The Neat Company — Local services in Philadelphia

I have been using Neat for 10 years, give or take. In that time, I have seen it come from a useful application with some rough edges, to a much more refined application that will be a good solution for many use cases, both personal and business. The software has the functionality to allow most users, whether their filing needs are simple or complex, to use the software effectively. Neat is an electronic document management system. Technically, it seems to me, a non-business user, to be a database system. The purpose of a database system is to store and retrieve information. The software we users interact with, the user interface, or UI, is simply the front end put on the database to allow users to enter and retrieve their information. Neat has done a good job in providing the flexibility to organize your data, your files, in a variety of ways, one of which will most likely meet the needs of how you need to access your information. Some use cases require a lot of granularity. Data from a single receipt may need to be broken down into multiple categories, each of which needs to be reported on individually. Other use cases, simply need the receipt recorded along with the amount, and the breakdown isn't required. Neat is good insofar as it doesn't force a lot of unnecessary overhead of the more complex use cases on the users with simpler use cases. Like me. Sometimes you can review software solely based on its functionality. Other times it is useful to look at the company to see how they support their products, as well as how they work on it to improve them. To their credit, Neat scores well on both accounts. They are accessible for support and offer it in multiple tiers to support the users with differing support needs. Development has been ongoing since I have had the product and continues today. A number of the changes and improvements are at least in part in response to user feedback. Neat has been offering frequent webinars which have the benefits of increasing Neat's connection to its user base, as well as giving direct access to Neat personnel in real time. They make all these webinars available to be seen after the fact on their portal, which contains useful materials as well as an interface to your Neat data. Users can access Neat on the Neat web site, with a smartphone app, and a soon (I think) to be released new desktop client. All three allow for the input (scanning) of documents and retrieval of stored information. Documents can also be imported from your local system and sent to your neat account via a unique email address assigned to each account. Finally, Neat is a good product that has struck a good balance between extensive functionality and ease of use. Their ongoing product development and product support bode well for the future. I have told you what I do like. If there is anything I could call a don't like it would be that in order to get the full functionality that a duplex scanner might offer (Neat supports multiple scanner manufacturers), as I understand it, you must use a scanner connected (USB) to your device running the client. They're working on this and when it's done, I will likely get a new (Fujitsu) scanner. To their credit, the Neat ND-1000 duplex scanner I got when I started using Neat still works well enough. That's 10 years of regular (not constant) use. They get some points for that. So why only four stars? There are things that could be better, but they are not things that I thought needed mentioning here. Their work to improve the software, which I believe will address some of these minor issues make me optimistic that Neat will continue to improve and then I'll give them the last star. I would not quibble with anyone who gives them...

I'm very disappointed with The Neat Company. They do have the best color scanner product ever made for general consumer use however they no longer support their last model made which is the NC-1000, for customers who do not subscribe to their paid cloud service.

My printer was not able to connect with my new Mac or PC. I downloaded and attempted to install the "provided drivers" from their website several times with no success in addition the printer kept indicating that it had the most updated firmware installed which was not true.

I contacted their support for assistance and was told that they would not help.

I decided to get a 30 day free trial subscription because I really did not want to lose the use of my $300 scanner.

I then contacted support and the rep did some trouble shooting with me and took me around in circles for 2.5 hours and still could not get the drivers to work. He kept saying " but you have the option of scanning to the cloud" which I did not want to do at all times. The printer also can no longer connect with Google or Evernote, which are all features that were available before.

I finally got upset and told him that I felt that I was being ripped off and that if Neat no longer wanted to offer any other option besides the cloud, they should let me know so that I can publish the information on the blogs and the forums so that no one else wastes their time trying.

He offered to call me back the next day to continue troubleshooting as it was the end of his shift. I told him that he is to call me tomorrow with a solution and drivers that will work.

We checked the firmware version on the actual printer and there was indeed an update even though the printer would perform a check and advise that the firmware was up to date. I asked the rep how do I get the update. He said that he would have to take control of my computer and install it so that I could then transfer it to the printer.

Therefore, anyone who DOES NOT have a subscription would never be able to get this firmware that is clearly necessary to make the printer work.

This is so dishonest and a total sham. After the firmware installation, we re-installed the drivers on both my PC and MAC and mysteriously everything worked.

This is absolutely awful to force people who bought your product, under the premise and promise that they could scan directly to their computers, to pay for a 150+ subscription.

The Neat Company gets 1 star for their unsavoury business practices and...

I have had my Neat Connect scannet for approximately 4 years. I have had a Neat Cloud for the full time. I recently decided that I want to connect to my OneDrive and/or Dropbox account(s). I subsequuently learned that I could not access either of my two cloud accounts as my NeatConnect firmware was outdate. Despite repeated attempts to update my firmware I could not (I continuously received a message that my firmware was up to date (02.03.02.06)). After posting an inquiry to the Neat user community, I learned that the latest version of the firmware wad actually 02.05.02.03.

This morning (05/29) I contacted Neat support. First, I spoke with Marilou. Marilou worked worked with me for nearly an hour troubleshooting (via the remote connection). Initially, my NeatConnect was not connected to my computer. Marilou was working with me in order to get my computer and NeatConnect scanner talking to each other so that she could remotely update the firmware. Unfortunately, I lost my internet connection and subsequentl the remote seesion was seveted.

After getting my internet connection re-established, I again contacted Neat support. This time, I was connected to Alvi. I explained to Alvi that I had previously/earlier spoken with and worked with Marilou but had lost my connection. I explained to Alvi, in effort to prevent a duplication of efforts, the steps that had already been completed. I then suggested that I believed we were at the point where I though we needed to move forward with remotely updating the scanner firmware. Alvi was professional (as was Marilou) and kept me apprised of every step that he was taking. Alvi downloaded the necessary software and firmware to my computer and successfully update my firmware. After the update I was able to scan successfully directly to OneDrive. I have not yet set up scanning to Dropbox, but I feel confident that I will have no issues.

I have been using Neatscannersan software for seven plus years (first Neat desktop scanner and now my NeatConnect scanner). In all this time, I have never previously had to contact support. My experience(s) today were very pleasant. Both Alvi and Marilou demonstrated that they are not only very professional, but they both also demonstrated that they are very knowledgeable. It was a pleasure dealing with both of them. As a customer, I am very appreciative that the Neat Company has such excellent technical support personnel...