A few weeks ago, Parasol, a leading umbrella company, was struck by a cyber-attack that caused severe issues to the company’s operations. Now, it appears the impact of the attack remains, and angry employees have taken to Twitter to share their displeasure. The last public update from Parasol was well over a week ago now, but here is what we’ve found out.
Where do Parasol umbrella employees stand?
After a cyber-attack struck over 2 weeks ago, the last message that Parasol released on social media was on the 17th of January – 11 days ago. The message (taken from Twitter) said:
“Update – Please continue to use the LiveChat function if you need to speak to our team, or if you are awaiting payment, please DM us so we can look into it for you straight away. Thank you for your patience and again, we apologise for any inconvenience this may be causing.”
Update – Please continue to use the LiveChat function if you need to speak to our team, or if you are awaiting payment, please DM us so we can look into it for you straight away. Thank you for your patience and again, we apologise for any inconvenience this may be causing. pic.twitter.com/NE8VLLleBW
— Parasol (@parasolgroup) January 17, 2022
According to the message above, phone lines remain down (presumably), making the LiveChat feature the only way to contact customer support at Parasol Group. Understandably, this has resulted in some confusion amongst Parasol’s umbrella employees, with some suggesting the LiveChat wait time is unacceptable. One Twitter user pointed out they were number 120 in the waiting queue. If you scroll down, we’ve shared some of the Tweets by Parasol’s employees regarding the current situation. Understandably, there is a lot of uncertainty.
If you are a Parasol umbrella employee, you can access the LiveChat feature on the Parasol Group’s website (an icon should appear at the bottom right-hand side of the homepage).
As Parasol Group is FCSA accredited, reaching out to the FCSA can do no harm, although we cannot guarantee the outcome. Please visit the FCSA’s website for more information. You can view the FCSA’s Complaints Procedure here.
Do you have any updates on Parasol Group?
If you represent Parasol and would like us to share a statement on our website (viewed by thousands of umbrella employees each month), please send an email to editorial@umbrellacompanies.org.uk and we’ll post it – word for word.
If you are a Parasol umbrella company employee and you have information that you think will help others affected at this difficult time, please post a comment below. Please make sure you refrain from bad language because we will not validate these comments.
What is being said on social media?
Angry and confused Parasol employees have taken to Twitter to seek answers regarding the lack of payments received over the last couple of weeks. Many accusations are being thrown in the direction of Parasol, including some workers claiming Parasol has “chosen to ignore” and that they have “not paid contractors correctly for 3 weeks”.
Here are just some of the Tweets that have been directed at Parasol Group:
@parasolgroup the worst umbrella company! Do not use them! Not paid contractors correctly for 3 weeks! And still cannot pay us! Spoke to Tom on the online chat, after 40mins unable to help! @BBCWorld report this!!
— Nicky (@N1cky888) January 28, 2022
The claim from their CEO that payroll is now running as normal is clearly utter rubbish. I finally got paid some money this week, but less than 20% of what the owe me
— Ben Pilbeam (@BenPilbeam) January 28, 2022
I have contacted @FCSA_org today regarding formal complaints regarding @parasolgroup i would tell them but currently still in chat queue at number 119 for my daily call with them.
— Louise (@cambourne7) January 28, 2022
@parasolgroup your service is becoming an absolute joke. Im yet to be fully paid from before Christmas. This is now having a serious impact and nobody is even answering the phone. I need some response today.
— Daisy Watson (@bouxwho) January 28, 2022
Come on @parasolgroup,you’ve got my money. I can’t raise timesheets, your not answering the phone and not responding to emails. When are you going to pay me ?@Trustpilot#poorcustomerservice #CyberAttack
— parm bhopal (@pbhopal) January 27, 2022
Yeah there playing a game here, they’ve said the same thing to me back in Jan 5, they were delaying my pay til the so called “Shortage” happened. Spent hours and hour in the phone to them but nothing. Best bet might be to wait till it’s ‘all sorted’ to chase for those funds
— Abz (@Abz_1991) January 27, 2022
Lots of misleading information from the team. Still waiting this end…
— _Graphic Designer (@zodical) January 27, 2022
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