Paychex Sucks

We used to use Paychex for our restaurant group and were more than dissatisfied with the service. We only have 200 ee's, but we still believe we deserve to be treated like a paying customer. We recently switched to PayDay USA, got our rate lowered and haven't been happier. I would recommend PayDay USA to anyone switching payroll companies, our contact's number is (770)395-6932 - Patrick - he helped us get all set up. Just wanted to throw my two cents in, because I know how much of a nightmare terrible payroll service can be!

Our company just switched to a Paychex 401k and we have the "Mid Atlantic Trustee Fee". Is that a once a year fee or how often does that get charged to the account? Thank you.

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.

Try using their medical flex accounts. You cannot reach a human to help you. They deny EVERY medical claim and then demand proof of the purchase. I spend more time faxing receipts than is necessary. After this year, they are fired.

Paychex is the WORST - incompentent & insulting employees from the phone operators, to payroll specialists, to supervisors, to management. They DO NOT return phone calls. They ignore requests for service. They are negligen t and should not be in the business of servicing companies for the payroll needs. GO anywhere, do it yourself if necessary anything but having PAYCHEX be involved. They are one BIG NIGHTMARE> stupid people >stupid company.

I had an interview with them. I thought I did really well to find out from an email that they are looking further for another candidate. Now you tell me from the person doing the hiring, hands me his business card and says we are interested in you and will be calling you in a couple of days? Very bizzare. Not even a phone call. Seems like they are hiding something. Is it possible to be overqualified for a sales position there? Seems like to be. Maybe I should have walked in smoking a ciger and mumbled something like when can start? lol Can anyone else share their interview experience with them?

I used Paychex for 2 years with on both good and terrible service. I was informed that the sales rep that sold me gets paid a full annualized commision as lond as we processed for 2 months. Once the 2 months ws up things went down hill. Last year I switched to Payroll Systems and have been very happy. 30% savings and I delt with a rep that gets paid on my account as long as I process. Is not the way it should be? The sales rep when needed is always willing to help out and put the corect service people on any issue I have. I would call Andy[at] Payroll Systems at 480-290-0351 if any one would like an alternative avenue to go down for their payroll.

I switched from ADP to Paychex about a year ago. ADP had forced me to set up two company codes, one for W-2's and one for 1099s and incur twice as many processing fees. The Paychex payroll service has been fine. They've made an error or two but took responsibility for it and quickly resolved it. They did raise the price recently though. The 401(k) Retirement Services on the other hand is completely horrid. They bungled the conversion from ADP and then one thing after another. They assigned a broker to the account who doesn't even exist. Also the fees as many have noted are astronomical. You'd think for the money they were charging that you might get a dedicated service rep for the retirement account but no. As a result I find myself in the position of finding a new provider.

Wow this thread has gone out of control. Which just shows the lack of customer satisfactions and proves that paychex has some real issues that they fail to see or correct.

People please calm down on your comments I'd like this to be a place for people to post their experiences with Paychex... but not comments full of mindless offensive rage.

Seriously at my branch there is OT whenever we need it and we make decent money theres a raise at least 3 or 4 times a year. We get a raise with each level that we pass.

Hmmm...interesting opinions here. For a bit of a a different perspective, I worked for Paychex
for 7 years (92-99). I started in a west coast branch as a computer operator making $8.00/hr, but
was pretty quickly promoted to senior, and then lead computer operator. After two years in the
branch I was offered a job at corporate in Rochester as a branch support analyst. Paychex paid
my moving expenses and gave me a tidy little raise (which went a lot further in Roch-cha-cha then
it would in SoCal). Once at corporate, it really was up to each individual as to how far they wanted
to go with the company - I saw many people come in, complain for a year, and then leave, while others
(such as myself) continued to move up in both responsibility as well as salary. By the time I left
I was in the database admin group making about 70K/yr (again - very good salary in an area with such
a low cost of living). Sure - when I was with the company I found things to nitpick, but then again,
no company is perfect. Being able to look back with 10 years of additional experience with other
employers, it really was a pretty special place to work - if personal matters wouldn't have necessitated
my moving back to California, I would have preffered to stay there. What I guess it boils down to is
that an employee/employer or provider/customer relationship is just like any other relationship in
which one may be involved - what works for some won't work for everyone. Chalk it up to experience and
move on - life is far too short to dwell on real or perceived slights.

This has been the worst retirement investing experience. It's funny how wide of a spectrum it is. I have some funds invested with Charles Schwab, which has the best customer service on the planet and are so professional.

Paychex can never solve any issue, the retirement funds aren't traded until TWO WEEKS after they are deducted from your paycheck, and they have never ONCE deducted the right amount!!!! I'm setting all my deductions to 0% because I can't get of this plan. You have to leave the company or the company has to cancel the whole plan.

Outrageous. Stay away.

I truly love Paychex. It is the best company that I have dealt with...highly recommend them!!!! NOT

I worked for a company that used paychex and they have over $4000 of mine in my 401k and I cannot get it or do anything with it because paychex claims that my ex employer has not confirmed I'm no longer employed there! They are liars and that company needs the feds to shut them down immediately! Everything they do is over the phone and they won't call you back and they are all liars! I called them and they confirmed to me that my employer had faxed them the cancellation form needed to terminate the contract so that I would then have access to "MY" money. Now they say that never happened and they still have me as an active client and still employed by the company that I am no longer working for! They suck harder than anything has ever sucked in this world BELIEVE THAT!

I worked at Paychex for 2 years in their hr dept selling 401k and their prenier hr service program. They are a complete rip off period

Rip off is correct. a $40 charge to rollover a 401k balance is a joke. rolled over several accounts lately and this guys are the only ones that charge a fee to access your own money and move it to another qualified retirement plan.

I love how some of these comments aren't even the fault of Paychex. I guess that's to be expected when people don't understand how things work. Whalerfan - a rollover charge is very common and your employer made the choice to use Paychex knowing that charge existed.

Pmun - Sorry it took so long for me to get back to you. I haven't visited this post for a while. You won't find any official policy on the less than $100,000 in assets thing. It is just a rule of thumb that the 401(k) operations used to tell us sales reps. I don't know what to tell you regarding Paychex jerking you around about getting your money but you can stop the bleeding by having the owner remove the mid atlantic trustee service. It's pretty easy for him to do.

Funny - "Worlds Most Ethical Company" within weeks of loosing another multi-million dollar ($32mm+) lawsuit for what a judge described as "acting reprehensible, stifling competition, incideous behavoir and specifically named Tom Galisano and Paychex as trying to destroy its competition through nefarious means". Paychex has lost and is currently the subject of many other class actions suits for unethical business practices. Paychex does an amazing job with PR and Marketing. They are very good specifically at being less than transparent with their clients, partners and employees about the true culture of "win at all costs" that comes from the top of the organization. I personally wouldn't be so insulted by their behavoir if they were honest about who they were and didn't rush out with 20 meaningless press releases every time they get exposed to push the bad news to the bottom of the list. FYI... The full press release:

LOS ANGELES, March 23 /PRNewswire/ -- On March 18, 2010, Paychex, Inc., Thomas Golisano, and two other defendants paid $32.2 million toward a judgment that was recently affirmed by the California Court of Appeal. On March 9, 2010, the Court affirmed a verdict of a Los Angeles jury that had, in addition to compensatory damages of $15 million, awarded punitive damages totaling $11,000,000 against Paychex (Nasdaq:PAYX - News) and Golisano.
In its decision, the Court wrote that Paychex and the other Defendants acted with "a plan to destroy [the plaintiff] and other competitors' businesses through nefarious means." The Court wrote further:






The totality of the evidence showed that Paychex acquired [its

Rapid Payroll subsidiary] with the covert goal of terminating …

software licenses, leaving licensees unable to perform payroll

processing. Appellants took advantage of the chaos created by the

Cancellation Notice to solicit competitors' disaffected clients.

It was not an isolated incident of wrongdoing, but required

extended deceitful conduct to keep licensees from converting to

new software over the years. Appellants' conduct was sufficiently

reprehensible to justify the imposition of punitive damages.


The Court also wrote that Paychex and the other defendants adopted a "strategy … which included stealing clients from competitors and stifling competition" and "set out to destroy their competitors in an insidious manner."
A complete copy of the decision is available on the Court's website at: http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/opinions/nonpub/B206780.PDF.
Paychex and the other defendants made the $32.2 million payment toward the state court judgment and interest accrued since the jury verdict in 2007. However, Paychex and its subsidiary are currently also subject to a decision of a California bankruptcy court that exposes them to additional interest of $5.5-7.8 million. In 2007, the Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California ordered that Paychex's subsidiary, Rapid Payroll, Inc., pay interest from 2003 forward on the claim that is the subject of the judgment.
The case arose from the attempt by Paychex and a subsidiary to terminate software licenses held by approximately 75 payroll processing businesses that competed with Paychex. The plaintiff in the case is Computer Payroll Company, from Palm Desert, California. In 2006, the day before Computer Payroll Company's trial was to begin, Paychex put its subsidiary into a bankruptcy to delay the trial.
The lawyer for the plaintiff, Stephen Wald of the Boston law firm Craig and Macauley, also represented 20 other licensees against Paychex and the other defendants in state and federal courts in Los Angeles, as well as in the bankruptcy case. In 2004, in the first case to reach trial, he obtained a jury verdict of $6,200,000 against the Paychex subsidiary. Following bankruptcy court orders that forced Paychex to guarantee payment of all of its subsidiary's debts, most of the cases against Paychex were favorably settled in February 2007.
With the recent payment, Paychex and its subsidiaries have now spent more than $75 million defending and settling cases related to the Rapid Pay software, according to Paychex's public disclosures during the bankruptcy and other court cases.
Mr. Wald was assisted on Rapid Pay litigation by Jonathan Gordon, a lawyer with the Los Angeles firm Alston+Bird LLP.

Well I know for a fact that my manager prints the time records of our employees then BY HAND goes through the sheet and sends in a blank one filled in with their hand writing of the hours they chooses to give. Half the time the manager makes them up, or chooses to take a couple hours off one persons and give a few extra to another persons. This manager also neglects to give anyone any overtime hours, which I'm pretty sure is illegal especially in the state of Virginia. I find it odd that paychex would allow handwritten hours on the printed sheets to be submitted when the logged hours print out on their own straight from the computer and cannot be fussed around with. It's illegal and unfair that the payrool isn't monitored for staff. I also know that our business also has submitted plenty of people for paychex, however, none of the information for their taxes has been taken into account- I noticed this when not enough of mine had been taken out which I had put down on my W2 and I9 forms. We have also had several people listed that haven't had social security numbers entered as well. None of this seems to be monitored by paychex, and if you can't go to your employer about their mishaps, then how can you go to Paychex if they don't seem to monitor it?