Collective Arvostelua 348

They continued to charge me after I cancelled and said because I called on July 6th, my membership won't be up until August 6th but I'll have 30 more days of paying for it.

I’ve been with Collective for eight months now and the onboarding was surprisingly smooth—my S-Corp election and bookkeeping were up in two weeks. I like the clean dashboard and responsive CPAs. A couple invoices slipped through the cracks and there’s still some back-and-forth on email, so not quite five-star, but it’s a solid step up from my old DIY chaos.

We have had multiple tax related questions, and more recently started onboarding contractors. There was initial confusion between Collective and Gusto in setting up payroll and onboarding. However, the member relation team at Collective has been incredibly helpful in answering our questions! Jenni and Ayn have not only provided answers, but also pointed us to the Collective video library so we can go through step by step. They responded to multiple messages each day over the course of two weeks which resulted in a positive experience for our new team members.
We are grateful for their support, and having Collective as an all-in-one platform to support our small business.

Been a member of 3 years, Been good to use but they increased the price last year for me from $296 to $349 so I will be expecting an increase in service and features

Nick was super helpful on my call, unfortunately I am not able to work with Collective right now but he pointed me in the right direction for my business, I'll give them 5 stars when they open up.

Kaylie walked me through so many steps about how to pay taxes, file, and so much more with our business. I was very stressed because of my prior experiences, but working with Kaylie has been incredible. We are caught up, in good standing and ready to take our business to the next level!

Have been a member for about 2 and a half year (a bit less). Janet my MRM is the best and I always get great and timely responses to questions I have. collective is the best investment I've made for my freelancing business and has been pivotal to feeling in control of my business finances.

Liking the platform a lot so far.

Getting started is simple - I filled out the form and scheduled a 30 min call with their team. Got walked through the platform I met with Carly and she was very nice. Onboarding took a couple weeks for me I have an LLC and had all the files for it including EIN plus my prior year returns, this may be burdensome for people who don't have those on hand. The team helped me set up payroll and the s corp which was something I needed and was putting off.

I've had a few months of bookkeeping and quarterly tax done with the team. Besides a couple errors and me asking them to recategorize some transactions it has been easy and a welcome change to my excel I was using. Would recommend giving it a shot.

Neat platform for freelancers ready for an scorp. Great support so far from the team. I canceled my QB, legalzoom, and collective is handling my tax moving forward plus payroll and compliance. I never write reviews and they've helped me a ton with my business.

I was operating as a sole prop for quite some time and knew I wasn't optimizing this. collective has helped get everything set up quickly. The team was great answering questions during the entity setup and giving some context on why information from me was needed and what each document means for the scorp. I've only had a few months of books done, but its been smooth and nice to have things in one place. I've loved not having to worry about tracking receipts and doing this work - worth the investment so far keep it up.

I had the pleasure of connecting with Brandon. He was so kind, helpful, and made a great effort to support me. Unfortunately given the structure of my business we were unable to work together; however I wish we could have as I felt the level of support and genuine desire to see me succeed was wonderful. My hope is that we will be able to work together in the future.

Collective.com sold me a dream: seamless onboarding, expert tax support, and a dedicated team that would handle the back office so I could focus on running my business. The onboarding was smooth, and their reps seemed responsive, at first. That was the last time anything worked as promised.

From there, it became a slow-motion trainwreck.

It started with basic transaction misclassifications, recurring ones, at that. Even after flagging them directly, the same errors happened month after month. You can’t fix them yourself; everything requires submitting a ticket and waiting days for someone to do what should take 10 seconds. That “dedicated service” they promised? It turned into copy-paste replies, delayed responses, and a flat refusal to hop on a call, even though that was a core selling point during onboarding.

Then came tax season. I told them in March that I’d be dissolving my entity and needed to file early. I gave them three months' notice, outlined exactly what to expect, and followed up monthly asking for a draft. They reassured me they were on it.

By late June, nothing had been done. Not even a draft. And then they casually told me: "We don’t do midyear filings."

To make matters worse, when I disputed charges for the months they were supposed to be preparing my taxes (but clearly weren’t), they responded to the credit card dispute within hours, faster than they’ve ever responded to any support request. That says everything. They're fast when it comes to protecting their money. When it comes to providing the service you paid for? Good luck.

So now I’m out $1,500 for non-service, plus another $1,000 to pay a real accountant to clean up their mess, and who knows how many hours of stress trying to figure it all out.

Collective.com is the worst kind of tech-enabled service: easy to sign up for, doesn’t actually work, and nearly impossible to exit. Do yourself a favor and hire a real accountant. Don’t fall for the shiny UI and lofty promises. This is not a business solution, it’s a liability.

I signed up with Collective in April 2024, and it was by far the worst decision I’ve made for my business.

Despite repeated follow-ups and providing all necessary documentation, they have still not started my business tax filings. This delay has put me at serious financial risk, potentially costing my business thousands of dollars in penalties.

Their bookkeeping was just as bad — they miscategorized business expenses even after I clearly communicated corrections multiple times. The communication system is a nightmare: disjointed, unhelpful, and completely inefficient. I spoke with multiple team members since March, including Zyra A., who assured me things were in progress — but nothing moved forward.

Adding insult to injury, they continue to charge me monthly fees while failing to deliver even the most basic services.

I deeply regret trusting Collective with my finances. I’m requesting a full refund for this year, and I urge other business owners to think twice before signing up. This service has caused me enormous stress and financial harm — it’s the worst bookkeeping experience I’ve ever had.

I signed up for Collective with high hopes, expecting a streamlined, supportive service to manage my S corp and payroll as a self-employed professional. Instead, I experienced confusion, poor communication, and a service that never delivered on its promises.

During the sales call, I asked directly whether payroll was included in the subscription and if adding employees would increase the cost. I was told it was included—no mention of third-party fees or markups. I later discovered I was being charged $15/month per contractor through Gusto, and that Collective adds a margin on top of Gusto’s standard pricing. This was never clearly disclosed.

The onboarding process was also mismanaged. Despite informing them I’d be abroad and unavailable, I kept receiving emails with deadlines and follow-ups that ignored my availability. It felt like their process took precedence over actual client needs.

Even worse, nothing was accomplished during my two months with Collective. No progress on bookkeeping, no tangible setup work—yet I was still charged $797 with payroll. They’ve offered a refund for one month, but I haven’t received it to date. I have wasted time and money.

The promise of a “done-for-you” system quickly fell apart. I was expected to manually upload monthly documents and handle key tasks myself. It felt like I was doing the work for their convenience—not mine.

My account has since been closed, but I walk away disappointed and misled. I’m writing this not out of resentment, but to caution other self-employed professionals. If you’re looking for real support, transparency, and a service that delivers what it sells—look elsewhere.

—Guillaume

I’m not just the co-founder of Collective, I’m also a member. My wife and I couldn’t start and manage our S-corp without it. My co-founders and I launched Collective because we—and the people we love—live this problem. I don’t have the time or energy to juggle a patchwork of apps and service providers. Moreover, I love having one partner to help with all my questions. I looked around—most options were 2x the cost and totally manual. Collective isn’t perfect (yet), but it’s by far the best option out there—and it keeps getting better.

This company is a terrible experience. From corporate e-mails that make no sense and sound like it's an AI Bot to non-stop issues. I wasted 6 months with them and they never managed to get any bookkeeping done. Highly recommend going with a smaller, quality company that cares.

- Update, this company responded right away saying they would follow up but never followed up. I sent multiple e-mails and never received a response. After two weeks without response. I pursued fraud with my credit card and then e-mailed them to inform them. At that point I received an immediate follow up but they still didn't offer to complete the two months of book keeping I was suppose to receive or issue a refund.

This company is truly appalling and I hope nobody falls victim to their lies and promises.

I've been a member for about 9 months. The onboarding / incorporation process was smooth, but pretty much everything after that became frustrating and slow. Responses to help requests or questions are advertised as having a 24 hour response period, but I have literally never gotten a response in under 48 hours. The average is closer to 4 days. Additionally, the accounting software they use (built in house) does not expose enough features to allow you to fix issues yourself. Instead, you have to submit a help request and wait 4 days to fix a mis-categorized transaction. I finally got fed up and decided to switch to another accounting firm. Turns out, there is no way to cancel your subscription yourself. You have to submit a help request and wait for someone to help you. I've been waiting almost a week now with no response and have been billed an extra month in that time. All in all, I would not recommend using their service at all. There are tons of accounting firms out there that will cost less, have faster response times, and will allow you to have more control over your books. I've now switched to quickbooks and have a small accounting shop keeping the books and I save 75% compared to Collective.

Really critical part of my business stack that helps handle all the finances of my business. I came into collective as an LLC about 2 years ago doing my books at the last minute and really not optimizing my financials. In truth they were an afterthought, which I now realize was pretty dumb.

Now my s corp is run compliantly I’m paying my contractors the right way and I have a really great understanding of my financials through the monthly bookkeeping. The company I moved from didn’t even recommend an s corp to me and I couldn’t get in touch with anyone to ask questions about retirement or insurance. My MRM Elizabeth is awesome and helps clarify info for my business. It’s been a great combo of tech and people hopping in when I need them.

Susana was great! Ultimately, my business isn't ready for the what they offer, but I will be back when I'm free to file under an S corp

For what you get it’s a well priced solution clearly built for self employed people. I feel in control of my finances for the first time maybe ever and know where I’m spending my money, how I’m taxed and how much I should expect to pay. I was an LLC when I joined and my onboarding process was smooth. I got set up as an S corp linked my bank account and ran payroll with my reasonable salary recommended. Quarterly tax is something I was not doing and my last 2 tax seasons have been a breeze compared to my panic-induced scrambling I was accustomed to previously. Really recommend collective to any solo biz