Complaints

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:07/26/2023

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  ResolvedMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I purchased a neat scanner in good faith maybe 10 years ago. They consequently changed to a yearly subscription format. I only use it for personal receipts so just continued to use the scanner I purchased and did not sign up for the yearly subscription. I don't have that many receipts and the scanner continues to work properly. Recently I've been getting emails stating they will permanently delete all my files going back years if I don't sign up for their yearly subscription. I don't know how they can do this as I thought I was saving the data file on my computer. This amounts to a shake down. I can't ask them about it to see if it's a real email, or a scam because I don't have a "subscription" so they won't answer any questions. Also, could not find an email to report a possible scam to them. It does look like a real return email address. (see attachment) These receipts are for personal tax purposes going back years. I don't see how they can legally just delete files if you don't pay them continuing money. Even if I did have a subscription and was saving the files to their site, how can they just delete files if the subscription is not continued indefinately? The data files should be made available for at least three years...and 7, I think, if a business.... for tax purposes even if there is not a subscription.

  Business Response

  Date: 08/03/2023

  Hey ******, 
  
  I am very sorry for any confusion. The email you received is a legitimate email from The Neat Company about an old inactive Neat Cloud account in your name and associated with the email address ********************. 
  
  We are reaching out in reference to files that you are currently storing in this old inactive Neat Cloud account. We cannot delete any files you have stored locally on your computer. This email is a notification about the upcoming deletion of the data associated with this old Neat Cloud account which has been inactive since 2011. 
  
  It appears that in 2011 you started a free Cloud trial and uploaded some files to the Neat Cloud during that time. These files don't have any images with them, just text fields and categories. Because the account has been inactive for so long, we can no longer store this data for you. You do not have to purchase anything to download your data. You would only need to purchase a Neat subscription if you wanted to continue storing your data in the Neat Cloud.
  
  I have added temporary access to your account for 7 days so you can log in to view and download your data before it's deleted.
  - Log in to the account to view and download the data here: ***************************
  - If you need to reset the password, you can follow these steps: *****************************************************************************
  - Finally, these steps will walk you through exporting the data to a CSV file that you can keep: ******************************************************************
  
  On another note, if you are still using an old Legacy desktop software of Neat to store and access files, then I would highly suggest exporting all your data out of that old version as soon as possible and discontinuing using that software version. Legacy versions of Neat were retired over 8 years ago and are no longer supported. If you have a technical issue with your computer or the software, Neat will not be able to recover any data from it for you since ********* no longer supports crucial files required for running and troubleshooting the software. Please see this article for more details: *******************************************************************************

  Customer Answer

  Date: 08/11/2023

  [A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business's response.  If you wish, you may update it before sending it.]
  
  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me. 
  
  Regards,
  
  ***********************
  

• Initial Complaint

  Date:03/27/2023

  Type:Customer Service Issues
  Status:

  ResolvedMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  My father passed away in May and I am receiving invoices for him from Neat Company. I have tried to call multiple times but I can’t get through. Hold times are extremely high, over 45 minutes. The last attempt was over an hour hold, I did get an answer but could not hear the rep, sounds like bad signal or he’s in a tunnel. Requesting refund of charges June 2022 to present since Dad died in May and credit/cancel all subscriptions and invoices.

  Business Response

  Date: 03/31/2023

  Hey ********, 
  
  I am sorry to hear about your father passing and send my sincerest condolences. The invoice you sent us shows that the invoice is past due and that your card has not billed. It appears that we attempted to charge you 9 different times since 1/31/2023 when the payment was due but have not billed you successfully for this charge. The last payment made on this account was on 1/31/2022. 
  
  Please see our attached attempted charges and failed invoice. 
  
  Based on this information, there is no refund to process. We have canceled the account effective 3/30/2023 so there will be no more attempts to charge the card on file. Additionally you will no longer be able to login and access the data on the Neat Cloud account associated with this subscription. Over 1000 files are scheduled for deletion. 

  Customer Answer

  Date: 04/27/2023

  [A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business's response.  If you wish, you may update it before sending it.]
  
  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me. 
  Thanks to BBB for assisting to resolve this. The company has been charging my father for years for a service he was barely able to use due to software issues. He attempted to cancel repeatedly but was unable to reach customer service. I'm disappointed to find out, after he died, that he had continued to be charged fees for so many years.

  As noted to the company, Dad died in May of 2022. A company that respects their customers would refund the rest of 2022 that was charged.

  I will accept this resolution as the company has agreed to stop the repeated attempts to charge his credit card.
  
  Regards,
  
  ***************************

• Initial Complaint

  Date:02/08/2023

  Type:Product Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  REQUESTING A FULL REFUND IN THE AMOUNT OF $54.44 FOR INVOICE #******. SUBSCRIPTION CANCELATION & REFUND REQUEST.

  Business Response

  Date: 02/15/2023

  ******, 

  Per your request, your Neat account has been canceled and refund in the amount of $54.44 has been processed back to the card on file. Please allow 4-9 business days to see these funds in your account. 

  As a reminder, you will no longer have access to any files that you have stored in the Neat Cloud. Additionally, the data you are storing on the Neat Cloud will be wiped from our system after your account has been inactive for a period of time.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:01/11/2023

  Type:Order Issues
  Status:

  ResolvedMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  We purchased a desktop scanner system from The Neat Co. in July of 2014 shortly after we opened our small business. We entered a significant amount of information into their system and then found out they discontinued support of that system and the only way we could retrieve our information we had to purchase a new system. It wasn't practical to do that at the time and we requested a copy of our information. They said we could not have a copy unless we purchased their services. We complained to them at the time and they decided that they would hold our information hostage unless we purchased their services. Now they have alerted us that "since our original subscription has been inactive for over 5 years, its data will be permanently deleted on 2/4/2023, unless we renew our subscription at a ridiculous fee, or we can save our documents and files if we sign up for NeatVault for $20/year!!!" We need assurances that if we sign up for their NeatVault, that we will have complete access and be able to download that information. At what point do they have the right to keep our documents from us????

  Business Response

  Date: 01/12/2023

  *****, 
  
  I'm very sorry for any confusion or misinformation you received. Neat is not holding your data hostage. While we did discontinue selling and manufacturing Neat scanners back in 2017, we have never prevented customers from downloading their data from the Neat Cloud if they wanted to.
  
  After reviewing your case history under your hotmail email address, I could not locate any case where we told you that you could not have access to your data. Our support team is trained to educate customers on how they can download their data out of Neat Cloud. It is against our policy to inform a customer that they cannot have access to their data on the Neat Cloud. If you have records that someone from Neat told you this, then please share that information so we can pull the agent responsible for telling you that immediately. 
  
  You mentioned that you added a significant amount of information into the system, but under the hotmail account, I only see that you are storing 32 items in the Neat Cloud. The email you recently received is for your Neat Cloud data. Not any data that you were storing locally on your computer. Neat cannot delete any data that you are storing on your local hard drive.  These 32 files have been sitting on your inactive Neat Cloud account since 2016. Since the account has been inactive for so long, we will not continue to store these items on our server for free. 
  
  You have the option to log in and download the data before it's deleted, or you could reactivate your account to use Neat again. 
  
  You have access to your Neat Cloud account until 2/4/2023. You can log into your Neat Cloud account via this link and download your data before then. You do not need to purchase anything to do this. ***************************

  If you need to reset your password, please follow these steps: *****************************************************************
  
  Once logged in, you can follow these steps on our Help Center that walks customers through downloading their items in bulk from the Neat Cloud: ******************************************************************
  If you have any trouble with this, we can also set up a courtesy call with a support rep who can help you download the 32 files from the Neat Cloud.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 01/21/2023

  [To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the response. If no reason is received your complaint will be closed as Answered]
  
   Complaint: ********
  
  I am rejecting this response because:  First, I would like to challenge the fact that I wasn't told that I couldn't access our data.  After trying to retrieve the information and failing, and then finding out the equipment was no longer supported, I called (I have no proof, but have no reason to lie) and was told the only way to access our data would be to purchase a new subscription online. We didn't want an online account only, so I gave up. I was so upset that we had no access to the data, I archived my file with all of our account information and background information. Then we received multiple notices that we had until 2/4 to either delete or download our data, which led to this complaint!!!!

  Trying to put aside your accusations, I followed your instructions to item 5 and found there is no Preferences tab under Account Settings in the online access to the account.  So I went to the cabinet in our account, and found some entries, but the receipts are missing, and the documents are empty ... they were scanned in there ... the line item with an amount and date are basically useless. Which confirms my thoughts that the data had been held hostage, and in the current form is not acceptable.  We wouldn't have trusted your company with the information if we had known that this would happen ... it really seemed like a helpful tool, until it wasn't.  Thanks anyway. 
  
  Regards,
  
  *************************
  

  Business Response

  Date: 02/15/2023

  Hey *****, 
  
  I am very sorry for any confusion. The email you received about data deletion is in regards to an old inactive Neat Cloud account that you opened back in 2016 during a free trial. During that time it looks like you uploaded about 30 files to the Neat Cloud. Those are the only files we are referring to in this email. We cannot delete anything on your local computer hard drive. When you opened this complaint, we pulled your account out of the queue for data deletion, so you would have time to download your files. 
  
  You mentioned that your documents were empty when you logged in. Since you had not logged into the Neat Cloud account since 2016, your data would have needed to be restored from our backup server when you initiated the login to the account. Restores can take up to 24 hours to complete, so it's possible you were viewing the data before the files finished restoring. 
  
  They are finished restoring now and if you try to log back in, you will see your files. However, we have also downloaded your files for you and have emailed them to you in a zipped file. You can download this file, right-click on it, and choose 'Extract All' to see all your files. 
  
  Your desired outcome was to get access to and the ability to download the documents we were referring to in our data deletion email. 
  
  You will be able to log in to the Neat Cloud account until 2/22/2023 to access and re-download those files if needed, otherwise, all the files that you stored in the Neat Cloud have been emailed to you. 

  Customer Answer

  Date: 02/21/2023

  
  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and other than the statement that we were operating on a "free trial", I find that this resolution is satisfactory to me. 
  
  Regards,
  
  *************************