QSL Tenders

What an absolute scam. From a 4 week trial to being stung for 2 full years of payments. The database hasnt been accessed by us since April 2012, yet the forced payment for that year, and now a second year because it 'auto renewed'. I have argued till I am blue in the face with them, written to them explaining I wasnt aware that we even had a subscription, and asked where their account management was, they record all log ins, so knowing we hadnt logged in since April 2012 is that not clear that we are not using the system and are unaware of the subscription until an invoice arrives, then a debt collectors letter with screengrabs. Had we been contacted to say 'look guys youre paying for this do you need any help' it would at least make it easier to pay this invoice, but nothing for two years. Aggressive people on the phone, awful service. Im now being told I cant exercise the 25% pay to get out clause, and I need to go online and cancel the subscription, thats the only way, they dont accept letters. Joke of an outfit, one of the worst cases of being tied to a contract that I have seen in my years in business - ADVICE - STEER CLEAR OF THESE PEOPLE LIKE THE PLAGUE

First off, I want to say that I am NOT an employee of QSL. I signed up for their service last week and I realised that you have to pay £579 + VAT if you do not cancel within the time given. I rang them up today and spoke to a pleasant woman on the phone and asked them about their pricing policy and any kind of payment plans and she sent me an email over immediately with all the details. I admit that their "don't cancel and we'll invoice you" tactic does seem quite underhand and overall it undermines the trustworthiness of business as a whole, but I have found that the tenders that QSL has provided my company with have been very useful and I am sure we will make more than the cost of the subscription back on clients. We are still debating whether or not to go for a full subscription after the trial has ended but it seems that we might. I think a lot of people here need to read terms and condtions a bit more thoroughly before getting themselves into this mess. I am not the most organized of people yet I saw that we have to cancel.

Don't Sign up for the qsl-tenders website - I stumbled across this website offering a 15 days free facility so I signed up a couple of weeks later I recieved an invoice for £395.00.
When I contacted them they told me that the invoice was the cost in advance of use of the website, which I didn't require.
When I explained that I wasn't a company and didn't require their service the attitude was tough, pay up or we will set a debt collection agency on you.
I must have communicated with them about14 times and their attitude remains the same,
Pay up or else.
I would suggest that anybody needing this type of service should use other similiar sites as these people are only interested in signing you up to a contract and chasing you for money.
If you where not happy with a product you could return it to a shop and have it replaced or get your money back. These people are clearly not interested in building relationships just grabbing money.

Exposed in the National Press - QSL

The curse of the internet free trial offer strikes again. This time it's a company called QSL, which gives subscribers the details of UK and EU contracts that have been put out to tender.

South Shields family firm ­Architectural Entrance Systems Ltd, which makes steel security doors for shops, was tempted to give the site a whirl, found that it didn't suit them and forgot all about it.

That was until they got a bill for £795 plus VAT from QSL because they'd forgotten to cancel the deal at the end of the trial period.

"We wanted to increase our scope for business by looking at tender ­procurement sites," said Christian ­Ryan-Munden of Architectural Entrance Systems.

"We found their tenders to be not really related to our industry and, in any case they were available for free elsewhere.

"QSL would send emails every day regarding useless tenders but they did not contact me to discuss payment terms or warn that the free trial was almost over and we would be charged if we didn't cancel."

QSL is run from Market Harborough by director Gordon Hosie, 54, (above) and company secretary David Hosie and is notching up furious online complaints for its sales tactics, known as inertia selling.
We met Gordon, who denied that all the tender details that they provide are ­available for free on ­Government websites.

He also insisted that subscribers are warned that they will be charged if they don't cancel after four weeks.

Gordon: "When people sign up for this subscription we send them two emails saying when the trial expires."

Penman: "That's at the start, four weeks later it hasn't worked for them so they've forgotten about it - why not send the email at the end of the four weeks saying 'cancel now or you'll get an invoice'?'"

Gordon: "We could look at that."

Penman: "If your service really is that good, why not bill subscribers monthly rather than demand a full year's fee the moment the trial ends?"

Gordon: "That's standard subscription practice."

Penman: "There are a lot of highly critical online comments about QSL."

Gordon: "I've got no comment."

Penman: "How often do you sue companies that refuse to pay your invoices?"

Gordon: "No comment."

After we stepped in, QSL offered ­Architectural Entrance Systems a reduced bill of £238.50 - and the South Shields company told them where to shove it.

blogs.mirror.co.uk/investigations/2013/01/customers-unhappy-with-qsl-ten.html

A year ago my friend and I had been recently made redundant and so we wanted to explore working freelance. To help us with this we set up a limited company in my freind's name. I subscribed to a couple of free website to receive tenders, whcih included QSL. None of the free e-mail bulletins that we received were useful, and so after a while we even stopped checking them. I completely forgot about QSL as their emails were going into our junk mail and I did not recall reading anything about having to pay a full year's subscription. Just a couple of months ago my freind received an email from them demanding for her to pay the £600 (the full year's subscription). My friend explained that we had not received any of their email and that they had gone direct into our junk mail.

Anyway, to cut a long story short, now QSL are taking my friend to court in October and demanding a payment of £900. I feel very bad about this, as I was the one to sign up for these e-mails, though neither of us have used their services. The company is in her name, though she has me down as her associate on the website, so legally she's is one responsible for payment.

They're obviously a ruthless and devious bunch of individuals who are using this misleading way of signing up for free e-bulletins to extort money from people. I feel so angry, but I do not know what my legal position is. I wonder if anyone who has had a similar experience would be inetersted in taking action against them jointly? We might have a better chance acting together. We need to stop these people from carrying on conning unsuspecting people in this way.

Please get in touch with me if you want to share any ideas or if you want to join me in taking action against them. My email is *******@live.co.uk.

Thanks.