Bench

Bench is the easiest way to manage our books online. It's been a huge time and money saver over the last few years.

Generally my experience has been good. The device is expensive compared to other bookkeeping devices. My biggest concern is that in working with the company you get handed off to several different staff. It has been hard to build a relationship with my bookkeeper for this reason. I’ve found that I have to reexplain a number of our specifics over and over again because I am working with new people within the company. It would be better to be assigned to one bookkeeper, especially in our case, which included historical books and present day books. My business isnt open yet but some of the limitations in the software (particularly a lack of an A/P system) cause concern for me in considering continuing use once we are open.

We hired Bench to do some simple bank statement sync entries for the previous 6 months. They charged my credit card 1 day after signing the agreement. They never did a single entry when I say a single entry not 1.I call and talk to [sensitive content hidden] and he says they need documentation from my merchant account to begin work. I am like dude all i need is my bank account entries mapped to the chart of accounts. He says they can't start without the merchant documentation.I tell him since they haven't started please issue a refund and I will get the work done somewhere else.Now, I get directed to [sensitive content hidden] (Client Success team) about the refund on [sensitive content hidden] . She responds on [sensitive content hidden] . Sorry I was out sick . Here is her response to my refund request: To answer your question "Have I refunded the account" , there has been no refunds processed. The reason this has occurred is Bench is a stand-ready service (similar to Netflix). What that means is we do not process refunds for previous months of service; whether you have used the service or not.NEEDLESS TO SAY I AM IN THE PROCESS OF DISPUTING WITH THE CREDIT CARD COMPANY NOW THE $1200 THEY CHARGED ME!!!DON'T GET SCAMMED BY THIS COMPANY.

Bit of a bumpy onboarding with aggressive trials clearly operated by a different team, but so much smoother once you start a subscription and are assigned your bookkeeper.

Understanding the financial health of our business has been critical in making decisions both long and short term. Bench helped free up the minimal time that we as business owners have and spend more of that time focusing on our business, which has been very helpful.