Paychex Sucks

I am a current payroll specialist with Paychex. I am not sure who you deal with but obviously you needed to change reps. I personally provide 100% customer service satisfaction and have an A plus rating for my service and skills. I apologize for your disatisfaction but it is not the company that you should refer to. You should refer to the branch & individual that you have dealt with. It is the employers responsibity to provide us with social security numbers for their employers, and I do everything in my power to relay that to my clients. If the employer does not have the ssn, then I will not add to payroll because they, the employer can be fined if they do not have the appropriate documents on file. As far as the 401K subject, I have no idea what you are referring to and the reports are perfect if you know how to read.

LOL At Anonymous. 718-323-3000 is my office number. Anyone who wants to hear how bad Paychex fu**ed over my business the last 9 weeks, give me a call.

Anonymous's attitude is exactly what's wrong with Paychex. They think everything is running smoothly so nothing ever gets better. I don't think they updated their reporting since they started and it really needs improvement. Why am I not able to get a custom reports yet? Why do I have to use your crappy predefined reports? What if I want to know how much I paid to John Doe #1 for January 12-March 31?

And you don't know about 401(k)? Sadly, that doesn't really surprise me.

As an EX employee of this company I can tell you that everything you have written here is right on the money. This company sucks. They under-hire and make lowly payroll specialists with virtually NO training do the job that 4 people should be doing. The managers of the company get bigger bonuses when they fire people and keep their staff down. The 100 best places to work thing every year is a total scam as they hand pick who they are going to send the survey too. Stay away from this place at all costs.

NOT one of the "Best 100 Places to Work". Look HERE: http://eyeonpaychex.blogspot.com

I'm not an account specialist,but I do want to say one thing I do see what they go through to get important information such as social security numbers and many times the employer does not want to be bothered or gets annoyed at the constant phone calls their reps make in regard to this information. They do what they can except come to the company and tell you "give me the information now". Paychex is like any other company where they there are rules and guidelines to insure protecting the company AND client. Before making judgements I think you should look at your own job and deny there are any flaws with it.

I agree with Paychex employee they do their best and theirs just no way to make everyone happy. If you dont like their prices then go elsewhere, its a free country. And it is the employers information to make sure the employee information is correct. Your rep tells you to please check your employees information for errors such as mispelled names or addresses, etc. All information is MANUALLY type in by PEOPLE not a computer so there is room for human error. No one is perfect.

Ok "Paychex employee"...I'm a CPA so when I prepare payroll reports I look and make sure I completed the forms accurately and completely. If anything is missing I would call the client and ask them for the information. I then pass the reports to my partner who also checks them to make sure I didn't miss anything and then we send them to the client to sign and review themselves. We would never release reports with missing REQUIRED information, that would make us look stupid. I'm not sure why Paychex wouldn't do the same. The client is paying to have payroll reports completed in a professional manner. Would a Paychex employee at least try to leave a promising comment? It seems like your all happy with the sub par performance and are not motivated enough to institute any change.

P.S. It's easy to agree with yourself as I see the last two comments came from the same ip address.

We have a small business of 6. Since the beginning there has been issues. One week I called in a 40 hour week for someone and the check came in with 40 hours regular and 40 hours overtime. As you can imagine the check was HUGE. We had to pay to have a rush check sent for our employee and to void out that one. Of course it was OUR fault and not our reps. We just had another issue where checks should have been dated early due to a holiday. We paid for rush delivery. They came on time with the wrong date. They cannot do anything about it and we are responsible for writing our own checks to replace them. Or just use the checks with the Friday date. Even though they admitted it was their fault and they just "don't know what happened". I have a lot of patience as I deal with customers in my company..I know how frustrating it can be. I allow room for human error, miscommunication etc. However, when its over and over small and big mistakes its a little sad. We have now canceled our services.

Horrible experience, I used paychex for my payroll for along time and being a new small business i just wanted to make sure things were done right so i did not get stuck owing taxes. But the fees were so high so i ended the service. This was the best thing i ever did i now use Quick Books it is way cheaper i input the hours in and the take the taxes out and send them in. Now as far as 401 k they are horrible i was told i would have my check in 10-12 business days its been over a month. No one know what is going on everytime i call in someone tells me something different. This is horrible !!! Expecially at christmas in the month of december they were taking out fees of 35.00 unaurthorize caused me huge problems now i cant even end my 401 k for a big company they have major issues!

Paychex business practices are generating lawsuits. Check out http://eyeonpaychex.blogspot.com

First-Paychex does not "fail" in providing SSN on required returns. Paychex is not required to get the SSN of clients employees, it is the employer's responsibility. The employer is at fault if they cannot provide Paychex with a SSN of an employee they have hired. Second-Paychex can export and customize reports. Third-any client can get a report that details how much an employee made for a certain time period. Fourth-Paychex is rated among the best for training its employees and for places to work.

Once Paychex is hired by a client to complete payroll reports it becomes their responsibility to complete the reports fully and correctly. How hard is that to understand, Really? Being a great place to work has nothing to say about the service being offered.

Worst service. They didn;t do anything and just printed 3 checks and federal tax forms. They charged whopping $28 per week and $130 for end of year forms. They didn;t submit forms to any agency. Just print and I mail payments and forms myself. No epay setup. Ridiculous service. They didn't even submit correct forms and when I received a notice to file right forms, I called and they say I don;t have tax service on my payroll. Paying these much money for 3 employee payroll is outrageous. I use intuit for 9.95 month 6 free months to try and everything setup with epay and clear emails for every task on payroll.

Beware of what they are doing when they have access to your bank account. They went into mine and took money that was suuposed to be for taxes and kept it. They say they have a contract that allows them to do this, but they cannot produce it. This company has caused me nothing but serious problems. They completely messed up my FSA, they have screwed up my taxes. They are not at all concerned with complying with laws. When you call with a problem there is no one who will work to solve it for you. I am sure this Paychex will be out of business within the next few years. Just don't let them ruin your business.

I am reading over the new contract. I see that on page 21 (the last page, of course) there is the following clause..." Paychex shall, under no circumstances, be liable for any special, indirect, incidental, or consequential damages which Client may incur as a result of Paychex' breach of the Agreement..." Clause 22 says, "Client shall indemnify, defend, and hold Paychex harmless from any and all claims, actions, liabilities, losses, EFT reissuance charges, costs, attorneys' fees (including in-house counsel fees)..." In short, Client is responsible AND liable for everything, while Paychex is responsible for reporting but NOT liable for ANYTHING including any mistakes on the part of Paychex. Hmmmm???

Paychex has somewhere between five and six hundred thousand payroll clients. OBVIOUSLY there are going to be some unsatisfied customers. As a culture, however, Paychex is not half as bad as other fortune 500 and 1000 companies that are out there.
TJ, I would be very interested in speaking with you because you were definitely set up incorrectly on the 401(k) product. The "Mid Atlantic Trustee" service is an outside company that charges anywhere between $600 - $900 per year. This is completely optional for clients and is NOT a good idea for startup plans, since it can only be charged to the plan assets. The reason it seemed like a 20% asset charge is because your total plan assets were probably pretty low. Diamond Jim, are you a lawyer? That seemed like a pretty loose interpretation of the Paychex agreement. WS, I'm sorry if there was an error with regards to your bank account, but making the statement that Paychex will be out of business in a few years... completely unfounded and shows how little you know about the company. Hopefully Paychex can read these message boards and improve in the areas that are consistantly letting their clients down, since there are obviously areas that can be improved. With that said, I can sincerely say that the majority of Paychex clients are completely happy with the payroll services. There are bad sales reps, and bad service reps in every organization. I am sincerely sorry to anyone who fell victim to one or both. Aside from that, there are also unreasonable clients and business owners with ridiculous expecations. To those people, I sincerely wish your next service provider lots of luck as they will most certainly need it!

Re: Realist

Thank you very much for taking your time to reply. I assume you are an employee of Paychex. It's nice to hear from someone who knows what they are talking about. Is the 401(k) being set up wrong the fault of me or my employer? I do have low contributions but no matter what those fees are outrageous. If you want to send me an email you can reach me at tj855-at-tjshome.com .

It's nothing you did wrong. It is a service that helps reduce the liability of the business owner. Unfortunately, the company Paychex contracts with (Mid Atlantic Trust Company), will only take their fees out of the plan assets. This usually doesn't make sense for your employer to do until the plan has more than $50 or $100 thousand dollars in it since it will take it out pro-rata. If you are putting away more than any other employee, and the plan itself doesn't have very much in assets, you will pay the majority of it. Bring it to your employers attention. They might consider removing the service until the plan gets more assets in it. This would mean that the employer would sign as the plan trustee instead of Mid Atlantic Trust Company.

Also, MATC (Mid Atlantic Trust Company) charges about $850 per year out of total plan assets. For that to equal 20% of your 401(k), I'm guessing this was the first year your firms plan has been in place and the total assets are less than $5,000?

RE: Realist

Yes my is firm is small 3-4 people are currently on the plan. From 6/1/08 - 12/31/08 my contributions were $1,781. The fees totaled $268 for the same period. This comes out to 15%. It looks like it lowered from when I initially did the calculation but again it is still high. Everybody I talk to their 401k fees are less than 5%, if any.

Good news is my boss is looking to move the plan to another provider entirely because of the fees.

TJ. Your boss doesn't have to move the plan. He can just remove the Trustee service. When you say everybody you talk to has 401(k) fees of less than 5%, they are probably talking about the normal operating expense. I agree with you that 15% is ridiculous, but it's not the operating expense. That fee would go away if your boss removed the trustee service. If he changed providers, he would still have to decide whether or not he wanted to sign on as trustee or pay an external company to take on that role. The only downside to the Paychex platform is that he doesn't have the option to pay for it outside the plan, whereas other companies might have the option for him to write a check for the trustee services. I actually used to work for Paychex for 5 years but currently work for ADP. Let me know if your boss wants to talk.

I was a customer of Paychex for nearly a year and they provide the worst service, most annoying billing model, and most frequent “Billing Errors” that I have ever experienced. We signed a contract that laid out a price per payroll however, the price we actually paid was always 40-50% more than that price because of “mysterious charges” that kept appearing on our bill, billing for extra payroll that were never processed, and also all the extra fees and surcharges that Paychex adds on that nickel and dime you to death. Every month we spent hours calling multiple times about the “mysterious charges” or extra charges that somehow would appear on our bill 10 out of 12 months during the year. They would always reverse the charges and claim that the error wouldn’t happen again but it always took 60 days (per their contract) for them to credit our account (which means they have our money during that time), it always took more than 2 calls and the next month there was a different “mysterious charge” that they could not explain that would appear on our next bill. I think this is how they make their money because most people probably don’t check their bill and they always try to hide the charge in something that sounds legitimate. Beware of their scam!
Second, if they want to speak with you for any reason, they have this automated computer call you and tell you to call them back. It doesn’t even give you the option to connect right away so you have to hang up and dial back which I guess is to save them long distance charges. Sorry, guys if you want to talk to me, you will have to have a live person pick up the phone and call.
Third, the reporting is decent but they charge a lot for this service and it uses their own software that you have to install. Again, it’s 2008 and everyone expects online access to data and it should be included in the price of the product. You can tell they build this site in 1998 and it hasn’t changed since then so it costs them less to provide electronic access than to print reports.
In conclusion, Paychex revenue model is to scam you out of your money hopefully without you realizing it. They are a company that seems to still be operating in 1998 with all of their efforts being put into printing paper reports and checks and charging the customer extra for any modern technology that saves them money like online reports and electronic deposit. They choose instead to modernize by purchasing automated calling machines to insulate themselves from their customers.
Stay away, they will take your money, overcharge you repeatedly, hold your money for 60 days, charge you extra for services that save them money, and send their automated calling machine after you.

Paychex is the biggest scam ever! They are a rip-off, my company used them all they do is charge you all these hidden charges and then make it impossible to cancel them. SCAM SCAM SCAM SCAM SCAM SCAM

Paychex is a human owned and ran company. It is providing jobs both entry level and skill required to keep jobs in the united states. Is it perfectly ran? No, but for you small businesses, good luck keeping your businesses up to date and within regulations. We are just trying to help.

I'm glad we can now confirm Paychex is run by humans. I thought it was run by a bunch of wires and automated machines.

I'm a sales rep for an idependent full service provider of payroll. Our market is chicago and milwaukee, and i'd say it's about a 50/50 shot when i speak to Paychex clients. there is really no in between, it's either really bad or really good. Most of our clients come from ADP/paychex and it's usually because of price. Our firm offers market value with perks i wish not to disclose, but what i'm frustrated with is how both ADP and Paychex can devalue payroll just to get in with companies. I mean they cant be making money on some of the rates we've seen, but since they're so huge already, they have the power to do that. It's a cut throat biz, i know, but it seams like thats the only leverage they have. My advice for anyone who is looking is to avoid major market players, at least consider smaller firms.

Pedro,
You are right, Payches and ADP completely dropped their shorts over the last year to maintain market share. Normally I would tell you that the reason they can do this is because of the massive amount of float they make on all the money filtering through their bank accounts, but with how low the interest rates have been, that hasn't been the case.

TJ get over yourself. Every business is in the market to make a profit.

RE: Anonymous "TJ get over yourself. Every business is in the market to make a profit."

I took a loan against 401k, did payments out of check and most it was NOT applied. Now employer who said not his fault & wont give dates & info of EFT's, called paychex and they said since employer took business elsewhere, they can't give me information, even before our company switched, we had a host of problems toward the end including taxes to another state not paid. Now I'm forced to pay a lawyer to get my loan straighted out plus get the overpayment back. This is NOT what a business "to make a profit" should be doing. Word has traveled fast and I know of local guy with a case against them for similar problem like mine.

Changed from a sole-proprietorship to incorporation. They closed out the old account and started the new. The old PAYCHEX account was supposed to close out end of 4th Quarter 2008 and begin the new in the beginning of the 1st QTR of 2009. Well they didn't close out the old account till the end of the 1st QTR of 2009 and ran payroll, submitted taxes, w/h, unemployment...and didn't start the new account until the middle of the 1st QTR 2009. Meanwhile, sending double paychecks to our employees and taking out double the tax. They are a pain in the butt to work with customer service sucks, they give you the run around, the payroll specialists don't want to take responsibility and neither do their supervisors. They lost the paperwork with our CRN on it. Then on top of not wanting to resolve the issue, we get a letter in the mail from the state of Maryland requesting a hearing due to delinquent all of 2008 W/H payments and penalties and interest because of. WTF!? PAYCHEX takes money out of our account to pay and file these things on time. They are worthless. I trust them non. I am going to drop them as soon as these issues are sorted out. The problem is they don't want to take any responsibility. I think I am going to have to get a lawyer involved. Because of them the State and IRS are confused. I wish and hope they get an audit by both because I sure as hell am going to request that they do. Their supervisors never answer the phone or give call backs. The payroll specialists don't want to do anything more then what they normally have to do. I even faxed them all the forms that need to be filled out AND i even filled most of the blanks out of them. They STILL don't have the respectability to fill the rest out or to fax a copy back per my request. Bunch of lazy folks over there, can't fulfill simple requests. In the end if you want more headaches then worth, give PAYCHEX a call at (410) 581-7700!!!!

I'd like to sell you on the company, but truly Paychex is not open to change and treats the employees with little respect. If you're not a manager, your opinion does not matter. You have to remember the founder. The current culture is a reflection of the guy that ran the place for so long. Time to move on. . .

I have to send in my 2 cents. Not only does Paychex suck as a service to its clients it also sucks as a service to it's employee. I'm a former employee of paychex and they really screwed me over but it was a blessing in disguise. I now make 3x what I made over at paychex. As far as I'm concerned by them letting me go they screwed themselves.

BusinessWeek rated Paychex in the top 50 companies in the nation. Ethisphere Magazine awarded Paychex and its CFO as the most Ethical businesses in the world. Paychex does almost 3 billion in dollars in revenues, generating over 10 million dollars per day. Paychex has zero debt with $2 billion dollars in the back. Paychex is the only payroll company that the IRS recommends. The AICPA (national organization for accounts) only recommends Paychex. I could seriously go on and on.

Why would any of you care about these facts? Obviously you are part of the very few. If Paychex was that bad would they have that much recognition and support.

Paychex has a customer satisfaction rating of over 90% (every business recieves a survey). Paychex client retention is also over 90%.

As for the small/local providers, I have better chance of getting struck by lightning that any of those lasting more 10 years. If Paychex or ADP doesn't by them they go under and it always happens after they swiped your account for payroll (search Google) that last one was LA and handled all the movie industry.

And to the unhappy ex-employees, I would bet my life that you received bad reviews. Yes if you suck at your job you get fired or bullied out. Every company has bad employees.

Go ahead and go to a small payroll company. But you know what 60% of clients that leave Paychex return in 6 months.

RE: Rivo

Your statements you made sound great (at first) except:

1.) You are wrong to say that Paychex is the only provider IRS recommends.
2.) Businessweek rated Paychex top 50 what? Top 50 in country for poor customer service?
3.) Sorry, I don't trust internal customer satisfaction surveys
4.) Being ethical doesn't necessarily relate to good customer service.
5.) It's great Paychex has high revenue and a lot of money in the bank but maybe this is because they are charging their customers too much? See my comments regarding the ridiculous 401k fees.
6.) Paychex buying the competition or being too large for competition is a very bad thing (this is called a Monopoly). This leads to the ridiculously large fees and low standards of output.

Are you the new Paychex PR representative or something?

MATC is great for companies with OVER 100 employees ... if you have less than 100 employees ... THEN MID ATLANTIC TRUST IS NOT FOR YOU! I work at the corporate office ... CHECK PAGE 2 of your ADP 401 Proposal ... the box titled "Additional Fees" ... then call the Paychex Client Service Center at 800 472 0072 option 2 and then option 2 once again....ask for a cost comparison document to be emailed to you or faxed ... get out a calculater ... and do the math.

Edited by Admin on September 12, 2009 4:37pm| Reason: Stay on topic. This is not advertising space

Rivo's drinking the Koolaid! I was told to say all of those things to clients when I worked at Paychex too! There is no doubt Paychex is doing something right but the "facts" Rivo has thrown out there aren't 100% true. Ethisphere Magazine didn't award Paychex as THE most ethical company in the World... they are merely on the list. I honestly have NO idea where you got the info that the IRS only recomends Paychex?!?! While it is true that Paychex is currently the preferred provider by the AICPA, I would probably have a good chance at that title too if my pockets were deep enough. CUSTOMER SATISFACTION RATING OF 90%?!? I worked there for 5 years and never heard such nonsense. As far as client retention being 90%... again, simply not true. I would really like to see a link, or an article from Paychex stating those stats... it wont happen, because it's not true. All of that being said, I still don't think Paychex is the worst payroll provider out there. Not even by a long shot. I have inside knowledge on numerous payroll operations and I still say Paychex is one of the better ones out there.

I agree that Paychex sucks. The turnover there is horrible and we never know who to talk to because our reps constantly come and go. They have never been able to get our HR Online working properly and it has really been a pretty big hassle.

I went with Paychex 9 months ago. EVERY quarter I receive reports from the state that Paychex has not filed the proper documentation. Everytime I call them and ask them exactly what I am paying them to do. HERE IS THE CRAZY PART; WE PAY NO PAYROLL. I PAY THEM MONTHLY TO FILE ZERO PAY, ZERO WITH HOLDINGS AND EVERY PERIOD THEY SCREW IT UP.

The service is so bad, that you cannot get mad at them, you just feel sorry for them. In their defense, they are very nice when I call to complain. They say they are very sorry. Nevertheless, it takes me 10 times more effort and time than if I just filed all the paperwork myself.

In the past I have seen many companies act like this just before they go bankrupt. We are going to court against them.

THEY ARE THE WORST!!! They cost our company over $6000 in fines due soley to their mistakes. Customer service - a joke!

Anyone who thinks that Paychex 401(k) is expensive, try to leave ADP without their termination charges. Yeah, they woo you upfront with their service center which means you'll never talk to the same person twice. Then, when you're unhappy with their service, it will cost you between 2 and 5,000. Don't worry, if you leave without paying it, they'll take it from the assets of your plan. Keep in mind that Paychex has agreements, not contracts. You will never pay the above fees with them. As far as the mistakes go, anytime a human is involved, there is a chance of error.

Jabber Joe huh? Out of all the names running through your head, you thought Jabber Joe would be the one people would take seriously? In any case, you aren't being 100% accurate about ADP. My guess is that you work for Paychex and are going off of what your manager has told you to help you sell more deals. "Paychex has agreements, not contracts"... ha! That's like saying, "I'm not lying to you, I'm just not telling you the truth". Tomato, Tomahto.

By the way... if anyone actually has an interest in using ADP or Paychex for payroll, or one of their other services (including 401k), let me know. I have contacts at both who can at least give you a good price.

I have been a paychex customer for 5 years and it has been very positive. we sarted with 4 employees and just payroll. We now have over 30 employees and Paychex has asssisted us in setting up our 401k, manages all of our HR tasks, developed and rolled out our employee handbook, and just recently has helped us save 20% on our health insurance!! Sorry all of you have had such a bad experience, but I can not say a bad thing.

Hey TJ, I feel you. I kept on contributing to my 401k without checking my statements, specially with the bad economy, I figured I'd just get depressed if I followed it closely but I think I got screwed worst than you with the Mid-Atlantic Trustee fees. I contributed a total of $1,530 in 6 quarters and the Mid-Atlantic fees totalled $720 for the corresponding period. If I hadn't been so bad about reviewing my statements I could have discovered this fee sooner, instead I just got wind of it and I don't know if there is anything I can do to recoup that money.

The company I worked for spun off a separate entity in which I was the only employee. Employees the larger company do not get charged this fee. The fee is not only charged to ones contributions but it is charged also to the company match. The total fee in my case came out to $1,300. From now on I will always be on the look out for this.

I was thinking about switching over because we have a very nice local rep. from Paychex. I really have no issues with ADP, think I should just stick with them.

PMun, you got hosed! I am not an attorney so please don't take this as official legal advice but, the department of labor speaks directly about plan fees in 401(k) plans and how it is the owner's responsibility to make sure they are not "excessive". Although it is possible that the paychex 401(k) sales rep didn't clearly explain this fee to the owner, he has a fiduciary responsibility to protect you from such ridiculous charges. Bring this to his attention and have him demand that Paychex refund the money... it may not work, but it's worth a little effort. Their internal policy (which is still very loosely spelled out) says reps shouldn't set up Mid Atlantic on any plans with less than $100,000 in assets... That clearly wasn't followed in your case. Give em hell.

Paychex made soooo many mistakes!! It takes us extra time to find their mistake and let them know how bad they are! Be careful, they will withdraw extra money from the bank a/c for payroll tax that they are not supposed to withhold! Paychex is totally sucks and it bring us lots of headache!! Dont even consider to use them!!

The whole company lies to you from the day of your interview. Lowest payed employees in the industry. They give you this phony HOOO-RAAA coming in the door and boast how great a company Paychex is. Well, I was a sucker for about 7 months then I learned what Paychex is really like. LIARS!!!!! To work at Paychex is accepting mediocrity....dont do it!!!!! The METRO NY branch sucks...

There are so many things Paychex does wrong......They just changed there whole computer system to run payroll...it is called Core Advanced....there is no advance about it....probably THE WORST SINGLE work program I have ever dealt with in my whole 15 year working career. Managers tell you to lie to customers all the time! The problem with Paychex is that EVERYONE PASSES THE BUCK!!right M.Goodwin...ex ADP'er... I remember an irate client call that got escalated to upper management and NONE of the managers wanted it so through phone extensions it went through 3 different managers and finally transferred back to the original rep with no answers or anything.....Alot of the management comes from ADP and other payroll companies. Most got fired from there previous jobs and were given charity positions from Paychex...the place just sucks!!!

By the way, if anyone wants there invoice price reduced just followthese simple rules. 1) Always get a supervisor or manager on the phone...no specialists!!!
2)Call up ADP and ask for a cheaper quote than you are already getting.....make them send an email to you for confirmation.
3)bring this emailed quote and present it to Paychex...they will beat it....also request no direct deposit fee and free courier delivery. Stand tall and dont let these schmucks jerk your chain!

Realist, thanks for your thoughts. This totally sucks. The Admin people who set up my plan knew well that the total assets on the account would only be mine, which were less than $2,000 but they clearly didn't make an effort to inform or protect me from these fees. They say they were not aware of how large they were and that the paychex rep never brought it to their attention so you are right, there was no fiduciary responsibility to protect me from such ridiculous charges. I called paychex but they continue to pass the buck and say there's nothing they can do. What's worst is that I left the company 7 months ago in early March but the employee termination paperwork was never submitted to paychex so I'm still considered an active employee, have continued to get charged the $240 quarterly Mid-Atlantic fees, and paychex won't let me withdraw my funds because I'm still an acctive employee. I'm being told it's going to take 10 days to process the terminantion papers and 10 more days to process the distribution. I called the Employee Benefits Security Administration to file a complaint and there's nothing they can do because as you said, verifying the fees were my "the owner's" responsibility. I'm going to contact the rep and ask about this feduciary responsibility on their part. Btw, you said "Their internal policy (which is still very loosely spelled out) says reps shouldn't set up Mid Atlantic on any plans with less than $100,000 in assets..." where/how can I confirm this?
thanks again.

My husband and I have been having a hell time trying to get our money back from the flexible spending account. My hubby has spent a great deal of time talking on the phone with the Paychex employees to make sure that we have the right documentation and WE DID SENT IN THE RIGHT DOCS. They still denied the claims. Anyone had the same experience before? I have a feeling that Paychex just wants to keep our money!! It is being so unreasonable and ridiculous. We have faxed in 50 pages of docs and they still said no. We have used other companies for our FSA before and never had an issue like this. We will continue to fight and will make lots of noises out there including making complains to BBB and make this as public as possible. Anyone who could offer me advice?

The majority of the specialists are not even college graduates. You're telling me that you should trust non educated "meet you in the middle" type of people to keep accurate numbers for your payroll when they cant even hire qualified applicants!

Soapdude.... Really your questioning peoples IQ.... you are an idiot... I have been a Paychex Payroll specialist for 12 years..... and I am personally offended at your comments... what do you do for a living???? i bet you did not even finish high school... with a name like soapdude... i home you are really not taking this persons opinion seriously.. most likely someone who did not get hired by paychex... noone is perfect, and yes Paychex makes mistakes, but we are right 99.9% of the time...

Actally, you need to realize that seeing first hand know one could say or change my mind on what I witnessed at the Metro NY Branch.......absolute mediocrity at its best with the smell of burnt microwave popcorn and sheer phoniness! I guess "Ignorance is Bliss" applies to our blog pal Amazin16!!! Hey Good luck with your climb at Paychex....needa couple milleniums.. It just SUCKS!!!

Hi there - I would like to say thet I WORK FOR PAYCHEX...not only have I worked for the company for over five years but I left and came back due to the high standards and ethics that the companies backbone is based upon! We all make mistakes as I am sure you have made them too. Our payroll specialists receive over 140 hours of training a year on current and updatetd tax law changes. We are in 50 states and have over 600,000 clients nationwide so we are doing something right...

Our General Ledger Reporting Service is outstatnding (xls format) and we have the EASIEST payroll reports for any business owner, whether they are new to payroll or experienced. This is why more than 30% of our business comes from the accounting community.

Not to mention, I always give the customer the benefit of the doubt!!! ALWAYS...I am in sales; however, when I really dig deep 70% of the time the error is because of non-communication or missing information which shows up on our lovely reports.

The accolades alone says it all:

Recent Accolades
• Among the Nation's Top
401(k) Recordkeepers
• Best Employers for Healthy Lifestyles
• Computerworld "100 Best Places to Work in IT"
• FORTUNE "100 Best Companies to Work For"
• Forbes Global 2000
Ranked number 1,339 on the 2008 Forbes Global list.
• FORTUNE "America's Most Admired Companies"
FORTUNE magazine has recognized Paychex as one of "America's Most Admired Companies" for 2008.
• Best CEO and CFO
Institutional Investor magazine named Paychex CEO Jon Judge and CFO John Morphy among the best in the nation.
• Shareholder Friendly Company
For the third consecutive year, one of America's most shareholder-friendly companies, Institutional Investor magazine.
• Top 125 Training Organization
• "World's Most Ethical Companies"

Taking the time to write this in my busiest time of the year should show you that I care about my clients and my company! I don't even use a microwave...

Hey TT your company PAYCHEX just sucks! you know it, I know it and all these pissed off ex- employees and clients on this blog know it too.....keep your HOOOOORAAAH garbage to yourself! And ask the little(tiny) bald DSM in Metro NY sales if he got picked on as a kid!!!!!what a douche!!!!

Its a damn shame that we have to deal with a deceiving company such as Paychex. METRO NY BRANCH sucks.....especially the supervisors and BS managers!!! Nothing ever got done.....just pushed to the next cheif in charge.....like running in a hamster wheel!!!!!!!!

Oh Yeah!!!! Ask just about anyone of the specialists if they like the working environment there in the Piscataway office? You would be surprised to find out the results!

Listen Guys...I am definitely not drinking the "kool aid", Paychex has just tought me a lot about the importance of helping small companies, which I have done. And I am not "Bleeding Paychex Blue!" Pissed off employees are............just that, pissed off. Believe me, I know the errors that we make. I also know that I have worked for a few other larger companies than Paychex and guess what...it is what it is. Soapdude, I would like to know if you provided the correct information to your payroll specialist? I don't understand why you don't just leave the service, if you haven't left already, take a shot at another payroll company and MOVE ON! Sorry that NY is so terrible, come to California and get the sunnier side of payroll processing!

TJ: Did you provide the payroll specialist with the correct information for the reporting the government agencies and did you do your research on the 401k that you were placed in before you committed to the agreement? You can always make a service better if you are willing to let go or move on. I recommend you do just that!

Listen TT.....I am an ex-employee that witnessed this horseshit first hand. Please don't insult my intelligence...Yes, I understand mistakes happen. This is alot more than just stupid payroll processing mistakes...We are talking about a total disregard forclients personal info and straight out lying to clients about major penalty issues. Listen, I can't speak personally about your performance but I can tell you that.....the processing side sucks......Wait, you salespeople are taught to quick close clients.....Most of the lies originated from salesmen promising the world and delivering a bucket of shit......classic bait and switch operation you guys run.......I know a lot of Paychex salesmen and off the record they all do it...so dont get on this blog and start soothing everyone's distaste with PAYCHEX....you are that guy.....Why would I talk to you anyway?

I dont think you should pitch Paychex......TT

Bitter X-Paychex employee, that's for sure...Did you get fired? All your banter about salesmen is such a bunch of BS. You have NO IDEA how hard the reps at Paychex work to be successful...I am sure you've seen the turnover in the Sales Department. I am so not "that guy", I get along with operations and work through issues regardless if it's our fault or the clients fault...I work more on this than actually selling. And by the way, bait and switch??? You apparantly don't know what that means...try working in Telecom! I am sure any small business owner will tell you that's a bait and switch industry! How can it be bait and switch when when we don't have contracts??? I can't possibly mislead prospects when my income solely depends on the client staying with our service for three months...I lie and they walk. Get it straight Soapscum, I mean dude!

OMG ! THis company SUCKS ! THe Best is when you leave 3 messages for a "supervisor" James X 3340 and he doesnt call you back! NO customer service ! They make errors ! When they make a tax error they say "you should have told us the rate changed! Well dont you have 50 other companys whos rate changed and you decide not to change mine ! They are the Worst company ever !

Bait and switch TT in regards to the outrageous fees that miraculously show up (highest 401k fees out there)........TT you are living a lie my retarded buddy....The company that you love so much PAYCHEX are a bunch of liars.......I guess if the shoe fits! Wear it..TT!

I own a small business and had Paychex do the payroll for my employees. This has been the biggest and most costly mistake I made being a business owner. The rep I had was not competent at all. I had some employees that wanted a check card that Paychex offered. They filled out the forms and sent them in multiple times and each time I would get the same answer "we never got them". So for months I paid a carrier and other fees to have these employees checks delivered every week. That is just one example of the problems I have had with them and now it's with our W2's. I just got the feeling she didn't care about my "small" business. I will never use Paychex again or refer anyone to them. If anything I will steer them away.

Paychex is a hard place to work. It is not the place it was back in the good old days. They stopped merit raises. So that means if I get "promoted," all that really means is a lateral transfer with more work.

Secondly, they stopped matching our 401k. Paychex loses qualified people all the time due low wages or terminating them for ridiculous things.

But then again.......not a good time to be out of work, right?

They took full advantage of the bleak economy by placing ridiculous expectations on ther specialists and sales people. You either get fired for being COMPLETELY OVER BURDENED and not being able to spot and fix other specialist errors that occur with your designated clients. i mean, the specialists deserve atleast 25.00 hr to start and climb from there to be lateral with the work expected. They nickel and dime you there...Its not fair!!!!!

METRO NY BRANCH SUCKS!!!!!!!!!! MIKE GOODWIN SUCKS!!!!!

They screwed me up really bad.
I made online changes to my contribution at benefits.paychex.com but it does not reflect on my payroll deduction.
My allocations percentage changes without warning.
My Funds are moving around without my permission and without any warnings..... Not only me, but 1/2 of people here at my company are having same issues. Customer service sucks, some rep has bad attitude with you when you call complaining about the above issues....
DO NOT USE PAYCHEX... STAY OUT OF THAT BUSINESS. i am looking for another one now.

Since there are some paychex employees on here, I have a question for you. I was fired by my employer and he has turned into a real looney toon. I have been told that he hasn't been paying any of his bills and I assume this would include the payroll service. Do you guys still process the W-2 forms for him since you are the ones that have all the records? I would thing that by law you would have to..just a question so I know which direction I need to go with this. It is January 30th right now and there is still no sgn of a W-2 in my mailbox. If I know that he has them then I can go after him but if he doesn't, I know that there is no hope of getting one and will need to contact the IRS.

They will not send the W-2's to anyone if the client quit paying his bills.. Just call up customer service and request a copy for free...Contact your oldboss if you can because no one will speak to you being that you are not the client. Paychex did file it though.....They can print one off right from there screen...trust me I know...I use to do it for clients.Just tell them to whiteout the property of paychex sign on the bottom and you are good to go!!!! Try anyone but Paychex!!!!

I am a small business owner. We went from using our accountant for our payroll to having Paychex do it because I was quoted a cheaper price. It was a fight to get two pay periods done on time due to them misplacing the information from one to the next and not bothering to call us untill the clock was running out. We had to keep nagging them to pay our payroll taxes and their only answer to that was if there were any penalties they would pay them. The final straw was when they sent all the payroll information from the month to our business instead of our home after telling them many times not to. This opened a can of worms because now my employees who open the mail all know how much everyone makes. I have nothing good to say about them. Oh,and when I got the bill, it was way over what I was paying my accountant.