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Dear Fellow Small Business Owners,

 

As small business entrepreneurs, we have faced our share of challenges—from everyday business hardships to the things we don’t even know we don’t know, to a global pandemic, labor shortages, and skyrocketing supply and food costs. But this one takes the cake—pun intended!

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Paychex, a company we once trusted for accurate and professional payroll management, has engaged in alarming practices that have caused significant financial harm to our business—and possibly to others as well.

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Like many of you, we turned to a payroll provider to streamline complex calculations and administrative tasks, allowing us to focus on running our business. However, after years of overpayment, we discovered a pattern of systemic errors, overbilling, and a complete lack of accountability from Paychex.

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The Core Issue

We know your time is valuable, so here’s the bottom line:

• Paychex falsely listed over 200 active employees on a hidden payroll journal running in the background, when in reality, we had only 41 employees.

• Paychex initially offered us nothing in return, then increased their offer to $20,509.00, then $36,978.41 in cash and $16,319.28 as a credit to be applied to future payroll fees then $61,704.17 as a "courtesy refund"—yet they still refuse to return the full $99,092.64 that they overcharged us.

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Paychex claims that we should have caught these errors within three business days—even though the extra employees were hidden from our view.

• Since 2021, our payroll specialist has handled all employee additions and terminations. We have never entered or removed an employee ourselves—this was always managed by our assigned Paychex representative, based on the hires and terminations we reported.

• Despite following Paychex’s instructions, their system failed to remove former employees, continuing to charge us for individuals who were no longer on our payroll.

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For over a month, we have been in constant back-and-forth discussions—conference calls, emails, and endless explanations—simply asking for Paychex to return the money they wrongly took from us. We are not requesting interest, damages, or anything beyond what they overcharged us.

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At first, we believed that if Paychex did the right thing for us, they would do the right thing for small businesses in general. However, we now see that their actions are not an isolated mistake but a systemic problem.

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Standing Up for Small Businesses

Although $61,704.17 is a significant amount and would help us continue to serve our community, our respect for small businesses is worth more. We cannot accept partial accountability for Paychex’s flawed business practices.

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Small businesses are the backbone of our economy. Many of us operate on tight margins, where every dollar counts. Paychex exploits this reality by shifting the burden of catching their mistakes onto business owners—despite clear evidence that their own systems and personnel are at fault. They then hide behind contractual clauses to limit their liability, forcing small businesses to either absorb the loss or engage in costly disputes.

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We have decided to decline their partial refund and instead share our experience with fellow business owners. Through the power of social media, word-of-mouth, and community advocacy, we have already connected with others who have had similar experiences with Paychex.

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Our Next Steps

We are launching a campaign called DOUBLE CHECK PAYCHEX to expose these unethical practices and warn other small businesses. Our mission is to ensure that no other business experiences what we have endured.

We will be sharing our Paychex story through:

• Social media awareness campaigns

• Interviews

• An updated edition of our book on the trials and tribulations of small business ownership

• An upcoming docu-series about our business journey.

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If you would like to read our email exchanges and correspondence with Paychex, comment #DoubleCheckPaychex below and DM us your email address.

 

In solidarity,


Mango Mangeaux

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