Anyone use Brooksons Accountants?

**northernladuk** · 2 March 2015, 11:22

A lot of posts about them here but many of them are pretty old...

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=br...i8DcTO7gaC8oBw

They have been mentioned recently though..

http://forums.contractoruk.com/accou...brooksons.html

**Alan @ BroomeAffinity** · 2 March 2015, 11:36

We've taken some business form them recently and from what I can ascertain from them:

they are slow to respond to queries.
you do not get a named contact (if that's important to you).
they are kind of expensive (£150 per month).

FLIPSIDE,

their advisors are very knowledgable
their online system is very good.

**Alan @ BroomeAffinity** · 2 March 2015, 11:39

There are a few comments on this thread also:

http://forums.contractoruk.com/accou...ml#post2057675

**Weegee** · 2 March 2015, 11:59

Thanks for that.

I noticed from another thread posted ..this comment:

'In my (albeit limited) experience with Brookson clients, they are seldom well informed as they entrust almost everything to Brookson and just sign what's out under their nose. That's not necessarily directed to the OP, by the way, just a general observation. '

Also do they have enough staff to cope with queries from their customers?

**Alan @ BroomeAffinity** · 2 March 2015, 12:04

Again, I can only comment on personal experience but I've sent 4 or 5 clearance letters to them in the last couple of months and it takes an eternity to get a response. To a degree that's understandable because they are going to prioritise existing customers rather than those that they have already lost, but it may be an indicator of their standard operating procedures.

**Unix** · 2 March 2015, 12:06

I use them, their online portal is excellent and you barley have to interact with anyone if your needs are simple. But that brings me to the biggest problem, you have to email a generic email address for queries or call a number which I think is staffed by call handlers (not accountants) so it can take weeks to get a query resolved. This has almost made me leave them a few times.

**Alan @ BroomeAffinity** · 2 March 2015, 12:16

Indeed. For balance, the vast majority of contractors needs ARE simple and therefore personal service, quick response times are really not that important. I guess it's a numbers game: For every client that is unhappy with their response times, there are hundreds who don't need it so why focus on it? And to be fair, they have something like 10,000 clients so they can't be bad.

**Weegee** · 2 March 2015, 12:28

Originally posted by Unix View Post

I use them, their online portal is excellent and you barley have to interact with anyone if your needs are simple. But that brings me to the biggest problem, you have to email a generic email address for queries or call a number which I think is staffed by call handlers (not accountants) so it can take weeks to get a query resolved. This has almost made me leave them a few times.

mmm I wonder how many actual accountants they have and how able the call handlers are , to answer specific questions. I know that I would personally prefer to
speak to someone qualified...rather than someone from a call centre.

**Unix** · 2 March 2015, 12:30

Originally posted by Weegee View Post

mmm I wonder how many actual accountants they have and how able the call handlers are , to answer specific questions. I know that I would personally prefer to
speak to someone qualified...rather than someone from a call centre.

The call handlers have some knowledge but I don't think they are the ones doing the "accounting" so are limited.

Anyone use Brooksons Accountants?