I signed up with Capchase on a 12-month contract, too. Does this mean my contract is with Capchase and I’ll have to pay for the next 12 months even if I don’t get the service? Feels like a great scam. Sign a whole bunch of new customers in 12-month contracts and get paid upfront from Capchase in full and leave us paying off our debt to Capchase. I’m so frustrated.
I was just sold bench.co for my three businesses and the sales person Luc Lewarne made me sign a payment agreement with Capchase. The agreement states that I still owe Capchase the full amount for a year, even if Bench.co shuts down...
Does anyone have any contacts or experience with Capchase? I never even started my service, which was supposed to begin January 1st, 2025 and now I will have to pay out 12 months to Capchase?!?!
Solidgiant, this is Luc Lewarne. I assure you that I am just as shocked as you are. I woke up today, along with my colleagues, to an email telling us that Bench was insolvent, and that all operations and employment would cease effective immediately. I know what it is like to be mislead in a buying process - it feels terrible. I want to let you know, person to person, that I had no bad intentions or knowledge of Bench’s future when I sold you our services. As for Capchase, I’m pretty sure they haven’t processed a payment from you yet, which means they haven’t sent us any funds. If you contact them, you should be able to get out of it.
Thanks Luc for the response, I have emailed Capchase support and they asked me to talk to bench.co I wasn't trying to publicly name you to shame you, but was looking for help in case someone knew where to point me. Hindsight I can see, should have probably left that out. The public page on Bench.co didn't have any contact or way to talk to anyone so I used the only contact I had. I do wish you the best in your next endeavors.
I imagine it wasn't very fun to wake up to the news that you lost your job, and then to have your name personally called out :( I don't doubt you were just as mislead as your customers were. I hope you are able to take a few days to process the situation and decompress, and then you rebound quickly into your next position! I don't think anyone will hold it against you personally :)
Well in hindsight, that was a silly thing to do...
First step- make sure you have read and understand your contract. Is there a cancellation period? What state laws may apply (Some states a allow a cooling off period, but often this applies only to consumer contracts, not B2B).
Second, contact Capchase via email and see if they will will allow you out of the contract "peacefully". If they are smart, they will so "sure, no problem, of course" and cancel the contract. If not, name and shame them everywhere you have an audience.
Third, if that doesn't work, you can either proactively sue them to cancel the contract, or just don't pay them and let them decide whether or not to sue you. Doing the latter may result in a negative report on your business credit.
> I was just sold bench.co [...] made me sign a payment agreement with Capchase. The agreement states that I still owe Capchase the full amount for a year, even if Bench.co shuts down...
I might ask a lawyer if that looks like fraud. (And then wouldn't be surprised if the lawyer can quickly make it like the sale never happened, other than your time wasted, and the lawyer fees.)
Or maybe ask your state AG's office if that looks like fraud.
(Edit: I mean the appearance that Bench.co was entering contracts to provide service for a period, knowing that they probably wouldn't provide that service, and, further, attempting to obligate you to pay for service for the entire period anyway. Or something like that. I'm not a lawyer, so I'd ask one.)
Which is part of why I didn't put the name in. The essence was that the company might have signed contracts that they knew they wouldn't fulfill.
Of course, salespeople should have professional reputations (e.g., for honesty, or for dishonesty). But don't let them be a scapegoat for the more likely real culprit or bigger fish.
I don't know the dollar figure here and I would hope Capchase is a company that will value their reputation over screwing you on that dollar figure, but I would definitely question why you signed an agreement to pay for a product even if that product is not deliverable. One of the primary value adds to the middleman in a transaction is generally that they take on some of the risk.
I’m guessing Capchase is a financier of sorts. Capchase pays Bench for the full term up front, then the customer pays Capchase in monthly increments.
So Capchase is delivering their product, the financing. Which is why there would be a clause that the customer still owes Capchase even if Bench closes; Capchase has already paid Bench and wants to be made whole.
I wonder if anyone has niched down not into a vertical, but into a demographic. For example a lot of my clients are religious CEO's. And I'm contemplating just trying to niche into that demographic as opposed to an actual industry or vertical.
I had this experience early on (1998 around) when I accidentally stumbled on a rich client who was very religious and introduced us to his church where almost all men were rich business guys (only ceo's, investors and their families etc). It was a great niche money wise, but as my co-founders and myself were (and are) atheists, we really couldn't work with them as they continuesly mixed religion with business and we cut ties after a few projects.
But it is a good idea I think if you can get into a large (enough) group of a certain demographic that doesn't bite (too much?) with your own beliefs and values.
Think this is a great reinforcement of also requiring a guiding mission to what you do - otherwise it won't feel authentic.
So if your niche is for example custom IT security services for religious, well off business folks, if you don't align and empathize with that niche (e.g., you're an atheist), even if it's a monetary opportunity, you're going to feel dissonance.
At a broader level, this is why I think aligning with your company's mission helps when people can do that vs. taking a more agnostic approach to where you work.
> For example a lot of my clients are religious CEO's. And I'm contemplating just trying to niche into that demographic as opposed to an actual industry or vertical.
"as opposed to" doesn't make sense as I don't think you can avoid "an actual industry"
There is definitely sub-differentiation within each industry that cater to religious principals. Look at ESG finance, which has existed and persisted in the pre-modern sense, e.g. plenty of money managers that claim differentiation by investing in firms that screen out obvious vices or work around lending restrictions in the Koran.
Isn't doing business with people of the same faith a tens of thousands of years old practice? It would be hard to pull this off without embracing similar faiths.
