HeardReviews of joinheard.com

I signed up for JoinHeard last year. At the beginning everything was going well. However the day of my 4th quarterly review my lead accountant cancel due to moving to a new position in the company. From there communication services were not followed through on, I met with another accountant who never followed up. When I finally managed to talk someone into meeting with me regarding my taxes and quarterly review they indicated that they could provide me with a special appointment. Following this I did not receive any communication nor a headsup that they would not have my taxes done in time and would have to file an extension. Once I received my taxes the needed form were not included correctly. I have contacted Timothy Petty the lead CPA twice to get my questions answered and have not heard back. So overall I would not recommend this company. I hold concerns as to if my taxes were done correctly. One thing that was on me, that I didn't realize when I signed up is that you don't have direct access to a CPA only the accountants. This may work for some but not for me.

Miz was attentive to my questions and concerns, took the time to answer them and provide me with education and reassurance, and even gave me extra time to address additional concerns that I had that weren't listed on the original list of items to discuss. Overall, I feel quite supported and in great hands with Miz and the Heard team! They go above and beyond and make you feel valued as a customer. Highly recommended:)

Awful experience with Heard. All of my quarterly estimates were incorrect so when it came time to file my tax return, I owed $25k. They didn't complete my return until the day before taxes were due so when I saw this number I was obviously taken aback and requested an extension be filed so that I could understand what happened. Unfortunately the number was correct because I had been underpaying every quarter by only paying whatever they estimated. Communication is horrible and cancelling your membership is not straightforward either (which I am in the process of doing). I was so excited when I first found this company, but my business bank account regularly gets disconnected from them, I have verified my work email numerous times but it is still listed as unverified, the portal is cumbersome, and it consistently takes more than one business day to respond to issues which is just not something I'm comfortable with when it comes to financial issues. I understand when it's busy season and there are delays, but in May and June, simple questions should be able to be answered within one business day. They farm out annual taxes to a third party company. I used them last year as well and they had to file an extension on my behalf despite the fact that I gave them all documents in JANUARY. I was hoping this year would show a little more growth and competence, but no luck. Really really disappointed. I believe another reviewer thinks they had the issue of growing too quickly and not being able to support the volume of clientele they have and I think that reviewer is correct.

I really wanted to love Heard. I loved the message and spirit behind the company’s mission. As a psychologist in private practice, I wanted to focus less on books and more on my direct clinical work. Unfortunately, after my experience during tax season I cancelled my service with Heard. I suspect Heard may have fallen victim to the phenomenon of great marketing that resulted in uncontrolled growth and the quality of service suffered. But I want to try an offer a fair assessment of what happened in hopes it helps the company moving forward and therapists seeking accounting services. Pros: My experience with their bookkeeping service was fine. The platform was easy to navigate and use. When preparing my tax return, the system for inputting relevant information was easier to use than most accounting services I’d worked with in the past. Another pro was my experience with Nadine, in customer support, who managed my concerns with efficiency and kindness without defensiveness. She deserves a raise. Cons: Everything fell apart once tax season hit. I completed all necessary documentation and paperwork before the deadline Heard imposed to ensure timely filing. While I was understanding that it’s a busy season, it would take up to a week to get a response from anyone regarding questions. The CPA completing my return appeared to not be a permanent employee of Heard but a random contractor with a side business. I think that may explain why they were difficult to communicate with and deferred almost all questions to Heard, whom I struggled to get answers from. When I finally got my return the CPA emailed it to me at 3am on a Saturday, making me wonder how overworked their team was. During tax season my bookkeeper seemed perpetually confused and overwhelmed. In one case, she said she couldn’t locate documents that I had uploaded into the portal where she instructed me to. Any time she answered questions I had, her replies didn’t make sense and had contradictory information. I gave up after a few tries. A few days before the tax deadline, I received an email from Heard saying an extension was going to be filed on my behalf for taxes. I was disappointed, but understand this happens a lot and wasn’t too bothered. But once Heard filed the extension but they came back and said it was inexplicably denied by the IRS. Despite my numerous attempts, Heard was never able to provide me a clear answer as to why my extension request was denied. I suspect it was because something was submitted incorrectly (this is what a non-Heard CPA advised me), but they never were able to offer an explanation, so I had to eat an additional fee to the IRS without ever understanding why. After my return was processed I owed a lot more in taxes than I anticipated and received a penalty for underpayment. But even then, the estimated amount Heard said I’d owe to the IRS was $1,000 over the bill I actually received from the IRS, so I have no idea why their estimates were so far off. It leaves me concerned something was done incorrectly, to the point where I’m considering hiring another CPA to troubleshoot this with me to ensure nothing serious went awry. This could have been due to an error on my end, but I was so exhausted by the difficulty getting in touch with the team I gave up trying to understand what went wrong and just ate the penalties myself. I ended up significantly overpaying my state taxes, despite using Heard’s quarterly estimates, so I’m not sure why their estimates were so off there too. I spoke with four personal colleagues who had similar problems as I did with Heard this tax season. But I also had one colleague who had absolutely no issues, so I’m wondering if your mileage may vary depending on who is assigned to your case. But that’s a gamble I didn’t want to make moving forward. Their use of random contractors instead of permanent staff made me concerned about the privacy of my financial information, the quality of service I was getting, and the accuracy of the advice I was receiving. I’d prefer to know that the individuals who have access to my social security number, the SSNs of my spouse and children, and our financial information have been thoroughly vetted (and maybe they are, but my experience didn’t inspire confidence). That and the discrepancies in the numbers left me feeling incredibly unsettled and nervous something could land me in trouble in the future with the IRS. I have cancelled my service and was able to hire a local reputable CPA to do my bookkeeping and taxes for comparable pricing to Heard. I feel good about supporting another small business that is in my community and would recommend that to any colleague until Heard can improve these issues.

I wanted to believe that Heard would be a great bookkeeping and accounting solution for my therapy business as they specialize in working with therapists. However, over the five months of working with them, I was met with disappointment after disappointment. There is no way to get in touch with anyone outside of the messaging portal and they claim they will get back to you within 24-48 hours and that does not happen. My breaking point was that they were supposed to take care of filing my 2022 taxes and I did everything that was asked of me to prepare. One week prior to the filing date, I still had no updates from them. No draft of my taxes to review. I messaged twice that week and didn’t receive a message until Saturday (two days prior to tax filing) stating that they weren’t sure what happened and to message them if I didn’t hear from them on Monday. Needless to say, I was frustrated and very stressed. I messaged on Monday (one day before taxes were due) and still no response. So I had to take to social media, where I finally got a response from them. I was never given any explanation about why my taxes weren’t ready, I was never told they had filed an extension on my behalf, and I believe they grossly overestimated what I owed in taxes. The tax team and accountants never apologized. The only person who apologized and made things right was Nadine, the Customer Success Lead, who was an absolute saint. However, trust was already broken so I canceled with them and now need to find someone else to do my taxes and bookkeeping. Therapists, run far and fast away from Heard. It will only cause you more stress and grief if you sign up and trust them with your accounting and bookkeeping.

I've had a wonderful experience with Heard so far. My accountant, Miz, has been thorough, professional, and relatable. He's clearly knowledgeable and ensures that I if I have questions that I understand the answers. I enjoy his sense of humor, it makes him relatable. My Tax Preparer, Melina, is thoughtful, compassionate and truly knows her stuff. She went above and beyond to help me!

My accountant has been so wonderfully helpful! The team typically responds in a timely manner and they've been so helpful in breaking things down in a way that helps me understand and feel more competent when it comes to running my business.

I've been with Heard for a few years and I have been so happy with all their resources and support for the accounting/bookkeeping they've given to me and my private practice. A year ago I was able to finally hire an office manager and was able to redirect my time to providing excellent client care without worrying about my business finances. I see myself in a looong relationship with Heard and I highly recommend them.