Current accountants making the move to a new one harder than it should

[joaopcf]

Bear with my first post, appreciate the patience if someone is able to help.

Due to the extremely poor service I've been getting with Umbrella Accountants and reading the posts here I've decided to go with InTouch
When they asked me last week if I'd prefer giving them the notice myself or them doing it on my behalf I agreed I would be OK with them doing it.

Umbrella however, ignored their peer's Friday notice and told me I only confirmed them the intention of leaving on Monday the 23rd
As they said they'd only be able to pass all relevant information to the new accountant (both use FreeAgent) after the 4 weeks notice period billing gets settled
and I can't wait to leave them I suggested paying them the 4 weeks in advance, so they'd still release the account this week

They are demanding me paying extra though, even though they'll have virtually zero work with my account and a lazy profit

"We therefore require a payment of £284.40 which is for the following invoices:

· 13/07/2018 £47.40

· 20/07/2018 £47.40

· Notice period (4 week’s) £189.60

The notice period is started from when we are notified and as you only confirmed to us on Monday 23rd July that you are leaving our services that notice cannot be started till this day.


Your 4 weeks’ notice period ends on the 20/08/2018 this means we have one final invoice to raise against your account for £189.60 and two further payments to collect"

which I feel is not in good faith at all.
Is this even lawful ?

Open to hear any insight from someone more experienced than I am
Best regards

[WTFH]

OK, a bit confusing reading the "they" and "them" and trying to work out which one refers to your current accountants and which refers to your new accountants.

I'm also not sure what your issue is with the dates.
The current accountants are asking for your payments for the week ending 13th and 20th July. Those weeks you were definitely with them.
It sounds like the contract you have with them says you need to give 4 weeks notice, so that would take you forward 4 weeks. Again, I don't see that there is any issue there.
Your biggest complaint then comes down to whether your notice period should have started on Friday 20th July or Monday 23rd.

So, can you tell me what you think is unlawful or not in good faith?

[northernladuk]

Without reading the blurb I can imagine the situation by the title. We have plenty of these threads on here and I had a nightmare trying to leave a small local guy. He just downed tools and never responded to neither me nor incoming accountancy. It's not uncommon.

Regarding payment, many accountants have a fixed fee spread over months which isn't clear. It's not true Pro-rata month on month so you'd have to check your engagement documentation, and then there is the notice period etc.

The sausage factory types are on such a low margin it's not surprising they want to charge for more, particular when there is a little extra (emphasis on little) work need doing. SJD used to charge for nearly everything beyond the basic service so not new.

I'd speak to InTouch to see what their opinion is. You often find the new accountant will fall over to help you migrate. It's hard to understand exactly what the score is from your description so maybe lean on InTouch a little to give you some guidance about this. They will be better placed to explain the tricks accountants play when losing business I think.

[Lance]

I'm not sure what you need them do if it's already in FreeAgent.
Either way just pay and leave. It's not worth losing sleep over.

[joaopcf]

Thanks all and apologies for the convoluted text but was annoyed at their reaction after such poor service which made me lose money.

They won't have much to do at all, they won't spend more than 1h passing over my details to the new accountancy as everything is in freeagent
But they've blocked the freeagent migration until I pay the four weeks notice though

It really is not worth losing sleep over
Accountancy to stay clear away from but it is what it is

Thanks again

[WTFH]

Thanks all and apologies for the convoluted text but was annoyed at their reaction after such poor service which made me lose money.

They won't have much to do at all, they won't spend more than 1h passing over my details to the new accountancy as everything is in freeagent
But they've blocked the freeagent migration until I pay the four weeks notice though

It really is not worth losing sleep over
Accountancy to stay clear away from but it is what it is

Thanks again

So if you pay the money that is due - based on the contract - then they unblock Freeagent and it's a simple move. It's not about how long it will take them to do something, it's about the contract.