Dip in Level of Service from Nixon Williams

[rocketjet]

My first accountant made too many clerical mistakes and had a poor attitude so demanded a change. The second one is great however the service is non-existent when they are on leave and SLA’s go out the window.

I may have to check out Dolan Accountancy and see if they offer a better service.

[Lewis]

No, is actually free. All included within the remarkably reasonable £95 per month.....

How does it work if you are already paying for FreeAgent? Do you keep your existing account and get a discount code of some kind so you don’t have to pay whilst you are a client?

[Alan @ BroomeAffinity]

How does it work if you are already paying for FreeAgent? Do you keep your existing account and get a discount code of some kind so you don’t have to pay whilst you are a client?

You ask freeagent tontransfer your account to the accountants dashboard and then the accountant has full access and pay for it on your behalf.

[Waldorf]

I too am growing concerned about the poor level of service from Nixon Williams. I’ve complained in the past but it’s beginning to be more hassle than it’s worth to receive the service as described in their ‘client charter’.

I’ve waited days for e-mail responses and my Year end accounts are still to be completed 8 weeks later even though the client charter states 4 weeks. I e-mailed my accountant 2 weeks ago to inform them I needed them for an appointment with my mortgage broker. I just chased up my accountant after cancelling 2 appointments and have received a terse response from the Team Leader saying I will receive them in ‘due course’. I replied immediately and received an out of office.

These are all signs of a company grown too large to care about the paying client and whether they leave. I’ve complained and escalated my concerns, only to be told the delays are due to annual leave. I expect these excuses from a one man bandwagon but not a company the size of Nixon Williams. Customer service skills are also non-existent hence why the increased customer dissatisfaction.

In search of a FreeAgent friendly accountant...

I wouldn’t say the lack of interest is due to its size, there are plenty of large businesses who do care and have the pride in what they do not to let situations like this arise.

There has been a huge turnover of staff in the past 3 years, that loss of experience has clearly affected the quality of the service.

I suggest it is more due to the change in management priorities after the sale of the business 3 years ago. It seems that private equity doesn’t have an interest in the long term health of a business, only looking to when they can flog it to the next buyer.

[rocketjet]

Think you maybe right, profits are now more important than quality of service and there’s been no visible improvements made to the Vantage Online portal either. They should just ditch it and move to FreeAgent but will most likely sweat the portal for as long as possible.

[Lewis]

You ask freeagent tontransfer your account to the accountants dashboard and then the accountant has full access and pay for it on your behalf.

And if you leave the accountant - you can go back to paying yourself, with no loss of data?

[Lewis]

If any potential FA users would like an FA accountant that charges just a bit more than half of Simon's "remarkably reasonable £95 per month", just ask me and I'll tell who they are.

I'd like to know please.

[northernladuk]

I'd like to know please.

There is a sticky with a list of recommended accountants. I'd be ringing them to see who I get on with rather than picking one just because it's a few 10s of pounds cheaper.

[Chart Accountancy]

Are you sure you are being 100% honest? Are you sure that part of the monthly fee does not actually pay for the FreeAgent account?

The FreeAgent account is probably rather deemed to be free within their £95 package because if a client doesn't want to use FreeAgent, there will be no change in the monthly fee. For example, we include FreeAgent within our £89+vat monthly package but for anyone that doesn't want to use FreeAgent, we offer £69+vat. However, most clients are happy to pay for the package including the software but we make it clear that it is not free.

[Darren at Fox-Bartfield]

Freeagent

And if you leave the accountant - you can go back to paying yourself, with no loss of data?

Yes, that's correct. Makes the transfer process much easier.