goUmbrella Review - AVOID

[northernladuk]

Have you got any advice for me? What have I got to look out for?

Forgetting what you need to already know for a moment. Where are you getting all the information on new legislation that will affect us? Asking a free forum of contractors?

You might be able to do your own booking keeping but that's just part of it.

Remember the old adage, a little knowledge is a dangerous thing.

You also mention you are going direct this time but we change clients regularly. It's what we do. What are you going to do for the next gig that needs an agent.

I smell a huge car crash.....

[SimonMac]

So, I started a contract start of February and signed up to goUmbrella as they were one of the cheapest around and offered no other fees such as closing. I thought how hard can it be to sort out pay for you.... How very wrong I was...

So first week they were excellent and everything was set up very quickly and all went well! That was all that went right...

So first, my first payslip they didn't put any of my expenses through, an error on their part.

Next, I had the wrong tax code (not their fault) but when it was sorted they left my old tax code on the form so it was unclear as to what I was actually paying.

After this I was due a tax rebate from the tax I had paid (my first job in the tax year). They seemed incapable of reading how much tax I had paid off the previous payslip and paid me a portion back and declared I had got it all back... I was owed around £80... This was then sorted within the next few weeks.

Next, with the new expenses changes, my colleague on the same contract as me with a different Umbrella company was able to sign a disclaimer saying he could claim expenses as he wasn't working under supervision from his end client. No such option was offered. Not only this, but not one communication was sent out about the expenses changes. After emailing just 2 or 3 days before they did not have a solution (my colleague had received notice of this 2 weeks prior and already sorted his out). It was sorted out after the new tax year...

Which brings me onto my next point. Communication is terrible! You receive one email with the invoice but nothing to say you have been paid and the pay advice isn't uploaded till 2 days later! In addition to this, the dashboard is so poorly designed that it says last 4 weeks pay advice however it actually shows the first 4 weeks and then doesn't change.

My final point few points really just made me lose any faith I had in the company. They reduced my pay rate by £10 a day and paid me on a reduced rate. If I hadn't been keeping such a careful eye on them due to my prior problems they would not have paid me this and it would have gone straight into their account and stayed! It amazes me how their systems can actually allow them to do that?! In addition to this as I had informed them I was leaving they increased the margin to £27.50 from £11.99, which it says in the contract they are allowed to do, but after all the issues I had with them I felt it was seriously poor customer care.

In conclusion, my advice is to avoid them like the plague! I was paying them to do a job and they were just not doing it at all! And then increasing their cut and paying me wrong is just incredible in my eyes. So make up your own mind but not recommended! I signed up to this forum specifically to warn people about this establishment

I stopped reading after this, if you make your decision on the cheapest rather than best value you are doomed in life.

Would you by the cheapest fire alarm? cheapest condoms? cheapest chloroform? So why on earth would you base something as important as your getting paid on the cheapest firm

[blues1143]

Forgetting what you need to already know for a moment. Where are you getting all the information on new legislation that will affect us? Asking a free forum of contractors?

You might be able to do your own booking keeping but that's just part of it.

Remember the old adage, a little knowledge is a dangerous thing.

You also mention you are going direct this time but we change clients regularly. It's what we do. What are you going to do for the next gig that needs an agent.

I smell a huge car crash.....

I don't intend on contracting after this. I have just finished Uni and have been working for these guys on contracts in between my Uni years and managed to do this while I sort out what I want to do! I have had professional advice about how to do it all as I have friends who are accountants. I only signed up to this website to air my complaints about goUmbrella.

[northernladuk]

Oh.. That makes a lot more sense now.

[blues1143]

I stopped reading after this, if you make your decision on the cheapest rather than best value you are doomed in life.

Would you by the cheapest fire alarm? cheapest condoms? cheapest chloroform? So why on earth would you base something as important as your getting paid on the cheapest firm

The reason was because it isn't that hard to do! I could write a program to do it for them! I went through Parasol in my previous years and used to look at my payslip and thought, Over £100 a month for something that isn't very difficult? So I thought I would give them a go.

They were also rated very highly in a contractor league table I believe was on this website, higher than Parasol who I was with before. Which was the main reason for choosing them.

[blues1143]

I stopped reading after this, if you make your decision on the cheapest rather than best value you are doomed in life.

Would you by the cheapest fire alarm? cheapest condoms? cheapest chloroform? So why on earth would you base something as important as your getting paid on the cheapest firm

https://www.freelancesupermarket.com...umbrellas.aspx

Thats the league table I had a look at

[stek]

Have you got any advice for me? What have I got to look out for?

Correct treatment of bad debt provisions, written-down allowances, accruals and prepayments, depreciation of capital assets........

[blues1143]

Correct treatment of bad debt provisions, written-down allowances, accruals and prepayments, depreciation of capital assets........

Yeah, had a look into those and not sure my contract is as complex as to need them...

[northernladuk]

https://www.freelancesupermarket.com...umbrellas.aspx

Thats the league table I had a look at

The fact that Contractor Umbrella is 22nd on that list means I'd dump the whole list straight off but new posters aren't to know that. That list isn't right crock. Shame people fall for it but it does look very convincing.

Bit late now but sites like this are much more useful IMO.

http://www.allumbrellacompaniesareequal.com/

[stek]

Yeah, had a look into those and not sure my contract is as complex as to need them...

You will at year end.