Nixon Williams

[Nixon Williams]

Agreed. I have just left Nixon Williams as I was fed up with being ****ed about. Long story short they cost me over £1000 and couldn't care less.

After failing to inform me of certain deadlines various people were then 'on holiday' and I was expected to wait whilst being fined by HMRC. Alan didn't even have the courtesy to reply to my emails and subordinated my requests to other people, his attitude has changed as the company has grown.

Over two years I must have dealt with a dozen different people, Alan is quick to defend the company (cue the response from Nixon Williams - the truth hurts right?) but couldn't give a tulip about helping actual existing long time customers.

I would also love to hear why we have cost you over £1000 - I await your response either on here or feel free to PM me or contact me at the office.

We are always reminding clients about deadlines, but we cannot force a client to take action. We never use "on holiday" as an excuse, we have enough staff to cover for holidays etc.

I do not know who you are but I always respond to client's emails, sometimes a direct reply is not necessary, eg one client always emails me directly to ask what the latest bank statement we have is.

Whilst we are not perfect, I am happy that we offer one of the best services in the UK and I am always keen to hear ways we can improve.

Nixon Williams does not use "sock puppets" - I am the only person from Nixon Williams who posts on this forum.

I hope to hear from you, but I suspect that I won't.

Alan

[Amiga500]

Maybe your time would be better spent trying to improve your service rather than defending your company from unhappy customers on an Internet forum.

Having to deal with a different person every time you call is unacceptable, receiving a crappy email reminder of dates is unacceptable, can your staff not use a phone to follow up if you are being fined due to a missed date? If your service is so good why not guarantee to refund any money lost through your negligence, I know full well why not...

Also, why is it when you are on holiday sunning it up, there are certain things that only YOU are able to do - ridiculous. It's like calling Microsoft and being told they can't validate your software license as Mr. Gates is on holiday.

[Nixon Williams]

Maybe your time would be better spent trying to improve your service rather than defending your company from unhappy customers on an Internet forum.

Having to deal with a different person every time you call is unacceptable, receiving a crappy email reminder of dates is unacceptable, can your staff not use a phone to follow up if you are being fined due to a missed date? If your service is so good why not guarantee to refund any money lost through your negligence, I know full well why not...

Also, why is it when you are on holiday sunning it up, there are certain things that only YOU are able to do - ridiculous. It's like calling Microsoft and being told they can't validate your software license as Mr. Gates is on holiday.

I think that it is perfectly reasonable for me to defend any critical comments that are made on this forum, I would hardly say that I am on here all the time.

Our clients do generally deal with one person, obviuosly holidays etc may mean that you would speak to someone else but as a considerate employer, we go give our staff more holidays than most.

I am more than happy to compensate if we have made an error, as in my previous post, please let me know. An email reminder is usually sufficient, we do follow up with phone calls as the deadline gets nearer but only for clients that have not submitted their details etc.

Whilst I do not know who you are for certain, I would guess that your comment about being on holiday refers to tax returns, we received your tax return questionnaire on 10th March and submitted the final return on the 20th March - not a bad turnaround.

It so happened that our staff that cover tax returns were out of the office, taking a well earned break from the end of year rush, but we still managed to submit the return with 10 days.

You mention that your accountant has taken "several" clients from us, so far this year only 2 clients have moved to other, separate accountants, so I assume that your accountant has been dreaming.

If you are willing to reveal yourself, I am more than happy to confirm the above with you.

Alan

[Amiga500]

Our clients do generally deal with one person

Based on what evidence? That's not my experience, and not the experience of the person who posted previously. If the phones are arbitrarily answered how do you know that is the case?

I have always dealt with different people, if I do get to speak to someone with any regularity I am not told they are on holiday and have to explain situations from scratch to someone else. New people join who I have had to explain my affairs to only to speak to someone else on the next occasion.

I am more than happy to compensate if we have made an error

When the error is raised in public on a forum you claim that, you made no effort at the time and I could not even contact you. Is anyone that joins you going to have to complain via an Internet forum?

An email reminder is usually sufficient, we do follow up with phone calls as the deadline gets nearer but only for clients that have not submitted their details etc.

We are IT professionals FFS, setting up an email reminder is easy and not why we pay that fee. I have not experienced being called when a deadline is missed through your company. I have experienced being fined and then told 'we don't get the information from HMRC, you do'.

Whilst I do not know who you are for certain, I would guess that your comment about being on holiday refers to tax returns, we received your tax return questionnaire on 10th March and submitted the final return on the 20th March - not a bad turnaround.

You don't know who I am but are claiming you received documents from me??

It so happened that our staff that cover tax returns were out of the office, taking a well earned break from the end of year rush.

Then get some cover FFS! I'm sure it was a well earned break but organise some cover! You really do sound like a pure bean counter with comments like that, maybe you should hire a BA on this board as that is not a contingency process?

You mention that your accountant has taken "several" clients from us, so far this year only 2 clients have moved to other, separate accountants, so I assume that your accountant has been dreaming.

Why have 2 people been so cheesed off they have gone through the hassle of leaving? Do you know why? Why did it come to the point that you could not resolve their issues such that they had to leave?

My current accountants have been much more pro-active in managing affairs so far - sending regular emails, undertaking correspondence with HMRC (your company had me ringing the tax office myself previously whilst on a contract, highly distracting, what was I paying you for again?) so I doubt you are amongst the best in the UK.

You may be growing to be quite large (or larger) - but that is simply because you are taking on more customers than you can manage at any real level of service, I doubt that will be sustainable anyway.

[original PM]

Ooops looks like things are getting a bit heated.

But lets face it when any company (not specifically Nixon Williams as I have no actual experience of using them so this a generic opinion based on my general experiences) grows over a certain size the service they offer goes downhill because they simply do not have the resources to properly look after the customer so it just comes down to a process which if/when it breaks they cannot fix as it falls outside of the process.

For example the e-mails which they allegedly sent uinforming Amiga of deadlines - how do they know they actually got delivered?

The process will be that e-mails get sent and thus the company are doing there 'bit' to service the customer and inform them of deadlines - trouble is you cannot call someone about an e-mail you did not get.

But the point is this which company can actually go and point to the people who are targetted on actually resolving the customers query - I will guarantee you will struggle.

I have a feeling people will come back with - it will be the customer service team - it won't be - their goals will be to answer the phone in a certain amount of rings or too ensure each call last only x amount of minutes or to ensure all e-mails are repsonded to within x hours.

Nixon Williams say you get an account manager - does that person actually solve the problem or does he/she simply placate the the customer and then make sure the process restarts with no extra cost to the company (e.g. they will not then try and 'fasttrack' your problems)

The sad thing is all companies see their customers as a cost - and the less money they have to spend on the customer the more the company makes.

But that is just my opinion.

[Nixon Williams]

I did make it clear that I cannot be certain who you are, but unless you contact me or advise who you are, I cannot comment further can I?

I wish you well.

Alan

[Amiga500]

The sad thing is all companies see their customers as a cost - and the less money they have to spend on the customer the more the company makes.

But that is just my opinion.

Agreed, although the really good companies know that treating the customer/consumer right is pivotal:

"I never get the accountants in before I start up a business. It's done on gut feeling, especially if I can see that they are taking the mickey out of the consumer." - Richard Branson, Virgin.

[MPwannadecentincome]

My biggest gripe is that you don't get a copy of your detailed accounts. As a result I keep track of everything on a spreadsheet and match up my figures with theirs as I only feel comfortable having all the detailed information to hand. Although, they do send a monthly summary which means you do get a high level overview of where you are each month.

did you ask for a copy of the detailed accounts?

[ookook]

I've been with them for 2 years and never had a problem - not only do I tend to deal with the same 2 people all the time so they are well aware of my financial situation, they actually ring me and bug me to fill forms in and send them in to make sure I don't incur fines. So all in all very happy.

[Amiga500]

I've been with them for 2 years and never had a problem - not only do I tend to deal with the same 2 people all the time so they are well aware of my financial situation, they actually ring me and bug me to fill forms in and send them in to make sure I don't incur fines. So all in all very happy.

You're happy with your umbrella now, but wait until it starts raining.






Then they'll ask for the umbrella back.