Haines Watts Reviews 32

I used the Leicester branch and I must say Mr Tayub went above and beyond for me.

Late filing, loads of errors and put our company in 5k worth of debt due to errors.
After saying they'd clear a debt that wasn't ours, they've put it on our statement and hounding us for full payment. They've not filed for us in a year and now we owe huge to HMRC. Been calling and emailing to get contact to rectify the issue. No reply or response. Absolutely stay clear of this company. We are seeking legal advice about this as hands down this company has zero competence to file correctly all our codes were incorrect. They also did our YE incorrectly too. Several accountants informed us that when they checked our accounts haines watts had messed up all the numbers and highly over charged us and left us to fen for ourselves. We have been left in major debt because of their incompetence. We've been struggling for 3 years with them!

I have been with Haines Watts of Chester for two years. Joe Walters is my principle contact and I highly recommend Joe for both his professionalism and personable attitude. He not only produces my Profit/Loss account and end of the year tax return but offers proactive advice throughout the year.
Would you like an accountant that you can get insights from your ideas and proposals so you know where to focus your time to help your business grow? Joe Walters, Haines Watts- your friendly Accountant and Tax specialist.

Excellent advice given regarding my personal tax situation.very approachable team in Cardiff.

WHATEVER YOU DO, DO NOT HIRE THEM. Horrible people - particularly one individual named Ryan who, when we finally got round to sacking them, behaved like a complete baby.

They didn't complete any of the work correctly, made a million errors and still expect to receive a full payment.

We were handed over to them by our previous accountant, by far the worst thing that ever happened to our business.

We had a great experience using the Cardiff Team, very proactive, helpful and prompt with delivering our requirements.
Would highly recommend in the future.

Really helpful - the team at Cardiff have been quick to answer my queries and helped out with Xero Training and VAT, would highly recommend.

My old accountant brought me to this company, and 6 months later she left, but with proper handover. I was asking for the last Self Assessment as I was closing the business, and at the end of Jan I found old letters from HMRC for a penalty (I missed last year SA). I told H&W about this penalty and they sort it out for me, as in I get a letter from HMRC claiming the penalty is discharged. Overall experience was good.

I have never experienced such incompetence and lack of customer service in 30 years of business. I was attracted to HW due to my business having offices overseas and complex tax arrangements. However to begin with we just needed Payroll completing in the UK. The first month was 95% correct which was strange as the handover from the previous company was very precise. However, month two was a disgrace. Not a single thing was right. And, not just a bit off, it was MILES off!
What is worse is that the information was not ready at 5 pm the night before the salary was due and I had to force people to send me the payroll before the close of play. When it arrived it was such a joke and it was too late to do anything about it!
When I complained, I was informed that it was my fault it was wrong, because of the pressure I was putting people under to get the information!!
Honestly, this is not a firm that cares about customers or it would appear to have competent people performing important tasks. Avoid!

Very unprofessional service. They bought over our old accountant and from then things went down the hill.
The accountant who worked with us left the company and nobody informed us, there was no proper handover and nobody at Haines Watts could help us - I mean no one was answering to our emails or calls for months! And then they missed our yearly accounts deadline and tried to force us to pay the fine. Very unprofessional communication and even rude.
It's my first negative review ever, but I think it's important to warn other SME. It was a frustrating experience and took a lot of our time, which we could spend on business development and making our clients happy instead.

Not impressed. Started off well with lots of promises of proactive accountancy. Failed to send HMRC notifications, sent an R&D cheque to the wrong address and never got HMRC to re-issue it. Produced accounts late causing the business to be fined, and then had the cheek to expect full payment. Avoid at all costs.

Two years running mistakes on my personal tax return have led to fines and warnings from HMRC. Despite sending info to them early submission not made til last minute and that was after a lot of chasing. Will not use again and definitely do not recommend

I have used Haines Watts and their predecessors for some18 Years in Aylesbury and found them both professional and helpful.
I consider them cost effective price wise but costs are always subjective and we all want a good deal.

Horrendous Company... Sent my business into administration by charging obscene fees... Be warned, they suck you in and your fees will quadruple.

Terrible everything. From missing my VAT deadline to charging me nearly £1000 to leave them. Service terrible. Literally just after your money. AVOID

WORST ACCOUNTANTS EVER,.......WATCH OUT FOR THOSE INSANE ADD-ON CHARGES...AVOID AT ALL COST

I'm reluctant to give this company a 1* STEER CLEAR AT ALL COSTS!!!!!!!!.

I used H&W for business accounting services. Very lazy accountants, get you to do all the work then charge you an extortionate fee for doing so.
They take on business that they have no experience in, mess it up then won't take any responsibility for the mess they have caused.
You call, for advice then they charge you a fee without telling you. (potential clients be warned!!!!!)
Reading from other reviewers they must have had the same experience.

I would not recommend them in any way

I used H&W London for personal tax and business accounting services. Their conduct was abysmal they charged without taking instructions or agreeing fees and overcharged in other respects. Their complaint was handled by a defensive partner that failed to understand the points at best and at worst was obtuse bordering on being outright false in his statements defending his failings. I would not recommend them in any way.

I contacted this company to help with some international tax planning. They were quick to get back to me but the initial meeting, nothing. Despite chasing several times, they have not returned my calls, email or any other form of comms. Reading the other reviews I think I might have dodged a bullet !

I used this company for Tax free advice as I moved abroad to work but I am still resident in the UK. I already knew my rights of working tax free abroad. Under the rules I met the criteria for the FTOW section - I also knew that if this was broken, I only had 2 Overseas ties for use with the Second Overseas test.

My first engagement consisted of a 15 min meeting which I provided all of the required documentation that the Accountant asked for - then whilst in my new location, I sent 6 emails (and ended up having to reply to umteen emails repeating the information that I had supplied in the original meeting - obvious that no notes were made or a file kept) - to clarify certain points that pertained to the recent Coronavirus changes, namely an explanation and clarity on the quarantine rules and how this would affect me. This service as well as my first year review (including that current tax year being a split year) I was billed £550, which I was happy to pay.

However, last month, I sent 1 email asking for clarity on whether my days on leave counted as a 'Significant Break' as previously I was led to believe (by this accountant) that this was the case, as the accountant kept re-iterating this point (not to exceed 30 continuous days) - After a week, I got a detailed reply which mostly repeated the HMRC guidelines word for word, which I already knew, and it gave me about 2 sentences of clarification that my Annual leave does not count as a 'significant break' But he also gave me another review of my previous 2 tax years (which did not need or ask for) and then when I received the invoice, they wanted £850!

I replied by email asking for an explanation to this cost as I only wanted clarification on 2 points and the rest of the email was not warranted as I already had guidance and those previous financial years were signed off by them the invoice for those services was paid.

The last reply from the accountant was that he spent 5 hours giving me this very detailed, highly sensitive and tailored information to me which in turn will save me £,000's

I would highly recommend you stay well away from this company especially the Edinburgh branch as you will pay through the teeth for very little advice.