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
Edit: I didn't choose these because they were cheapest. I had read good things about them and saw them score highly in league tables: https://www.freelancesupermarket.com...umbrellas.aspx
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
Edit: I didn't choose these because they were cheapest. I had read good things about them and saw them score highly in league tables: https://www.freelancesupermarket.com...umbrellas.aspx
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