BetterHelp negative reviews

In this blog we present to you some BetterHelp negative reviews. 

While these reviews do give a glimpse of the negative experiences of better help users, it has to be mentioned that out of 4,121 reviews on trust pilot alone, Better help has an average of 4.6 out of a five star rating, indicating that there are positive stories and success stories of better help as well. 

BetterHelp negative reviews

In October 2018, BetterHelp was knee deep in controversies due to the horror stories of their experiences with the therapist and the services provided by the platform. 

Some of the major concerns that were raised included use of unfair pricing, bad experiences with the app, and the therapist, the controversy that the reviews were from paid reviewers and actors, as well as unethical issues surrounding use of data from the platform. 

Some negative reviews about better help cited unethical issues and behaviours by the therapist who went on to belittle, humiliate the client to the point where the client did not feel safe and was almost pushed to talking about their own life.

Other issues included that allegedly, the company tends to overlook the clients needs, not really pay attention to what the client asks for, therapists not showing up, and overcharging clients. 

Here are some negative reviews of better help:

One of the most common threads of reviews that you usually find when it comes to Betterhelp negative reviews is that the therapist keeps changing and that the therapist keeps cancelling without prior information as well as quite unethically. Angelina Theunissen from australia has written:

Therapists keep cancelling sessions

I don’t even know what to say, I haven’t had a session yet because my therapists keep cancelling on me, even changing therapists to see if it was just her but the next one did the exact same thing. It hurts my feelings how people don’t take mental health seriously. People get this app to seek help and then there is a business who is just thinking about money. (Source: TrustPilot)

An anonymous user from the US has expressed his frustration on trying to get a refund for terrible service and the system of payments which is borderline exploitation. The user wrote:

Currently seeking a refund.

Though they charge by the week the appointments are made a week in advance so with payments being made up front don’t expect anything for your first instalment. After making my first appointment I was stood up by the therapist. Terrible experience and would recommend others to seek help from any other source. (Source: TrustPilot)

Another user from the US had shared their horror story of having their therapist sleep on them:

Going along well then my therapist fell asleep on me. When I talked to customer support, the agent said some perplexing things to me and offered no clarification. I don’t know how to go forward with this company. (Source: TrustPilot)

Alex Cheung, a user from Taiwan who have given betterhelp a second, third, fourth chance has expressed their disappointment, frustration, and anger at the service provider for unprofessional and unethical counsellors:

My summary: feel free to try it if you want to waste your time and get worse!

My first therapist: when she knew I’m diagnosed with Bipolar, she didn’t want to support me and she asked me to seek support from in person therapy via messaging. I told her about my current situation and she said she was willing to support me until I got in person therapy. We scheduled the first session but she told me she was unavailable when it was the session time. It was early morning and I woke up for that session. She said I could message her the day after that day once I woke up. I did it but she didn’t reply to me. When she replied to me, she said it’s too late for the meeting and asked me to find another therapist.

After that, I told the BetterHelp team about this situation and they only provided me one more week of free trial and a discount if I continue using this service. I don’t think the BetterHelp team is willing to treat this situation seriously or pretend not to really listen to these quality problems. When I read reviews here, I feel like I’m not alone. No show and quality problems are there.

My second therapist: it was better but I realised my difficulties of using English to talk. Therefore, I wish to seek support from my native language. I sent an email to the BetterHelp team for that request.

My third therapist, it shows she could provide support in my first language but she can only listen to that language. She couldn’t speak this language fluently. In the messaging, she used English to reply to me. I sometimes need to use google translate to translate them. She used half of English during the video session and I have some difficulties to understand. I thought as a therapist, you should provide service in languages you’re fluent in ONLY!

My fourth therapist: she is native in my first language (also from my country) but she still used English to reply via messaging usually. When I told her my panic attacks via messaging, she said “what you described above seems like panicky feelings where you may think of fainting and wanting to escape, right? If so, you may need to relax yourself with less workload and quality time to do joyful things instead such as a comedy or happy ending movie that may ease your anxious feelings a bit.” Wow, your suggestion was absolutely useful!!! I wish psychotherapy work was that easy! When I was trying to doubt her work experiences and asked if she tried to work with this type of client or not, she even let me know how many people get panic attacks in statistical data and said “it’s actually not a rare one in my clinical cases. From time to time, there are clients with the Panic Attack problems without their known reasons. However, we need to be careful not to easily put the label on someone before the practitioner’s diagnosis.” I don’t even know where I was trying to label. Okay I realised I shouldn’t waste my time on her already.

I request therapists who are fluent in my native language but they keep using English to type messages.

How about my fifth try, sixth try…? I believe this platform is called “WorseHelp” but not “BetterHelp”. I even tried to send an email to the founder but I was not able to get a response from the founder! I believe BetterHelp will only care about quantity but not quality!(Source: TrustPilot)

One anonymous reviewer from Switzerland expressed their disappointment:

“Very disappointed. So much money for nothing.

I am very unsatisfied with the service I got after subscribing to Better Help.

Two days after subscribing I finally got matched with a therapist, which was available for the first session only a week after.

Immediately after our first session, she disappeared for more than 2 weeks, stopped answering chats, and failed to send me the files she had promised during our call.

So all I got in the first month of my subscription was a 40 min call and zero answers/chats…nothing from the constant close contact the service promises.”(Source: TrustPilot)

Jeanette Dixon from australia writes:

“There has not been one good thing from joining this site. It does not have professional counsellors. They don’t counsel you, you get a few words thrown in after giving them your life story and you just feel worse because it is a scam. After 200 words being told “interesting”. No it’s not interesting, it’s a scam. Don’t join and waste your time, money and worse your integrity. You have no idea who is at the other end, if anyone even replies at all. There is no customer service – I haven’t heard back yet. Most review sites the public CAN’T leave a review, so what’s that saying?” (Source: TrustPilot)

What is BetterHelp?

BetterHelp is an online therapy service provider that allows users to start a text-chat and online therapy session with a licensed, accredited therapist.

Better help was founded in 2013 and has since then become one of the largest online therapy platforms in the world.

The services that betterhelp provides include offering virtual therapy- chat, email, or video call and phone call based sessions with licensed and accredited therapists.

The company also includes additional services for mental health support like journaling and group therapy sessions for multiple people and couples. 

The service that BetterHelp provides uses a monthly membership payment plan which individuals can subscribe to and cancel their plans at any time they want. 

As of today, BetterHelp has expanded its services and works closely to other businesses and several sister websites that provide mental health support and therapy for couples, teens, members of the LGBTIQ+ community, as well as for people who are seeking therapy with a faith-based or spirituality based approach. 

For the mental health service that better help offers, you can access therapy via texts, live chat, phone calls, and video calls with 24/7 access. 

This allows you to reach out to your therapist at any time of the day as well as allows you to change your therapist with ease if you do not find that they are a good fit for you with no additional issues. 

You do not have to commit to a certain amount of time, you can decide how long you want to use the platform, and you can cancel your subscriptions anytime.

The platform provides you access to well-qualified and experienced therapists who are board certified and have a minimum of 3 years and 1,000 hours of experience. 

BetterHelp  prides itself from being able to offer financial assistance to those who qualify for it; however, the drawback is that the services are not covered by insurance. 

Another additional issue is that, therapists at better help provide talk therapy, but they do not diagnose, prescribe medications, or fulfil a court order and the services are only for adults. 

To get yourself into the service, you have to register and you can do that through their app. 

For users, to register they will be asked to complete a questionnaire and then the company will match them with an appropriate therapist.

To avail their services, the process is as follows:

• Go to betterhelp’s website or register in the app. On the website, select the type of service you’re interested in, while for app users, you simply hit “get started”.

• When you sign up, complete a questionnaire that focuses on you and your life.

• After you’ve completed the questionnaire, you will be connected to a therapist that can best fit your condition. 

After you’ve been matched to some therapists and you have chosen your therapist, a virtual therapy room is created for you and the therapist which you can access through the app or site. 

• Now, you can begin and pick up conversations from your device whenever and wherever 24/7. It has to be mentioned that your therapist will respond to you five times a week and depending on the schedule of your therapist, you will have to wait for a reply. For example, if you message at night the reply will come in the morning the next day.

• For people that want face to face sessions, betterhelp also offers live video sessions. For this you will have to consult with the therapist you are working with. 

• You also have the liberty to switch therapists or stop therapy whenever you want.

When it comes to the legitimacy of the professionals at betterhelp, the company claims that each therapist is licensed and has the required training and credentials to practice as per state laws- this includes: master’s or doctorate degree and possess at least 3 years and 1,000 hours of experience as mental health professionals- all of which the company cross checks before hiring. 

Conclusion

In this blog we presented to you some BetterHelp negative reviews. 

References

2022 BetterHelp Review: Should You Try It? Healthline. Retrieved on 4th May 2022. https://www.healthline.com/health/mental-health/betterhelp-review

BetterHelp. Trust Pilot. Retrieved on 4th May 2022. https://www.trustpilot.com/review/www.betterhelp.com?stars=1