Leaving SJD Accountants

[malvolio]

Final Update and Close out on this.

The information I was given was incorrect, SJD have part refunded my fees and apologised for the service I received. (Luckily I didn’t follow some of the advice on here otherwise I wouldn’t have received a penny! A caution to others when reading these forums, not everyone is here to help!).

I believe this to be an isolated case and not a reflection of SJD as a whole, a number of colleagues I've recently found to use SJD are extremely happy with the services they have received to date. From the way my case has been handled (with a little help from Simon Dolan) the SJD team have been excellent.

I have suggested they add a complaints email address / guidance on their website to allow people in the future to contact a designated person with any issues, so if you are reading this with a similar issue it may be worth checking the website before posting here.

Thank you to those who offered constructive advice to help me resolve this both on here and in private messages, it truly is appreciated.

Good news on both sides - glad it all worked out,

[pjclarke]

Good old CUK, not just there for pointless debates on Global Warming .....

[northernladuk]

To be honest with this kind of service it sounds more like SJD is the company you want to be moving to. Mistakes can happen in any company but to get a response from the owner and a resolution like this I think these are the people you want to be looking after your finances not leaving.

[moggy]

To be honest with this kind of service it sounds more like SJD is the company you want to be moving to. Mistakes can happen in any company but to get a response from the owner and a resolution like this I think these are the people you want to be looking after your finances not leaving.

Agreed with your point saying its good to get a response from the owner on here, but as you say mistakes can happen with any business.. its a brave person that makes a promise of a fault free service, but with a smaller organisation, you may well be able to just phone up and speak to the owner of the business rather than have to head to a forum on the internet.

[JtotheD]

To be honest with this kind of service it sounds more like SJD is the company you want to be moving to. Mistakes can happen in any company but to get a response from the owner and a resolution like this I think these are the people you want to be looking after your finances not leaving.

I've moved to a local accountant that I can go in and see.

But I do agree, a company is much bigger than an individual. I'd still recommend SJD.

[northernladuk]

I've moved to a local accountant that I can go in and see.

But I do agree, a company is much bigger than an individual. I'd still recommend SJD.

Unfortunately I did it the other way around. I did the small local guy first and SJD second and I had a proper nightmare. He might be local and he might be available for face to face but becareful that the small guys can be incredibly disorganised and to him you are almost a loss leader. They are just not set up to spend the time with you bigger firms could. There is also the danger he isn't a contractor specialist and won't know our work as well as a SJD will and won't have the time to deal with ambiguity. He will see you as a simple piece of work so as soon as something changes or you want some flexibility his service will fall very short.

[northernladuk]

Agreed with your point saying its good to get a response from the owner on here, but as you say mistakes can happen with any business.. its a brave person that makes a promise of a fault free service, but with a smaller organisation, you may well be able to just phone up and speak to the owner of the business rather than have to head to a forum on the internet.

Right, being able to ring owners up of firms the size of SJD particularly when Simon has so many other things on the go such as his motor racing? Rubbish. The fact Simon comes on here and gets down and dirty with his customers I think is pretty unique nowadays. Regular guys here will know this isn't the first instance Simon has responded personally. Oddly enough both InTouch and Nixon Williams have done exactly the same. I just wish there were more small to medium sized companies with the same approach.

[JtotheD]

Unfortunately I did it the other way around. I did the small local guy first and SJD second and I had a proper nightmare. He might be local and he might be available for face to face but becareful that the small guys can be incredibly disorganised and to him you are almost a loss leader. They are just not set up to spend the time with you bigger firms could. There is also the danger he isn't a contractor specialist and won't know our work as well as a SJD will and won't have the time to deal with ambiguity. He will see you as a simple piece of work so as soon as something changes or you want some flexibility his service will fall very short.

My friends Dad who works in the same line as me has been with him for 15 years so I don't think you can get a better reference than that.

[Martin at NixonWilliams]

My friends Dad who works in the same line as me has been with him for 15 years so I don't think you can get a better reference than that.

That sounds like a very reassuring reference however there is a lot of truth in what nluk says - We have taken clients from high street accountants in the past that have not even heard of IR35!

[jmo21]

My friends Dad who works in the same line as me has been with him for 15 years so I don't think you can get a better reference than that.

Maybe he never needed anything out of the ordinary as NLUK suggested.

He will see you as a simple piece of work so as soon as something changes or you want some flexibility his service will fall very short.

Recommendations mean nothing in any walk of life. You only find out good a service provider of any type is when something goes wrong.

My accountant have never been a problem. I'm happy enough with them, but then they've never had to deal with any weird issues.

And even if they made a mistake, it is how they rectify it is that matters, which again, is what NLUK alluded to further up the page.