HeardReviews of joinheard.com

I signed on with Heard at the end of 2021. Ended my relationship with them in 2022. At first, I thought this was going to be a godsend. I'm very anxious when it comes to taxes and bookkeeping. So, I felt relieved to have found heard. However, my experience quickly turned into a nightmare. Their communication is horrendous. As others have said, it takes them several days to respond to you in the portal. No, you cannot talk to anybody on the phone. Everything has to go through the portal. I would send messages over and over again and wait for them to respond to me. Also, my bank account will constantly be disconnecting from their portal. When it came time for my taxes, that was a hot mess experience. I was talking to several different people, having to send them things that I had already sent them, and on top of all of that, my taxes were late. They had to "file an extension on my behalf". When I let them know that I was going to be severing my relationship with them, I Detective an immediate dismissive attitude from them. Suddenly, even though it took them forever to respond, they were not willing to answer my questions even though I was still paying them for that last month. Whenever I hear other therapists saying that they are going to sign up with Heard, I reach out to them and tell them about my experience. Avoid Heard at all cost!

I will try and make this review as concise but detailed as possible. I wanted to love Heard. I opened my private practice directly after grad school, and after years working in the Medicaid insurance industry. I was completely out of my league when it came to small business accounting/bookkeeping. I always prepared our family’s taxes using TurboTax which made things simple. Anyone who runs an LLC or S-Corp knows, this is a different animal. One month in to my practice I found Heard Accounting. It sounded like everything I would need. I met with a co-owner, Andrew, a month later over Zoom and he said all the right things to make me feel as if Heard was the best choice for me. I signed on. I will say my conversation with Andrew was the only one in a year and a half that I had with a live person. Every message is sent through their Heard dashboard. If I had a question, it took days to more than a week before I received an email stating, “You have a new message in your Heard dashboard”. For a profession focused on personal interactions this was a difficult concept for me. Now 2022 taxes. I understand the overwhelming amount of work that goes into tax prep, but what I don’t understand is the lack of communication about such an important aspect of our businesses. I was already nervous when I received the message that Heard would “file an extension on my behalf”, and then nothing further, for more than a month, until a lengthy Facebook post from Andrew, not personal contact. I was in the midst of some very stressful personal situations as well, and this exacerbated it and made both my personal and business situations overwhelming. To make a long story short, another disgruntled former Heard consumer encouraged me to reach out when she saw my distress. Once I posted on their FB group and sent several emails, I finally received a response. Unfortunately, by that time, mid-late June 2023, I was done. The Heard staff prepared my taxes in that time (completed on June 26, 2023). Through a group email with Andrew and his “team” I was informed they would close out my account and send all of the relevant documents to me, which they did at the end of June. Finally a video meeting was set up for myself and Andrew. At the last minute he switched it to a teleconference. Again, he said all the right things; he’s not only an accountant but a salesman. Andrew told me he would refund what I paid into Heard over the past year, but in the end sent $300 in refunds stating they could not “pay off my tax liability”, which was not an issue discussed during our phone conversation. What WAS discussed was the the potential for possible associated fees for finding a new accountant and bookkeeper mid-year. During the conversation with Andrew my assistant sat beside me and took pertinent notes so I know what the man stated; and this is classic gaslighting on his part. Today via email, Andrew and his tax guy Tim referenced a potential “tax refund” I may receive and stated I could use that to pay off any tax liabilities or associated fees, though the IRS has NOT confirmed I will receive one. My tax returns currently sits in “In Review” state as of July 18, 2023. I was basically dismissed, my analogy of their “lead accountant” laughed at, and I felt my honest concerns were minimized, as Andrew Riesen stated in his final email: “I believe that we fulfilled our commitments”, and “I wish you well in your journey.” Bear in mind I was never rude or unkind in my dealing with this company, and I have every piece of communication documented and saved. To begin to bring this review to a close, every negative belief I already held as a new, struggling private practice owner was affirmed by Heard’s treatment of me. I could never, in good faith, recommend this company to any of my fellow therapists, colleagues or solopreneurs. If you’re a small business owner, like me, your paltry $150 per month may mean very little to them, but it meant survival some months to me. Unfortunately I was naive enough to take Andrew at his word in February 2022 and again in July 2023, but that’s my trusting nature. When your word means nothing, it is a crystal clear reflection of your business. Therapists be aware! Maybe they treat larger revenue businesses better, and that’s fine. I am left now to find a competent local bookkeeper and accountant, and pay whatever fees they require, along with a bitter taste in my mouth for the profession as a whole. Thank you Heard and Andrew Riesen for a very hard, but valuable lesson, as these lessons remind us of our personal values and help set expectations for the future.

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.

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 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.