Contractor Umbrella Recensioni 97

This was my first experience of contracting and to be honest i was a worried a little based on blogs and experiences of many contractors I'd seen on the net so choosing the right one was very important to me. I needn't of worried, "Contractor Umbrella" from the start right through to completion of my first contract were excellent, very helpful with guidance on start and responses to any questions were quick. Pay was sorted out consistently without any problem with a really good "employee" portal to access if you needed to check things out or get copies of pay slips etc. My contract manager allocated from the start was excellent and answered quickly any questions I had, even when they were on leave themselves there was somebody filling in and responding on their behalf. I would have no hesitance in recommending "Contractor Umbrella".

Rang this company up for a quote, total waste of time as 24hrs later still no quote. Guess I won't be bothering with these.

Edit,
Normally I do not edit these posts however, the above review is my genuine experience. The introduction of IR35 has seen an explosion of contractors seeking Umbrella Companies. I rang for a quote was asked for all my details i.e. Name, Contact Details, rates of pay etc and was told someone would email me a quote or get back to me. Neither of which happened.
Trustpilot is about genuine reviews, if they are bad companies should apologise and learn from them not just deny them.
I was once told a good piece of advice, when you get great service you will tell a couple of people, give bad service they will tell 10 people.

Very impressed with Contractor Umbrella having dealt with them for a few months now.

I definitely am not an expert in umbrella schemes and they did a wonderful job explaining how it works when I was looking around for an umbrella company. There was no hard sell either or barrage of phone calls.

Once I decided to use them, the onboarding process was super slick and efficient. It literally all happened within hours and they did all the hard work setting up the employment contract with the firm I was eventually going to work for. I just had to read and sign the contract sent to me, before being able to start work straight away.

If I had any questions (and I had lots) there was always a real person to talk to that helped me resolve any queries or glitches quickly.

Timesheets and payroll couldn't be any simpler with the systems they use. Even I could manage to work everything out.

I would definitely recommend and use again myself.

Utter utter dog excrement.

Sarcastic staff. Couldn’t file a piece of paper.

You have no better an idea whether you’ll get paid or not than you do the lottery number.

Amazed they’re still even in business

I first engaged with Contractor Umbrella back in 2019, and my experience has been extremely positive. My Contract Manager is extremely responsive, and the web portal is easy-to-follow. They've made the whole process effortless, and been very willing to help me out whenever I've had questions or queries. I don't think there is anything that I would change (except maybe my day rate).

I'd happily recommend the service to anyone with need of an umbrella company (especially contractors who are just starting out).

Unfortunately, I went with this company on a friend's recommendation. Everything they could get wrong, they did. Incorrect fees charged, months to get a refund, payslips appear incorrect and no one would call on request, names wrong on contracts, didn't make pension contributions as requested. Promoted benefits not available once signed up. All very expensive mistakes.

Edit due to response 8 months later by Lauren below. I did email you many times with these complaints at the time.

I've had a great experience using the umbrella service provided Contractor Umbrella.
I needed an umbrella provider while working for a government department for 5 months as the role was inside IR35. If I ever need to work through an umbrella again, I will be signing back up as quickly a possible. The service from of the whole team was fantastic, and payments were always bang on time.

I would not hesitate in recommending Contract Umbrella to anyone needing an Umbrella provider.

Was only with Contractor Umbrella for just over 1 month as they were so poor. They messed up their own onboarding process which I then had to chase them to complete, they didn't understand the invoicing process so got that incorrect and they messed up the tax process so my salary was wrong.
Employee portal was very simplistic and looked cheap.

I have been working via Contractor Umbrella since November 2016. During this time I have found them to be reliable and easy to work with, and importantly, payments are made on time following settlement of invoice.

The few issues I've had over this period have been quickly resolved without fuss.
The Contract Managers I've had assigned to me have all been very responsive and my experience of them has been very good. The only reason for leaving is that my contract has finally ended and I am leaving the contracting market, however if circumstances change, I would not hesitate to use them again.

I signed up Contractor Umbrella in the process of transitioning from an outside to an inside IR35 contracts. CU were very flexible to reverse the arrangement after the postponement of IR35. also CU ‘s flexibility on pension payments over and above the statutory limits is a significant feature of the service, which many other umbrellas don’t provide. My experience with their customer service was quite positive.

Not very dependable. If you call them up with an issue its hit or miss if you get someone who either

a) wants to do their jobs and helps you
b) wants to get you off the phone asap so they can get back to checking Instagram or facebook or whatever else it is they prefer to do instead of their jobs

Beware the 'I'll email you our guidance' response if you call up with a question. Spoiler alert...it never comes!

I have been a freelance contractor since 1983 but since 1992 most of my work has been overseas. Back in the UK and with a contract from a UK business, I neeeded to either setup myself up as self employed, or as a ltd company, or use an Umbrella company. Since I didn't know how long the contract would last and indeed if another UK contract was likely to follow, the Umbrella option seemed the most expedient. I have never used an umbrella before, but Contractor Umbrella was recommended to me by a colleague and so I gave them a go. I was a little apprehensive to begin with, but my contract manager Amelia Bowzler, put me at my ease almost immediately. Everything from that point onward was made extremely easy for me and meant that I could concentrate on my work and leave everythiing else to them. Amelia is a consummate professional as well as being a very pleasant person to deal with. If she is representative of her other colleagues, then this will be a company you can trust. Payment was always prompt and for the most part without issue. There was one slight glitch in the accounts department during my six month contract, but my suggested solution was accepted with ease, and the whole thing was resolved without fuss. I would not hesitate to use this company again if the circumstances demanded it.

Almost every dealing with Contractor Umbrella went wrong. They couldn't seem to get any aspect of administration right.

Initial payments were delayed because Contractor Umbrella hadn't set up their invoicing system correctly. The first payment went through when I contacted their Group MD directly through LinkedIn.

I received poor advice on expenses - with the result that there was an unnecessary invoice for expenses hanging around for ages.

Even at the very end, despite my explicit emailed request that they treat me as a leaver, this was not actioned for many months.

In their defence, there was a lot of churn with account managers. I suspect they're finding it difficult to get suitable employees who will stay for any length of time. Or perhaps I was unlucky with the three or four I dealt with over the six months I was an employee.

Why the heck should I be chasing this up – I paid your organisation £100 per month to administer this account (£1200 per year) - the service provided for managing MY MONEY has been dreadful. I should not be going to a portal for my routine employee documentation such as a P45. It should be routinely sent to me as matter of course in accordance with HMRC rules and the standard relationship between employer and employee. You should be delivering A SERVICE for which I have PAID and in accordance with HMRC directives.

Contractor Umbrella do not seem to understand their duty and responsibility.

Your company have been doing, under IR35, all that tasks that I did monthly for 15 years as the owner of an SME company, with fewer mistakes, for nothing. It took me a few minutes to do the PAYE and an hour or so to do the prepare the accounts for an accountant to submit the company accounts to Company’s House at a total annual cost of £650.

Keen to sign up - but themn the problems start. No customer service and no interst in anything othe than their fees. I baled out afte 15 months.

Contractor Umbrella are hiding behind HMRC rules and will shortly be exposed as the vultures they really are – intermediaries who deliver no product whatsoever. I have now left the organisation but after 7 weeks await the P45 etc.

Once my P45 has been issued I wish to receive from you “a formal statement that ‘under GDPR’ your company has no longer retained any personal data relating to me.