BetterHelp Reviews - See What Customers Are Saying

I used this online "therapy" over the summer when I was depressed and anxious. I tried to cancel but ran into problems. I used it for a month but got charged for three months and never refunded for the time I wasn't using it. It took me multiple attempts to cancel! The process wasn't straightforward. I just wanted out, and they wouldn't let me! When you have mental health issues, that is incredibly frustrating and difficult.

The counselor was horrible. She had little understanding of my situation and just kept giving me the same generic things like "grief cycle" stages. No coping mechanisms. She also forgot to reply several times. Never helped me and it probably made me worse because I was so frustrated about the whole ordeal on top of having a mental health issue! Plus, I ended up back in an emotionally abusive relationship, and my depression got SO much worse.

I am in real, face-to-face therapy with a therapist that listens and does research on my particular problems outside of my sessions and the cost is about the same. And I am improving day by day. Go to a REAL therapist!

Bottom Line: No, I would not recommend this to a friend

In summary, the first therapist - selected by BetterHelp - was highly responsive, but only asked the standard "and how does that make you feel?," "What do you think you need to changes," "How do you think you should change how you interact with." It ended up being NINE pages when pasted into a word document and not one single suggestion. When asked about why we couldn't roll up our sleeves and tackle any single issue, she claimed that she didn't know enough about me. The nine pages represented no less than four full sessions with an in-person therapist. She finally agreed it was out of her scope and I should seek another therapist.

I gave the next therapist a summary. He promised to read it and get back to me in the morning. FIVE days later, no response. I sent him an urgent message asking when we could talk and also sent a note to customer service summarizing the issue so far with both therapists.

The therapist committed to responding the next morning (it was around 6 pm).

Support came back with the fact I had not responded to his last message (five-day delay), so it was on me. When provided a screenshot of the last two comments in the thread, they changed their tune, but what a terrible thing to initially say to the kinds of folks they have in their client base.

TWO full days later (48 hours), still no response.

I requested a full refund after the second day had elapsed. Waiting to see if it is, in fact, a complete refund.

Save your money and find another service.

Bottom Line: No, I would not recommend this to a friend

I signed up with BetterHelp because there isn't a therapist for the expertise I need that took my insurance, had availability, could work within my time constraints, and was close to where I live. I thought I might have better luck online with a wider pool of therapist to choose from (I did not know that I can only be matched with a therapist in my state). The site claims that you will be matched with "over 2,000 therapists." However, when they limit it to the state you are in the number drops significantly.

Furthermore, this "policy" of only in state matching is not explained anywhere on their website. Apparently, it only exists in certain states or something, which makes it very confusing. Even their own therapist wasn't clear on the policy.

After several failed matches with therapists who didn't have the skills I need, one therapist suggested two others who had the expertise I required. One was in Canada and the other in Texas. It was recommended that I contact help and request one of them. But BetterHelp refused me to match me with either of the therapists that could help me just because they didn't live in my state. However, one of the therapist I was previously matched with was also outside my state, so it really didn't make sense. They definitely need to make this more clear on their website. I'm sure that I'm not the only one that believes that online therapy isn't or should not be limited by state borders.

Bottom Line: No, I would not recommend this to a friend

I tried to get help with them for my severe anxiety. They offer a 7-day trial but as soon as I confirmed the counselor they chose, they immediately charged me $180. I disputed it, and they reversed the charge...and deleted my account.

I was less anxious before I even signed up.

Bottom Line: No, I would not recommend this to a friend

They turned me away and closed my account after I spent money. I am waiting for a refund, but what kind of platform for therapy is going to turn away someone looking for help? Don't waste your time if you have a lot of issues; they won't help you and will instead make you feel like you are beyond help.

Bottom Line: No, I would not recommend this to a friend

Kandee Willis seemed like a good fit until she canceled on me every session we had. I would talk to her over chat every now and then but received no real one on one time with her.

My opinion is that it's disgraceful that this service condones that type of behavior for people that pay money to have therapy and when it is not received refuse to refund your money or take any sort of responsibility. It's highly unprofessional and unethical.

I don't recommend this service as it seems wishy-washy and not an actual replacement for a positive mental health service.

They will cheat you if they can.

Their reason for why I cannot receive a refund being I should have unsubscribed or changed my counselor. You realize when people come to you they are in need of a helping hand and guidance correct?

How dare you take advantage of innocent people who should be able to rely on the people they are paying to get the service they need. You are falsely advertising and stealing people's money if you employ people who are NOT giving the service that BetterHelp is.

If there is any way this can be righted, I will make it happen. Your business is unethical and awful. Who knows how many people you have taken money from for half-assed therapy.

They basically took advantage and stole $130.00 from me.

Bottom Line: No, I would not recommend this to a friend

I got matched with the counselor from hell. After my first communication with her, she lambasted me, called me foolish, and said she had no empathy for me.

You go here for help not to be ripped apart for your mistakes. It was humiliating and emotionally crushing. She could have just said we weren’t a good match. Insulting someone with a history of depression and self-esteem issues is just unnecessarily cruel.

Bottom Line: No, I would not recommend this to a friend

The worst customer service ever from some girl (or should I say bot?) named Allison. I emailed with a very simple concern regarding my account, and she sends the most boilerplate response back that had absolutely nothing to do with anything I emailed about. When I responded informing her that I didn't feel my question was appropriately answered, she sent back the SAME response with parts of it bolded now as if I was too dumb to read it the first time. She couldn't take just 30 seconds to type out a genuine response back?

I ended up just asking for a refund because I didn't want to deal with this, and her next email to me starts with "Thanks for contacting us. We'd be happy to help!" As if this is the first email she's sending to me. You couldn't take two seconds to at least remove that first line from your boilerplate response?

After a few more email exchanges, she continues to use these boilerplate responses, completely ignoring my request for a refund. It took me calling their hotline number and threatening to sue them to get my refund.

Advice to everyone else: Don't even bother emailing them trying to get support as they obviously do not care about their customers at all. I actually was excited to use BetterHelp and had no plans of canceling, but this experience completely turned me off to them.

My counseling experience, although short-lived, was just so-so, hence why I was reaching out to them. But who knows, other counselors on the platform may be better than the one I was assigned.

Bottom Line: No, I would not recommend this to a friend

This company continued to bill me for service for a YEAR after canceling the subscription. The amount was $1,800. When I contacted them to reverse the charges, no one responded. Now I am having to use legal recourse to attempt to get our money back. Do NOT get involved!

Bottom Line: No, I would not recommend this to a friend

I clicked on a link saying 7-day free trial, and they charged me $180 a month for two months on my card without sending me a bill. The therapist was zero help during the trial. They basically just scam you without your knowledge.

Bottom Line: No, I would not recommend this to a friend

Frankly, it was a joke. I'm grieving the loss of my brother and don't know how to cope. I tell the therapist how I feel and she says everything I feel is normal. No kidding! I need help! I responded saying that I needed ideas or tools to deal with overwhelming grief. She recommended that I write a letter to him. While writing a letter may be a good idea at some point, for now, I am overwhelmed with grief, and at the thought of writing a letter, I feel like my heart is breaking. This was like pulling teeth to get help and I don't have the energy. Useless!

Bottom Line: No, I would not recommend this to a friend

I really detested the sales tactics used by this company. You aren't told BetterHelp does not accept insurance until after you sign up. Then you're bombarded with rude and disrespectful messages if you don't sign up. Their FAQs around insurance are discouraging people from checking to see whether they have existing coverage for treatment and instead use heavy-handed language to persuade you into thinking they are offering a great deal. Yuk, very tacky. I would expect a more honest approach from a company supposed to be assisting needy and vulnerable people.

Bottom Line: No, I would not recommend this to a friend

I signed up with BetterHelp to talk to a counselor with some things I’m going through right now. I completed the survey so they could match me with the right counselor for me and the next day I received an email from the company stating that they have determined I was not a "good candidate" for online counseling from them. I am going through a lot and need someone to talk to because I don’t trust anyone enough to talk to them. I figured I could talk to someone whom I didn’t know so they could help me through this hard time, but however, I guess I didn’t reach their "standards," so they have declined me.

I’ve been going through a hard time for quite a while and I’m trying to overcome it myself, but I figured a counselor could help speed the process. This is a site to help individuals through their mental health issues, but they didn’t accept me? I just wonder how many people out their who needed the help more than I do get declined too. It’s very sad. They should be willing to help everyone no matter the circumstances, but I guess that is not the case.

I would definitely not recommend anyone to this site. However, I cannot vouch for everyone and their experiences, but I want to share mine with this site and let you all know how they treated me. Thanks for reading, have a great day.

Bottom Line: No, I would not recommend this to a friend

Customer service is extremely unhelpful and rude. I got a fee on my credit card after ending my trial, and they did nothing to help. They try to milk you when clearly they aren't helping.

Bottom Line: No, I would not recommend this to a friend

I signed up for BetterHelp hoping to get in contact with a counselor. They give you a questionnaire with a few basic questions such as age, gender (with nonbinary option included), what type of counseling you're looking for (LGBT+ issues, family issues, suicidal thoughts, anxiety, depression, etc.), and if you have a preference for male or female counselors. After you answer those, you are sent to an open chat with an automated message requesting you type out a more detailed description of what's wrong and based on that description they will match you with "one of their 2,000 professional counselors."

I wrote about six paragraphs detailing my situation, and about an hour later another automated message came up requesting I write more. I added another paragraph, and again, an hour later I got another automated message requesting more info, so I wrote again.

I didn't expect to get a quick response that day because it was the Fourth of July when I applied. But the next day much later I get an automated email stating this:

"Hello Kristin,

Unfortunately, based upon the answers that you provided when signing up, we have determined that online counseling may not be the best resource for you. This decision reflects the ethical recommendations of the major counseling associations.

Online counseling is still a fairly new approach and is not considered the most effective form of care for everyone. In order to ensure that you receive the most appropriate and effective care possible, you may consider scheduling an intake with a licensed counselor who can provide you with in-person counseling in your area. You can find many available counselors by clicking here."

Honestly, this was very upsetting as especially because how unclear it was as to why I wasn't accepted. You approach a company and ask for help, which is their job to help you, and they turn you away without even explaining why. Simply "Our higher-ups decided this isn't for you.

If you have any questions or if you need assistance please contact us at contact@BetterHelp.com."

Personally, I would've wanted an explanation as to why these higher-ups decided to refund me because I REALLY need help. Since they seemed open to questions I did email that contact email asking what brought them to this decision. I received an automated email stating they would get back to me within one business day.

Three business days later I still haven't heard from them. I'm very stressed out and disappointed in this company. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone with actual problems.

Bottom Line: No, I would not recommend this to a friend

This company lacks transparency in the fees it charges clients and treats their therapists poorly. Their support staff is there to ignore people at best, and if you get a response, they are unhelpful and rude. Don’t waste your time or money!

Bottom Line: No, I would not recommend this to a friend

I got rejected by the company and told to seek on person counseling, which I can't afford. The claims that they will help anyone are bull, and it took courage for me to even think about getting help. I was in a bad place and I'm glad that the rejection took 12 hours, because had it been immediate I would have been devastated.

I chose this as a convenient and more affordable solution, and was shot down.

Thanks for nothing and false promises.

Bottom Line: No, I would not recommend this to a friend

I hate this company even though they refunded me all my money. After being in "therapy" for a month, I got an automatic message saying I didn’t qualify for counseling via this media. My "therapist" wasn’t even kind enough to tell me this even though we spoke the night before.

I now use Talkspace, and though you don’t get as many frills as BetterHelp, they are compassionate and honest.

If you need help, you’d better run from BetterHelp. They are a rip-off, they charge you the first of each month but you can hardly get response thereafter. Not helpful at all.

I wish I could give no stars.

Heck no, I wouldn’t recommend to a friend or enemy.

Bottom Line: No, I would not recommend this to a friend

I loved the app and loved my counselor, what amazed me, at least through my experience, is that my counselor always made time for me. There would be moments where something horrendous happened and I would be filled with anxiety and depression and my counselor went out of her way to talk to me, even scheduling late night appointments. I highly recommend BetterHelp and I hope it brings everybody some form of guidance and fulfillment in their lives.

Bottom Line: Yes, I would recommend this to a friend

They rope you in like they will give a free session, then after writing heart and soul, they drop the charge on you. They need to be more transparent with their business model and explain that you want help. Pay up jack...

Bottom Line: No, I would not recommend this to a friend

I have had about 6 or 7 counselors. The first one canceled an appointment 15 minutes before the start. I had canceled another appointment to keep this counseling appt. The second one LEFT during a live chat without telling me why. The other ones were just bad. The last one started out really good, but became unresponsive to my messages. The last message she sent me was mean. She said, "I'm not a mind reader, Nancy."

Bottom Line: No, I would not recommend this to a friend

I have never had the experience of a company turning away a payment made because they feel that I do not fit into their preferred customer. I had done the free trial with them and a few months before and things were great. I couldn't afford the price of full-time counseling, so I waited a few months to save some money and pay for a month to see if it helped. After all that, they sent the money back saying I am not going to benefit from online counseling. How do they know what I need? They haven't even let me share my story with a counselor just looked at my form and turned me away. Unbelievable. Don't waste your time with them.

Bottom Line: No, I would not recommend this to a friend

After repeated requests for the promised update matching me with a therapist, I received a boilerplate rejection letter falsely stating: "We truly understand your concerns..." Impossible, since no one had spoken to me.

It said they "may not be the best solution for you..." Which is true of any choice, good or bad. It's as helpful as pointing out "something's going to happen today..." Which is true, but useless.

They falsely claimed "you can find many available therapists in your area by clicking here"...ridiculous. Again, they knew nothing about my situation and didn't care to.

Bottom Line: No, I would not recommend this to a friend

I've had a pretty miserable time actually meeting with counselors. I had a counselor that several times had agreed to meet but then would change the time or would simply not show. Finally, I changed counselors to give BetterHelp another chance, but this happened again. The counselor agreed to meet at 1 pm on Saturday, asked to change the time to 8 am on Sunday, and then did not show for the 8 am appointment.

Thanks, BetterHelp, for wasting my time and taking my money. This continues to be an issue. I've switched counselors, and she has rescheduled and canceled on me last minute multiple times now. For example, this past week, we were scheduled to meet on Saturday at 8 pm and then she rescheduled for Sunday at 8 pm without my consent. Then she didn't show up for the 8 pm appointment on Sunday. When I messaged her at 8:05 pm, she asked to reschedule for later in the week. This is unacceptable and poor customer service. I would like to cancel my subscription and have my money back.

Bottom Line: No, I would not recommend this to a friend

Where I live, there were only like 10-12 counselors available. After ruling out the counselors who are specialized in areas I didn’t need, I ended up with only 3-4 counselors. The one I started with wasn’t the greatest fit. When I decided to switch to a different one, I found that the other few that matched what I needed had schedules that didn’t work for me. So I ended up canceling the service.

The concept sounds nice, but it isn’t realistic for all areas of the US. Might as well see some state provided assistance or use your insurance for less frequent sessions in person.

Bottom Line: No, I would not recommend this to a friend

I used BetterHelp for a few months. I felt my therapist was not professional and may not have even been qualified to be a counselor. The therapist talked about themselves quite a bit, accused me of lying to them very often, and was passive aggressive. They also diagnosed me with a disorder I definitely don't have. After I brought this to their attention, and asked them to work with me on my level, they basically said I was the one that was wrong. They again accused me of lying and being the thing that I am not. Then they contacted BetterHelp themselves and told them these things. BetterHelp then kicked me off the platform. I have had in-person therapy for years, and found it helpful. But, this was not even close to a professional therapy session. I would not recommend using this platform at all.

Bottom Line: No, I would not recommend this to a friend

I started BetterHelp. I was on it for 4 days before I decided to cancel. The reason for canceling was because my counselor wasn't counseling. She didn't offer to set up a time within the week to chat or even ask how I would prefer to chat. She said, "tell me whats' going on." I did. She said, "Thanks for sending, I will reply once I've processed the information." She then sent me a worksheet, which I did. She sent me a sheet to read. That was it. She never responded to my issues like she said she would.

So after 4 days I decided to quit. I received no counseling. I reached out to BetterHelp to cancel and pay for 4 days of "service," and they said they'd have to charge me for the week and I could use it for another 3 days. I explained I was not liking my counselor. Why would I want more worksheets from her? They never responded back, they ignored me. A waste of $65. I feel duped and cheated. Terrible service.

Bottom Line: No, I would not recommend this to a friend