Bench Accounting

I regret to say that my experience with Bench Accounting has been highly disappointing. I engaged their services with the expectation of professional and timely bookkeeping, but unfortunately, they fell significantly short on all fronts.Firstly, the company consistently failed to update my financial records in a timely manner. Critical transactions were often left unrecorded for extended periods, which created discrepancies and made it difficult to track my financial health accurately. Their reconciliation process was equally lacking; they either neglected to reconcile accounts altogether or did so inaccurately, resulting in mismatched balances and confusion.Communication was another major issue. I found that responses to my inquiries were slow and often incomplete, leaving me in the dark about the status of my books or any ongoing issues. This lack of responsiveness caused delays and added unnecessary stress to managing my business finances.Due to their inadequate bookkeeping, I ultimately had to hire a different professional to redo and correct all the work done improperly. This additional expense was frustrating and unnecessary, especially considering I had expected better service from a reputable firm like Bench.In summary, I cannot recommend Bench Accounting based on my experience. Their neglect to update and reconcile my books properly, combined with poor communication, resulted in wasted time and money. I suggest looking elsewhere for a bookkeeping partner who values accuracy, timeliness, and customer service. "

Since their aquisition, Bench has spiralled down hill. I requested to speak with client success when they decided to increase our prices by about 40%, and once we scheduled the call, the rep never showed up and didn't even bother rescheduling. My CPA asked our Bench bookkeeper to reschedule a call, which he never got a response to. I've asked several times that we prefer email and text for communication but they kept communicating via their portal. Most recently, when I asked to speak with a manager to determine what's going on with our account, she didn't even know who our bookkeeper is, and it turns out that we haven't had one for months now, yet they continue to bill me. They refuse to refund me despite the fact that the core service I'm paying for (being a bookkeeper doing our accounting) isn't being delivered. They had zero sympathy and stated that we tried to contact you in the portal months ago, which doesn't even have anything to do with this issue of not having the service I'm paying for being delivered. SMB"s beware if you are considering them. This is absolutely fraudulent behavior. "

I was a Bench customer for 5 years. The first 3 years things were good and reliable and then the last 2 years has been progressively bad with a string of new bookkeepers on my account and it felt like I had to train them. I made a decision late last year to transfer my bookkeeping to a more comprehensive financial services firm that can do planning, taxes and bookkeeping in one place. I thought I could have them do my books through the end of 2024, but then they closed abruptly at the end of the year and then sold it to a firm that does have financial services as part of their core offerings. I'm glad that I have made the transition to a new service provider because I can't imagine trusting a company with my financials who is learning on the fly. Buyer beware! "

I paid Bench right at $10,000 to do my books, and I now have ZERO to show for it with no hope of it ever getting done. It also took 31 emails over 5 months to cancel the service. My invoices also suddenly went up by $200 a month with no warning or reasoning. A complete scam. Do not expect to get any work done at all from these crooks. "

I began working with Bench back in late 2018/early 2019 -- at the time they were a wonderful start-up with people who really cared, communicated regularly, and did a fantastic job with my small business' books. I recommended them to friends and was happy with their service. In the last 2 years especially, communication has drastically fallen off, and it's no fault of my actual bookkeeper -- I could tell he was really doing his best in a company where a lot was changing and not for the better. I decided to switch to a smaller company for my services and canceled in early December 2024, with confirmation from the agent I canceled with that because I paid into my Bench Tax subscription all year, my 2024 bookkeeping and accounting were covered.Then came the shutdown and buyout by Employer.com -- something that was not even hinted at by the company to users at any time until it was already a mess. Spurred on by fears that my data would no longer be available to me (after it wasn't during the shutdown and other users online made it clear that data was not readily available to download without agreeing to Employer.com's new terms), I agreed to Employer.com having access to my data so I myself could have access to it.A couple weeks later, I received an email from Bench saying that because I no longer had an active subscription they would not be finishing my 2024 books OR doing my accounting through BenchTax after all. This was all legally valid because of the buyout. I have no recourse because of this to get my $600+ back that was already paid for my accountant -- but I can leave a review, and warn others that this company has been on shaky ground for a while and in the buyout Employer.com has chosen to not honor what little integrity Bench had left. I feel awful for the employees there who have had no say in these changes -- none of this is the fault of the people who I've actually been able to communicate with. The higher ups have simply been greedy -- I have seen reviews here showing it could've been even worse for me, as some users haven't had books updated that were paid in advance for over a year.As someone who was once a big fan of Bench, it pains me to say - do not work with this company. They do not care about their customers in the slightest. "