Reply to: SJD: Yay or Nay?

[Lance]

hahhaha no. Utter horsesh1t. Every month I have to double check, and every quarter I have to fend off emails from London Support who don't know what's going on.

These guys need to hit the wall and the guy who runs it needs to have his wife's white VW bug repossessed. You know that the type he is.

You’re arguing with a 18 month old thread. Perhaps things have changed.

[happyfeet75]

hahhaha no. Utter horsesh1t. Every month I have to double check, and every quarter I have to fend off emails from London Support who don't know what's going on.

These guys need to hit the wall and the guy who runs it needs to have his wife's white VW bug repossessed. You know that the type he is.

[pr1]

they told me they wanted £75 for Mrs. L's tax SA. I explained quite bluntly that they're not cheap and they're going to her SA for free or I'm moving.
They're doing it for free.
If you don't ask you don't get.

sounds like you should ask for half the monthly fee and a freeagent account then

[northernladuk]

I'd say Gorilla and SJD are markedly different: SJD operate with a spreadsheet model, Gorilla use freeagent.

Indeed. Gorilla are a small startup and SJD are a well established massive outfit. Not remotely the same. I went with Gorilla because partly because they are so different.

And IMO I wouldn't be staying with an accountant just because they 'might' wave a £75 quid charge. Swap now and you could negotiate this in and save a lot on monthly fees.

[Alan @ BroomeAffinity]

it'll be free or I leave.

TBH I'm so close to leaving anyway, purely for cost reasons, and Gorilla basically are the same but a lot cheaper. I stayed because they capitulated instantly and it's not exactly a huge drain on the finances.
It took me 5 years to bin Sky Sports that I never watch as well. Maybe I should just be more mercenary.

I'd say Gorilla and SJD are markedly different: SJD operate with a spreadsheet model, Gorilla use freeagent.

[Eirikur]

they told me they wanted £75 for Mrs. L's tax SA. I explained quite bluntly that they're not cheap and they're going to her SA for free or I'm moving.
They're doing it for free.
If you don't ask you don't get.

it was £150 this year (incl VAT)

[Lance]

And next year?

it'll be free or I leave.

TBH I'm so close to leaving anyway, purely for cost reasons, and Gorilla basically are the same but a lot cheaper. I stayed because they capitulated instantly and it's not exactly a huge drain on the finances.
It took me 5 years to bin Sky Sports that I never watch as well. Maybe I should just be more mercenary.

[northernladuk]

they told me they wanted £75 for Mrs. L's tax SA. I explained quite bluntly that they're not cheap and they're going to her SA for free or I'm moving.
They're doing it for free.
If you don't ask you don't get.

And next year?

[Lance]

, they quoted £30 + VAT for providing reference

they told me they wanted £75 for Mrs. L's tax SA. I explained quite bluntly that they're not cheap and they're going to her SA for free or I'm moving.
They're doing it for free.
If you don't ask you don't get.

[contractuk]

Nay. I am with them for 4 years now. I am seriously thinking of changing now. It's not just the price difference that's there compared to other accountants in the market. In the last year there have been few accountancy errors which I found while crosschecking the accounts.

The worst part was, I had to move house & the letting agent wanted to do reference check with my accountant before letting me the flat. I asked SJD if they were happy for me to give their details to the letting agents. Guess what, they quoted £30 + VAT for providing reference

[quackhandle]

I moved last May, only had one issue with SJD which I argued went against their guarantee, but they wouldn't budge (ie no refund).

No issues with Gorilla so far (long may this continue) and FreeAgent is great, wish I'd moved sooner.

qh

[Fred Bloggs]

Yes I probably would have stayed without the recent price increase. The price differential between sjd and their competitors is now too great to ignore.

There's a lot of people seem to be just chucking money away when there are better and cheaper deals almost everywhere you look.

[Yorkie62]

I agree, but they'd have to be prepared to slash rates for all, or simply reverse the previous increase. We don't know what profitability model they're operating; if they hadn't increased, would you have stayed?

Yes I probably would have stayed without the recent price increase. The price differential between sjd and their competitors is now too great to ignore.

[aa2006]

Same here, i switched to Gorilla from SJD because i didn't believe the level of service i was getting reflected the price they were charging. Also switching from a spreadsheet to Freeagent also clinched it for me.

[LondonManc]

Why? Yes managing different rates for different clients is more onerous than a single flat rate across the board, and I acknowledge that larger organisations are not capable of managing this within their processes which is one size fits all, but if your clients start to leave because they feel they are no longer getting value for money as elsewhere then the business model is unsustainable anyway.

I agree, but they'd have to be prepared to slash rates for all, or simply reverse the previous increase. We don't know what profitability model they're operating; if they hadn't increased, would you have stayed?