I really want to stay with Wave. This year I set everything up and even opened a Wave Money business banking account. However, the removal of the in-the-field receipt capture is a 100% deal breaker. I run a landscaping business. My employees need to be able to upload a copy of the receipt right there on the spot to prevent soiling, wrinkling, getting lost or me having to mail it to the bookkeeper. With the current setup, my employees have very limited access to my Wave account. They take a picture of the receipt and then the bookkeeper does the rest. What happens to the actual receipt after that is of no concern. With the new setup, I will have to give them the user name and password to the account. That is not happening. I have signed up for a Quickbooks trial to see if they have what I need. If Wave truly takes the receipts app offline I will be gone from their platform the same day.
I understand that your trying to fix the dual transaction occurrence but I think it would be nice that the Mobile App works like a some kind of "PreLoader Recipe" and then we can search for that image on the Transaction Option when it apear.
NOT HAPPY with this move. Free and always free really just means, we will push you out and make thing more difficult and eliminate functions until you leave or fully integrate....?
This is a terrible change. Why not leave both options open? The app is already built and works fine. Removing key functionality is not an "upgrade" however much you spin it. I'm very disappointed with this and will start looking for an alternative platform.
Just now finding out about this after getting the email this morning. Disappointed that it took me to 8 pages of negative comments that got shut down from the past few months and that the team didn't change their minds at all. I use the estimates/invoices functions all the time, so unfortunately this loss of features will probably not get me to leave the service, but it will be a huge downgrade in the functionality I depended on for receipts. Will have to pursue linking a bank account now, whereas before I was able to just use the Receipts app to create transactions. I certainly don't look forward to sifting through all the account's transactions to pick which ones are relevant and upload receipts manually. Not please at all with how this was handled after skimming through all the thoughtful comments from the community.
Thanks for finally adding the feature to upload a receipt in a transaction. This was much needed for years.
Seems like you've decided to take down another - separate - feature at the same time, which I believe is the issue. I was not using Wave Receipts personally because it did not do what I expected, but I don't really see why you took it down, we could have both Wave Receipts and an Upload Receipt at the same time.
The OCR feature could have benefit the transaction details as well (taxes, expense category, for example)
Unreal. This is an absolutely TERRIBLE move. I won't waste my breath, but have the same exact workflow as 90% of the users in here are commenting. Eliminating OCR and all the now required manual work is a 100% deal breaker.
Your positive spin on this feature reduction makes me question this ethics of your company. I imagine that when Wave fires an employee they say something like "exciting changes coming to your employability!"
This is a really bad move. Bank import has been so flaky that receipt upload was my efficient way of reconciling it. Now you're removing receipt OCR because merging transactions was a pain? Symptom ≠ cause. You're removing a feature that was made more valuable by a bug, while not fixing the bug, and in doing so creating huge collateral damage among those who didn't encounter the bug because they didn't have a bank account connection.
The attach receipt function was a glaring omission from the start. Now you are offering it as some kind of net gain for a major feature deletion?
Doesn't matter how many pages of complaints they recieve. Clearly they don't listen to their customers. If they had a method of detecting duplicates to ask the user to merge in the old workflow would be best, at least in my opinion. Making a record each time a receipt is made is not optimal since the import record from the bank / credit card is not ready, potentially making duplicate records anyway.
It might be best to just switch to another software then maybe Wave will listen to the sound of users leaving.
8 pages of complaints on the previous post, two more now and Wave is still going through with the change. This kills those of us needing mobile receipt recording especially most of my receipts are emails. Now I have to take a screen shot, save it on my phone. Upload it. delete it off my phone.
Also, using the web app on the phone is a pain.. just logging in takes time unless Wave is adding thumb print recognition.
Can someone from Wave walk through the mobile phone work flow that is efficient for manual and electronic receipts.. maybe if they do that the will figure out their customer base is right.
Or maybe Wave want to downsize?
Besides using Wave I have been and H&R block user for so many years going back to the Taxcut days.
It is so hard when the supplier does not listen to the customer
So with Wave dropping an important reason I use the service, I will need to look into alternate options. I looked at Foreceipt but they don't do the invoicing feature. Other features that I would love to have that Wave seems to refuse to offer are a tipping option and an ability to change the amount due at the time of the invoice (down payment). A small monthly or annual fee is okay, but I am a fairly small company. Does anyone have any suggestions or recommendations?
I just don't buy the argument that the burden of merging transactions is the motivation here. I think Wave or their owners want to monetize the OCR feature. All our complaints are just enhancing their bet that OCR is where the uncaptured value lies.
This is really backward looking. What is the reason for not listening to 8 pages of comments on the previous thread and 2 additional pages of comments in this thread?
I find it even though the old process is tedious, it still works for 99% of us. The removal of the image function really negatively impacts a lot of business owners. Hope you can reverse the decision before June 14
Adding another disappointed voice to this change. I use the receipts app extensively. It's so easy to snap a photo with my phone, have everything pre-filled and sent to the transactions page for when I have time to reconcile. And I didn't mind the double transactions — I actually used that as a way to make sure I had a receipt for every purchase.
For my use case, this change will add time/steps to my workflow. I will have to wait and see exactly how disruptive it is before seeking out an alternative.
I've grown my business with Wave, using only the free features when I first started out — and now using them for both payroll and invoicing. It's disappointing that this company seems to no longer be a fit for my business and frustrating that I will likely have to make a switch to a different accounting platform.
I loved the fact I was supporting a Canadian business, but with the acquisition by H&R Block, the thing that made Wave so special seems to be disappearing.
My business earns Wave money through the transactions processed. I would gladly pay for OCR receipt processing, but instead you've opted to alienate me (and the rest of your user base). I will no longer recommend, or use this service, and you will no longer earn commission from me. Good job, penny pinchers, you just lost your dollar.
They are removing the single killer feature of this software. The original Wave guys understood how critically important this feature was, and that's why Receipts had its own mobile app.
From a workflow perspective, the Receipts functionality allows us to quickly upload receipts throughout the month and have them sorted and entered without having to sit down and have a full accounting work session. Then at the end of the month when you're ready to focus on accounting, voila, everything is there waiting to add more detail to, and merge.
Now you're forcing us into accounting work sessions every single time we track receipts? This is the part I can't believe HRB missed. This will completely break Wave and make it unusable. This is no ordinary feature removal ... this will ruin the foundational workflow and user experience for every single customer.
Hey, you have a $0.99 chicken sandwich to expense? Now you have to go home, log in, and enter a full transaction for every single receipt ... repeat this every day for every single thing you want to keep track of. You can spend half your day updating your accounting software now instead of running your business. Great move guys!
After Foreceipt (50% discount for Wave users) completed their seamless import from Wave data (https://foreceipt.com/switch), Wave changed the way they name their jpg receipt files.
Sometime this week it went from '2021-01-29 - the-watershed-grill.jpg' to 'ca348a54-30b6-465c-9bee-40ac1324051a.jpg'. Making it impossible to link transactions from the csv to the receipts! Therefore making it impossible to smoothly move to Foreceipt...
Anyone a different solution to decode those jpg file names?
@TimTamTom said: ## MORE DISGUSTING PRACTICES FROM WAVE - READ THIS
After Foreceipt (50% discount for Wave users) completed their seamless import from Wave data (https://foreceipt.com/switch-from-wave), Wave changed the way they name their jpg receipt files.
Sometime this week it went from '2021-01-29 - the-watershed-grill.jpg' to 'ca348a54-30b6-465c-9bee-40ac1324051a.jpg'. Making it impossible to link transactions from the csv to the receipts! Therefore making it impossible to smoothly move to Foreceipt...
Wave realizes that they are loosing many clients and now they are trying to prevent people from using other software too!
Assuming no one from Wave will respond again... This is the only outlet.
Anyone a different solution to decode those jpg file names?
That's a pretty dirty trick. It's especially insulting that they found the money, time, and resources to make this change, but not retain the most important functionality within their platform. This will create a hiccup for ForReceipts, but really won't stop them. With OCR, the dates will be extracted from the receipts anyway, so this is just a bump in the road, and will provide even more motivation for both customers and competitors to stick it to Wave.
@TimTamTom said: ## MORE DISGUSTING PRACTICES FROM WAVE - READ THIS
After Foreceipt (50% discount for Wave users) completed their seamless import from Wave data (https://foreceipt.com/switch-from-wave), Wave changed the way they name their jpg receipt files.
Sometime this week it went from '2021-01-29 - the-watershed-grill.jpg' to 'ca348a54-30b6-465c-9bee-40ac1324051a.jpg'. Making it impossible to link transactions from the csv to the receipts! Therefore making it impossible to smoothly move to Foreceipt...
Wave realizes that they are loosing many clients and now they are trying to prevent people from using other software too!
Assuming no one from Wave will respond again... This is the only outlet.
Anyone a different solution to decode those jpg file names?
I can't believe they have done this as well. Such a poor move by Wave to rename the receipts to randomness instead of meaningful names with dates as it used to be. There is no doubt about it now that I will be leaving Wave for an alternative. This is just sneaky manipulation to stop users porting to other platforms easily. It won't work Wave as people will still leave.
I was going to give the new way of logging in and manually uploading receipts via the web page view on my mobile a go. I wont even bother now, i'm out.
Booo! Seriously you want us to login to a webpage vs opening up an app and taking a photo? You need to work this out on the inside and keep this feature or I will be looking elsewhere!
Even more annoying to me is that WAVE never responds to the comments with explanations or apologies. It appears the comment section does not even have the possibility for WAVE responses. This is the arrogant high tech way of managing feedback. The user is allowed to blow off steam, but WAVE never even acknowledges it. Simple, arrogant technocratic response - i.e. none "We know best. Take it or leave it."
Some of you have noticed that the names of the receipt files in your receipt export recently changed. With the new feature, there will be no OCR, and receipts will simply be attached to transactions, and this means that there is a change of inputs with regard to receipts stored in Wave. With that in mind, work was required to adjust the formatting of exported receipt files name, and there was a temporary change in the way that existing receipts were exported
This work has been completed, and you will now find that all of your existing receipts that are stored in Wave have reverted to their original file names in the receipt export.
Ha. Atleast they allowed someone to admit for them that they changed it without warning any of their users. You know it is very easy to warn users before you make a software change. That way clients/users can export their receipts with their original file names.
Meanwhile, QBO's app and OCR is amazing. Should have switched much earlier when Wave forced other feature changes.
FYI, I now use Wave as an example business model of what not to do with your technology and clients once another large company aquires you and forces you into something "new."
I'm in Product Development and if I suggested a move backward removing a feature which clients rely on heavily I would probably get fired. Very bad decision by Wave. Yes - I understand decision was made and it's not changing, but adding another voice to the cacophony of those who already voiced the same commentary. All reputable accounting software vendors have OCR... Quickbooks, Concur, apparently Foreceipt...so I truly do not understand this move backwards by Wave. You could have just offered OCR as a premium to cover your costs if cost was the factor. I really loved Wave, but looks like it's time to check out the other options. QBO, Foreceipt, Concur etc.... and there are several others that I have not yet researched but will be forced to now. Thank you for at least still having the option to export data including existing receipt images... would have been a legal issue from if I could not get my data as I move to another vendor. It suspect it will be a painful time for me with compatibility of importing my data to the newly selected software, so thanks Wave Apps for adding to the pain.
Comments
Wonder how Wave is doing with theirs...
I really want to stay with Wave. This year I set everything up and even opened a Wave Money business banking account. However, the removal of the in-the-field receipt capture is a 100% deal breaker. I run a landscaping business. My employees need to be able to upload a copy of the receipt right there on the spot to prevent soiling, wrinkling, getting lost or me having to mail it to the bookkeeper. With the current setup, my employees have very limited access to my Wave account. They take a picture of the receipt and then the bookkeeper does the rest. What happens to the actual receipt after that is of no concern. With the new setup, I will have to give them the user name and password to the account. That is not happening. I have signed up for a Quickbooks trial to see if they have what I need. If Wave truly takes the receipts app offline I will be gone from their platform the same day.
I understand that your trying to fix the dual transaction occurrence but I think it would be nice that the Mobile App works like a some kind of "PreLoader Recipe" and then we can search for that image on the Transaction Option when it apear.
Let the mass Exodus begin.
NOT HAPPY with this move. Free and always free really just means, we will push you out and make thing more difficult and eliminate functions until you leave or fully integrate....?
This is a terrible change. Why not leave both options open? The app is already built and works fine. Removing key functionality is not an "upgrade" however much you spin it. I'm very disappointed with this and will start looking for an alternative platform.
Just now finding out about this after getting the email this morning. Disappointed that it took me to 8 pages of negative comments that got shut down from the past few months and that the team didn't change their minds at all. I use the estimates/invoices functions all the time, so unfortunately this loss of features will probably not get me to leave the service, but it will be a huge downgrade in the functionality I depended on for receipts. Will have to pursue linking a bank account now, whereas before I was able to just use the Receipts app to create transactions. I certainly don't look forward to sifting through all the account's transactions to pick which ones are relevant and upload receipts manually. Not please at all with how this was handled after skimming through all the thoughtful comments from the community.
Thanks for finally adding the feature to upload a receipt in a transaction. This was much needed for years.
Seems like you've decided to take down another - separate - feature at the same time, which I believe is the issue. I was not using Wave Receipts personally because it did not do what I expected, but I don't really see why you took it down, we could have both Wave Receipts and an Upload Receipt at the same time.
The OCR feature could have benefit the transaction details as well (taxes, expense category, for example)
Unreal. This is an absolutely TERRIBLE move. I won't waste my breath, but have the same exact workflow as 90% of the users in here are commenting. Eliminating OCR and all the now required manual work is a 100% deal breaker.
Moving to a different platform.
Your positive spin on this feature reduction makes me question this ethics of your company. I imagine that when Wave fires an employee they say something like "exciting changes coming to your employability!"
This is a really bad move. Bank import has been so flaky that receipt upload was my efficient way of reconciling it. Now you're removing receipt OCR because merging transactions was a pain? Symptom ≠ cause. You're removing a feature that was made more valuable by a bug, while not fixing the bug, and in doing so creating huge collateral damage among those who didn't encounter the bug because they didn't have a bank account connection.
The attach receipt function was a glaring omission from the start. Now you are offering it as some kind of net gain for a major feature deletion?
Doesn't matter how many pages of complaints they recieve. Clearly they don't listen to their customers. If they had a method of detecting duplicates to ask the user to merge in the old workflow would be best, at least in my opinion. Making a record each time a receipt is made is not optimal since the import record from the bank / credit card is not ready, potentially making duplicate records anyway.
It might be best to just switch to another software then maybe Wave will listen to the sound of users leaving.
8 pages of complaints on the previous post, two more now and Wave is still going through with the change. This kills those of us needing mobile receipt recording especially most of my receipts are emails. Now I have to take a screen shot, save it on my phone. Upload it. delete it off my phone.
Also, using the web app on the phone is a pain.. just logging in takes time unless Wave is adding thumb print recognition.
Can someone from Wave walk through the mobile phone work flow that is efficient for manual and electronic receipts.. maybe if they do that the will figure out their customer base is right.
Or maybe Wave want to downsize?
Besides using Wave I have been and H&R block user for so many years going back to the Taxcut days.
It is so hard when the supplier does not listen to the customer
So with Wave dropping an important reason I use the service, I will need to look into alternate options. I looked at Foreceipt but they don't do the invoicing feature. Other features that I would love to have that Wave seems to refuse to offer are a tipping option and an ability to change the amount due at the time of the invoice (down payment). A small monthly or annual fee is okay, but I am a fairly small company. Does anyone have any suggestions or recommendations?
I just don't buy the argument that the burden of merging transactions is the motivation here. I think Wave or their owners want to monetize the OCR feature. All our complaints are just enhancing their bet that OCR is where the uncaptured value lies.
Well... evidently we can't comment freely here any more, they're being held for review before posting. Great.
I find it even though the old process is tedious, it still works for 99% of us. The removal of the image function really negatively impacts a lot of business owners. Hope you can reverse the decision before June 14
Adding another disappointed voice to this change. I use the receipts app extensively. It's so easy to snap a photo with my phone, have everything pre-filled and sent to the transactions page for when I have time to reconcile. And I didn't mind the double transactions — I actually used that as a way to make sure I had a receipt for every purchase.
For my use case, this change will add time/steps to my workflow. I will have to wait and see exactly how disruptive it is before seeking out an alternative.
I've grown my business with Wave, using only the free features when I first started out — and now using them for both payroll and invoicing. It's disappointing that this company seems to no longer be a fit for my business and frustrating that I will likely have to make a switch to a different accounting platform.
I loved the fact I was supporting a Canadian business, but with the acquisition by H&R Block, the thing that made Wave so special seems to be disappearing.
My business earns Wave money through the transactions processed. I would gladly pay for OCR receipt processing, but instead you've opted to alienate me (and the rest of your user base). I will no longer recommend, or use this service, and you will no longer earn commission from me. Good job, penny pinchers, you just lost your dollar.
They are removing the single killer feature of this software. The original Wave guys understood how critically important this feature was, and that's why Receipts had its own mobile app.
From a workflow perspective, the Receipts functionality allows us to quickly upload receipts throughout the month and have them sorted and entered without having to sit down and have a full accounting work session. Then at the end of the month when you're ready to focus on accounting, voila, everything is there waiting to add more detail to, and merge.
Now you're forcing us into accounting work sessions every single time we track receipts? This is the part I can't believe HRB missed. This will completely break Wave and make it unusable. This is no ordinary feature removal ... this will ruin the foundational workflow and user experience for every single customer.
Hey, you have a $0.99 chicken sandwich to expense? Now you have to go home, log in, and enter a full transaction for every single receipt ... repeat this every day for every single thing you want to keep track of. You can spend half your day updating your accounting software now instead of running your business. Great move guys!
ISSUE SOLVED
After Foreceipt (50% discount for Wave users) completed their seamless import from Wave data (https://foreceipt.com/switch), Wave changed the way they name their jpg receipt files.
Sometime this week it went from '2021-01-29 - the-watershed-grill.jpg' to 'ca348a54-30b6-465c-9bee-40ac1324051a.jpg'. Making it impossible to link transactions from the csv to the receipts! Therefore making it impossible to smoothly move to Foreceipt...
Anyone a different solution to decode those jpg file names?
That's a pretty dirty trick. It's especially insulting that they found the money, time, and resources to make this change, but not retain the most important functionality within their platform. This will create a hiccup for ForReceipts, but really won't stop them. With OCR, the dates will be extracted from the receipts anyway, so this is just a bump in the road, and will provide even more motivation for both customers and competitors to stick it to Wave.
I can't believe they have done this as well. Such a poor move by Wave to rename the receipts to randomness instead of meaningful names with dates as it used to be. There is no doubt about it now that I will be leaving Wave for an alternative. This is just sneaky manipulation to stop users porting to other platforms easily. It won't work Wave as people will still leave.
I was going to give the new way of logging in and manually uploading receipts via the web page view on my mobile a go. I wont even bother now, i'm out.
Booo! Seriously you want us to login to a webpage vs opening up an app and taking a photo? You need to work this out on the inside and keep this feature or I will be looking elsewhere!
Even more annoying to me is that WAVE never responds to the comments with explanations or apologies. It appears the comment section does not even have the possibility for WAVE responses. This is the arrogant high tech way of managing feedback. The user is allowed to blow off steam, but WAVE never even acknowledges it. Simple, arrogant technocratic response - i.e. none "We know best. Take it or leave it."
Dear Wavers,
Some of you have noticed that the names of the receipt files in your receipt export recently changed. With the new feature, there will be no OCR, and receipts will simply be attached to transactions, and this means that there is a change of inputs with regard to receipts stored in Wave. With that in mind, work was required to adjust the formatting of exported receipt files name, and there was a temporary change in the way that existing receipts were exported
This work has been completed, and you will now find that all of your existing receipts that are stored in Wave have reverted to their original file names in the receipt export.
CC: @TimTamTom @wavy @MR_ROBOT
You know it is very easy to warn users before you make a software change. That way clients/users can export their receipts with their original file names.
Meanwhile, QBO's app and OCR is amazing. Should have switched much earlier when Wave forced other feature changes.
FYI, I now use Wave as an example business model of what not to do with your technology and clients once another large company aquires you and forces you into something "new."
I'm in Product Development and if I suggested a move backward removing a feature which clients rely on heavily I would probably get fired. Very bad decision by Wave. Yes - I understand decision was made and it's not changing, but adding another voice to the cacophony of those who already voiced the same commentary. All reputable accounting software vendors have OCR... Quickbooks, Concur, apparently Foreceipt...so I truly do not understand this move backwards by Wave. You could have just offered OCR as a premium to cover your costs if cost was the factor. I really loved Wave, but looks like it's time to check out the other options. QBO, Foreceipt, Concur etc.... and there are several others that I have not yet researched but will be forced to now. Thank you for at least still having the option to export data including existing receipt images... would have been a legal issue from if I could not get my data as I move to another vendor. It suspect it will be a painful time for me with compatibility of importing my data to the newly selected software, so thanks Wave Apps for adding to the pain.
@JCowan thanks for changing the names back. Appreciated.
Sad to leave Wave but also very happy all this is over now.
Goodbye Wave. Let me know once you reintroduce OCR.
Tim