out there of this type. If you like Quicken or MS Money, this will not be a satisfactory substitute. That said there is nothing else similar that is nearly as sophisticated. In terms of customer service, it has actually improved greatly. The Tech support is extremely well trained.
The sign-up policy was understandable to me. I could tell they really wanted you to sign up, but knew I'd be charged right on day 31, even if I didn't want it that way. It could be improved, but I'm not sure why if you read carefully it is not understandable. I understood without reading the fine print. When I signed up I assumed it would take more than 30 days to really get the gist of the system, so I decided which option I'd want if I stayed with them (I could have done quarterly and then changed). I knew I needed to cancel on day 29, but also knew that would not be enough time. If you really want to know the product and decide if you like it try the shortest commitment for 3 months or so. Again, if your not interested in managing your finances via an envelop method, quicken and money are better suited for you. But I love the method an find the system VERY useful. Thanks.

I've not compared Quicken online customer service. However, in terms of straightening our your finances, mvelopes can work extremely well. The philosophy of the envelope method is why it works great. Mvelopes just automates that concept. You can know if a budget area (say dining out) has been exhausted before you decide to got to the restaurant, not after you see budget reports from last month etc. To make a good decision google the envelope method of budgeting and read up on its strengths and weaknesses. If you don't like the method, then go with the industry leaders (quicken, etc.) for the power of their tools etc. if you like the method definitely try mvelopes online.

bump

They don't bother to read what they're signing up for, they just see the word "FREE" and shut off their brain, then whine and cry when they have to pay.

Why would you sign up for 2 years before you even try it out?

Some people just want to get something for nothing.

Nick, please do us all a favor and shut down their account at the end of the 30-day trial. Make them confirm their continuation after the trial because this is really annoying. I come on here to get legitimate feedback and it's 95% idiotic.

I canceled my so-called free 30 day trial 15 days after enrolling. I was assured by the guy at the other end of the chat that my credit card would not be charged at the end of 30 days. He gave me a cancellation confirmation number and sent me a Cancellation Confirmation email. You guessed it, 30 days later my credit card was charged. Not finding anywhere on the Mvelopes website to enter a dispute I initiated a chat session to request a refund. After 30 minutes of gathering all my personal information, passwords, secret question, etc. he told me he couldn't help me and that I'd have to send an email to their dispute resolution department. No response from them yet.

I'm sorry so many people have had bad experiences. My husband and I have been using Mvelopes for about 4 years now and have had nothing but great experiences. We couldn't have gotten out of debt without it. It helped us get rid of $60,000 worth or credit card and car debt in two and a half years. We continue to use it and wouldn't want to handle our finances without it. We love it!

Hi, Went to the site got swept away with the pitch. Paid with my Visa to get in. I found it useless and not comparable to free Yodlee, even quicken online, or mint are better.

The old bait and no refund in the small print WEB trick.

You must chat online to cancel. I went online to cancel in ten minutes of the first day, guess what, no chatters were there.

Watch out for these guys. Many have posted hear telling us to read the small print etc. BOSH, if these cretins had anything to offer they would not need these tricks to get money. Even Wal-mart takes returns the same day.

Any ethical business will give a refund when asked.

Mvelopes is like paying to see the hairy lady at the circus.

You pay then you can try it.

Dope dealers have the same system to hook children.

If the owners had confidence that the product was truly good, then they would let you try it first, then you would die to buy it.

Mvelopes knows they have no value thus this system.

Why do you support them keeping $ from those who wish to leave.

Mvelopes Bait and Switch

Site says Click Here to START YOUR FREE TRIAL

There is no FREE trial. I gave my card, clicked though the mind-numbing legal mumbo to start a free trial. Saw the product was poorly designed, a useless interface, difficult to decihper.

Then thought I could cancel Whoaaa!! Fella, you OWE us for using our site READ the 2 POINT TYPE.

These people are DIRTY.

WARNING! WARNING! WARNING!

There is know free trial.

As hard to get rid of as Microsoft.

AND YOU WILL PAY.

There is know free trial. If you look at it you are deemed to have been a user.
Then you can ONLY Cancel VIA LIVE-CHAT.

VERY Bad.

MY worst internet experience yet.

Hi, Try Dealing with proud, ethical firms who would never charge a customer who is disatisfied. That is a better idea.

The user interface and connections to accounts is slow. The user interface is arcane.

The real effort was expended on JOB #1 , hooking the unsuspecting into a NOT FREE, Free Trial.

Please help me to understand why an honest firm has, or needs, a 19 Paragraph terms of service. After reading the positive posts, I wonder how some folks become so Mvelopoes Happy. Especially after having viewd and tried to use it. Is there another Mvelopes somewhere?

NO, you Dont get it. Americans find deception in trade repugnant. If a customer wants out, or in, a 19 point disclaimer is NOT appreciated nor needed. Shysters with fine print TRAPS run like the other kind of roaches here in the light.

In the USA the customer is right. Do you get it?

Go Sign up for Vista ultimate, this is what your lack of vigilance has wrought upon us.


IF YOU NEED TO CANCEL
Our goal is your financial success. We know that Mvelopes Personal is a key to that success. For that reason, we don't want to lose you as a customer. If you choose to cancel your membership you must contact a customer service representative via live chaton or before your trial period expiration date to avoid being charged. If you are charged after your expiration date, that charge is non-refundable, whether or not you choose to use the service. You can reach a customer service representative during our business hours (M-F from 8 am to 5 pm MT). Please note, due to security reasons, requests for cancellation can only be processed by chatting directly with a Customer Service Representative. As such, cancellation requests transmitted to us by any other means (e.g. email, voicemail, etc.) will not be honored. See Termination & Cancellation under the Terms and Conditions of the Mvelopes Service Agreement (https://my.mvelopes.com/support/user-agree.php).
Thank you again for your order. Please visit us again soon at www.mvelopes.com .
Sincerely,

WARNING! WARNING! Mvelopes cancels only by live Chat

Mvelopes sells hope to the hopeless. These types cannot sleep at night with extra money in their accounts.

The system is arcane, it takes more money they do not have, by the quarter or year.

And like the COO says, no refund after thirty days, read our disclaimer.

Give me a break.

Sir, You are in charge of a rip-off machine.

If your product is any good, get behind it. If mvelopes is good, make the user agreement equitable. Correct the concerns in the user complaints.

Respond with deeds. In america the customer is right, remember this. It is wrong to sell a BEST DEAL and keep the full year fee from a 31 day customer.

It is wrong to not ALLOW easy cancellation. You have easy sign up. Give what you require.

Customers DO NOT need your phone number. It cannot be used to cancel. The offer means nothing.

You should read the spoor. These complaints should touch you. Make it work right, eliminate the systemic flaws in your product and onerous terms, then greater success will come to you.

This company is a total farce. I signed up on Friday, but the application wouldn't load. I tried numerous times, downloaded the most recent version of Flash, restarted my computer, but no dice.

So I went to the live support last night to cancel. To summarize my chat, it went like this:

- the person claimed they couldn't cancel my account - they said I needed to log in to the application and follow the support link there. When I said I couldn't log in and that was the problem, she said she'd make an exception and cancel my account for me.
- she asked for my username, as well as other identifiers, which I provided.
- she claimed that the information I gave her didn't match what they had on file.
- So I then copied and pasted the exact same information from the confirmation email I received, including the personal confirmation number that I received from Mvelopes.
- she claimed that the username I provided - the same user name in the confirmation email I had - "didn't exist".
- When I indicated that it was the exact same username in the email I received, she claimed to "find it" but that it had been "canceled".
- I asked her how this was possible since I hadn't talked to ANYONE at the company since I had signed up two days before. I received no response.

Given that I was obviously now quite concerned with this "company" - and was even more concerned that they wouldn't cancel the correct account, I asked for an email address so that I could forward her the confirmation email. Naturally, the first address she gave me didn't work - it bounced back as "does not exist". She provided a second email address, which did work as I received one of those "we'll get back to you in one business day" emails. In the meantime, she said that she hadn't yet received the email.

- Given her ineptitude, and the fact that I had zero confidence that my account will be properly canceled, I asked if there was anyone I could actually speak to. She said she could set up a callback, so we scheduled one.

Half an hour later I get an email explaining that my account has been canceled, and since my account has been canceled, they have canceled the callback.

Unbelievable.

I'm a big fan of web services. I use them whenever/ wherever I can. And this is - BY FAR - the worst customer service I have ever seen. Not only that, they give you one option - and one option only - for contacting support. I'm supposed to trust a company that does its best to shield employees from its customers with my financial information?!?

What a waste of money, this is too hard to use.
You set up your budget envelopes and it is very easy the first time. The program sets it up for one month, but I get paid every 2 weeks. No matter if I reload the envelopes every 2 weeks or once a month, it tells me I have 1/2 the money available so redo the budget. EVERY TIME!!
The CC payments are very complicated. I know epinions wants you to explain every thing in great detail, but you have to use this to understand. I have been using Quicken forever so I know I am not stupid.
The customer service is excellent. Too bad, but I never tried to cancel, the 1st 30 days seems to go pretty well and you are all involved in getting all your accounts set up and all your passwords in. If I had spent more time using it, instead of setting every detail up, I would have realized how difficult the use is. They have an online chat helpline that is very useful, they will even repair your program remotely. The only problem is I need a Mvelopes for Dummies or someone sitting next to me to teach me how to do this program.
Overall, I have found the customer service excellent, but I hate this program.

You can change your plan during the 30-day trial. Once the trial is over, you will be charged for the full amount of the plan you selected. We have a no refund policy after you have been charged for a service plan.

Chat is the only way to cancel your free trial, however, it is open 24 hours a day, 5 days a week. You are required to login to contact support and cancel.

For the customer that was billed erroneously after cancellation, I apologize. We have just rolled out a new, state of the art billing management system that should prevent these errors in the future. I'm glad we were able to fix the problem, but sorry about the time it took you to get it fixed.

I assure this forum that we are working hard to serve our customers. The invitation is always open to contact me directly with feedback or concerns.

Nick Thomas
Co Founder and COO, Finicity. The makers of Mvelopes
(801)984-4210 (direct)

So I signed up for a 60 day free trial that was an offer that was e-mailed to me as a former customer. I figured I would give it another shot. I signed up and received a confirmation stating that I would be charged at the end of 60 days. In Red red print it said this on the bottom of my confirmation
"Your MasterCard ********* account will be charged 60 calendar days from today unless you call to speak to a Customer Service Representative to cancel!"

So after 30 days my account gets charged $129.60. I do the live chat thing and yes they admitted their mistake (thankfully I kept the e-mail confirmation because I needed it to prove to them I had a 60 day trial and not a 30 day trial). I was told the refund would be in my account in 4-6 weeks. What!!!! 4-6 weeks! what's the deal? They make a mistake and then I have to let them sit on 129.60 of MY money for a month and a half!! The CS agent told me that no matter who I talked to it would not change that is just their policy. I set up a call back to speak with someone but the CS agent didn't give me a good feeling that I would get my money back any sooner. If I had just changed my mind about the product and was requesting a refund I could understand that there would be no need to prioritize but this is their mistake and I could use that money this month.
By the sounds of it they don't refund anyone's money so why is it going to take them 4-6 weeks to refund mine?

Here is the chat session:

ME: Will someone be able to address how long it will take to get the money refunded?
Raymond: I have sent the refund request to our billing team. The normal time that a refund takes to get credited to the account is 4-6 weeks.
Your cancellation confirmation number is C80969MD. I will also send you an email that reflects the cancellation of the subscription renewal shortly. Please check your Spam/Bulk/Junk mail folder for the email if it is not present in your Inbox.
Raymond: Is there anything else I can help you with today?
ME: I am not pleased that due to an error on your part that I will need to do without over $100 of my money this is simply not right.
Raymond: I can understand your concern however, the timeframe provided is the normal one.
Raymond: You should see the money in your account within 4-6 weeks.
ME: What can I do to get this addressed. Is there someone I can speak to I am not happy and will never come back to this product if I cannot get this resolved. It's not fair!!
Raymond: I can setup a callback for you however, you will hear the same thing as I mentioned above on the timeframe of the refund.
ME: I am sure that there is some way that a check can be cut and sent to me immediately. This is not a matter of me not being happy with the product this is due to a mistake by you the company and I should not have to be punished by not receiving an immediate refund.
ME: Please have someone call me ASAP
Raymond: We understand your concern and that is why, I have emailed your issue to billing team. We do not have any intentions of taking your money. You will receive it back but the timeframe is 4-6 weeks and we cannot do anything about that as it is the standard refund policy.
ME: Please have someone call me.
Raymond: Hence, even if I setup a callback for you, it will not help the purpose as the timeframe cannot be changed.

I received a call today stating that my refund was credited. Checked the bank and there it is. They made good.

This is the worst customer service that I have ever seen. Not only can you not talk to a person on the phone ever they make it near to impossible to cancel the service. I sent several requests by e-mail to any e-mail address that i could find I got no response and no charges appeared on my cc. Low and behold 2 months later a charge shows on my cc I tried everything and finally got a chat with someone named jessica. She finally gave me a confirmation on the cancel. But they will not give me back the 41.00 they took from my account 2 months past the activation date. This is a very bad deal and they know once they have you in the system it is very difficult to cancel

Initially I really liked the service. Although I think they made a fundamental mistake when they decided to use Flash to develop their product, I must admit that the usability of their application is pretty good.

However, an app like this inevitably will lead to questions and getting answers can be challenging. There is not a support phone number and the live chat conversations tend to be laborious to get even the most simple question answered.

In addition, during their recent upgrade, Mvelopes lost all of our financial data (I'm serious).

We attempted to cancel last week, and I was not surprised to discover that the cancellation process required us to jump through a number of hoops. As a matter of fact, I think our account is *still* active.

I think Mvelopes could learn a lot from companies like 37Signals and Google. Perhaps their senior management team should read "Getting Real" by Jason Fried. It could help them, help their customers much more effectively in the future.

Just my .02.

Interesting that you say "live chat available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week ", well I just signed up, read all of these reviews, went in to cancel and lo and behold no one is available until 8 pm tonight...

Quote from nickthomas:

"Chat is the only way to cancel your free trial, however, it is open 24 hours a day, 5 days a week."

:)

Accurate reporting in this post. Who in the world would want to enter a dispute process of Finicity design?

Finicity is a systemic rip-off device.

Deceptive trade practices is their rule. These pro-mvelopes posters are Finicity shills in my estimation.

Do yourself a favor and do not let them entangle you, or you may enter their dispute process.

As you say. Only sign up for the quarterly plan.

That is because we will keep your money after we let you see our arcane and garish software. I once paid one dollar at the state fair to see the bearded lady. Remind you of anyone?


Finicity is a systemic rip-off device.

Deceptive trade practices is their rule. These pro-mvelopes posters are Finicity shills in my estimation.

Do yourself a favor and do not let them entangle you, or you may enter their dispute process.

How much is Mvelopes paying u to say this crap. everyone knows that even though the program could somehow help u. they have lowsy customer service and they dont like to refund your money. AN THAT'S A FACT.

PLEASE PEOPLE DONT FALL INTO THIS TRAP IF U WANT TO DO IT TRY IT FOR 3 MONTH WHICH I KNOW U WONT LAST 3 MONTHS USING IT. AND CANCEL BY 300 EMAILS AND 500 PHONE CALLS. SO THEY COULD DROP U.

I was using MVELOPES happily for 4 months when I noticed that most of my transactions were no longer downloading from one of my accounts. SO I started a live chat with technical support and the phone rep took my information and opened a technical support ticket to have someone look at it. I received an email with instructions to change some settings on my account to allow them more access to my account info. I did this and replied to their email that I had completed the steps. Apparently, the email bounced, because they emailed me a few days later to say that since they hadn't heard from me in 96 hours they were closing my ticket. I opened another ticket, and the whole process repeated, ending with another closed ticket. This time I even went online to update the ticket in the support area, but apparently they don't read this area.

So now I am trying to close my account - wish me luck!!

I signed up for mvelopes about 4 months ago and was really excited about the program. I did not have and have not had any trouble with customer service. However, customer service problems pale in comparison to the frustration I've experienced trying to actually learn and use the program.
I had been using the envelope method of budgeting for over 10 years - MANUALLY! Ugh. I had a page for each of our budget categories and had to come home and enter each receipt on the sheet and keep a running total. Mvelopes brings the information from each of your credit card and checking/savings account to your mvelopes account. No more keeping track manually - you just enter your account and there are your current transactions. But alas, my excitement and love of this program quickly faded and died. It is very difficult to learn. I am no budget dummy, but this program seems to be intentionally difficult to learn. They offer a program to learn it, but it's incredibly expensive - $50/session. What could be a simple, wonderful program has been nothing but a source of frustration for me. I've literally spent hours trying to figure this crazy program out. It's not that I am not using it, it's just that it always seems to have some glitch that I have to figure out; some transaction that didn't come through, a balance that I can't get reconciled, on and on. The customer service problems are not the most disappointing aspect of this company - the program itself is. I could cry thinking of going back to manual envelopes, but I'll probably live longer on account of my lower blood pressure not using mvelopes.

I am really surprised by this whole strand of complaints. When I signed up I was well aware of the policy as it stated it quite CLEARLY. I have been using mvelopes for over a year now and love the system. I signed up for the 2 year plan and knew I would be charged. I helped my brother sign up and he decided with the quarterly payments since he wasn't sure if he'd continue with it or not. That seems like a wise thing to do... not blow past the fine print. Buyers need to know what they are agreeing to. I think a prorated return on the amount as offered to the orignial poster is fair as YOU didn't cancel before your time was up.

I've forgotten to cancel on other things before. For one service it was a monthly contract... I had to pay for that next month before I could cancel.

I think the real anger should be directed at yourself for signing up for a 2-year plan contract as opposed to the 3 month. I do think that mvelopes should provide a monthly subscription as well... but they don't and they clearly state that when you are signing up. There is no deception here... read the fine print.

Now for those of you who aren't sure if you are going to use mvelopes... give it a try! I LOVE IT. My brother loves it. My sister tried it out for a month and canceled... no big deal. If you're not sure, sign up for the 3-month plan and you can move to a 2-year plan in the future if you end up loving it.

Mvelopes has totally transformed my spending habits and I am in a much better place now than I was a year ago.. despite all the economic problems our country is having. The key to making it through this recession is to have your personal finances in order!

There is nothing on mVelopes that you couldn't do at home with:

1) Some envelopes
2) Excel

And, you could probably make yourself some better reports.

The service is time consuming, and cumbersome.

Plus, when I called the "support line", it's a recording that says I can't use the support line.

So, I get onto Live Chat - and let them know I want to cancel. At this point, they offered me a "free phone consultation" to walk me through the pain points.

The problem is that my pain points were the fact that #1 and #2 above is cheaper --- And, isn't that something I should be looking for in a budget?

I, too, am puzzled by all the negativity about Mvelopes. I think it is great. It tracks your money in real time, which is better than any of the other programs which require you to download all your info.

I strictly use it to manage my spending, though, through just our checking account. I found that by adding in credit card accounts, 401K, etc. it became cumbersome - with money going in and out of different accounts. We are only spending out of our checking -- cutting up the credit cards -- so I just allocate a certain amount a month for the credit card payments. If I want to put a certain amount into a savings account, I allocate that. It's just much simpler using it with one account. It's been very helpful for items like property taxes, life insurance bills, vacation $, Christmas money, etc. when you really need to set aside a certain amount of money every month even though you won't spend it until later. It made me realize we were living beyond our means, and so now I feel like I have much more control over my money. Definitely worth $12 a month to me!

Between Mvelopes and Dave Ramsey, our financial path is changing drastically for the better!

I was just about to recommend Mvelopes as a budgeting program for an adult day program for young adults with developmental disabilities where I work as a consultant when I read about the misleading information about fees. Thanks for this information. We will keep looking for a reputable online program or design one of our own, which was the original intent. However, I thought I'd first check to see what's available. Too bad Mvelopes turns out to not be an ethical company because I really like the design of their program. But I will not set the people I serve up to be hit with a huge two-year fee when a low monthly fee has been advertised. This is very misleading and highly unethical.

PT Barnum is not dead yet.

He is in Utah waiting to help you part with your dough.

Inevitably a VERY satisfied user will respond to this post.

Watch out for mvelopes and Stamps.com fellow Americans.

If you wish to pay for a look under the tent, do so at your peril.

Well, Mvlopes is not good enough for free no obligation samples. You SHOULD READ the CLEAR contract you will sign for a peek. Even Wal-mart will give your money back without this much trouble. Perhaps Wal-mart will sign you up for ninety days.

First let me say I love the Mvelopes philosophy, it's a fantastic way to manage your money. You look in the envelope to see how much money you have to spend on any item or category. If you don't have the money, you don't buy it! Seriously, it's so simple but such a life impacting principle. It's put you in control! There are however two downsides, the one that is relatively minor in my book is that the application is built using yester-years technology. But again that's minor because it does work. Here's the biggest problem with Mvelopes, their customer support and customer appreciation. Support is ONLY available via online chat which is a big drawback, second the customer support reps are a) not very friendly b) not very knowledgeable and c) are not interested in retaining you as a customer AT ALL! My wife and I had a lot of problems with mvelopes connecting to our bank, we constantly have to use the online chat to have them reset passwords, check the connections, etc. Pretty frustrating. I finally got tired of it and cancelled the account altogether.

Meanwhile that problem with the bank connection seemed to stabilize and my wife was becoming pretty happy with how it was working. I had decided when it came renewal time I would go ahead and pay for another years subscription. Time went by and one day my wife could not login to the system. She called and they told her that they were deleting the account, she asked of we could renew and just continue using the system. They told her no! They would let us start a new subscription, but they were going to delete our account anyway and we would have to start from scratch! I asked to talk to a manager and the csr said that “the manager will tell you the same thing”, I told her I wanted to talk to a manager anyway. She said I would have to schedule a time to have them call and it takes at least one business day for them to call. Unreal! It’s obviously an offshore support team and it would seem they don’t have a full time manager….
Bottom line, Mvelopes is cool and it will save you from unorganized financial stress, e.g. save you Money! But the company has some serious problems with customer support, so if you have a problem cross your fingers, click the “chat support” button and hope for the best. Meanwhile you might want to look into Mint.com, it’s free and uses current technology. And even though it’s free it has worked flawlessly where Mvelopes is still somewhat buggy. Have fun !

There is nothing wrong with a company making money but you would think they would realize they could make more money but improving their image and billing practices.

In the age of information this company should realize that everyone has access to information and opinions of customers. It is true that we all need to be responsible for our own personal finances and American companies need to listen to the customers if business want to compete. If only a competitor would create a similar product but with better customer service or at least a subscription service its consumers thought was fair and ethical.

Regardless of the legality or fine print...bottom line, customers should not feel taken advantage of and a nearly $200 charge for customers trying to get their finances on track and collectively a nation trying to get back on their feet; is ridiculous.

This company is doing the American people and ultimately the economy a disservice.

Someone wrote:

"The COO seems unfazed by all the negative exposure here, and even tries to defend their policy. Any business person knows that satisfied customers tell one or two people, and dissatisfied customers tell twenty or thirty. That alone tells me this company is not being run by savvy business people and is a warning to stay away.

I'm extremely disappointed because I had thought I found the solution I've been looking for for years, and was excited to be signing up. However these posts, and the COO's response, in particular, have shown me this is a company without integrity and certainly the LAST company I would want handling my finances.
I will continue to look....elsewhere."

and I second that

I have been a very satisfied customer of Mvelopes Personal through Crown Ministries for over 4 years. What has intrigued me lately is that there seems to be two different "Mvelopes" programs out there. They seem to basically be the same thing but offered by two different companies. I live chatted with someone moments ago and he told me that they use the same support staff. It is actually a little cheaper to go through Crown ministries. Their website is www.crown.org.

I budgeted on paper for years and then tried Quicken with great frustration, since it is not truly a budgeting program. Any time I've had a problem, I've used their live chat and had my problem resolved.

Their cancellation policy is very clear on their website. If you are still wanting to try it after 30 days, a 3 month subscription gives you a good opportunity to really evaluate how it will work for you. I did that initially and then signed up for the 2 year plan and never looked back! It is MUCH less time consuming than any other program I have seen and I love the way it downloads my transactions all in one place for me. I just have to put them in the right "mvelope" and see how I'm spending my money.

I highly recommend this and plan to continue using it for many, many years....

I have been using Mvelopes for some time. I have resisted quitting many times because I like the envelope budgeting and the automatic downloading feature (Hah! Love/Hate).
These guys are really only interested in providing as little as possible in order to gain and keep customers. They are obviously not doing enough. I rarely take the time to comment on stuff like this, and when I do, you know it has gone WAY too far. These guys have screwed me for the last time.
Over the last two years, I have literally spent hours and hours either dealing with their horrible, stingy customer service or doing damage control as the result of their failed systems. This is a nice concept, but terribly executed. I wouldn't mind working out the bumps WITH them, but when something happens you end up feeling utterly alone.
For example: I think I am going along ok, and then I get tons and tons of duplicate transactions. If that is not bad enough, they do not all have the same descriptions! So which is valid and which is not? Too bad, fool. We have your money so we are not in a hurry to help.
Or, life is busy and hectic, no margin whatsoever. Then Mvelopes decides they do not like the way a bank (Bank of America) does things and it won't download ANY transactions. Like I have time for this. Where does the time (hours over the course of weeks) come from? Mvelopes steals it from my family, my job and my health.
Or try this: Every piece of data regarding the last two years' transactions are stored on their server. (There is no decent, simple way to maintain a usable copy of your own data so you can either manage during THEIR crisis or easily quit and use another system) Then, one Saturday morning I decide to do data entry, budgeting and get an overall view of where I am. So, I try to log in..."Incorrect User name or Password" !!! Huh?!?! I have been using the same password manager for two years, and nothing has changed. So I check manually my hard copy of my user name and password and yes, it it correct. So I click the "Lost Password" link. It tells me there is no such user. Now I begin to be very concerned.
Let's see:
1) According to them, I do not exist (except when they take my money).
2)All of my data is....somewhere else.
3)Customer service is also nowhere to be found. (I can wait a couple of days so, at their convenience, and without much enthusiasm, we can BEGIN the usually agonizing PROCESS of working out THEIR issues. (I remember one time they "Opened a ticket" and I was literally strung along for WEEKS!)
I now hate Mvelopes. It is not worth it. It is like being strung along in an abusive relationship. Always thinking, “It will get better”, or “It's not that bad”, then there is some temporary relief for a short time , then BAM! another wave of pain and frustration. I am sick of it. They have gotten way too much of my time and money. I am done.
My advice? Get out while you can, or better yet, don't even start. Save yourself.

I have been using Mvelopes now for over 5 years and LOVE IT. I have eliminated over $30,000 in consumer debt, built a 120-day emergency fund, and am TOTALLY in sync with my wife on finances... a huge step from where I was before I started. I am a Dave Ramsey FANATIC and lap up his philosophies as gospel and Mvelopes is THE BEST ENVELOPE BUDGETING SYSTEM... Believe me... I have tried everything.

Mvelopes (and Envelope Budgeting in General) is NOT easy to start... it's a totally different paradigm that's hard for people to get... which is why I think most of the posters here are really venting.

Seems to me that the negative posts are primarily complaints from users who never really got started with the software... they sign up, don't really use it, and get frustrated that they paid so much for something they don't use. As an analogy, is it fair to criticize Gold Gyms for not refunding your money when you sign up for a membership contract and don't go?

I have had a few issues with connecting to my banks... all have been fixed within 2 days. I haven't had an issue for 18 months.
I have had issues with duplicate transactions... these have been the banks fault (I see the same errors in Quicken).
I have had issues with billing... the company has been quick to fix those issues and give me free service for the hassle.

In all, I have had tremendous success with the system and have found the company to be very fair with me. Live Support is easy to reach. You can even get to live chat support without being logged in from the Home Page (much easier than most online services)... so I don't get the "Support is hard to find" comments.

This has been my experience with the program and the company.

mvelopes and stamps.com

Were this a civilised country the police would come and arrest the scammers at mvelopes.

Invariably a shill will write how envelopes elevated them from peasants to credit worthiness.

In case you haven't figured this out, most people object to being charged for something they were not convinced by the trial that they wanted and evidently don't plan to use.

Sure, you can argue that they signed the agreement and should "man-up" to their responsibility but the fact remains that you are demanding either the whole or part of a payment for something you will never have to deliver.

That's why people are upset...

For a service tied into a Christian ministry, this is especially galling to many folks.

My opinion of Mvelopes is a system to rob hopeful signees. You sound like a shill from Mvelopes headquarters.

Even in America refunds are given to unhappy customers.

Mvelopes likely is the smartest decision you ever made.

You could make a smarter one than that by going to Yodlee or even Mint.

I think you may be a shill from mvelopes. As you can read from the many nice people here who have been flim flammed by the small printers at Mvelopes.

If you are unhappy you will not be guaranteed your money back.

Mvelopes robbed this poor lady.

Offer a "FREE" trial for $189.00

WATCH OUT