parasol IT

[geekboy]

I knew I wouldn't get paid tomorrow and I was right. Parasol have only just returned my contract to the agency after three weeks.

On the positive side they did advance me a small sum until next week so I can't scream too much.

I have decided to go back to a Ltd company, I'll be looking at more details this weekend, accountant etc...

[DimPrawn]

Good man. Ltd is the way to go.

[BigAndy]

Hmm

Just to let you all know my progress - I emailed Rob Crossland directly last week and got a reply almost straight away (he just resent the "why/when/what are we doing about it" email) but nothing really moved regarding my missing 4 weeks payments.

Next I emailed ATSCO - they replied almost straigh away to say they were aware of Parasol's problems and had forwarded my complaint to Parasol. The next day I was called by one of the directors - didn't hear the phone ring unfortunately so missed it, and he left a message to ring them back, hmm Parasol phone system - needless to say never got through to him, but assumed he was calling to apologise or say they were looking into my problem. Anyway, most problems were solved a couple of days later. I still have a problem with one week though - the "pay tracker" screen is really screwed, showing duplicate invoices, some paid, some not, and various other details that don't make sense.

A bit of a dim-wit question guys - I've never really considered a Ltd Co before - it sounds like a lot of expense and admin, compared to £20 a week with Parasol. What's the benefit these days? From what I've read about IR35 I don't think I could avoid it, so presumably wouldn't benefit from the whole dividends (aka less tax) thing associated with a Ltd?

Cheers in advance

Andy

[The Master]

Read Should I trade as a Limited Company, umbrella or composite? from this very board.

[Alf W]

I've just been paid for April absolutely no problem at all. Even had the management fee refunded OK.

Mind you they have sent me two text messages telling me they are putting the BACS transaction through so hopefully there will be a cock-up there!

[Shakes]

Lets hope things start getting back to normal. Found the forum by chance after searching for other like minded cons getting hacked off with the recent drop in service.

In defence of Parasol they have provided a very reasonable service over the last 3 years but I think they have shot themselves in the foot with this ill planned system change and will have some serious sucking up to do if they want to minimise a probable exodus of cons to other payroll solutions.

Let's face it, when you have worked for your money you want your money when it's due, not weeks down the line.

Not good enough at the moment Parasol!!

[IsK]

I thought they were getting their act together as I had been having a lot of payroll issues from them for three weeks prior but they had paid up. Three days ago however they had replaced my latest invoice amount with 0 and set it's status to 'Fully Credited' (What ever that was supposed to mean) the original value of the Invoice had been paid by my agents last Monday and last night I found out that they have put a 'Payroll Lock' on me without any contact or any reason. I've repeatidly emailed over the past three days (to their 'members' email address - the one they said would speed up the response time) and have set up a ticket - still no response at all.

This is my first contract and to tell you the truth these guys are pathetic.

[cojak]

Right, just a word to all you first time posters on this (or any other Parasol thread).

I won't be taking much notice of any comment with a '1' against it. I'll be happy to read all those who have been keeping us informed of progress but I'm not interested in potentially bogus posters putting the boot into Parasol because they don't get commission off them.

Do I make myself clear?

[Board Game Geek]

My take on Parasol

I've been using them since September 2005, and they have been perfectly fine.

Except for last month's fiasco, when they decided to replace their accounting systems...at the end of the financial year.

After submitting my timesheets on the last working day of the month, to my Agency, they normally do their invoice run the 1st week of the month, pay Parasol the second week, and the money hits my account on the 8th of the month.

This month things went a bit wobbly, but in my case, it was NOT down to Parasol. It was down to my agency having a wobbly. The recent bank holiday in May messed up their payroll and they missed my week 1 reconciliation. So they picked me up on the following week. This would have meant that Parasol would have been paying me on the 3rd week of May.

Parasol were informed of the delay, and suggested to me that they could assist me with an advance (for no fee), whilst my agency got their act together. As it turned out, my agency pulled out all the stops and did a wire transfer the same day I notified then of the problem.

Not only that, but Parasol then did a wire transfer the VERY same day direct to my account. I didn't even think this was technically possible. I thought it always took 3 days for funds to clear.

So at the end, despite my agencies cock-up, they delivered the goods, and Parasol delivered as well.

I compare this to the time I ran my own Ltd, and would sometimes have to wait up to 90 days to get an invoice from a client.

Sure, the extra % you save is nice, but it's completely mitigated by the stress and penalty payments on your working account, when you have to wait for your clients to pay up.

[Shakes]

No Bogus poster here !

Just want a quick return to the previous service levels. They do have some sucking up to do but by way of apologies aplenty for the ongoing problems - and a reassurance that such a situation won't be revisited. They may well lose a number of Cons because of this. Fact. But I previously stated they have been very good up until recently.

A free market working as it should

Not interested in service charge refunds.