u/DoneRightbyDanielLLC

I've finally gotten my books reconciled from 2023 through 2025, and boy what a ride that was!!!

From 4-6 months of missing transactions in 2024, improper reconciling done before, and of course a lot of reconciling just not done at all, I learned so much from the last two months of fighting through this process.

The most important takeaway: Reconcile every account the day after the statement for it comes out. Don't wait until later, don't put it off, get it done as soon as the statement comes out.
Most banks say anything you don't catch in 30 days from the statement date is your own thing to deal with, so there's that, but also, if you're reconciling across the board every month, it'll be much fresher in your mind, and much easier to deal with!

HUGE shoutout to the folks in r/Bookkeeping for all the help as I fought my way through this.
Thanks to them I learned about Tabula, a great open source software to pull data from .pdf statements and convert it to .csv.
From there I learned some new tricks with LibreOffice Calc, got the files cleaned up, and then fought with Zoho to get their import tool to work correctly.

If you're behind on your books, now's the time to get after it; the next ten hours you spend getting them up to speed may be the best 40 hours you spend getting your books sorted over the 200 hours it takes! :P

Edit to update:
The issue has been resolved, it appears that Zoho has resolved whatever was hanging up.

OP:

Hello all, the worst bookkeeper here (yes, I am still eager to fire myself as soon as I can afford to) again with another issue.

Yes, I know Zoho sucks, and as soon as I find a software to replace it, I will.

So, I'm reconciling, and I find some duplicate transactions. No big deal, I just go to the account they were pulled into from the bank feeds, uncategorize, then exclude as duplicates.
I've already had to do that about 25 times today, and it's worked fine.
Now when I go to do it, in the account the transactions are matched FROM (NOT the same account I'm reconciling currently, but the duplicates are transfers from/to these accounts), I get an error saying "Transaction(s) matched or categorized cannot be deleted."
It happened five times in a row, I refreshed the page, I refreshed Zoho Books, and it still keeps happening.

I reached out to Zoho (surprised their chat function worked!) and that guy was... 'less than helpful'. It seems he doesn't understand what I'm saying or showing, he refused to join a screen share session so I could show the error, and ignored the screenshots I sent in > 10 times. (The usual disgusting excuse for C/S).

Anyone here who knows how to fix this?

I would have posted this in r/zoho but I got banned there for asking for help too many times.

Today is day 82 of the Open Issues; Account info update and unable to reach a human being in regular C/S.

Today is a noteworthy day because today is the first day in which agents are actually working on the issues, saying the 'case has been escalated'.

So, in this instance, it took 82 days for the agents to start working on the open issues.

Some things I've learned along the way that helped me get this far:

1. Almost everything the agents say is rude, disrespectful, accusatory, aggravating, and antagonistic.
   I believe they do this with the intent of chasing the customer off so we don't ask them to do the work.

2. Being passive about this works significantly better than engaging and arguing with them.
   Settle in and be prepared for a lot of calls, a lot of nonsense, and a lot of poor behavior from them, as that's all they have to offer.
   Instead, have your own script ready, keep it basic and simple, and make sure you're clearly asking them to resolve the issue(s) in every call.

3. Be sure to document as you go. In 82 days I've documented hundreds of emails and thousands of phone calls; nothing extravagant, just a quick note.
   These numbers will come in handy when you're ready to file the lawsuit.

Howdy!
So I'm working through the backlog of reconciliation and I've hit the point where Bank Feeds broke in Zoho (May 2024 to November 2024).

I've tried out Lido, Zamzar, Tabula, and Altova, but I can't seem to get any of them to work correctly to import into Zoho Books.
I've reached out to Zoho Books support, too, but we all know that won't get me anywhere.

Has anyone here figured out a working way to get .pdf bank statement data into a .csv AND import that into Zoho Books?

On February 26th, 2026, I found and reported two issues to Straight Talk:

1. Unable to edit my profile information, I get an error saying I need to call customer service to find out what to do next.
2. When I call customer service, the automated system hangs up without letting me speak with a human being.

I've provided all of the details to Straight Talk/ Tracfone/ Verizon more than 10,000 times and they still refuse to assist, or resolve the issues.

They make it worse with the use of Bad Customer Service; talking over me, ignoring me, arguing, lying, blaming, accusing, and so on.

They make it worse again by becoming abusive; verbally attacking/ assaulting, using insulting names and terms, and then hanging up after blaming me for their refusal to accept any details.

I realize that most of this behavior is just 'normal' for the foreign/overseas agents, and it's a cultural difference wherein they find it acceptable to speak to each other in such ways that we Americans consider abnormally rude, disrespectful, and harmful, but that doesn't make it okay. It DOES place the problem in the hands of the company that hires these horrible creatures.

So, if you're wondering whether or not to go ahead with business with Straight Talk, remember that to them it's okay to call the customer a 'stupid American asshole', to hang up on the customer, and/or to abuse the customer endlessly.

Despite my best efforts, it's been 11 weeks now, and there is still no resolution to either of these issues.

I have finally found and ordered a replacement service, and I look forward to trying that out.

Howdy again!

Edit to add: 11MAY26
Thank you all for the answers, I'll be journaling these as 'Bank fees', which is already an account in the system, and definitely makes my life a little easier.

Thank you again!

OP:

How best should I be journaling bank account verification deposits and withdrawals?
In this specific case it's from a personal account that I linked to a business account to be able to pay myself, but I'd also like to know generically.

Yes, a PSA, and yes, I'm also venting, sharing so others know what to expect.

On 26FEB26, I reported that:

1. I am not able to update my profile/account information in my online account portal, I keep getting an error saying I need to call customer service.
2. I also cannot reach a human being in customer service.

I have filed complaints with the BBB, FCC, FTC, the SOS office of Texas, the SOS office of Florida, the SOS office of New York, and Verizon's Corporate Office.

Tracfone (Straight Talk) asked me to call their 'Executive Resolutions Department' ((888) 251-8169‬ PIN 1120), which I have done well over 100 times (yes, I know, I'm 'determined'). I have also been hung up on well over 100 times (almost every call) with them accusing me of 'this is not business related', or, 'since you cannot provide any information' (What information??, they won't specify, they just say I need to provide the information), or, 'I don't like English'. Yeah, seriously.

So, if you're thinking of doing business with Straight Talk, keep this in mind (and google around, you'll see this same sentiment often):
If things are working well, GREAT, don't. touch. ANYTHING.

As soon as there's a problem or issue of any kind, buckle up, it's a long, abusive ride to get any help, IF you ever get any help.
Their 'customer service' seems to be made up of all the worst, nastiest, most disgusting overseas CSR's who couldn't hack it anywhere else, and are happy to abuse, accuse, ignore, talk over, and mistreat the customer until they hang up on you.

I got a new email with a new phone number to call (888-251-8169 (PIN: 1900).), I'll give it a go tomorrow and see if it fares any better.