Advise on using a Virtual Office

[sajhas]

Hi Guys,

Not sure if this is the correct forum to post this on so apologies in advance.

I'm looking to use a virtual address for both the registered office for my start up and service address for me as a director.

I'm not too keen with publicly disclosing my home address as is currently the case.

Has any one had any experiences with any services - can anyone recommend any?

I have found a service - capital-office (can't post link sorry)

They boast charges of £40-50 per annum which includes mail forwarding - seems a bit too good to be true considering other services i've found charge that much per month at a minimum.

Appreciate all the advise!

Thanks,
Saj

 

[FirstClassVirtualOffice]

You just need to tot up any and all costs for using it as a trading address, registered office and directors service address, as often these have additional costs. Then look at charges for mail forwarding - any handling & packaging fees, postage costs, etc. It looks like Capital charge a separate price for the above 3 services, and then your postage costs, and then vat on top. For one business name.

 

[RapidFormations]

It's important to remember that a Registered Office and Service Address will normally only include the forwarding of official company mail from HMRC & Companies House. This is only a few bits of mail a year, hence the relatively low cost.

That won't cover forwarding all your day to day business mail - this service is generally more expensive and incurs a handling charge of some kind. For example we forward mail free with the registered office and service address - but for a business address service we charge postage + 15% as this could include all sorts of large packages etc.

If you want to be able to use that address to give customers and suppliers, rather than just being on public record, then you really need the business address not just a registered office.

 

[TODonnell]

You get what you pay for. More important is reliability.

Postage costs money, as does admin. Some providers may save money by posting you your mail once a week, in a bundle. Like any good or service, there's a price point, below which, the odds of disappointment increase significantly.

 

[FirstClassVirtualOffice]

I guess that last post applies to companies who charge for handling mail who forward it as one bundle once a week so they save money, not the client, and the client has no option to have it sent more often.

We post mail out weekly as our most common mailing frequency by choice, but this only saves money for the client and not for us, as its their postage balance that decreases, not ours. We do not charge for mail handling/packing. I know some places charge a fixed fee per item of mail, or say £20 for 20 letters, who then still might bundle up the letters and thus make a killing at the clients expense.

Of course if they want it sending more often, perhaps daily - which quite a few of our clients do then they can have that too, or indeed less frequently. The customer gets to choose when they want it as they are paying the postage for it. It's irrelevant to us when we send it. It's usually people receiving cheques in the post and ad hoc urgent items that want it sent in daily and the rest they are happy to receive once or twice a week.

Pricing is down to a lot of things and we are quite cheap, albeit we are in the North so can't compare our prices to a London address. It does depend on overall, what you are getting within your total cost. Some more expensive options might have some more features, and so on. And of course, how you price your service is also down to your own overheads as to what you can charge. Someone in an expensive/exclusive location is always going to have to charge more than a room above a shop in the back end of nowhere special.

 

[hairymonster2000]

I too am looking for a virtual office with a 'good' London address that can be used as business address, registered address, directors address and occasional meeting room use.

I too came across capital-office but I also came across an 'independent' review of them, some 2 yeas old, in a top 10 list that said not to touch them with a bargepole and listing WestOne as the best (but they're quite pricey).

Obviously price is a factor but then so is service. Recommendation from this site was Registered address by Adamchy, pay as you go post by mkgreefield and hoxton mix by Alex Bowen.

Does anyone else have any experience of this type of service they can pass on please as it's very confusing trying to sort the wheat from the chaff. One I found with, supposedly, over 40 years experience in Regent Street suddenly has disappeared off the web since yesterday.

 

[FirstClassVirtualOffice]

It depends what you want from the service. Is it just reg office or also trading address as well? If just reg office, that's roughly the same for all London addresses, it's when you want to start using it as a general business trading address and then the mail forwarding, that costs extra.

Every company can fold, look at some of the big names. Just make sure they are registered with the HMRC for MLR and ICO for data protection. If they hide their address or don't seem transparent that you are left asking questions that you can't easily find on their website or in the T&C (that should be accessible BEFORE you sign up) then do avoid them. I have seen some that have no T&C, so that speaks volumes.

 

[hairymonster2000]

Well, from the research I've done, I wouldn't use any London mailing address company that I've found.

Regus must rank as one of the worst.

I've contacted companies using the others asking if they would recommend them and absolutely no response. Based on if you can't say anything good, say nothing at all, this can only mean they wouldn't recommend.

The recommended ones on here appear to be self recommends.

 

[FirstClassVirtualOffice]

The problem is that nobody wants to tell the public they are using a virtual office....that's almost always the reason for using one in the first place, hence unlikely to respond to you to confirm they are. They don't know who you are after all and there is nothing in it for them to spend any time giving a good or bad recommendation.

We average over 90% renewals, many months are 100% renewals, so we're happy with what we are doing but it's impossible to prove it as we can't share data. We buy stuff online, service or goods, and like anything you do your checks prior to paying, and see how it goes if you decide to buy, and dump them if it goes horribly wrong. You cannot avoid any sale going wrong in life, and we have paid for services based on great recommendations and still it's turned out to be a bad service, so even good testimonials can't guarantee you perfection.

 

[capitalvirtual]

We have been mentioned in this thread. We have been based in City Road London for over 30 years. Please do feel free to come into our offices in Kemp House to view our offices and meeting space. Our virtual office service provide excellent value, we provide a registered office and a mail forwarding service in addition to a professional call answering service.

In terms of your comment about Capital Office, we do have client who have been with us over 10 years, which we are very proud of.