Gusto (gusto.com) has a 1.5 out of 5 rating on OK.one, based on 103 user reviews collected here. It is listed under Business Services and its reputation is poor. 78% of reviews are 1 star, a relatively high share; The business has replied to 86% of negative reviews. Last updated 2026-08-10.
Unauthorized Account Closure & Transfer — Zero Real Support
I've been a Gusto Premium customer for almost 2 years and I have never dealt with a company this unwilling to take responsibility for its own mistakes.
Gusto closed my Wallet account and transferred my funds to an external account without any notice, warning, email, or phone call.
I have all the proof: no notice email ever landed in my inbox, and I have written confirmation directly from two separate Gusto representatives stating my account was fully resolved and that no further action was required.
Months later, with none of that changing, they closed the account and moved the money anyway.
When I asked them to explain the contradiction, they couldn't. When I asked for proof of the notices they claim they sent, they couldn't produce that either.
From there, it only got worse. I was promised a callback from a supervisor multiple times and it never came. Every representative I spoke with had no real visibility into my case and no authority to actually resolve anything!!
At one point I had to compile my own complete case timeline myself and send it to Gusto's own "support staff", because nobody there had reviewed the case before responding to me.
The miscommunication has been so constant and so unresolved that at this point they simply stop answering.
This isn't a minor service hiccup. This is a company that can close a Premium customer's account and move their money without authorization, hold written proof in their own system that contradicts their excuse, and still not have a single person available with the knowledge or authority to explain or fix it.
If something goes wrong with your account, there is no real support behind it.
At this point, it's too late for my company and to me as the manager to choose a better company. But I strongly discourage any new company or client from enrolling with Gusto. If something ever goes wrong, you will not get the support you're paying for.
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Rick Leibowitz · 2 reviews · Experienced 2026-07-31 ·
★★★★★
I will never work with Gusto again
I will never work with Gusto again. I have had three clients on the system and ran into a glitch with one. I dealt with customer service on two occasions and gave them a second chance when a payroll failed to direct deposit funds on time for our employees (never a good situation for a company). They refused to address the system and would not let me elevate when the obviously untrained customer service agent could not resolve my issue. To add to the insult, when I cancelled after not being able to process the payroll on July 31st and had to switch to another payroll provider, they charged me for a full month of service in August that I have not received. Will never use this company again and warn you to shop around. Sure Paychex/ADP/QBO may be a bit more expensive, but at least your employees will get paid. As an FYI, they will respond to this and say they reviewed our case and their system says we had insufficient funds in our account. We had sufficient funds and plenty of working capital and that was explained to their customer support. This could have been easily verified on our call, but they refused to even look at our account history.
No warning, no explanation, and will not take my calls.
We were with Gusto for 11 years. Last week, we were told by Gusto there was a tax issue and account had been suspended. We contacted state and determined there was no problem. Gusto said they would work as quickly as they could to reinstate our account. 2 hours before we are set to run payroll, we get an email that they have cancelled our account. No warning, no explanation, and will not take my calls. I had to figure out paychecks for 76 people, write out checks, fedex checks to 3 states and make loans to staff who could not get checks in bank. I never would have believed this could happen. We had the HR platform, 401K, payroll. Im still in shock.
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Kathryn · 2 reviews · Experienced 2026-08-04 ·
★★★★★
Horrific Customer Service
Spoke with 5 customer service agents over the course of 1.5 hours and no one was able to help me understand my account balance (many numbers were incorrectly given). I asked to speak to a manager or supervisor and no one was available. Nothing was resolved in over 1.5 hours and I missed 2 other important meetings. My daughter pediatric bill has still not been paid. Considering moving our company benefits to someone else.
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R R · 1 review · Experienced 2026-08-04 ·
★★★★★
They botched the first payroll 3 times
They botched the first payroll 3 times. I ended up going to a different service provider. I was told on a recorded line that I would not be charged but I was charged, and then charged AGAIN for the next month. It then took 3 hours on the phone and on a chat to get 1 of the 2 months refunded. they refused to do the other month even though no payroll, no taxes, no filings were done.
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Austin Arnold · 1 review · Experienced 2026-07-31 ·
★★★★★
Can't make payments to an employee
Can't make payments to an employee. Every single pay period I spend half a day with AI chatbots, horrible UX, and roundabout solves just to pay one employee.
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Rob T · 1 review · Experienced 2026-07-31 ·
★★★★★
Terrible service
Terrible service. The reasonable salary calculator doesn't work, the interface is unusable, and the system fails to deliver basic service. Customer support agents are rude, incompetent, and completely indifferent. Strongly advise against using Gusto.
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Ayu Namie · 1 review · Experienced 2026-07-29 ·
★★★★★
Run! Worst Customer Service I've Ever Experienced
I signed up for Gusto but never finished setting up my account or ran payroll. Shortly after signing up, I was locked out of my account because Gusto requested identity verification. I submitted the requested ID the same day.
Despite that, I remained locked out of my account for 9 days. During that time I sent emails requesting assistance and received no response.
When I finally called customer support again, it took nearly 2 hours to regain access to my account. After that, I was transferred to the onboarding team because I wanted to disconnect my linked Chase bank account and cancel my account since I had decided not to use Gusto.
The onboarding representative at first refused, saying that he could not do that on his end. I asked if I could be transferred to someone who could help with the issue, and he replies, "Sure. Let me see what I can do," to which the call was immediately disconnected. I never received a callback.
This experience left me without access to my account for over a week, with a connected bank account I couldn't remove and customer support that was unresponsive when I needed help. Based on this experience, I cannot recommend Gusto.
They're terrible. They hold your money for no reason and refuse to even give you information about it. You just have to wait, they don't care that we have bills to pay. They just hold our paychecks and don't care.
1-star is too high for them, but it is not possible to leave a 0-star review.
Hello Christy! Thanks for sharing your feedback! We're glad to hear you're finding the experience easy to use and that our customer service team has been helpful. We appreciate you taking the time to share your experience
Used them for both of our small businesses. Upon canceling services for 1 of the businesses, you are asked if you want to continue them filing your tax stuff for the state etc, and it gives you the pricing. I opted for no, not understanding that even though I had already paid for May to be handled, the 941 was not. Very tricky wording and so I was still charged for May,yet no 941 filed due to how they give you options at the end. I feel as if May was paid for, the 941 should have been handled,it was apart of the service. When contacted about this, it was basically oh well, you said no at the end to us continuing to file 941 so therefore even though you paid for May services,we aren't going to do it. Very shady.
Respone to your response*in our state 941 is due monthly and you guys were filing it monthly I have the states letter, so to say it was quarterly, incorrect again. The papers I have from the state in regards to this says 941 due monthly, May was paid for. Therefore May's monthly 941 should have been submitted. So what you guys did was wrong, word it however you want. BBB needs to be notified as well. The serive was PAID FOR
Reply from Gusto2026-07-28
Hi, we're sorry to hear about your frustration and appreciate you sharing your feedback. Quarterly filings are submitted at the end of each quarter, and when an account is canceled with the option selected to stop filing, Gusto will not submit future filings on the account. We understand the importance of having clarity around these selections and appreciate your feedback on the cancellation experience.
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J Park · 1 review · Experienced 2026-07-21 ·
★★★★★
Gusto charges for services I did not…
Gusto charges for services I did not sign up for. Gusto fails to give customer service. Gusto is very very very difficult to cancel and they keep billing even after cancellation.
DO NOT USE GUSTO. YOU WILL REGRET IT. I DO.
Reply from Gusto2026-07-22
Hi, we're sorry to hear this has been your experience. We'd like the opportunity to review what happened with the billing and cancellation. Please update your contact information with your company name and the email address associated with your account, and we'll take a closer look.
I was with gusto for years, if I remember correctly it's been about 5 or 6 years. Had little issues, it did what it was supposed to do for the most part and I didn't have much issues.
There was a huge mistake made on gusto part when it came to filing my W2 for end of year. I could wright a whole book with the amount of trivial back and forth and horrible customer service I delt with. So to sum it up the ordeal was over 6 months, with absolutely ZERO resolution. When you reach out to customer service with a issue like this you will either get ignored, moved, or they respond in a few weeks. Completely unacceptable, I was very patient and tried to work with multiple people. This company will go under for what has been exposed in my eyes. Too many problems, you will have less headache even using QB payroll.
Reply to their response:
They haven’t done much of anything and it takes an enormous amount of time to make any changes. There are still issues with my account and I was paying for the service that’s has an advisor that only talked to me once. Gusto won’t and has not fixed any issues.
Reply from Gusto2026-07-22
We're sorry to hear about your experience and understand how frustrating a prolonged tax issue can be. W-2s are generated based on the payroll information reported throughout the year, but if corrections are needed, our team is always happy to help process them. We apologize that your experience didn't reflect the level of support we strive to provide, and we appreciate you taking the time to share your feedback.
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Zay Murphy · 1 review · Experienced 2026-04-03 ·
★★★★★
I used this company thinking it would…
I used this company thinking it would be much better and the pricing was better, but no, I noticed allot of my employees was using, chime accounts and other prepaid cards to get paid early, for what ever reason they may have and I understood that, but gusto paid them late into friday, most of them need there money and to me a delay is a denial this company is extremely slow and not reliable I hurried up and switched back to ADP never had this issue with them and my people was happy
Reply from Gusto2026-07-22
Hello Zay., We understand how important timely pay is for both employers and employees. Direct deposit timing can vary depending on an employee's bank or card provider, and payroll processing timelines can also impact when funds become available. If you notice a pattern or have questions about a specific payroll, we're always happy to review it with you and help ensure everything is processing as expected.
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Mike Connelly · 1 review · Experienced 2026-06-04 ·
★★★★★
Tax issues with Gusto - Zero customer service!
Have had 2 major tax issues in less than a year. First one has not been resolved and Gusto blames on previous payroll provider (which we never had an issue with).
2nd one is underpayment of taxes to DC. DC taxing authority says Gusto made an "amendment" to our wages but we cannot get any answer to what that amendment is or if the issue will be ongoing. Told we 'Cannot talk to the tax people - only email". Well 7 emails over 4 weeks and no response.
Reply from Gusto2026-07-14
Hello, we're sorry to hear about your experience. We understand how concerning unresolved tax issues can be. Our Tax team is happy to review your account, provide context on any amendments that were made, explain what happened, and outline the next steps. If you haven't already, please reply to your existing support case so the team can continue working with you and keep you updated.
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Creative Staging Info · 1 review · Experienced 2026-07-12 ·
★★★★★
Do not get healthcare services through…
Do not get healthcare services through Gusto. I only pay for 50% healthcare and I don't pay for vision or dental. However employees can sign up for this and my employee signed up for them, a week later they quit, Gusto didn't bill the employee for the services. Instead I was billed and they won't refund or cancel retroactive. They also didn't even activate the services until days after the employee was terminated. The provider said Gusto could call them and cancel retroactive but Gusto refuses to even though they have no monetary interest. Terrible customer service and I will be looking for other payroll services. I also wrote the CEO and CFO and got no response. AVOID this company.
Reply from Gusto2026-07-14
Hello, we're sorry to hear about your experience. We understand how frustrating unexpected benefits charges can be. We do see you have an open support case (43400919) with one of our specialists, who is actively reviewing your concerns. They'll provide additional context and next steps directly within your case as soon as their review is complete. Thank you for your patience while we work through this with you.
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Donna Henley · 2 reviews · Experienced 2026-07-01 ·
★★★★★
Submitted forms incorrectly for months
Submitted forms incorrectly for months. Takes weeks for them to respond to requests to fix issues when I get notices.
Their system is good but their customer support is overwhelmed and terrible.
Reply from Gusto2026-07-14
Hello Donna, we're sorry to hear this has been your experience. We understand how frustrating it can be to receive notices when something doesn't look right. Please reach out to our Support team so we can review your account, investigate the filing concerns, and work with you toward a resolution.
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Robin Tauzin · 2 reviews · Experienced 2026-07-13 ·
★★★★★
Horrible company
Horrible company! They say they will file your forms and submit taxes...I have had non stop problems with them for several years now. And their cusotmer service is a joke. When I reach out to them when they have not submitted the right forms and taxes, they just ignore you.
Reply from Gusto2026-07-14
Hello Robin, we're sorry to hear about your experience. We can confirm we've received your tax notice, and it's currently under review by our Tax team under Case 43501315. We'll continue to provide updates as they become available and appreciate your patience while we complete our review.
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Odessa Jones · 1 review · Experienced 2026-07-07 ·
★★★★★
Poor experience overall
I also wish I would have come across this website before choosing Gusto for payroll services. Customer service doesn't seem to hold any authority, meaning that getting anything done requires many holds, many conversations, many "no's", and many ultimate dead ends. Don't think about using Middesk for tax account set up -- do the work yourself because once Middesk charges you $400.00 and something goes wrong there is no way to recover that money. It's easy for Gusto to tack that $400.00 charge onto your account, but somehow it's inconceivable to have it refunded.
Middesk told me I had a withholding account already and still charged me for setup, long story short no account even existed and I ended up going to the Dept of Revenue to create the account. The "best" they could do for me after 1 hour of me proving my case was give me half off the monthly Gusto subscription fee for a few months (the equivalent of $152.00). I lose all faith in a company that doesn't stand by its clientele, this is poor forum. I will not be utilizing their services beyond this year. Truly hate to say it, but if I had to do it all over again I would not choose Gusto. Heed the warning.
Reply from Gusto2026-07-14
Hello Odessa, we're sorry to hear your experience didn't meet your expectations. We took a look at your feedback and can confirm that the tax registration was initiated twice. One registration was successfully completed, and the second attempt returned an error because the registration had already been processed. We can also confirm that you were charged only once for the registration. If you have any additional questions or would like us to walk through the details with you, our Support team would be happy to help.
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Marie Baker · 2 reviews · Experienced 2026-07-07 ·
★★★★★
Horrible support horrible AI answers…
Horrible support horrible AI answers the phone. You ask for a case number on my previous review. How do I get a case number when I don’t get to talk to a human being? Or I get to someone who hangs up? Email get told to call in and ask for Jalil James called twice they can’t get me to him. I’m so done with this company and going to look at other options. Prediction is your company will not be around much longer with all its issues.
Reply from Gusto2026-07-14
Hello Marie, we're sorry to hear your client's onboarding experience didn't meet your expectations. We can confirm your concerns were routed to our Onboarding team so you could receive the specialized support needed to review their payroll import and account setup. We appreciate you sharing your feedback and are committed to working with you to help make the transition as smooth as possible should you and your clients choose to continue with Gusto.
