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awoodsrei
March 17, 2023
Question

Net payroll shows up as transaction under project transactions tab

  • March 17, 2023
  • 1 reply
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I have now spent more than 13 hours on the phone and on chat with 23 different QuickBooks support personnel regarding the same problem!  Initially, there was a lot of passing me around from one agent and one group to the next and back again, as the respective agent didn't have the knowledge needed to address the issue and/or believed it would be better supported by another group.  (Hence the high number or agent interactions.) 

 

This began to be a much bigger issue on March 1st when our entire net payroll started showing up as Payroll DD line items under the project transactions tab for EVERY project that our employees work on EVERY WEEK!  Prior to that date, this was only happening intermittently and on a on-off basis (not the entire payroll, not all of the projects, and months between occurrences) and now it happens for the entire payroll every week.  

 

On Mar 2nd, I was told by the escalation team to simply journal entry the costs back out of the project each time it took place. However, since it was not happening with any regularity and only infrequently, they WOULD NOT open an investigation as to the cause of the issue and/or look for a solution.

 

Since then, every payroll, every project, and every employee that has time entered against a project (all non-billable), their entire net pay will show as a transaction under the project (transactions tab).  Today, I was told by the agent (after 1:35 min on the call and her simply doing searches on the QB support pages -- which I had already done numerous times) that it is now happening the way it is SUPPOSED TO BE WORKING and that there is an open investigation as to why it did not happen correctly prior to now..... Wrong answer!  If this is actually the case, why did the escalation team tell me to journal entry the costs off the projects and why does the entire net payroll for each employee that works on multiple projects show up as a transaction under each of the projects they "touched"?  This cannot be right and the way it should work!!

 

This agent was very argumentative and also told me that since I was entering time against a project (in the timesheet), that this is why it happens.  The timesheets have been entered in exactly the same way from the get-go and entering the timesheets with the hours against the project is the only way that the hours will show under the project "time activity" tab.  So, what am I supposed to do now?  I apparently can't enter the time against the project in the timesheet because if I do, the project now gets charged for both the time activity and the entire net payroll for every person that works on it (and for every project they work on in any given week).

 

In addition, the payroll costs accounts are charged (correctly, mind you) for the net payroll.  So, "Joe's" entire net payroll shows under the payroll cost account, plus under the XYZ project AND the ABC project, and his time activity shows up under the XYZ project AND the ABC project for those specific hours.  So, QuickBooks Online is SUPPOSED to work that way??  I think not -- matter of fact, I KNOW not!

 

Getting support for this issue has been a case of total and complete frustration and if given the opportunity, this will certainly cause me to move to another accounting platform!  This is ridiculous!!

 

Could someone please just listen to the issue and do something about it -- and not just search the support pages and keep me in a holding pattern while you do so?  In addition to the whole cost thing -- the entire company's payroll is visible to anyone who has access to our QB account -- even the owner's salary is visible.  That is a huge confidentiality issue!!  Anyone with access can see every little detail about everyone's pay, deductions, any related garnishments, pay rate, etc., etc., etc.!!!

 

I am absolutely sure it is not supposed to work this way!!!  In our books alone, it has intermittently happened for more than a year and then, "Poof" it happens every week, and now (according to this agent anyway), it is supposed to happen this way?  Why?  Can anybody tell me why it is designed to work this way?  It is certainly not an accurate depiction of reality!

 

Give me a break!  Take note QuickBooks Support, this is not the way this should work and your customers should not have to spend this much time and effort trying to get to the bottom of an issue that is causing problems throughout your entire business' books!  PLEASE listen and DO something!

    1 reply

    S
    SirielJeaB
    March 17, 2023

    @awoodsrei, we hear your sentiments and understand your feelings on this matter. I am aware of the impact these challenges have on how your company operates with QuickBooks.

     

    I appreciate you taking the time to try to troubleshoot this issue with us. Please know that this isn't the experience we want you to have. Feel assured that we will share your feedback so that we can improve the level of customer service we offer to both you and other users.

     

    You can visit this article for your reference in managing payroll moving forward: Create and run your payroll.

     

    Reach out to us again if you have further QuickBooks-related concerns. We're willing to assist you at any time. Keep safe!

    A
    awoodsreiAuthor
    March 20, 2023

    Thank you for your reply. However, although this is somewhat payroll related, it is not entirely payroll related.  The payroll portion (direct deposit, cost accounts for payroll costs, etc.) are working properly.  The timesheets are populating the time activity under the project and the payroll (when you click on 'run payroll').  However, the fact that the net payroll for every employee that works on a given project (and on each of those projects) shows up as a transaction (cost against the project) in addition to all the other items is totally erroneous!  I do not know what team would actually deal with this -- the core team, the project team, the payroll team, or ???

     

    Bottom line.... this is a BUG in QuickBooks Online (I don't know if the same thing is happening on the desktop version) AND QuickBooks / Intuit as basically refusing to address the problem.  At one point, I am told by the escalation team that it isn't happening often enough and with enough regularity for the root cause to be investigated.  Then, I am told that it is supposed to happen that way and that there is an open investigation as to why it was not happening correctly in the past.  If this is true and it has been "fixed", why investigate why it used to happen?  Investigate why it is happening now, not in the past.... the exact opposite of what the latest agent told me.

     

    But, in my experience with QuickBooks support over the last 6-8 months, has been deplorable!  This is not the only issue for which I have received poor to non-existent support.  However, it is the one that has caused the greatest difficulty and issues in our system and the only one for which I have been unable to find a solution on my own (which I have done after hours of phone calls and chats on issues in the past and being told by your support team that they did not know what was happening or why).

     

    QuickBooks / Intuit needs to cross-train their support teams so they do not have to pass around their customers on issues like this.  Currently, your teams are so "pigeon-holed" that they have no idea what to do or what to say on an issue that "touches" multiple aspects of the system as this one does.  If only there was a team to which we could speak that would have expertise in multiple aspects of the system.  Further, why does the support agent have to "communicate separately" to the escalation or upper-level support?  Why can't they connect us all together on the call so it takes less time and the escalation or upper-level support can hear/see what is going on first-hand.  I think that would help things along a great deal.  The amount of time it takes to do it the current way -- back and forth over and over again, never hearing what the customer actually says) is very frustrating and counter productive!  

     

    One other thing -- is there a reason your agents don't look through the notes and/or chat above to get an idea of what is happening so they are not asking questions over again that have already been answered and addressed?  At one point, I asked the agent to which I had been transferred, to take a moment and look through the notes/earlier chat to review what had already been said/done. However, instead of doing so, she asked the same questions all over again causing yet more frustration.  When I asked if she had read through it, she said that she could see it -- but apparently had not actually read through the information and was not interested in doing so.  If this would be something that the agents do as a normal routine, that would be helpful for all involved and would cut down on the duplication and time required to "get to the bottom of the issue".

     

    In any case, it would be greatly appreciated if someone would take up this issue and find out why it is happening and what can be done to remedy the situation and get the bug fixed.

     

     

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