4 years ago
The 'no refunds' policy of this firm is a serious ...
The 'no refunds' policy of this firm is a serious problem.
Our firm, London IP Ltd, is a firm of patent and trademark attorneys and used Wow from 2013 to 2019.
Until preparation of the accounts for y/e March 2019 our experience was without cause for complaint.
We were advised it would be very expensive to undertake an investigation to determine the cause of the discrepancy.
We therefore lost trust in Wow as a firm of accountants, and did not wish to continue to use its services.
Unfortunately we had been paying Wow in advance on a month basis a fee of several hundred pounds.
When we told Wow that we were moving firm it refused to refund any of the monies paid on account for work that they would not undertake.
Unfortunately (and somewhat bizarrely) the firm as a whole appears to be unregulated meaning that there is no body (such as the ICAEW) that can adjudicate a complaint against the firm.
Instead the ICAEW can only adjudicate complaints brought against individual accountants that work at the firm.
To quote the person that we contacted at the ICAEW: 'As you have identified, The Wow Company UK Limited is not an ICAEW member firm and it appears to be unregulated.'
We therefore tried to raise a complaint against a particular accountant at the firm that handled our complaint (and was personally regulated by the ICAEW) but the ICAEW refused to process it on grounds that the refusal to provide a refund was not owing to that accountant's conduct (it was a decision of the firm and a contractual matter only suitable for the courts).
As a highly regulated firm of lawyers we find it difficult to understand how in any circumstance a firm of accountants can essentially be unregulated, and even if the are unregulated how they can try to justify (legally and ethically) not refunding monies for work that it will not undertake in the event that a client wishes to change firm of accountants.
Certainly if we refused to refund client monies our regulator would have something to say about it!
This 'no refunds' policy of Wow appears to be solely a punitive measure to make it difficult for clients to change to a different firm of accountants in the event that they are unhappy with the service provided.
So in summary, if you want to hire a firm of accountants that will not refund money paid on account in respect of work that they are not going to do (even if you have been a customer for several years) then this might be the firm for you.