"They're frustrating at best!"

I signed up for Bench with the hopes of simplifying my bookeeping to save time and energy. However, the time I saved from doing it myself was ultimately spent replying to redundant questions from either incompetent bookeepers, AI or messages from the "team". The team changed often and I would have to reacquaint with a new bookeeper. I would send documents they requested, only to have to resend the next time someone else took over. There appears to be high turnover within this company. Books were never completed on time...months late. When I finally canceled the service, they never even sent me my completed books for the months I paid for claiming that too much time had passed and I would have to sign up again. They're frustrating at best and overpriced. Go with any other online bookeeper and save yourself the hastle

"Disorganized with lack of follow-through and accountability"

I have been using Bench for bookkeeping for a couple of years and it has not been great. However, things have taken a turn for the worse now that I signed up for accounting. When talking to the salesperson about using them for accounting, I expressed concern about the reviews I had read stating that there were lots of delays, lack of communication, and overall disorganization. He assured me that was because the clients waited until the last minute to get documents to them and then complained because they were last in line to get their taxes done. Well, I am an early bird and I am very on top of getting them the documentation they need and the issue is 100% on their end. They are not fulfilling promises, not communicating in a timely manner, and not giving me the proactive accounting advice I was promised - even when I email with direct and time-sensitive questions!

On the bookkeeping end, they often switch the person in charge of my account. It's clear turnover is high for that position. They are not timely in getting things done AT ALL and it's not uncommon for them to be months behind in finalizing my books.

It's not any better on the accounting side. My accountant said he would follow up about things we talked about in an initial meeting and didn't for months. I followed up and reminded him and now, there is tons of back and forth with no action. He promises to get back to me by a certain date and then weeks go by with no response after the date.

Bottom line, they truly are disorganized, overwhelmed, and struggling with follow-through. They also do not take any initiative to save you money in taxes/write-offs on the accounting side unless you bring specific questions to them. They are one of the less expensive options I found but they are costing me so much of my time to manage their incompetence, I probably would have been better off spending more elsewhere.

"May as well request an IRS audit yourself."

We signed up for Bench's historical bookkeeping and since they offered a deal on the first year, we decided to go with ONE YEAR of regular bookkeeping.
The historical bookkeeping is done by a computer despite the lies saying they are done by hand. I had already somewhat categorized our books using their partner company, Freshbooks. However, none of this was taken into consideration. Instead, Bench just auto-categorized everything with absolutely ZERO communication with us about what was purchased. No clue how anyone unfamiliar with a company could just guess on what every purchase is, and our books would have made us the subject of some serious auditing. We took our books to our accountant and are now basically having to have everything redone.
Since we prepaid for the year, we decided to try to suffer through it. Now, the system basically has be categorize everything...what I was doing in Freshbooks FOR FREE.
Our one year was supposed to go through September. We've requested cancellation AGAIN AND AGAIN. They just automatically charged us $3k for a new year, which we will have to dispute with our credit card company.
Don't be fooled by the pricing. Find a good local bookkeeper.

"I have been in a bit of a financial…"

I have been in a bit of a financial situation this year and Bench.co has been so kind to work with me so that I can continue my Journey as a business owner. They make everything so smooth and stress free. They do most of the leg work and you just put the finishing touches on gaps if they need filling in. Honestly I am so happy I went with them. Shout of to Mariel for your patience and continued kindness I'm so happy I got paired with you. You are such a Blessing as is the rest of the Bench.co team. Cheers to many more years with you all I love you guys ! ❤️

"I have had terrible service from Bench…"

I have had terrible service from Bench since the day I sign up. Never completing anything on time. High turnover rate, never had the same accounting person. I had to go in and categorize even the simplest of transactions which defeated the purpose of signing up with them in the first place. I have put in notice to cancel my account and will be telling everyone I know to stay away from Bench. This is one worth spreading the word high and low about online as I feel taken advantage of as a business owner, lied to and stolen from. I still have 4 months left on my 12 month term and cannot wait until I no longer have to throw my money away on such a terrible company.

"Good service to make life a little…"

Good service to make life a little easier, especially if you don’t want to use quickbooks

"Bench them"

My company decided to start using Bench last year. Things went okay for our basic bookkeeping, but we also chose the tax prep and filing- Total disaster. They missed the March 15th deadline with no explanation as to why other than to send us a message saying “we filed an extension on your behalf.” They just missed the Sept 16th deadline again with no explanation other than "Despite our best efforts to complete your Year End Financial package on time, we regret to inform you that it was not ready" We have been in communication with them from march until now and they are literally copy/pasting the same canned answers into emails with different peoples names. We basically never get to talk to the same person twice since our original agent contacted us to say he'd taken another job outside of Bench back in May, (No surprise) We managed to talk to a person on the phone on June 14th and he said "...nothing outstanding left for us to do except approve the financials once they are prepared by Bench, after which time Bench would go ahead and file the taxes. It should take about ten days." That was four months ago and since then we've gotten apologies, robo-replies, and infuriating messages that seem to have no understanding of the situation, but no information or timelines on when the taxes will be done. This company will cost you time and money. Do not work with them.
p.s. You'll notice the reply they've added to this comment. Now compare that with all the other replies with one-star reviews. See the pattern?

"Solid and Reliable Company"

Bench.co has been a solid and reliable company for my small limo business. The communication has been great and they have been easy to work with.

"Stay far away!"

Bench was ok last year but they are horrible now. They use AI so you can't actually talk to a person or get your accounting done. I don't think any humans are doing bookkeeping there anymore. My books haven't been touched this year ONCE and it is September.

"A happy customer"

Bench takes care of everything related to bookkeeping and since I signed up for their bookkeeping services I haven't had to worry about anything except for some minor requests for categorization of expenses. The communication via chat works great. Bench is expensive, but for now I think it's worth it, in terms of peace of mind.