Re: FN-FORUM: Prosperity4

date posted 2nd October 2006 09:00

Malcolm Izatt wrote:

> I am new to freelancing and wondered if anyone had used the tax
> management company Prosperity4?
>
> Any advice for a new freelancer looking for the best
> accountant/money-saving management company would be much appreciated!

The best advice I can offer you is to avoid them like the plague. This
is not only talking from personal experience but others who have also
had a similar experiences.



As soon as you sign up the communication almost stops. From memory they
were skimming 6% off of every invoice plus another chunk which they put
in a 'held' account and I struggled to get back and despite the fact
that it was my money it took 2 months and the cancellation of my
contract to get it.

Practically every email I have had from them began with an apology -
"sorry for not coming back to you", "sorry for not processing this that
and the other", "sorry mr/mrs/miss x was out of the office or sick or on
holiday or most recently 'had a death in the family'", "sorry that's not
my department" etc etc. I got absolutely sick of it and it was a real
upward struggle to get my money back from them wasting a huge amount of
my time and therefore money having to chase them down all of the time.

They sent an invoice to one of my clients that wasn't even for them but
for some other random company that another Prosperity4 contractor had
done work for which was embarrassing for me and made me look stupid in
front of my client.

It took them 2 months from my initial request to leave before i finally
got my P45. They lost 2 copies of my P45 in the post although I don't
believe they were ever sent.

I could go on and on but they have already wasted far too much of my
time and money in the past. The money you pay them would be better
invested in accountant and actually cost less in the long run and as I
have now discovered - bookkeeping is really not that complicated for
what I do.

I am also disappointed that this freelancers list promotes such a
service to other poor and unsuspecting freelancers as my case is not an
isolated incident with this company which Google will reveal.