Hi Walter - thanks for the insight. For some Excel works great, one off cost and can be customised to fit your individual way of working, but you have to be prepared to wrangle with formulas and filters and accept that features such SMS and GoCardless integration, multi-user and mobile apps (to name but a few) aren't really achievable with Excel.
Import - I will go out of my way to help you import your Excel sheet into Cleaner Planner. If you keep things tidy it's usually just a case of changing some column names and advising you on what you'll need to do with the data once it's in the system (and help you get your head round the concept of jobs having "due dates" and "debt balances").
Export - Just to clarify, with Cleaner Planner, whether you're on a free trial or a paying subscriber, you are free to export your data at any time. Simply click the "Export" button at the top of any of the pages (e.g. Jobs, Customers, Transactions) and it will instantly download an Excel CSV file that you can then use with another software provider if you so wish.
I have no interest whatsoever in preventing you from taking your data with you if that's what you want to do. It's your data not mine. Even if your trial has expired and you can't login, but have decided not to proceed with the software, simply email me and I will be more than happy to send you an export of your data and confirm deletion of it from our database if that is your wish.
Support - Yes, it's just me for now but I'm not going anywhere! I'm planning to take someone on to help with support (and possibly development if I can find the right person!) later this year.