Umbrella company comparison

Recently, umbrella companies have been growing at a decent pace. Now the industry is boasting of huge number of these companies. Websites of all these companies are glowing with positive testimonials- but who would ever put a negative comment on its website?

You may easily narrow down your research to 3 or 4 companies, but now you are stuck with that list. If this is true for you, here are few quick pointers to help you out in this situation.

What kind of response do you get when you call?

Are your phones being answered by humans or through an automated system asking you to navigate to speak to someone? Sometimes, you will be in queue to talk to a person after spending 10 or so minutes in the navigation.

When you call us, we immediately answer your phones and reply to all your queries. We take all the calls and there are no automated robots to put you through strange navigational menus.

Are sales and client phone numbers the same?

Most of the companies will give different phone numbers for clients and for sales. This means that these companies are giving priority to new customers. Once they get you, they put you on second priority, meaning you have to wait on phone lines and you never get the same treatment as the new customers.

We offer the same level of priority to everyone, whether new or existing customer. We will answer all your queries whenever you call the customer support line.

Is there any personal account manager?

When you start contracting, you will have many questions about everything. You will require lot of attention during that phone. When you call the customer support, most companies will put you through to someone else after hearing your queries and you would go on repeating yourself forever.

We appoint a personal accountant for every new contractor to ensure that he or she is getting all the help needed. These personal account managers know about their contractors and hence they are able to offer complete help regarding everything.

What about email support?

When companies provide you with a support email, they will usually give you a generic email address. This means that you will go through the same thing on email as you went through while calling the customer support.

We help you to connect with your account manager directly through phone and email making sure that you are getting personal treatment.

How are the service levels?

With guaranteed service levels, you will not have to wait to get answers to your queries. If you are not sure about the service levels of the company, you may have to wait for days before you get answers to your queries.

We give a timeframe for each query, 48 hours in most cases. We will respond to all your queries within this timeframe.

How the company is calculating its margin?

Since it costs the same to process your daily earnings whether they are small or huge, we charge the same margins irrespective of your daily earnings. Usually, umbrella companies charge a percentage of your earnings, penalizing you for making more money.

Have you seen the list of services?

Have you looked at the list of services different companies offer? You will notice that most of these companies will only offer services related to your work with them- but what happens when you are only contracting for a limited period? What about your requirements after that period?

We offer you to setup your own limited company. Whenever you make the decision, we will provide all kinds of accountancy services. This means you will not have to switch providers once you change your preferences.

It is your choice and not your agency’s choice

Many agencies will give you a list of recommended umbrella companies. There is nothing wrong with that. However, some agencies would want you to work with a particularly company taking your choice away. Remember, as a contractor you have the choice to work with an umbrella company of your choice. Follow the guidelines above and pick a winner- it’s always your choice in the end!