Cancelling Sage 50 Subscription - anyone tried?

Steps, procedures and any possible 'gotchas' involved with leaving this great institution

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Howdy. I have made a conscious decision to leave Sage come the new financial year. I've realised that the prices have crept up very slightly over the past 3 years, presumably to help pay for more sales and marketing people. When I say 'crept up very slightly', I have my tongue firmly in cheek. It doesn't help that the software/support is really not at the level it should be these days and is perhaps struggling to keep up with the 'new cloud pretenders'. Believe it or not, the monthly subscription was £15 only 3 years ago! Coupled with rises in Sagepay fees, it's all a bit too much for a small business like mine.

But anyhoo, my question is really twofold:

  1. Has anybody done this? Cancelled? How? I'm struggling to find any information on their website (no surprise). Any contact numbers or links? I challenge you!! It's like one of those internet brain training mind puzzles.
  2. If anyone has sucessfully escaped, is there anything I need to be aware of? For instance, I'll lose access to the software - how do I track previous records - best method to backup or export data to keep it safe. My plan is to migrate all data into new system but I'm sure something will break along the way.

I'm not in any contract (as far as I know) so I'm hoping I don't have to give too much notice. I'm looking at Quickbooks who apparently have a migration team - I'm hoping it works out but I thought I'd ask for views. Many thanks!

Replies (5)

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By johndon68
02nd Feb 2018 12:27

Help -> About within the program displays a 'contact us' link as well as a phone number you can call them on.

If you are on a monthly licence rather than a perpetual one, then you will lose access to the software once you have cancelled the licence.

As for the data, I'd export the Audit Trail, Customers, Trial balance etc to CSV files before you cancel.

I've not tried it with an expired licence but, even after expiry, it may be possible to access the data in Excel via ODBC.

John

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John Toon
By John Toon
02nd Feb 2018 15:53

I think point 1 has been already addressed. The only thing to add is that you need to retain 6 year's worth of records for HMRC purposes.

The transition to cloud software, assuming you aren't moving to Quickbooks desktop, is simple and seamless for Xero or QBO using someone like Movemybooks - I wouldn't bother with the migration team. You can also transfer historic records potentially avoiding the need for exporting data from Sage.

As for your choices, Xero and QBO are the best products on the market. My preference is Xero but I would suggest you take a free trial with both and see what fits best.

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Replying to johnt27:
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By D V Fields
02nd Feb 2018 22:53

As for your choices, Xero and QBO are the best products on the market.

[/quote]
Based on what? Less than twelve transactions a year? 24, 48, 60....... One user, two, three.... ? Cash or accruals basis .........

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By D V Fields
02nd Feb 2018 22:40

I'm not in any contract (as far as I know) so I'm hoping I don't have to give too much notice.

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Follow the evidence and when you've worked out what your contract is, leaving hope out of it, employ the same techniques to answer all your other questions. I don't have a copy of your contract; but you do! Sorry I am repeating myself.

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By bignose2
11th Mar 2019 10:46

I know old thread but thought would add.

Been with sage payroll for 20+ years.
Sage Accounts also but still on a one off paid old version.
Always wanted to move but thought just not worth the effort.
I am a little annoyed as can only cancel subscription on renewal date, 6 months time.
Was originally a one off purchase with Sage Cover
monthly, they then move you, without choice to the monthly full subscription, inc sage cover.
I think before you could cancel sage cover at any time (might be wrong) but was a much lesser payment either way.

I understand if you start a subscription for new software it would be unreasonable to just have a few months & stop, you have to pay for the development etc. but when an ongoing subscription for some years you really should be able to stop anytime.

Fortunately now with MTD coming I would have had to upgrade Sage Accounts so gave me an excuse & enough reason to move the whole lot and sooo.. pleased I have. started Xero and whilst few quirks I love it & so much easier & simpler for me as a small business owner.

Very happy to take the hit for 6 months of sage I don't need. In fact the whole Xero accounts & payroll is only £10'ish pm more than upgrading just sage accounts. Less actually as my Pension module renews/cancels earlier and that then would be the same pm. How sage have the nerve to put up Payroll 50 quite a lot then charge extra for pension module is beyond me. Funnily I would have thought pension data syncing would be the sort of this you would expect included in a payroll system. That was nearly enough for me to move before.
Migration was pretty easy by the way, movemybooks (free for 2 years history),worked very well, some tweeking & I am still learning.

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