Following the surprising shutdown of accounting software firm Bench on December 27 and its swift acquisition by Employer.com, customers are now forced to compromise their data rights in order to retrieve their own financial information.
Bench, a Canadian startup which raised investments to the tune of $113 million from Bain Capital Ventures, Shopify and others, abruptly deserted thousands of small business customers by cutting off their access to their bookkeeping data. In an unexpected turn of events, Bench was snapped up by Employer.com, an HR tech company based in San Francisco.
Despite holding promising credentials, Employer.com has raised concerns among Bench customers due to its lack of experience in providing accounting and tax services. This sudden shift forced customers to relinquish their refund rights and give consent to transfer their data to Employer.com in order to access it. Many were left frustrated, having pre-paid for services that are no longer being offered by the shut-downed startup.
Michelle Gayle, a business advisor to Core Insights Group, expressed concerns over Employer.com’s revised consent page. She criticized the company’s privacy policy for not safeguarding financial data and described the move to offer discounts on recruitment services as inappropriate in the current situation.
In defense, Employer.com clarified that customers could get access to their data following consent, which also leaves room for them to continue or cancel their service on the platform. To obtain refunds for pre-paid future services, customers were advised to contact Bench Accounting’s bankruptcy trustee or seek a refund via payment platform Stripe.
This case underscores the potential risks of digital service subscriptions and the necessity for clear data access policies, especially during sudden business shutdowns.
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