Reply to: reliable umbrella companies ???

[administrator]

Hi,

Thanks for the queries Wary, sorry for not answering this sooner but running the forum is not a full time job for either myself or any of the admins. It really is a superb place for contractors to get information and feedback about their situations but we do not have the resources to monitor all posts and also to give feedback like this so apologies for missing your initial questions about this but I just tend to skim posts like this when they are highlighted.

The post was reported by a forum user (and I know enough about the person to know they are not a brolly employee in disguise) to say that the company name was being reported. We have had legal threats from many companies where they have been mentioned so it is something we are wary of. When a post like this crops up I usually try and go back to the original poster and ask for some sort of proof as to their claims, an email trail or scanned letter etc. If these can be provided then we are happy to let threads run, if not then we do tend to either delete threads or remove company names. If company names are hidden then there is nothing stopping you using the Private Messaging system to contact the thread starter to ask who it was.

I do not know why on this occasion I did not ask the thread starter for evidence. As I said earlier, I and the other mods also have real life jobs to do and the forum is often the last on our list of priorities so I expect I was in the middle of something and the quickest thing for me once I saw the post report was to just remove the company name.

I will keep an eye on the thread so feel free to reply here or PM me if you have any more questions.

Admin

[Wary]

What did all these conspiracy theorists do before there were internet forums?

The question I've often wondered is what did all these trolls do before there were Internet forums?!?

[LisaContractorUmbrella]

What did all these conspiracy theorists do before there were internet forums?

Hide behind grassy knolls?

[v8gaz]

What did all these conspiracy theorists do before there were internet forums?

[Wary]

No idea but you could ask the mods - most of them are not too scary

I have done - see my post 4 days ago on this thread - but they have so far declined to comment. Their only response was, upon realisation that they'd still left one instance of name of the company to whom they've granted special status, was to edit this out on this thread.

[LisaContractorUmbrella]

So why do you think that we have this inconsistent approach whereby most companies can be openly criticised but some (or one, at least) cannot?

No idea but you could ask the mods - most of them are not too scary

[Wary]

You could be right Wary but I doubt it's anything that interesting

So why do you think that we have this inconsistent approach whereby most companies can be openly criticised but some (or one, at least) cannot?

[LisaContractorUmbrella]

But surely they run the risk of raising suspicions that they have a vested financial interest in this particular company, and hence are not moderating these forums as impartially as they should be. (They're certainly not moderating these forums consistently.)

I'm not saying that I personally think this; just that they run the risk that others might. This strikes me as being a "really really good reason" for wanting to set the record straight ... assuming it's not true of course.

You could be right Wary but I doubt it's anything that interesting

[Wary]

The mods never do anything like that without a really really good reason Wary

But surely they run the risk of raising suspicions that they have a vested financial interest in this particular company, and hence are not moderating these forums as impartially as they should be. (They're certainly not moderating these forums consistently.)

I'm not saying that I personally think this; just that they run the risk that others might. This strikes me as being a "really really good reason" for wanting to set the record straight ... assuming it's not true of course.

[LisaContractorUmbrella]

FM - why do you keep removing the name of the company with which Bardhilt had problems? A great many other specifically-named companies receive severe criticism on these forums, so why should this lot get special treatment from this perspective? Have you been threatened with legal action should you host anything negative about them and you've succombed to such threats, hence depriving your members of their freedom-of-speech right to forewarn others of their bad experience with a specific company?

I think you should explain on this thread why you're happy for other companies to be specifically named but not this one.

The mods never do anything like that without a really really good reason Wary

[Wary]

A Message to FM

FM - why do you keep removing the name of the company with which Bardhilt had problems? A great many other specifically-named companies receive severe criticism on these forums, so why should this lot get special treatment from this perspective? Have you been threatened with legal action should you host anything negative about them and you've succombed to such threats, hence depriving your members of their freedom-of-speech right to forewarn others of their bad experience with a specific company?

I think you should explain on this thread why you're happy for other companies to be specifically named but not this one.

[lonewanderer]

I'd recommend anyone but NASA, trust me!

[LisaContractorUmbrella]

Sorry to hear that you have had bad experiences. I'd be really interested to know - what would you say is most important to you when looking for an umbrella company??

[Wary]

Company is <snip>

Their expenses procedures are fine, it’s more that they just did not invoice the agency for them. I have had numerous problems with them overcharging, undercharging even invoicing for work I have not done.

I may as well handle my own affairs for the amount of time I have spent trying to work out what they are doing and correcting the errors they have made.

They say that the fee they take also is a percentage so it does not matter if they invoice separately. But I have had incidences of invoices for the same amount but with different amounts of fees taken off.

It’s beyond a joke. Way I see it is we entrust these companies with our affairs and if they take our fees then they should supply the service they advertise.

Thanks for the couple of recommendations, I will look into them.

Anyone else recommend any umbrella companies??

Sounds a bit like the Umbrella that I first used 11/12 years ago. They were newly set up, an offshoot of a firm of accountants to take advantage of the introduction of the IR35, as many contractors would likely think there would no longer be any great advantage of staying LTD. Never have I known such a bunch of clueless & incompetant f*ckwits.

One example was when they paid me the incorrect amount of expenses, the cause for which was eventually revealed as them getting my expenses mixed up with another contractor's. This was one of their more-minor cock-ups. The reason why this particularly stands out as I had to contact them 7 times before they eventually did anything about investigating the error! I never received any kind of apology from them for any of their many mistakes.

[The Spartan]

[QUOTE=bradhilt;1453793]Way I see it is we entrust these companies with our affairs and if they take our fees then they should supply the service they advertise.QUOTE]

It should be the case but as I and you have both found, it most often isn't. That's not to say there aren't Umbrella's out there that do a great job but for every professional there are a dozen cowboys out there