Exact Payroll

[youngguy]

I had rather hoped that at this stage I'd have a P45 and could draw this thread to a close.

I'll continue to document the litany of errors here as a record and warning for anyone considering using this umbrella.

Having been fobbed off by the few remaining staff that didn't leave or get sacked for gross misconduct (I kid you not) a new person turned up to schmooze me. He is very good at telling me I should feel assured as he is working with the internal team blah blah blah. I'm not sure he knows what he means and I know I don't. He is very good at ignoring all my questions and would likely go far in politics.

He also tried to send me a hamper as a "gesture of good will" but managed to send it to the wrong address despite calling me to confirm my address and sending me a letter (with my address on!). He then said I had told him the wrong address?! Essence of Bojo perhaps.

SAR : 63 days and counting.

Complaint: 6 weeks and counting.

Payslips: 9 weeks. I was told it would take Exact a week to re-run my payslips (6 timesheets, 4 pension payments). I received a new set of payslips - I have over 22 now - it took me 3 mins to see that my pension contributions on the payslips didn't match the actual pension contributions Exact had made to my SIPP. Upon rasing this I was asked to "state what pension I wished for". My reply was I wished for it to reflect reality. That was 11 days ago and I have had many schmoozy emails since but no one has told me how long I have to wait before I get another set of payslips.

FCSA: Useless in their first response.

Bonus today: Due to Exact Payroll mess ups, HMRC have removed my tax allowance for the year so I've just been hit with a £10.5k tax bill. I can't wait to try and sort that out with them when I have no record of my pay for the last 6 months.

[youngguy]

Final update as all issues have now been resolved and agreements reached on SAR etc (a relief to me and any poor person who had to read my entries on this thread).

After a somewhat lukewarm start, the FCSA had a conversation with the Umbrella. I don't know what was covered but I got corrected payslips and a P45 the same day. Fair play to the FCSA.

I suspect the Umbrella never assumed one person would/could make such a fuss. As I've said before, the industry is unregulated and low margin, high volume etc doesn't provide the best environment for customer focus, but I still remain surprised at just how much Exact managed to get wrong.... repeatedly.

That said, they've apologised and have stressed they are committed to improving. It will take some considerable time from my observations and online reviews suggest I am far from an isolated incident. I also think the CEO has a steep learning curve.

I hope they do turn things around; I think the more umbrellas available, the better it is for contractors (IF PSLs can be addressed). Time will tell

[cojak]

Here’s an idea. Maybe if Exact would like to post as themselves to explain how they’ve fixed these issues rather than spamming the forum with ‘they’rrreeeee great!’ reviews, I might actually let them though…

[WTFH]

Here’s an idea. Maybe if Exact would like to post as themselves to explain how they’ve fixed these issues rather than spamming the forum with ‘they’rrreeeee great!’ reviews, I might actually let them though…

They're probably running a competition for both their customers - whoever can get an advert up on here wins a prize.

[youngguy]

Interesting.

Looks like there is a small influx of positive reviews on Google as well as offpayroll.org in the last week.

It is entirely possible service is improving (I'm not with them anymore) .....however my pension company contacted me in mid April to say additional money had been moved into their pension holding account by Exact. I contacted Exact and said it wasn't mine and they may want to ensure it quickly made it whomever's pension account it was due for.

Never got a response.

This week my pension company told me the money is still sitting there waiting for Exact.

[Thanos616]

Always been paid on time the correct amount at the correct time I have never had to phone them to sort anything out

[youngguy]

Always been paid on time the correct amount at the correct time I have never had to phone them to sort anything out

Yes....that's pretty much exactly what the last couple of Offpayroll reviews and Google reviews have said in the last week

I must be the most unlucky (ex) customer in the world as they are still making mistakes for me and I left them 3 months ago. There is of course at least one other customer who is getting shafted, as their pension money is in my account .

[cojak]

Yes....that's pretty much exactly what the last couple of Offpayroll reviews and Google reviews have said in the last week

Quelle surprise!

That’s the last one of those on here…

[youngguy]

FYI
I just got pinged by Google as I left a review for Exact some months ago.

It appears they are now paying for positive reviews. At least a third of their reviews are 5* fake.

Ironically, they still struggle to maintain a 3.0 average.

Always worth remembering to check reviewer patterns and I've personally found - learning the hard way - off payroll org a little better for honest reviews (although not perfect as that can be anonymous), coupled with recommendations of those already on site when choosing a brolly.

[eek]

FYI
I just got pinged by Google as I left a review for Exact some months ago.

It appears they are now paying for positive reviews. At least a third of their reviews are 5* fake.

Ironically, they still struggle to maintain a 3.0 average.

Always worth remembering to check reviewer patterns and I've personally found - learning the hard way - off payroll org a little better for honest reviews (although not perfect as that can be anonymous), coupled with recommendations of those already on site when choosing a brolly.

Is that something that Google told you or from reading the reviews

And for recommendations of umbrellas - yep the best option is always going to be personal recommendation.