User Reviews
Fishbowl Inventory by Fishbowl Inventory
USER REVIEWS - All reviews
Purchased Date: June 01, 2011
I.T. Administrator, Amrita Aromatherapy, Inc.
February 29, 2012
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Pros
About Me: 10+ years of programming, web development, database design, jack-of-all-trades IT.
Fishbowl Use:
7 months total, including full implementation and continuing support, now delving into internal custom development
Before you even try Fishbowl's software, make VERY detailed flowcharts of your existing and ideal processes. Then, locate and read every single page of their forums. Then, read every page of their Wiki. I'm serious; it isn't that long, and the internet doesn't contain much information about Fishbowl, for reasons unknown. As you read, compare the available options VERY carefully to your list of requirements. If none of those pages tells you that you CAN do a certain thing in Fishbowl, then you CANNOT do it. Fishbowl's marketing mentions what it can do in no uncertain terms.
Cons
It is telling that one of Fishbowl's developers, Israel Lopez, co-founded a company called FishBooksPro, which provides support and custom programming services for Fishbowl and QuickBooks.
Fishbowl allows you to take payment via credit card, interfacing with QuickBooks Merchant Services, but there is no way to associate a payment with an order. This example of a nearly-complete feature set is representative of the shortcomings that you will encounter when using Fishbowl.
Our Fishbowl server software began freezing several times each day, after upgrading from v11.7 to 12.2. "Reinstall" was FB tech support's first response. How do you suppose upper management in my company will receive that 'solution'? My next step will be to find out how to clear Java caches manually (outside of Control Panel), which I'll try before reinstalling.
Overall
During the planning stage, we identified a key shortcoming in Fishbowl's capabilities, for which we devised a work-around. That was a sign of things to come, as Fishbowl's limitations have since forced us to develop cumbersome operational procedures in order to avoid abandoning our investment in the software. The alternative would have been, and still is, to invest in costly custom development.
You may read and hear that Fishbowl can do things. The best response to such a claim is "Show me exactly how it's done."
Purchased Date: November 01, 2010
CEO, NAP
May 04, 2011
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Pros
Great Sales Team
Cons
Terrible/Non-Existent Integration
Terrible Support (read other review sites and even their own forums)
Refund Policy = SCAM
Overall
The only way you can qualify for a software satisfaction guarantee REFUND is to buy their extremely expensive Training that is non-refundable. They sold us software, we added in-house integration/training, but their person (and their support team) never got to properly integrated Fishbowl into our system and never got it to work. We lost 2 months dealing with them and finally asked for a full refund, but had to walk away with $8,000 loss. They only issued refund for Software and nothing else (training, mobile scanner, EZ connector etc.). We know of two other companies that are sitting on a non-integrated software, but cannot get refund because they never paid for their training. You lose either way. Please - buyers beware when dealing with this company.
Purchased Date: May 01, 2009
Systems Controller, Fastech Asia Ltd
March 15, 2010
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Pros
The software works good
Cons
If you have any problem or questions you will have to wait 5 hrs for someone to call you back and there phone support you can not get ahold of anyone you just have to leave a message sit around and hope they call you back. So if your a fast paced business and cant afford a day of not being able to fix something def not recomended to go with fishbowl
Overall
If you need support dont by it cuz they are horrible
Purchased Date: N/A
Business Manager, Trimax Medical Management
September 14, 2009
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Pros
The two day onsite training that was conducted by Luke Miller was exceptional. Luke was extremely knowledgeable and a huge help in identifying areas where we could improve our current setup. We trained 4 new people and all are now productive on Fishbowl.
Cons
Three days would have been the perfect length for this training.
Overall
I highly recommend the onsite training for any Fishbowl user. Even if you have been using Fishbowl for a number of years, you will still find this training to be beneficial and cost effective.
