202 complaints extracted from 202 reviews of Alaan between 2023-10 and 2026-02, average rating 4.58/5, grouped into the problems users report most. Each problem links to the market it belongs to and to startup ideas built on it.
The problems Alaan users report
Cash flow friction and operational dead ends — 26 complaints about Alaan; 26 complaints across 1 product · market pageUsers repeatedly hit walls when trying to operate normally: top-ups take nearly a full day to reflect, there's no way to log expenses made outside the Alaan card, and receipts can't flow into internal filing systems without manual hassle. These aren't edge cases — they're daily friction points that slow down finance teams and leave employees waiting on money they need right now.
Receipt capture that fails at the moment it matters — 21 complaints about Alaan; 22 complaints across 2 products · market pageUsers across multiple expense tools consistently hit the same wall: receipts get rejected by the scanner, uploads silently fail and lose the image, and the only capture method is a manual photo-then-switch-tabs workflow that burns storage and time. The frustration isn't philosophical — it's concrete: 'the app sometimes fails to upload expense photos, causing users to lose receipts,' 'it often hangs during the receipt scanning,' and 'I need to screenshot, save, then switch tabs and repeat the whole process, which consumes a lot of space on my mobile phone.'
Card authentication friction vs. security tradeoffs — 15 complaints about Alaan; 16 complaints across 2 products · market pageUsers are caught between authentication that is too hard to complete (requiring local phone numbers they don't have, physical IDs when digital ones exist, or network connectivity to receive OTPs) and security that feels insufficient (no per-transaction confirmation on small purchases, no periodic card number rotation, shared cards with no clear OTP ownership). The complaints span both directions: 'the verification process is too hard, they did not accept my digital emirates ID' sits alongside 'please add OTP to every transaction even if its small value' — the same users want stronger controls but also ones they can actually use.
Expense data that doesn't add up or flex — 13 complaints about Alaan; 18 complaints across 4 products · market pageUsers across multiple tools consistently hit the same wall: the numbers in analytics reports don't match the actual expense reports, cash transactions can't be logged at all, and the system auto-generates one ledger entry per transaction instead of letting teams consolidate them. On top of that, spend controls are blunt instruments — there's no way to set limits per department, no merchant-level visibility on the dashboard, and no subscription spend rollup — leaving finance teams managing money with a foggy windshield.
Slow and restricted corporate account funding — 13 complaints about Alaan; 15 complaints across 2 products · market pageFinance teams and employees can't fund corporate expense accounts fast enough to meet real-time payment needs. Complaints cluster around two things: transfers taking 2-3 hours or longer ('sometimes we are stuck with immediate payments'), and funding windows locked to weekdays and business hours ('the cycle of adding funds only on weekdays and specific times is problematic'). The result is blocked payments, delayed tasks, and employees stuck waiting for money that should already be there.
Complex expense tools that never get easier — 11 complaints about Alaan; 24 complaints across 4 products · market pageUsers across all four products describe the same spiral: features are hard to find, mobile is nearly unusable for anything beyond basics, and the initial setup demands enough time that infrequent users forget how to do things between sessions. Complaints include 'too many features to understand in a quick implementation period,' 'very hard to find the advanced features,' and 'challenging to use, especially for infrequent users' — the tools assume power users who live in them daily, but most employees touch them once a month to file expenses.
Slow, unreliable support when money is on the line — 10 complaints about Alaan; 51 complaints across 4 products · market pageUsers across every major expense management product describe the same failure: support is slow to respond, hard to reach outside business hours, and inconsistent when you do get through. Complaints range from 'takes forever sometimes' and 'very long holds, sometimes up to an hour' to 'customer service operates only during PST hours, causing delays for EST users who need timely assistance with flight bookings' and 'afterhours assistance is slim when needed and costing extra.' The problem isn't just inconvenience — travel bookings get missed, card activations stall, and employees on the road are left stranded because the support infrastructure behind these products wasn't built to match the urgency of the transactions they facilitate.
Opaque and excessive international transaction fees — 9 complaints about Alaan; 16 complaints across 3 products · market pageUsers across multiple expense management products are paying far more than they expect on currency conversion, with no clear visibility into why. Complaints range from 'currency conversion charges are way high' to Saudi Airlines charges mysteriously splitting into two separate postings, making reconciliation a nightmare. The underlying frustration is not just cost — it's that fees are inconsistent, unpredictable, and impossible to challenge without better data.
In their words
“The initial setup and onboarding process could be a bit smoother.”2.5/5 · 2025-06-03 · Complex expense tools that never get easier
“Proactive support from them during office hours”2.5/5 · 2024-10-29 · Slow, unreliable support when money is on the line
“Support is very bad and almost no support at times for a few days”2.5/5 · 2024-10-20 · Slow, unreliable support when money is on the line
“Something needs to be done to add the card to Apple Pay, otherwise near useless”2.5/5 · 2023-11-13
“Cant able to use in Gpay & there is no personalized experience”3/5 · 2024-11-13
“I don't like manually uploading invoice screenshots each time.”3/5 · 2023-11-07 · Receipt capture that fails at the moment it matters