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ATTENTION: Intuit Merchant Solutions Experiencing Difficulty (06/19)

credit-card-problemsWe have been receiving a number of calls today about errors in QuickBooks POS with processing Credit Card Transactions. After checking with Intuit Merchant Solutions, we found that they are having issues with their credit card gateway today. Intuit is working diligently on the problem and will have the Merchant Service up as soon as possible!

If you are having issues in another area, besides Credit Card Processing, give us a call at 952-232-6388.

Here is the conversation I had with Intuit:

• Intuit
Hi there! Welcome Intuit Payment Solutions Chat Support. How can I help you today?
• Me
I am a ProAdvisor with customers and I have a lot of customers calling about the credit card processing.
When are you thinking it will be up and running?
• Intuit
Unfortunately, we don’t have an ETA, but the engineers are furiously working on it right now.
• Me
Okay, also there any latency issues with QuickBooks Point of Sale?
• Intuit
they suggest try a transaction every hour or so call the voice authorization line get an authorization code.
I’m thinking it may all be a result of the current server issues.
• Me
What is the voice authorization number?
• Intuit
Sure thing, 800-228-1122
• Me
Thanks.
• Intuit
not a problem, is there anything else i can help you with today?
• Me
What can be done about this? We are restoring backups for the Point of Sale, but we don’t think that will fix anything
• Intuit
I don’t believe it will either, but its a good starting point. I would suggest calling our Point of Sale Technical Support at 800-558-9558 ext. #####.
• Me
Okay I will that, thanks.

Furthermore, we have found that you should be able to actually process the credit card transaction by doing the following:

  1. Log into your Merchant Service Portal
    ( http://merchantcenter.intuit.com )
  2. Go under Processing Tools
  3. Click Credit Card Transactions.
  4. Now you are at the “Charge A Card” screen, you will be able to process a credit card transaction.

QuickBooks Guide – Entering overtime payroll items on the employee record

Enter overtime payroll items on the employee record

If an employee has more than one overtime rate

Create a separate Overtime Pay payroll item for each type of overtime. For example, if any of your employees earn both time-and-a-half and double-time, create separate payroll items for both so that you can assign the appropriate multiplier (1.50 and 2.00) to each.

On the employee record, enter both overtime payroll items below the regular pay payroll item on which they are based, like so:

If an employee has more than one regular hourly rate

If your employee has two different types of jobs and earns a different hourly rate for each, create separate Regular Pay and Overtime Pay payroll items for each hourly rate. On the employee record, enter the payroll item for the first job’s hourly rate, then enter the payroll item for the first job’s overtime rate, like so:

Next, repeat those steps for the second’s job’s straight time and overtime rates, like so:

The overtime payroll items now follow the correct regular pay payroll items, and QuickBooks will produce the correct rate for them.

 

QuickBooks Guide – Deleting Memorized Reports in QuickBooks Mac

Delete Memorized Reports in QuickBooks Mac

This process can be used to remove unwanted Memorized reports from the program, or in preparation to Convert QuickBooks Mac file to QuickBooks for Windows or QuickBooks Online.

Detailed instructions

In QuickBooks Pro for Mac:

1. Click on Reports > Report Center.

2. Click on the triangle next to Memorized Report section.

3. Click on the report you would like to delete.

4. Click on the X next to report to delete.

5. Repeat process as needed to remove additional memorized reports.

6. You’re all done! :)

QuickBooks Guide – Turning on Payments in QuickBooks

Turn on Payments in QuickBooks 2013

This article provides the steps on how to turn on your Payments feature in QuickBooks 2013.

QuickBooks Setup

This will allow your customers to pay your invoices online and also provides access to other payment features, including:

  • Credit card processing (Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover)
  • Electronic deposits to your bank account via ACH or check
  • Mobile payments on your iPhone or Android

Note: This feature is free to turn on and you only pay when you use it.  Plus, theres no cost to cancel.When you first open QuickBooks 2013, you will be prompted to set up your business.

1. Click Express Start.

2. Enter your business information. Click Continue.

3. Enter your email address and create a password. Click Continue.

4. Enter your business contact information. Click Create Company File.

5. You will see the following pop up while your new company file is being created.

6. After your company file is completed you will receive a Welcome Email.

Turn on Payments

After your company file is created, you will see the Home screen

7. Select the Receive Payments icon.

8. Click Turn on Payments.

9. Enter your Date of Birth and Social Security Number. Enter your Bank Routing Number and Bank Account Number.

10. Check the I agree to QuickBooks Payments terms & conditions box.

11. Click Turn on Payments.

Approval Email

You can now start receiving payments through QuickBooks 2013.

QuickBooks Guide – Scanning checks

Scan checks in QuickBooks 2013

You can use a TWAIN check scanner to process a check transaction within QuickBooks 2013.

TWAIN Compatibility

Before scanning checks, make sure your scanner is compatible with the QuickBooks check scanning software. If you have already done so, go to Process scan check transaction below.

Process scan check transaction

1. From the home screen of your QuickBooks 2013, select the Receive Payments     icon.

2. Click Scan Checks.

3. A box may appear with a security warning. Click Yes to continue.

4. Scan the desired checks.

5. Click Next.

6. Verify scanned check information by clicking on the text boxes with the customer     name, check number, and check amount.

7. Click Next.

8. You can choose to record the payment or to skip recording the payment so you can     do it later. NOTE: If you choose to record later, skip to step 11.

9. Record check as a Receive Payment and apply to invoice OR Sales Receipt.     Click Save & Close to view the next check.

                                                         — OR—

10. Repeat this process for each check that you had scanned.

11. Once complete, click Send Checks for Processing.

12. Click Close to exit the screen.

13. If you want to record the deposit now, click Make Deposits. If you would like to       wait until you have been funded, click I’ll do this later.

14. You’re all done! :)

Continuing Issues with QuickBooks R7 Update

If you are using a third-party add-on program that works with QuickBooks Desktop versions, there is an ongoing problem that may cause QuickBooks to crash when you try to use your add-on product. I’ve talked about the QuickBooks 2013 R7 bug fix before, but there is a lot more to this than I originally realized. Here is what I see at this point, and how to fix the issue.

Please note that all of this probably only applies to the US versions, so far as I can tell.

What Is The Problem?

If you are using a third-party add-on product that accesses the Windows Desktop version of QuickBooks, the R7 update to the program may stop your add-on product from running properly. Odds are you will see QuickBooks crash with an unrecoverable error when the add-on product tries to do certain operations. Some add-on products won’t do this, it depends on what QuickBooks data structures they are working with. You may see this error window:

This is a major problem, as many businesses rely on QuickBooks add-on products for their daily operations.

Releases, Releases, What is in YOUR Wallet?

What “release” are you running? Open your QuickBooks file, then press the F2 key to open the “product information” window. In the top line you will see your “release” information. For example:

This tells me that I’m running QuickBooks Accountant 2013, and that I have Release R7P+(U130606A). That is a lot of info.

The “R7P” portion tells you that you are running the R7 release. QuickBooks starts off with the R1 release when Intuit issues a new year of product, and as they fix bugs they generally bump up the release number. See my article on the QuickBooks 2013 R7 release to see what they fixed this time.

The rest of the line, the “U(130606A)” portion, has to do with “critical fixes”. This is a way for Intuit to get a patch out to us quickly without going through the more formal “R-level” update. It is a new feature in QuickBooks 2013, and we haven’t had a real test of it until now. Note that you might not see this notation at all.

What is confusing to me is that this number does NOT necessarily indicate that you HAVE a critical fix installed!

Prior to last week, you would see the notation “U(121026B)”. All that means is that your copy of QuickBooks has made a connection to the Intuit update server. If your program hasn’t connected, you probably won’t see any notation like this at all.

This week, you will probably see “U(130606A)” like I show above. That means that Intuit has made a “critical fix” available, dated June 6 2013 (the “130606” part). If you see this, then QuickBooks has downloaded this critical fix to your system, but it hasn’t necessarily installed it. All this means is that the connection was made, and that some files have probably been downloaded, but the patch might not have been applied.

Another confusing issue – this notation may show up but it might not apply to you. For example, this latest critical fix resolves a problem in the R7 release. But, you may see this notation if you have an earlier release, like R6.

This shows that the file is at R6, but it has the 130606 notation, which only applies to R7. Has anything changed? Supposedly not. The critical fix is there, waiting for an update to R7.

I’m totally confused by this. The notation shows, but might not apply to me. The notation says something is downloaded (maybe), but not necessarily installed. How do I know if this has been installed, and what it does?

Critical Fixes Don’t Always Get Installed

Let’s set aside the issue of the notation showing on releases that it doesn’t relate to, lets just talk about knowing if it has been installed or not.

On a conceptual level, if you see the notation about a critical fix, and that applies to your current release, you should expect that the patch is installed. With this particular update (R7 and 130606) I was telling people that “if you see R7P+(U130606A) you have the fix”. Then I started getting a lot of calls about 3rd party add-on products. People had this release notation, but they still could not use the add-on products. What gives?

It seems that critical fixes won’t always apply. According to Intuit, if you are running Windows Vista or later and have UAC enabled, you have to run QuickBooks in the Run as Administrator mode to get the fix to apply properly. Few people run QB this way normally!

  1. Right click on your QuickBooks icon and select Run as Administrator.

  2. Select Help then Update QuickBooks.
  3. Select the Update Now tab.
  4. Scroll down and select Critical Fixes
  5. Click Get Updates.
  6. When the program is done, exit QuickBooks
  7. Restart QuickBooks as you normally would. The patch should apply.

Wow! – that is a lot of work, and you don’t know when you should do this because you don’t get notified of the availability of the critical update, and you don’t know what release it applies to!

You can check to see if the patch applied by going to this folder (note that the “QuickBooks 2013” portion of the path will be “QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions 13.0” if you are using Enterprise):

  • 32 bit systems: C:\Program Files\Intuit\QuickBooks 2013\CriticalFixes
  • 64 bit systems: C:\Program Files (x86)\Intuit\QuickBooks 2013\CriticalFixes

If you see a file with a “DLL” file type there, the fix should have been applied. If you see a file with a “DAT” file type, and a size of 0KB, the fix might not have applied and you should try the process again.

This Critical Fix Might Not Work – How To Fix It

Going back to the specific problem – R7 breaks QuickBooks so that add-on products won’t work. Does the 130606 critical fix take care of it? Not necessarily.

As I mentioned, the fix might not apply if you don’t use the run as administrator process. However, there are reports of situations where even if you do this, the problem remains. There may be an error in the patch that is delivered this way (I haven’t confirmed this myself, it is what I was told by a knowledgeable person). So, here is a manual patch to fix the R7 problem, as provided to my by Intuit:

  1. Close QuickBooks and any third-party add-on programs that access your QuickBooks data.
  2. Locate the file named sdkqbimpl.dll in your computer system. This will be in the “Intuit” folder in “Program Files” (or “Program Files (x86)”), in the folder for the version of QuickBooks that you are using. Make sure you get the 2013 version of the program. NOTE that this may be a “hidden folder” in Windows – see your computer support person for information on how to view “hidden folders” in Windows.
    Fixing the Bug in QuickBooks R7
  3. Rename the sdkqbimpl.dll file to something like Oldsdkqbimpl.dll.
  4. Download this updated file (it is a large one) by clicking on this link: sdkqbimpl.zip.
  5. Unzip the file to get the new sdkqbimpl.dll file  – you will need a password, which is    Intuit01
  6. Move the new DLL file to the location where you found the older file.
  7. Restart QuickBooks.

In every case that I’ve heard of so far, this process fixes this particular problem.

There May Be Other Problems!

The fix we are talking about here addresses one particular problem – QuickBooks crashing with error 00000 37760. There may be other issues that look similar that interfere with third-party add-ons floating around, but I haven’t pinned that down yet. Many people are seeing a message “QBXML components have not been installed” when running an add-on with QuickBooks 2013. It is not clear what is going on here, and the fixes that Intuit has listed in their website are not working.

At this time, indications are that THIS error is occurring with versions EARLIER than R7. It is thought that upgrading to R7 will fix the problem (not confirmed). Of course, once you go to R7 you introduce the “crash” problem. Luckily, that is the one that is fixed by the procedure above.

At this time all of this is very vague. There is a lot of confusion about this, since we seem to have multiple problems showing up all at the same time.

What Is The Latest Critical Fix?

Intuit has created KB article INF23122 which has information about the critical fix feature, and it will list the current value (they are calling these “ULIP”, for “ultra light patch”).

Unfortunately, at this time, the KB article doesn’t tell us what exactly the critical fix FIXED. That would be helpful information!

“Critical Fix” Is A Good Idea, But…

The original concept of the “critical fix” process is a good one, allowing Intuit to get out a fix to a problem very quickly. This particular issue is the first real test of this in a “production” environment. The R7 patch introduced a significant problem, and Intuit responded VERY quickly to this issue and got a patch going.  However, it looks like some additional work is needed in their delivery system. Hopefully they’ll resolve some of these issues before they try it again.

  • We need a way to positively know that the fix was applied. It is too hard to tell now. Just seeing the notation doesn’t mean that a fix relates to your installation, or that it has been installed.
  • We should not have to run as administrator and manually apply the patch. Having to do that defeats the entire purpose of this. It should happen automatically
  • We need to be notified of these updates, and be told what they are fixing. I hate having to stumble on a fix just by periodically looking for a revision number change, and I hate not knowing what was changed. In this particular case I was informed ahead of time, and I really do appreciate Intuit’s help with this, but that might not be the case in future critical fix situations.
  • Finally, it should be obvious that the fix needs to fix a problem and not create more. It looks like this fix might not have really fixed the issue, and some people think that the process introduced some new errors, but that is speculative at this point.

All of this creates a conundrum. I usually recommend that you turn off automatic updates so that you can control how updates are managed. However, if you do that, you don’t get these critical fixes automatically, you have to manually start them. Then again, are these critical fix updates introducing new problems? I’m still thinking that we want automatic updates OFF so that we can control what is going on, but it is a policy that I’m re-evaluating.

QuickBooks 2013 R7 Bug: There is a fix folks

Automatic vs. Manual Updates: Grrr…

stickyeggNew versions of QuickBooks are released as “manual” updates first. What I mean is, you have to go to the Intuit QuickBooks Support update page and click on the “update” button to download a patch file that you can be used to update your current installation. About a week later, usually, Intuit will then enable the “automatic” update process, where the patch will be pushed out to any QuickBooks installation that has automatic updates enabled. Sometimes they don’t wait a week, and the automatic update comes out a the same time as the manual update.

Personally, as a ProAdvisor, I always turn off “automatic updates” for my clients. I’ll tell them when it is OK to install an update. People might not always agree with me, but I have several good reasons:

Automatic updates can be disruptive: Someone sees the notice that an update is available, and they just go ahead and install it. Unfortunately, sometimes this creates problems. The update may take time, and so the workstation is out of service.

Program updates sometimes require a file conversion, which sometimes (not always) means that OTHER users cannot use the file until THEY install the update on their workstation. What if someone starts this process just before some critical process, like processing payroll? I prefer to do these updates in a controlled situation, when I know that it won’t disrupt the client’s workflow.

Updates sometimes change the workflow or require some manual fix: A feature may work differently, or there may be a manual data fix that is required. This isn’t normal for an update, but it can happen. I want everyone to know what the changes are in case there is a database correction that we have to deal with. Intuit does NOT do a good job of telling us what the changes are in an update.

Update releases sometimes introduce new bugs: This is the MAIN reason why I don’t like manual updates – sometimes the update creates a new problem, so I don’t want to rush out and install the update right away. I want OTHER people to be the guinea pigs (or, perhaps I should say “be the field testers”). The week (usually) between a manual update and an automatic update is the period when we see if the update creates new problems.

The 2013 R7 Bugger

So, QuickBooks 2013 R7 was released last Tuesday (actually, very late on Monday evening, but probably nobody downloaded it then), and by mid afternoon on Tuesday we have our first report of a serious bug.

This relates to add-on products, any QuickBooks compatible software that uses either the QuickBooks SDK or IPP interfaces. That is, just about ANYTHING written by a third party developer that works with the Windows desktop version of QuickBooks. If that application tries to perform one of the following transactions, QuickBooks will immediately crash:

  • Request a copy of the Item List
  • Add an Employee
  • Update an Employee
  • Add a “special item”

In a test, as soon as the program asked for the item list QuickBooks would display an “unrecoverable error” window with error 00000 37760.

Once you close this window QuickBooks will usually (but not always) terminate. In many cases your add-on product either freezes or loses connection with the QuickBooks database.

Note that for IPP applications, the app won’t freeze or see the problem, because they don’t work directly with the QuickBooks desktop database. The problem here will be the Sync Manager utility, which should cause problems when it tries to work with the desktop file. We are not so much familiar with this aspect of the problem – having only tested this with SDK based applications.

There is a Fix!

Fortunately, the technical staff at Intuit created a fix for this VERY quickly. I have to say that we are very impressed with how quick their response was, helping many late into the eveninglast Tuesday.

There is a small program file that has to be replaced, once this is done the problem goes away. Simple to do if you are reasonably familiar with Microsoft Windows, not too complicated if you aren’t.

I’m not going to post the patched file here – if you run into this problem you should contact your add-on software developer and ask their assistance. If they aren’t aware of the problem, they need to follow up on making sure their software is working after the patch.

Please note that as of this posting, Intuit has not announced how they are going to deal with this issue (other than posting the fix in the developer forum). I see four options, and we are not sure which they’ll implement:

  • Ignore the issue and let add-on developers handle it (I doubt that they’ll use this option).
  • Fix the manual update (but some people already have it, so that leaves some with the problem).
  • Just fix the automatic update (bigger problem, for those who do manual updates).
  • Use their new critical fix mechanism to push out the fix (I don’t know if that process works with this kind of update).

QuickBooks Guide – Processing a credit card payment

Process a credit card payment in QuickBooks 2013

Instructions for processing a credit card payment within QuickBooks 2013 through the Sales Receipt and Receive Payment options.

Sales Receipt

A Sales Receipt is used when there is no existing invoice for the customer in QuickBooks 2013 and you do not want to create one.

1. From the home screen of QuickBooks, select the Create Sales Receipts icon.

2. Add or select a customer or job from the Customer:Job menu.

3. Enter the Item, Description, Quantity, Rate, and Amount accordingly.

4. Select the credit card type in Payment Method.

5. Check the box Process payment when saving.

6. Click Save & Close.

7. Confirm or enter the transaction information.

8. Click Submit.

Receive Payment

Receive Payment is used when you want to apply a payment to a customer’s open invoice in QuickBooks 2013.

From the home screen of QuickBooks, select the Receive Payments icon.

1. Add or select the customer in the Received From menu.

2. Enter the amount in the Amount field.

3. Select the credit card type in Payment Method.

4. The Reference and Memo fields are optional.

5. Enter the card number in Card No. and the expiration date in Exp. Date.

6. Check the box Process payment when saving.

7. Select Save & Close.

8. Confirm or enter the transaction information.

9. Select Submit.

Process credit cards when application status is “In Review”

You received an “In Review” status for your Payments account, but you need to process a credit card payment.

Please contact QuickBook Customer Support at 877-297-8081 . A representative will review the account and provide you with either a verbal or email notification of the approval.

Once you receive that approval, you are almost ready to begin taking credit card payments! just follow the steps below to take your first card payment.

1. In your QuickBooks 2013, open the Receive Payment window.

2. Select Turn on Payments.

3. (Optional) Add your Bank Routing Number and Bank Account Number and then click Save.

This step is recommended.

4. On the Receive Payments screen, enter the payment information, making a selection of the credit card type under Pmt Method.

5. At the bottom of the screen, check the box next to Process payment when saving. If this box is not checked, the payment will be recorded, but not processed.

6. Check the box next to Link to an existing QuickBooks Merchant Service account.

7. Close the screen that says Congratulations, your Payment service has been successfully linked to your QuickBooks company file.

8. Click Save & Close.

9. Confirm or enter the transaction information.

10. Select Submit.

11. You’re done! :)

QuickBooks Guide – Processing an E-Check

Process an E-Check in QuickBooks 2013

Process an E-Check payment in a Sales Receipt or Receive Payment within QuickBooks 2013.

Sales Receipt

A Sales Receipt is used when there is no existing invoice for the customer in QuickBooks 2013 and you do not want to create one.

1. From the home screen of QuickBooks, select the Create Sale Receipts icon.

2. Add or select a customer or job from the Customer:Job menu.

3. Enter the Item, Description, Quantity, Rate, and Amount accordingly.

4. In Payment Method, select E-Check. Note: The Check No. field is optional, as     an E-Check payment is processed without using check numbers.

5. Check the Process E-Check payment when saving box.

6. Click Save & Close.

7. Enter the required payment information:

  • Amount
  • Account Type
  • Routing Number
  • Account Number
  • Customers first and last name
  • Phone number
  • Customer verification signed authorization or customer is on the phone during the process

8. Click Submit.

Receive Payment

Receive Payment is used when you want to apply a payment to a customers open invoice in QuickBooks 2013.

1. From the home screen of QuickBooks, select the Receive Payments icon.

2. Add or select the customer in the Received From menu.

3. Enter the amount in the Amount field.

4. Select E-Check in Payment Method.

5. The Reference field is optional.

6. Select the box Process E-Check payment when saving.

7. Click Save & Close.

8. Enter the required payment information:

  • Amount
  • Account Type
  • Routing Number
  • Account Number
  • Customers first and last name
  • Phone number
  • Customer verification signed authorization or customer is on the phone during the process

9. Click Submit.

10. You’re all done! :)

QB-Support

Simply call QB Services at

(952) 232-6388

We will connect you with our support specialist who will give you a 6 digit pin number. Enter the number and click, “Connect to Technician” and we will be able to offer support right now.

Enter your 6-digit PIN:
Or: