Contract Xchange

taffy056

there are plenty of calls coming in, we are waiting about a minute between each one, sometimes its quicker, its never been after that up to now. I am just starting out in this as its my second day, and you have alot of things to do, taking about 4-5 calls an hour at the moment, it doesn't sound a lot, but the quicker you get around the system the quicker you can get off calls, most of the time is taken up with asking the system people at bgs in how to do things, once you know what to do, you will spend less time on calls and get up to about 10-12 calls an hour, its very achievable you are looking to get your times down to about 5 mins a call, and they do come in quicklyso nothing stopping you from earning about £12 an hour.

taffy056

selyoh wrote: »

OK I can see that its now on their home page. Wasn't there before and I bought a new pc !

you still can put this onto your business though, it will be a business expense

mstopham

I just spotted a potential flaw! They want download speeds of 3Meg, I have Sky Broadband base atm with 2mb, the reason for this was i am on the edge of the exchange range and was only getting 2.5 - 3 on the highest package.

Has anyone passed with under 3Meg download speed? I can upgrade to the next package up but the speed did used to fluctuate above and below 3Mbps.

taffy056

mstopham wrote: »

Has anyone passed with under 3Meg download speed? I can upgrade to the next package up but the speed did used to fluctuate above and below 3Mbps.

keep on doing the test until you get a download speed of 3mps and then submit the test results, also the next package up for sky is just an extra £5 I think so its hardly going to break the bank I should imagine

mstopham

taffy056 wrote: »

keep on doing the test until you get a download speed of 3mps and then submit the test results, also the next package up for sky is just an extra £5 I think so its hardly going to break the bank I should imagine

Good thinking batman! Should be able to upgrade to it and possibly downgrade again not too long after. (Well max of 12 months). Got a lot of fiddling to do then to get the PC up and running and hardwired in (think I got a long enough cable knocking about) and repeated testing to get the speed!

capitan19792000

Hi all, just to make you aware of my current situation regarding the 'Free PC Desktop'. I recently had a telephone interview with British Gas, which I passed and was then invited for training. I have completed all three online tests, two of which I passed, the one in which I failed was the PC specification test; I subsequently emailed Contractxchange and spoke to them via their chat room, in doing so I was told that I was eligible for this offer. I then told them the dates I wished to train and they advised me that they were sending me a contract to complete/sign and then return back to them. I assume after that I will receive this compatible 'Free PC Desktop' - fingers crossed!!

I must admit I am not overly confident in investing a lot of money into this job opportunity, purely because until you complete AND PASS the training, you will not receive any form of payment back; so effectively you could make a loss before you even start. I am more than happy to invest in the training (can pay in installments as you earn) and the telephone line, but the cost of purchasing a new PC that will meet their specification, could be expensive!

I am really interested to hear from people who have gone through the training with Contractxchange, and find out how well they are getting on with taking calls, how many their taking, if they're making a lot of sales, etc? Taffy has kindly answered this in part, but it would be good to hear from people who have been doing this job for several weeks.

BecksBoSox

Thanks Taffy and everyone who has contributed to this thread, it is really helpful. I have a few questions on the self employed registration, I appreciate we are all not tax advisers, so your opinions are welcome, I am just looking for some input:

1. If I understand correctly you don't need to register as self employed with HM Revenue until you actually have a contract and starting work, right? This is separate from being VAT registered.

2. Who actually employs you or contracts your services? BG or ContractXchange?

3. It is not required that we become VAT registered until the business reaches a threshold of like 64K pounds a year.

3. When you are asked to list the business address, can you use BG or ContractXchange address? If you use your home address, is having your address tied to a business another tax implication?

4. The Tax Man says that if you are self employed but only work for one employer you might be considered a employee and not self employed. Does anyone know how ContractXchange is getting around that if they are only lining people up with BG, will there be more contractors available soon?

Oh and I *think* another added expense is the change to your home insurance. From what I understand you should declare you are working from home, which changes your rates? Anyone familiar with this?

Thanks for any advice and we look forward to your updates when you get some time Taffy!

Becks

taffy056

BecksBoSox wrote: »

Thanks Taffy and everyone who has contributed to this thread, it is really helpful. I have a few questions on the self employed registration, I appreciate we are all not tax advisers, so your opinions are welcome, I am just looking for some input:

1. If I understand correctly you don't need to register as self employed with HM Revenue until you actually have a contract and starting work, right? This is separate from being VAT registered.

It takes several weeks to do both, so you could wait until you know you have passed to do this, one thing to note though, you will not be paid into your bank until your paperwork comes back, as they charge VAT to bgs and you must be registered for vat.

BecksBoSox wrote: »

2. Who actually employs you or contracts your services? BG or ContractXchange?

Please note that you are not employed by anyone, you are out sourced contractor who undertakes work for british gas, you are self employed

BecksBoSox wrote: »

3. It is not required that we become VAT registered until the business reaches a threshold of like 64K pounds a year.

please see question 1

BecksBoSox wrote: »

3. When you are asked to list the business address, can you use BG or ContractXchange address? If you use your home address, is having your address tied to a business another tax implication?

not really most self employed people work from home, the difference is that you AT home, and you can make tax saving for utilities, rent/mortgage etc

BecksBoSox wrote: »

4. The Tax Man says that if you are self employed but only work for one employer you might be considered a employee and not self employed. Does anyone know how ContractXchange is getting around that if they are only lining people up with BG, will there be more contractors available soon?

You are self employed, you are an out sourced contractor, it makes no difference if you do a lot of work for one company, you are not on their payroll, there is a distinction here

BecksBoSox wrote: »

Oh and I *think* another added expense is the change to your home insurance. From what I understand you should declare you are working from home, which changes your rates? Anyone familiar with this?

Thanks for any advice and we look forward to your updates when you get some time Taffy!

Becks

any change to insurance etc, can be set against the business

littleange

I'm not sure about the registering for VAT bit, doesn't that effectively mean you will be earning less as you have to pay VAT aswell?

Gavin_R

littleange_com wrote: »

I'm not sure about the registering for VAT bit, doesn't that effectively mean you will be earning less as you have to pay VAT aswell?

No because your paid the call rate plus VAT. So you just need to put the VAT away until its due in a savings account or similar.