Reply to: Brookson charge for Company Closure

[fedupwithBrookson]

I am fuming that as a small company of one I have worked hard taking less holidays to try to make ends meet and yet my old accountant. They took 5 attempts to complete my annual accounts and meant I paid a fine for late personal tax filing.
I closed the company (receivership) because the accounting was incorrect and a mess and while customer services were always pleasant the actual relevant service of good accounting was sadly lacking. No longer my accountant since December they have surpassed themselves they have been liasing with official receivers without informing me, needless to say with incorrect accounts, there appears to be no interest in providing a fair honest service. Anyone have any ideas as to who I can formally complain to about this company behaviour, Ive given up communicating with them.

[indigopoppy]

Brooksons = Be wary

I would strongly advise people to steer clear of Brooksons. They couldn't have given a worse service - its as if they were actually trying to screw things up. They gave my personal bank details to the client company instead of their bank account, meaning I was receiving the gross amount without NI or VAT deducted, and I had to write a cheque to my Client to repay the VAT, however despite countless emails I have never received a reply to any of my queries for detailing my NI payments. I no longer work through Brooksons and have been trying for months to obtain the information I require to complete a tax return, (which they are supposed to do as its part of the fee I've paid). I receive lovely apologetic emails but never the information I need. I've now employed an accountant at further expense to try and sort out the mess they've made. Even simple things like they were sending my invoice to the wrong person on a weekly basis and I was advising them of this error and supplying the correct email address - and despite assurances that my file was updated and there was no way my invoice could be sent out wrongly again, it continued to happen for 2 months. This meant a colleague was aware of my private financial information and it caused a lot of trouble in the office as I was earning a higher rate. Brooksons did not honour their part of the contract in my opinion, and I will never use them again, its just not worth the hassle. I know of 5 other people who returned to Brooksons after the composite company changes and not a single one of them now uses Brooksons as they have made horrendous mistakes. It's honestly much easier to run a limited company than deal with Brooksons.

[psychocandy]

Cant believe anyone pays that amount per month anyway? Are you mad?

However, I'm well aware of the stress that a bad accountant can cause. I signed up with a local one when I started in May - completely useless. Luckily, I got out of that quickly and moved to Nixon Williams.

Cracking service now. Everything gets done for me and I'm not constantly checking or worrying that accountant has screwed something up.

And NW were £10 a month cheaper than my previous cowboy accountant (who funnily enough was PCG approved - although they weren't interested when I passed on my comments to them!)

[Alan @ BroomeAffinity]

I've often wondered how Brookson can justify their fee. Paystream as well for that matter. Aside that is from the fact that they have customers willing to pay it in such a comptetive and transparent market. So maybe justification isn't necessarily required.

[Alex76]

Brooksons Service

Alex - I have received your message and will investigate with the appropriate people and be in touch shortly.

Many thanks Andrew, I now have confirmation of a refund of £915 in back dated charges to the beginning of this year. Still for a service that cost's £1800 a year, I'm struggling to see any value you add for such a fee.

I initially went with Brooksons on a recommendation from a colleague due to being new to the contracting game and that it was a straight forward online service.

Now being more clued up and understanding the process (& what you actually do) I am at odds to see how Brooksons can justify the fee.

You've developed software that works with your bank account & developed money manager which the client inputs and does 80% of the work for you. Were is the personal service? how are you minimising my corporation tax being paid? how do you justify the fee you demand?

In my opinion going off quotes I've been given across the industry your overcharging by at least £70 per month. Yes you have a USP of the internet and money manager but that USP in itself save's you thousands of man-hours a year. So you get the impression that your double dipping.

In my view your charges should be cheaper than a general accountants (approx £800 pa) as its an automated service with no direct personnel service to ensure your tax liabilities are minimised.

If your going to provide an expensive post box service why not reflect that in a far more competitive price?

Regards

Alex

[AndrewSloan]

Brookson

I have a serious problem with Brooksons, I initially complained about the 'expensive postbox' service at the start of 2010 & they bent over backwards for me not to leave (only time I think they actually earned the fee) I stayed with them and in the summer of that year my assignment finished and I was told I'd be charged a non-trading fee of £20 a month.

I have been seriously ill over an extensive period and just now getting my accounts back in order (to start a new assignment) only to find they've been charging me £150 a month for over 12mths (whilst providing absolutely NO Service whatsoever) Absolute disgrace.

So Andrew if you could help me resolve this issue 'Urgently' without having to take it to the next level.

You have my details:- Alex Buckley - Buckley, Strategic, Projects Ltd.

Alex - I have received your message and will investigate with the appropriate people and be in touch shortly.

[Fred Bloggs]

Sorry to hear that, I usually use the words "Brookson" and "bargepole" in the same sentence.

[Alex76]

Brookson Rip Off!

Hi,

Would it be possible to contact me regarding these questions, I would like to answer your questions personally. My contact number is 01925 235 727 or andrew.sloan (at) brookson.co.uk.

Regards

Andrew Sloan

I have a serious problem with Brooksons, I initially complained about the 'expensive postbox' service at the start of 2010 & they bent over backwards for me not to leave (only time I think they actually earned the fee) I stayed with them and in the summer of that year my assignment finished and I was told I'd be charged a non-trading fee of £20 a month.

I have been seriously ill over an extensive period and just now getting my accounts back in order (to start a new assignment) only to find they've been charging me £150 a month for over 12mths (whilst providing absolutely NO Service whatsoever) Absolute disgrace.

So Andrew if you could help me resolve this issue 'Urgently' without having to take it to the next level.

You have my details:- Alex Buckley - Buckley, Strategic, Projects Ltd.

[rd409]

Phoned Pay$tream no luck in getting the Ltd Company Transfer fee reduced - apprently it does cost £235 to do this!

Been a customer to them for over four years paying over 150 a month for their "services" and this is how they treat you when you wish to move. Of course they can drop their fee if I choose to stay with them for a slightly cheaper serivce - how convienient!

At the moment the Warchest has all but gone, wife out of work and am waiting for the next gig - which could be in a month's time or in six! I have check my original documentation when I started with PS and there is nothing about any fee for transferring Ltd companies.

Any ideas? Just suck it and pay the fee (not sure if I can afford it) or fight it?

qh

I've moved from Paystream to NW earlier this year. The transition is quite smooth, and I did'nt have to pay anything to Paystream. The service is quite sad, and they are horrible at communication. The account manager even had guts to say that he could not respond to my emails, because they ended up in Junk. No calls answered back, and everyone apart from junior/trainee account assistants are always busy in meetings.
All that I did, was emailed paystream about cancellation of the direct debit from the business account after 1 month, and keep a record of the notice email, in file for future reference. If your appointment letter does not say anything about transfer fees, you dont have to pay anything.

[diesel]

I too am pretty fed up with brookson accounting services..i want to know what they do?

1. their call back service is about as much use as herpes.
2. they messed up my accounts and i had to get them sorted by a seperate accountant twice now.
for some reasons...whilst working out of the country for two years and having no uk earnings, i accrued a VAT bill.
3. my VAT bill percentage changed 3 times in one year, without me notifying them
4. they registered my company as dormant for 2 months...and then...unregistered it again!
5. they repeatedly say they havnt received my mail...and blame the post office
6. they repeatedly say they have posted things to me..(year end accounts) yet i dont receive them.

I have never had the misfortune of dealing with such a disorganised bunch of meddlesome, incompetent fools in my entire life.
9000 contractors and dropping like a lead ballon if you look at the registrars log in companies house

i had loads of problems over 6 years. dont waste your time complaining to you so called personal manager. I had loads of personal managers assigned to me during the years and basically they act as go-betweens between Brookson backroom staff and the customer. They will push you away with woolly answers and kind apologies. But i made several complaints to my pm and realised later that the pm never ever reported these to the customer dept manager or MD - as per ICAEW protocol!
Brookson never let you speak to a real accountant on the phone.
If you are having problems best thing is to write or email (or both is suggested) a complaint to the MD Martin Hesketh. Dont bother writing complaint the customer services manager or your PM, as Brookson dont follow ICAEW protocol and let the MD sort out directly.
I was lucky tehy made the same error on my documents repeatly, that i realised they were taking the p*##.
Keep records of your correspondence to them and received, make it clear you are seeking an ICAEW complaint. Although the ICAEW may advise you on the phone they wont actually do anything significant as i found out they hate to tell their members off.

dont bother with high street accountants who charge £1000 plus....if you have simple finance affairs one should be paying between £500-800 inc tax pa, any nore is really paying over the odds.
Move from Brooksons and give your blood pressure will decrease

[ziquarat]

Me too and its been dragging out for some time....

I have been having an absolute nightmare of a time with Brookson. In fact, this evening I emailed my previous accountant and asked her if she would take over my books again.

My so called 'Personal Manager' has been off sick for at least a month and no one thought to set her 'out of office' response, so we could be notified. After calling up repeatedly, I was finally told that she was off sick and they had no idea when she would be back. My accounts are in a complete mess and there is no one willing to cover for her. A few people offered but I would always get an email back saying they have passed it onto someone else and they would be in touch with me in the next 48 hours, but then I wouldn't hear from them again. No one responds to my emails. I am paying £143.75/monthly fee for the most appalling service I have ever experienced. There seems to be an absence of supervision or management. I too have called up to ask who I need to contact with regards a complaint and got a cagey response.

I asked about the closure fee and they said there was none, but you have to give a months notice.


And as for the company they referred me to, to file my tax return (tenon) - they were even worse; that endeavor resulted in a £100 fine from the tax office for late filing...

I too am pretty fed up with brookson accounting services..i want to know what they do?

1. their call back service is about as much use as herpes.
2. they messed up my accounts and i had to get them sorted by a seperate accountant twice now.
for some reasons...whilst working out of the country for two years and having no uk earnings, i accrued a VAT bill.
3. my VAT bill percentage changed 3 times in one year, without me notifying them
4. they registered my company as dormant for 2 months...and then...unregistered it again!
5. they repeatedly say they havnt received my mail...and blame the post office
6. they repeatedly say they have posted things to me..(year end accounts) yet i dont receive them.

I have never had the misfortune of dealing with such a disorganised bunch of meddlesome, incompetent fools in my entire life.
9000 contractors and dropping like a lead ballon if you look at the registrars log in companies house

[quackhandle]

Phoned Pay$tream no luck in getting the Ltd Company Transfer fee reduced - apprently it does cost £235 to do this!

Been a customer to them for over four years paying over 150 a month for their "services" and this is how they treat you when you wish to move. Of course they can drop their fee if I choose to stay with them for a slightly cheaper serivce - how convienient!

At the moment the Warchest has all but gone, wife out of work and am waiting for the next gig - which could be in a month's time or in six! I have check my original documentation when I started with PS and there is nothing about any fee for transferring Ltd companies.

Any ideas? Just suck it and pay the fee (not sure if I can afford it) or fight it?

qh

[quackhandle]

Would like to keep the company name same so I will go back to PS and see if I can get the fee reduced.

qh

[Nixon Williams]

Sadly some accountants do charge when you wish to transfer elsewhere - we do not.

Ideally we like to fully review a client's situation when we take them on from another accountant.

Obtaining accounts from Companies House and tax returns from HMRC is not ideal and will not give a complete picture. It would be like copying the plans of a house from just a photo of the outside!

We have had to do this before due to lack of co-operation from accountants but as I have said, this is not ideal.

The biggest problem we encounter is that some "accountants" simply take figures from spreadsheets and do not check what has been entered, each account should be reconciled at the end of each year - do this and they will not go far wrong.

Have you considered the option of closing the company and starting again? You will need to ask what they charge to close the company, there is no cost from us as we supply new clients with the set-up free of charge.

Alan

[Clare@InTouch]

Sorry in advance for hijacking thread but I am currently transferring (Keeping same company name, etc) from Paystream to NW and today I got a stern worded letter saying you have to pay us £235 in "administration fees" and until I pay they will not release any details to NW.

I currently pay £176 a month for these cowboys (been a nightmare in the last year or so due to their mistakes) surely they can't charge this?

Help and ideas greatly appreciated.

qh

They can, and they do. Your new accountant may however be able to take over without it - they can get last accounts from Companies House and last tax returns from HMRC. Ask exactly what is included in their fee, and then ask NW if they can get by without it.