Chalk Hill Accountancy

Wendy is Amazing!! I enquired with Chalk Hill very last minuet to sort my tax returns out and luckily for me Wendy took on my case and went above and beyond to help me. I know nothing about tax in any way at all and she spoke to me in a way that helped me understand and she didnt make me feel stupid about it. She worked around me and my work schedule making it a lot easier to be able to chat and get things sorted which I really appreciated. I feel like Ive gained an amazing accountant but not only that I've gained a friend and someone I can trust in.

If all of Chalk Hill's accountants are like Wendy then I can guarantee you, you won't regret using Chalk Hill.

I don't usually leave reviews and I certainly don't want to come across as unfair but I feel I have to voice my experience.
I first met Wendy a few years ago and she was super helpful in proof checking my self assessment. In July of this year, I reached out to her again as I wanted to her to file my tax returns. I called her up and we spoke on the phone; she was friendly and polite and asked that I send over my relevant paperwork. All was emailed and she acknowledged receipt of my email and said she would have these completed shortly. I heard nothing from her for a couple of weeks so called the office - I had to leave a voicemail so I emailed instead, no response. Between the 5th July and 30th August, I must have sent 6 emails and left numerous voicemails - every single one ignored! As the messages and emails went on, my tone shifted from 'can I have an update', to 'can you please confirm you are receiving these messages', to 'Wendy, seriously? What is going on? Are you okay? Are you still trading?' - Every single email ignored.

I decided to take an impromptu visit to the office fully expecting the premises to be closed up and abandoned but I was let in by a co-worker and sure enough, there was Wendy! She was a little uncomfortable in talking with me - I asked if she had been receiving my emails and she confirmed she had. I asked why she had not had the courtesy to reply, she simply apologised and said she had been busy. I asked her if she still wanted to represent me - at this point I was expecting her to say she was too busy, or simply unable to assist but she didn't. She told me she was happy to file my tax return and she would have it completed by Wednesday 14th September.

The 14th came and went with no update. I left it a few more days and once again started reaching out to her for an update - it is now the 2nd October (3 months since I first spoke to her) and she has still made no attempt to call, email or update me, let alone complete my return. I have since used a different accountant who completed my return for me within 48 hours.

I have no idea what is going on with Chalk Hill. I simply cannot believe anybody (professional or otherwise) can ignore so many attempts at communication so I have to assume there is something underlying here which is causing the problem.

This is not an attack at Wendy as a person; she seems to be a perfectly lovely lady but there has to be something amiss here. This is not a business that I can recommend with any confidence, particularly when dealing with sensitive data. I have to politely warn others to avoid Chalk Hill Accountancy until they are able to transact properly again.

Genuinely the worst "company" I've ever had to deal with.

The good:
- They are very competitively priced which was why I went with them in the first place.

The bad:

- Almost impossible to get ahold of, months went by without replies to my emails and she never answered my calls.
- Randomly stopped my payroll without contacting me.
- Missed submission deadlines with HMRC.
- Over the course of the year blamed her lack of replies on "it went to the junk inbox" (even though they had replied to the email in the past and I sent requests via her website and also multiple different emails), COVID a number of times, short staff and even had the cheek to delay replying for 5 weeks becuase of a holiday.
- In the space of the year whilst I was dealing with Wendy they appeared to have a high turnover of staff with only Wendy being the only permanenent member.
- Eventually agreed to process my annual return by an agreed date, 2 days before (after receiving no contact since) I asked if everything was in order, with a summary of what needed doing and she replied saying she was unable to achieve it by the date.

The only redeeming feature with this whole saga is that she offered a full refund in the end as she admitted she effectively hadn't done any of my accounting and I am now with another accountant.

I can only presume she has too many clients but this is no excuse for consistently lying and ignoring customers. She does tend to go to the office so if she keeps ignoring you please wait outside of the office and you will catch her leaving the building eventually. If you knock on the door she'll try to claim she is with a client but she won't be (no clients left the building whilst I was waiting).

I would avoid!