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

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.

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 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 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 easier, especially if you don’t want to use quickbooks

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?

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.

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.

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.

The service was ok. Not the fastest. The platform locks you into their software and doesn't work with your software such as Quickbooks or other. We switched to Booklio.co

DO NOT use these people for your business taxes. There are a few good tax professionals but the people running the business are positively moronic. They do not care about their customers and I've wasted so much of my already limited time trying to sort out my subscription for my personal taxes.

Fouled up our tax return and can never get a hold of anyone when you need them, only by appointment several days after you need them.

I am a small business owner who in the past, was scared about taxes. I did them at the last minute through an automated service and I was always afraid that something was wrong. Halfway through 2024 I decided to work with Bench to move out of fear and scarcity and to get my business set up for success. I've had an A+ experience so far, feeling very supported by every team member along the way. My tax advisor, Camea, was especially wonderful -she answered all my questions and helped me set up a strategy for tax savings that really works. Thank you Camea and Bench tax team!

What a garbage solution. I have been using firms for years, and someone mentioned these folks, and I regret it! They do not follow up in a timely manner, they do not listen, and they are some foreign body that does not have a clue on their technology.

First, I have been with Bench for 6 years. They used to do the books, then contract taxes out to Taxfyle. That worked just great. They flipped me to their new in-house service this year, which is trash. It has been 3 weeks since I received a response from Bench. It is August, but my taxes are not done. I scheduled a call today, but nobody called me. They sent me a draft that my financial advisor told me is off by $5,000-$6,000 or more. I corrected them and sent all documents in July.....crickets. They don't respond to their own message board/workstation/platform. I get automated emails weekly telling me it is my fault that taxes aren't done, but my responses go unanswered. This is causing me major problems while trying to work with a bank right now. The worst service I have ever received. I'm dropping them and their bookkeeping service after 6 years.

The bookkeeping methods are changing without informing the client. The tax filings have many errors and they are even using the wrong state forms. Ever since they decided to do their tax work in house, they have become a disaster. What's more, I have to send out multiple emails just to get a response. I am ignored for weeks on end.

This is one of the worst bookkeeping and tax services available. Books are not updated quickly enough each month so be able to make decisions. Not compatible with quickbooks or any other software so you're stuck on their platform. Bookkeeper swiches out often and makes huge mistakes if your books are complex at all. Bookkeeper communicates on the bench platform, your assigned bench cpa communicates with you via email and then they have another platform to communicate about taxes. Nobody is on the same page. For the price it's not worth it at all.

Emily, my assigned bookkeeper, has been amazing to work. As a small business, quality services at an affordable cost is a priority! I'm glad I found bench

Bench is amazing. Prior to 2023 I spent considerable time each month trying to keep the books in order even using different types of software. Bench has everything in a neat package that pulls in all of the financials and transactions from the business account. They have access to review and pull as a review only. This absolutely works. My hands are totally off. At the end of the year I provided my Tax Accountant with one neat file from Bench that was inclusive of profit and loss, financial statements and everything else needed to successfully file. Our Accountant was thrilled. Bench is awesome all year long.