Complaints

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:08/07/2025

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  Upon having a client send funds over three invoices, we discovered that the online refund feature is not working. Initially, we were told our business was approved to use the service, only to later be informed they could not support our business. There is no phone number to contact, leaving us at their mercy to process our client’s refund. It’s a very interesting business model—approve someone, take their client’s money, and then have the only available refund option fail due to a glitch.

  Business Response

  Date: 16/07/2025

  This issue was resolved directly with the customer. 

• Initial Complaint

  Date:02/07/2025

  Type:Customer Service Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  Wave Financial Inc recently switched their payroll processor to Check. They completely botched the payroll transition. Issues include: incorrect carryovers of information for existing companies requiring re-entry, incorrect payroll tax withholdings and no options to exempt qualified employees from certain NY state taxes, incorrect tax withdrawals from business bank accounts (***** ***** ********** *****), failure to email paystubs to all employees for several weeks now, incorrect payrolls run by Wave themselves which prevent the proper payrolls to be run, constant bugs in the software preventing proper functioning and running of payrolls, incorrect payroll tax filings with the IRS and NY state with wrong numbers and improper tax reporting (resulting in penalty letters mailed to the impacted businesses), and a general refusal to help fix their wrongdoings. Wave Financial Inc. has never offered a customer support phone line which is a huge red flag on its own. Their only customer support option WAS chat support for only 6 hours per day. When they started getting flooded by customer complaints (unsurprisingly considering all of their terrible issues with payroll), they literally closed the chat support and said you have to reach out via email. When you try to email support, they don't respond for 2-3 weeks and frequently not at all. So in the midst of a payroll software meltdown, they are completely ignoring their customers. There is no option to get in contact with them, none. Companies are missing payrolls, receiving fines for incorrect payroll tax reporting and filing, having improper funds withdrawn from their bank accounts when they already paid the respective balances, have employees complaining about not receiving their paystubs, have employees receiving less pay than legally owed because of lacking payroll tax exemption options, and Wave Financial Inc. has literally turned off their customer support lines. In my eyes, this is a criminal disaster of negligence.

  Business Response

  Date: 18/07/2025

  Wave has received the complaint and is currently working on a resolution.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:26/06/2025

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I've been a customer for 10 years and use their Payroll processing service. 72 hours ago I attempted to process our bi-weekly payroll for 18 employees. When I enter the Payroll section of the site, none of my data exists. It shows 5 active employees and 35 dismissed. It should have 18 active and hundreds of dismissed. Timesheets is inaccurate. And there is no data about previous payroll transactions. I submitted multiple tickets after "chatting" with a worthless bot. There has been zero follow up. Where is my data?! I need employee information in order to switch to another payroll co. I need my info so I can pay my employees!

  Business Response

  Date: 04/07/2025

  We are in touch with the customer directly and are actively working to resolve the issue.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:26/06/2025

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I've been a paying customer of Wave for 3 years. Last month, Wave silently migrated their payroll platform to a third-party provider, ***** ************, without any notice or consent. Since then, everything has fallen apart. The migration failed - and Wave failed to inform their costumers. I only found out when I went to run payroll and realized everything was broken: incorrect data, missing records, and no explanation. Since then, everything has fallen apart.
  
  Here’s what we’ve dealt with:
  
  Incorrect payroll calculations – Deductions disappeared, salaries were miscalculated, and Wave’s own team can’t figure out why.
  Missing payroll history and tax records – I lost access to our own data. EVERYTHING is missing.
  Failure to file our Employer Tax Report – I was notified by my state (not Wave) that our report wasn’t filed. When we contacted Wave, they told us to pay the penalty and they’d “try” to reimburse us. So we are now out of compliance and facing penalties.
  No communication – Support takes hours (if you’re lucky), pushes everything to email, and then ghosted me. I've gone weeks without updates on urgent issues.

  Business Response

  Date: 04/07/2025

  We are in touch with the customer directly and are actively working to resolve the issue.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:24/06/2025

  Type:Billing Issues
  Status:

  ResolvedMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I signed up for Wave payroll and on June 11th, they took $9733.59 from my account and never sent it to employees. They said that they can't provide payroll for my business but that was after they took the money. Now they are saying they never saw the money come out of my account. Support is horrible and they never get back to me.

  Business Response

  Date: 04/07/2025

  The issue was resolved with the customer directly.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 05/07/2025

  
  
  Better Business Bureau:
  
  
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
  
  
  
  
  Sincerely,
  
  
  
  ******* *****

• Initial Complaint

  Date:24/06/2025

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  ResolvedMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  After signing up for a wave account in May, I sent my first invoice without issue. I got an offer in my account to sign up for automatic payments, which I was interested in as it could make it easier for my client to pay my invoices directly, so I signed up to try it and was approved. The invoice was sent on June 15, 2025, and the payment was sent that same day. Wave gave me an estimated payout date of June 23, which seemed pretty long considering competing products typically pay out in 3-5 days, but that was understandable giving the timing of ACH payments.
  
  However, on Friday June 20, I received an email that my payouts account was suspended, and I needed to send further documentation to have it re instated. Not only that, but they are holding the money that my client sent me via ACH until I send those documents. This might be acceptable if they had done this the day the client paid the money, or maybe the day after, or even if it was any day earlier in the week, but they sent it at 1:30pm on a Friday when their customer support, which has no live support option besides a live chat or email, was not closed all weekend.
  
  Despite this, I still sent an immediate response at 1:45, and then I was able to sent my documents at 3:30pm that same day. I received no response on Friday. Monday, the day the payout was originally scheduled, I sent a follow up message in the morning asking for a status update. Again, I received no response. Now it has been two full business days since I sent in the required documentation, and I have not received a single response from Wave about my account, my account is still suspended, and they are holding over $3500 in my money from a client, without refunding me or the client, so I cannot ask the client to send it via a different payment processor.
  
  If you are going to have risk assessment for your company I understand. However, if you are going to withhold payments to small businesses, then you need to actually respond when they need it.

  Business Response

  Date: 26/06/2025

  The issue was resolved with the customer directly.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 26/06/2025

  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
  
  
  
  
  Sincerely,
  
  
  
  ******** **************

• Initial Complaint

  Date:19/06/2025

  Type:Customer Service Issues
  Status:

  ResolvedMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  When I set up Wave for my two businesses, I authorized the company to pay Payroll Taxes and file on my behalf. But for one of my businesses, they have not sent anything to the IRS. These are monthly tax payments that are now delinquent because they haven't been paid or filed for the past two months. I submitted a support ticket on June 1st. I heard nothing. I reached out again on June 7th. Nothing. I contacted their ********* account because they continued to post reels. I was told that my problem was submitted to customer service and they would get back to me shortly. I have tried to contact someone via live chat and I keep getting kicked off when there are 20+ people ahead of me. (It usually starts wth 60 people ahead of me). Wave does not provide customer service AT ALL and doesn't care about its customers. It is now June 16th and I still have yet to hear from someone despite me reaching out every few days.

  Business Response

  Date: 26/06/2025

  We are in touch with the customer directly and are actively working on resolving the issue.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 26/06/2025

  
  
  Complaint: ********
  
  
  
  I am rejecting this response because there are too many outstanding tickets that they have not responded to. They have responded to ONE. In doing so, they reset my business Payroll and wiped all transactions. So I have no data to reference when trying to pay the taxes that Wave didn't pay. Also, they still will not allow me to cancel my Payroll subscription. It still says active, which means they will charge me on July 1, 2025 if I don't delete my Wave account. 
  
  
  
  Sincerely,
  
  
  
  ***** *******

  Business Response

  Date: 21/07/2025

  The issue has been resolved directly with the customer.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 28/07/2025

  
  
  Better Business Bureau:
  
  
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
  
  
  
  
  Sincerely,
  
  
  
  ***** *******

• Initial Complaint

  Date:19/06/2025

  Type:Customer Service Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I attempted to use Wave's services, but the produce was so poor and so poorly supported that I was unable to cancel the service in time, continued to be charged, and found it impossible to get the money back.
  
  Here's what happened:
  1. In mid-may I signed up to use their payroll services. I have a sole proprietorship and a few w2 employees I need to pay in the summer. I provided all the information, including my bank information, paid the fees for the service, but was unable to complete the onboarding process in the application. Wave doesn't have any phone number, so I submitted 2 separate emails through their chatbot asking why I wasn't able to complete the process.
  2. After not hearing anything for 2 weeks, I was charged on June 1 for full month of service. I then tried to speak with a live human chat support person. After waiting for an hour, the person could not solve my issue and submitted a ticket to the support team.
  3. After several more days, I was told that the payroll service provided by Wave requires a "business bank account" to fund payroll. In the application itself, it allows the user to provide a personal checking account. It then links to a service called "Check" which apparently in its terms and conditions requires a business account, but even in those terms an conditions, this is not clear.
  4. I operate a sole proprietorship with a personal checking account which is completely normal.
  
  I asked for a refund and to stop the payroll account.
  
  Then on June 15, I was charged an additional amount in payroll "fees" despite not ever running payroll and this not being clear in any terms in conditions.
  
  In short, Wave misrepresented the services they provide and who can use them, they then provided such slow services that I could not cancel without getting charged. Then, while waiting for a potential refund, and after cancelling my account, I was charged again.
  
  I just want my money back for the services I never received.

  Business Response

  Date: 26/06/2025

  The issue was resolved with the customer directly.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:17/06/2025

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I have used the WAVE software to run payroll, pay estimated taxes, fund 401K and run business reports for the past five years. The software has been down for three weeks now. I've reached out to support on four occasions and been in direct chat support on three occasions since the software has gone down. My payments for the accounting service are current. I am not at a point where payroll is due, and I am unable to pay my employees, my taxes, or pull reports that are critical to running my business. Employees are needing W2s for renting apartments. There is not direct line available to call. This is now causing me hardship and puts me at risk for labor law compliance fines by the government. I do not know what else I can do. I tried switching accounting software, but WAVE houses all of the reports required to set up the new software.

  Business Response

  Date: 26/06/2025

  We are in touch with the customer directly and are working on resolving the issue.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:10/06/2025

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I signed up for Wave App payroll service including tax service and was approved on 12/12/2024. My account is ******* ********* ********* ***. I ran my first payroll in February 2025. They failed to remit my payroll taxes to *** *** as well as the IRS in January 2025. I have repeatedly reached out to the customer service beginning in March 2025 and have yet to get a solution to this problem. I will now undoubtedly have fines and penalties due to their failure to provide tax service. Wave App needs to make this right. They need to pay the tax and cover the penalties and fees.

  Business Response

  Date: 19/06/2025

  We are directly in touch with the customer to resolve the issue.