REACTFAST

[Malc]

Anyone on here use them ? What i want to know is does anyone use them who is not VAT registered and how do you claim back the money on materials you have used ?

I've bought £2500 worth of initial stock and it's all on one invoice. Reactfast want a receipt for materials used on every job. I cannot do that because it's all on one invoice.

How does it work for those of you who use them.

Thanks

Malc

[WhiteHat]

these two topics may help:

viewtopic.php?t=5325
viewtopic.php?t=5125

[pinky]

when you use stock, you must go and buy reactfast used stock weekly on a seperate invoice, otherwise you wont reclaim your parts, or wait a month or more and send in 1 big invoice for all stock used, fully itemiseing job number to materials.
other than vat registering, this is what you must do

[cred]

hi,
what i do is photocopy the original,send the original to them (they dont accept photocopys) then when you use a lock on a job make another photocopy and mark off which item/lock you used and send it with the appropiate job sheet,just make sur to keep a list of locks that you have used,its a bit log winded but you soon get used to it. as pinky said you could wait and send them after you have done quite a few jobs making it eaiser for yourself but things are a bit slow for me at the moment so i do it that way.
hope it makes sense
ray

[EvoRed]

Yes, it can be a bit of a pain reclaiming the money for parts from Reactfast. With Safehouse UK, they accept copies of your invoice, so I send them a copy of the invoice for which the part used is on, and simply ring the relevant part and write the job reference...a lot easier if using stock that's been on your van for a while...

Why Reactfast don't accept invoice copies when Safehouse do I'm not sure...

[toomush2drink]

Whats the deal with safehouse ? Is it similar to reactfast or better ?

[EvoRed]

You get a better percentage share of 60% for Safehouse at all times, and there are only two labour rates, one for 8am-6pm week days and the other for all other times.

Reactfast though, especially where I am, appear to make their labour rates up as they go along, which is usually considerably higher than Safehouse.

In short, the money in your pocket is similar but Reactfast are getting more of a share for themselves from the customer than Safehouse...

[cred]

hi,
i recived my application form from safehouse ages ago,sent it back but never heard anyting as yet,this was about 2 months ago!!!

[pinky]

cred, safehouse are slow. also the way you do your reactfast invoices works for reactfast, but possibly not for you, if you get an inland revenue inspection, they will not accept a photocopy of an invoice, they then check its provenence, reactfast enter this invoice in their books as there costs, which is correct, your problem begins when inland revenue realise that you both have claimed for the same invoice, if you do it this way then you cannot enter this invoice in your books too. only 1 of you can claim the invoice and only on an original invoice, not a photo copy.

remember that if inspected and this is found, for every £1 you claimed you are charged £24 in penalty, and thats if you make a mistake, it becomes £80 for every £1 claimed if they suspect fraud.
food for thought.

[cred]

pinky didnt know that (theres always somthing!) i think its time to have a chat with the accountant
cheers

[Rick-the-Pick]

Hi chap's,
Maybe you should try something that i've been praticing for a while,
I purchase a lot of my stock in bulk purchase for cash, ie, auctions, flood damage (box only damage) etc!
I call this little business of mine, for example " Ricks Supplies ".
For £15 you can get a printed receipt pad with these details printed on the top.
I then sell them to my locksmith side at the correct retail price with a written receipt, so in theory im doubling my money+ on the locks and the customer can see the receipt if required!
I've never been used by these companies ie, reactfast etc, warrent run's but i know a few that do. They use the same system!
A good accountant will charge no more that £650 a year to organize your Vat, but well woth the extra hassle!

[Secureit]

Interesting to see people using safehouse uk but has anyone had work off them yet

[AUTOLOX]

Do you think if we all stopped working for these places they could not do any locksmith work, so pointless advertising, so we would get the work after all we put all the hard work in.

Why should they profit from our hard work?????????

Lets face it if you are making them money they can carry on advertising,if they carry on advertising you will never get anywhere.

They charge an hourly rate for a reason(big profit) they do not care if you profit or not.anything go's wrong you are on your own.

YOU are the person the customer see's,you do the work,you supply the parts,you spend all your time practicing,your van,your tools,your time THERE PROFIT.

Do a good job there business benefits not yours.

If you are good,honest you will get repeat work it does not happen over night.

(must stop ranting,must stop ranting,must stop ranting, where are my pills)

[Rick-the-Pick]

These Company's will always be around! Great marketing strategy's are used to mask the bad workmanship, and it bloody works!
These company's use text book methods to recruit the guy's, the wages are bread & butter & a lot of there guy's are probably quite happy as it cover's the mortgage etc!
The only way to defeat these company's is to think ahead of them, gone are the day's of working hard to make your money, now it's working clever! You'll have to be cleverer than them! They probably employ full time marketing consultants!
Sod that Guy's, I for one cant afford to match them on that side, so i'll carry on working non-destructively and hopefully the industry will have a complete revamp!

[EvoRed]

Interesting to see people using safehouse uk but has anyone had work off them yet

Got one this week, a couple of lock changes. Lockouts, I can understand customers panicking and calling anyone, but lock changes in advance, there's little excuse. If they rang around for quotes and called me direct they'd find me a lot cheaper...

Anyway, I don't think you'll get too much from Safehouse. I've been on their books just over a couple of months and have had half a dozen jobs.