After Employer.com acquired the accounting startup bench that went bankrupt with firefighting sales late last year, CEO Jesse Tinsley has pledged to honor past customer payments on LinkedIn and others.
“We respect all prepaid bench services despite not being able to earn directly from it,” Tinsley said in an interview with founder and investor Julian Weiser.
However, some bench customers say they are being charged to get books and tax returns they paid previously.
The lawsuit filed Tuesday by bench customer Qorum alleges that the bench will have to pay to obtain its 2023 tax return, despite already paying for the services under the bench's previous owner.
“Defendant Jesse Tinsley misrepresented negligence when Employer.com misrepresented negligence when he misrepresented Employer.com respected the prepaid bench service,” the lawsuit alleges.
According to a communication seen by TechCrunch, another customer who requested anonymity was shocked to learn that they would need to renew their subscription to complete their accounting books when they paid for the service two years ago.
When they questioned this, bench representatives told them that “Bench 2.0” had no partnership with previous obligations and that employers could not do unpaid work.
CMO Matt Charney from Employer.com strongly disputes that the bench is charging for previously paid jobs. “We have been celebrating prepaid services for our customers,” he said.
Charney also said it delivered tax 2023 to return to Qorum without the need for additional payments. But Qorum founder Andrew Pietra told TechCrunch that he would need to continue his subscription to get a return in the first place.
Under previous ownership, the bench was burned down for $135 million, and it struggled to get AI to replace the human bookkeeper. According to a former employee, it led to a long delay and a large pile of books that still need to be completed.
Multiple bench customers previously told TechCrunch that Employer.com had sent a notice intended to click the consent button prior to refunding the prepaid service.
When the bench suddenly closed on December 26th last year, many books and returns remained incomplete. US company Employer.com has announced plans to buy Canadian FinTech within 72 hours.
Canada.com bought the bench for $9 million.
The sudden collapse of Fintech was caused by a lack of liquidity after its main creditor, the National Bank of Canada refused to lend an additional $7.7 million in December 2024. Previous applications showed that NBC had already provided US$51 million to the troubled startup.
Ironically, what led to the rescue was the news of the sudden closure of the bench. The company had previously shopped itself but was unable to find a serious buyer, the submissions are a note.