Is it me or is being anonymous bad practice?
December 7, 2009 in Contractor News, Freelancing, Industry comment, Life
In our “lofty” position as a market leader (by volume and reputation) we come across a number of new and old Contractor service companies. They sometimes advertise on google using our name as a match and sometimes use low fees as a technique too. All is fair (well not always but let’s not get legal) in love and war but when a new one pops up or an old one uses a campaign, you can’t help but take a peek.
What really astounds me is the anonymity that many companies display. Quite often there is even a lack of the full company details (a legal requirement!) let alone an indication of who is behind it all. May be I am just odd but as a Contractor I wanted to know something about who was looking after my affairs and whilst it can’t be entirely open, surely something more than “Accountants with x years experience” or “run by Contractors” is hardly engendering trust.
Is it because the services offered are at the racy end of the tax spectrum? Maybe, but HMRC can get info on most companies if they want so it is hardly a good defence. Perhaps I am barking up the wrong tree here and it’s not a problem for many but a faceless business seems to lack confidence in my view.
Chris Futcher said on January 22, 2010
Umbrella Companies who should pride themselves in transparency, integrity and provide a communicative and supportive service to contractors must be much more open about themselves than the ones eluded to here! An organisation who are one of the critical links in your personal affairs but are not willing to even give you a telephone number, or the name of an individual to deal with from the outset should ring very loud warning bells!