Qype - Steer clear

[DFitton]

Hello,

This is my first post on here and I came across this forum when searching about the issue I am about to write. I want people to be aware of my problem and hopefully get a little advice but ultimately stop people from falling pray to these cheats. It does go on a bit but please bear with me.

I started my business almost 12 months ago and being on a limited budget registered with as many free listing as possible. One of these is Qype.

I then received a call from their sales team who spent a considerable amount of time talking to me about the "premium package" and all the traffic that my business would receive that I would receive weekly emails letting me know how my listing was doing and loads of other facts and figures. (Sounded too good to be true)

As I was a new business with VERY limited funds I repeatable said I was not interested. He then began to reduce the price and eventually convinced me to a 3 month trial for £270.00 clearly stating that if after that I was not interested that my account would revert back to the free listing and if I was interested in continuing to call them and pay another £270.00.

Once I agreed to this he sent me an Email to confirm the “package” and whilst he was on the phone in his words were, “scroll down to the link and click it”. He did not give me any opportunity to read it. He basically bullied me in to clicking this link.

So, after the first 3 months I had received NOTHING from Qype so I sent an email to the sales agent to ensure that the account was reverted back to a free listing. I did not receive a reply of any kind.

Almost 12 months on I received a call requesting payment of over £800.00. I explained the situation that it was a 3 month trial for £270.00 and that it was to revert back to a free listing and that I had actually not received ANYTHING from Qype. He asked me to forward to him the Email I sent to the sales guy but rather than giving me a business Email he gave me a personal Gmail address. What was that all about? He said he would look in to it.

A few weeks on I then get an invoice for £500+, followed by an email 12 hours later that stated that it was sent in error and to ignore it.???

I sent a complaint to Qype about all this requesting that the balance of my account to be set to zero and to remove my Qype account altogether.
Friday last week, 27/07/12 their representative called me to discuss this and although I told him what I was lead to believe I was buying said by clicking the link I had agreed to a minimum 6 month contract and that I still had to pay £270.00 as it is clearly stated in the terms and conditions. (Looking back through the Email a one line link to the Ts&Cs which I was ushered past in order to get this activation link clicked)

I cannot afford £270.00 and the business has not really been successful, having a grand totally of ZERO customers in 12 months.

My account has now reverted back to a free listing so I cannot see what they say my listing has generated but Google analytics tell me that 1 click through from Qype has been done and that was on the day I was talking to their agent. Coincidence or what!!!

I am not the only one with this problem; doing a brief search on the internet MANY have had the exact same problem. Feel free to run your own search or get in touch with me for a few links. (I can not post them because I have under 15 posts)

What do I want now? Easy, my balance to be zero and my free listing removed. I may try and claim back my original £270.00 as they have not delivered what was promised but that depends on how fast they respond to me.

I am going to post this in as many places as possible and my local news paper is interested in speaking with me about it. I will make sure that EVERY business owner is aware of their malpractice.

If anybody can help me on a legal basis I would really appreciate it.

So. Keep clear of Qype! I would not recommend them to my worst enemy.

 

[Jet Virtual]

Thanks for the heads up

 

[tonytreacy]

Thanks for the warning. We too have listed our company details with most of the local directories and so far we've managed to keep to the free listing. But I have been thinking of going for a premium one but have not been able to decide which directory would give us the best value. Again thanks for the word on Qype!

 

[petersoftware]

Interesting post. Telephone sales people are very annoying. I had a similar thing happen to me a few years ago with Yell.

Thank you for this warning to everyone. Do not buy over the telephone if you feel pressured. Get whoever they are to send you the details and then call them back if you are interested.

 

[QypeBiz]

Hi DFitton,

Sorry to hear that you are not satisfied with the service you received. Would you mind private messaging me your details so I can pass them onto our Client Services?

Thanks,
Fatima

 

[printed_com]

Where you using Qype so people could review and find your business easily?

 

[DFitton]

Where you using Qype so people could review and find your business easily?

My primary goal was to get as many free listings as possible to give my business as much visibility as possible. Once I did that the phone never stopped with sales guys ringing trying to sell me the premium service. Qype caught me off guard, his sales pitch promised me the earth, loads of traffic to my site, my business will grow rapidly and blah blah blah. So yes, to be used so that my company can be found and rated accordingly so that others can trust what I was doing.
Initially the prices and “options” were well out of my budget but eventually he “promised” a 3 month trial using his “personal” discount, to see how it goes where if I liked it I can get back in touch and pay for a further 3 months or longer if required. He also said to ignore the automated invoice that will be sent, all I had to pay was £270.00, so I agreed, whilst on the phone he sent me an email and ushered me to this link and told to click it.
The problem I have is that there is no record of what the sale man promised, only what is in black and white, and the fact that the sales guys approach ensured I had no time to read anything and bullied me into clicking the link. “You need to do it now otherwise I can’t hold the deal” were the sort of things he was saying.
If I saw him now…..

 

[UKSBD]

My primary goal was to get as many free listings as possible to give my business as much visibility as possible. Once I did that the phone never stopped with sales guys ringing trying to sell me the premium service. Qype caught me off guard, his sales pitch promised me the earth, loads of traffic to my site, my business will grow rapidly and blah blah blah. So yes, to be used so that my company can be found and rated accordingly so that others can trust what I was doing.
Initially the prices and “options” were well out of my budget but eventually he “promised” a 3 month trial using his “personal” discount, to see how it goes where if I liked it I can get back in touch and pay for a further 3 months or longer if required. He also said to ignore the automated invoice that will be sent, all I had to pay was £270.00, so I agreed, whilst on the phone he sent me an email and ushered me to this link and told to click it.
The problem I have is that there is no record of what the sale man promised, only what is in black and white, and the fact that the sales guys approach ensured I had no time to read anything and bullied me into clicking the link. “You need to do it now otherwise I can’t hold the deal” were the sort of things he was saying.
If I saw him now…..

Unfortunately anything a QYPE rep or a lot of other reps for companies like this say isn't worth a thing.

The sales staff can promise you anything and QYPE don't have to honour it as they have lines like in their terms;

"You acknowledge that you have not relied on any statement, promise or representation made or given by or on behalf of us which is not set out in these Business Terms and Conditions."

Never, Ever, agree to anything over the phone.

 

[cjd]

If you genuinely feel that you have been missold, you mustn't pay. Most reputable direct sales companies record sales calls and you have a right to request the recording, so ask for it.

Generally, the kind of companies that use these high pressure, lying methods also use bullying tactics to try to get you to pay, but they will never actually persue it legally because they know that it will be expensive, probably result in adverse publicity and they would lose - so they just threaten and play the numbers game.

 

[Liybpg]

Most reputable direct sales companies

Not sure we can include this one on the list

 

[DFitton]

Just wanted to say a big thank you to all the readers and the people that have posted. I now do not feel as though I'm screaming at a brick wall and that I am not on my own.

So THANK YOU A weight has been slightly lifted.

 

[UKSBD]

It will be interesting to hear from the QYPE repesentative who posts here whether the sales staff who negotiate in any way with customers and don't provide a SEPARATE contract with clear terms will be reprimanded?

By having this in the QYPE terms.

"You acknowledge that you have not relied on any statement, promise or representation made or given by or on behalf of us which is not set out in these Business Terms and Conditions."

Anything you are told by QYPE is worthless unless they provide you with a separate contract and terms

Try this search in Google to see their terms,
Premium Business Terms & Conditions - Qype

For some strange reason it isn't a standard HTML page and has to be downloaded to be read (I wonder why?), you can use the Google cache to see it and read number 20 to see the line.

It is an absolute disgrace if QYPE let their sales staff negotiate on their behalf without providing separate terms.

It would be interesting from a legal bod as to whether letting their sales staff negotiate and then providing those terms with section 20 could be classed as deliberately missleading?

QYPE should be outed if this is happening all over the Internet.

Every single person who has been sold a package which was negotiated with a QYPE rep and who wasn't supplied with separate terms should look in to this and if they were miss-sold should get their money back

 

[DFitton]

Ha, you are so right...

I have just found this in the T's and C's..

18. ENTIRE AGREEMENT​

These terms and conditions and any terms referred to in these terms and conditions constitute the entire understanding and agreement between you and us relating to their subject matter and supersede all previous understandings, agreements, negotiations and discussions between the you and us relating to such subject matter.

So in laymans terms, "we will fill you with bull s**t until you place the order and then sell you something totally different and there sod all you can do about it"

Qype you are amazing!

​

 

[cjd]

18. ENTIRE AGREEMENT
These terms and conditions and any terms referred to in these terms and conditions constitute the entire understanding and agreement between you and us relating to their subject matter and supersede all previous understandings, agreements, negotiations and discussions between the you and us relating to such subject matter.

If the salesman sold you something on materially different terms and you could prove it, that statement would not protect them. It's at best miss-selling and at worts criminal fraud.

 

[UKSBD]

If the salesman sold you something on materially different terms and you could prove it, that statement would not protect them. It's at best miss-selling and at worts criminal fraud.

Have you seen the premium business terms here? qype .co.uk/business_pitch/terms

You expect stuff like this from the dodgy PPC sellers, but not someone like QYPE

If it is ciminal fraud they have probably taken tens (if not hundreds) of thousands of pounds from thousands of small businesses.

 

[DFitton]

If the salesman sold you something on materially different terms and you could prove it, that statement would not protect them. It's at best miss-selling and at worts criminal fraud.

Now that's the problem, it was all verbal, unless they have recorded the conversation 12 months ago, I fear I have no leg to stand on. However, hell will freeze over before I hand over my money.

They should be thankful I'm not trying to claim back the 270 that I have paid. But, that may change.

 

[rolaba]

I am starting myself a campaign against QYPE they are liars and they do not deliver what they promise and as the other I had also a call which I got on a low time for my business and I was trying to boost it up as a consequence and after sign the android phone application it is not working and the account manager it is worthless giving excuses about waiting emails from germany to see what is happening and once you said that you are going to stop paying all what they said is that you sign for six months, the only thing they take care for. Avoid them !!! I was stupid enough to sign instead of making my one work if they need you to hook you on a contract they are never going to deliver what they promised if not why they need you to sign for a minimum of time? if you pay and you have the results you had being promised you will keep paying! when they have a minimum time contract is because they know that if not you will be leaving, easy and simple.! AVOID PREMIUM CONTRACTS QYPE!!! LIERS!

 

[QypeBiz]

Hi

Thanks a lot for all your comments. We can only apologise for the bad experience you've had and will try and sort it out for you as soon as possible.

We cannot do so without getting more information about your account details (Business Name in particular & date you signed up for Premium). Can you please send us a private message? We can then look into your account and find out the terms of the Premium contract you agreed to & identify what has been delivered or not so far.

You have also mentioned an issue with the Android phone and that no one has come back to you. Can you please inform us of the exact issue so that we can escalate this immediately?

Thanks
Qype Team

 

[QypeBiz]

Hi DFitton,

If there has been mis-selling indeed of our Premium partner product by one of our sales representative, we definitely need to look into it further and sort this out for you.

However, we were informed that Customer Service has been in touch with you in the last weeks to discuss and find out more.

If it hasn't been the case, please private message us with a little bit more information so that we can escalate.

Thanks
Qype Team

 

[QypeBiz]

Thank you Robala to have sent us your details. We're about to email you as we speak with some more details to sort out your issue.

Please note that your Premium account was only set up on 25th July, which is pretty recent.

We'll be in touch.
Thanks

 

[cjd]

Hi DFitton,

If there has been mis-selling indeed of our Premium partner product by one of our sales representative, we definitely need to look into it further and sort this out for you.

Hi QypeBiz - I assume you record all calls made by your reps?

 

[YourCostumeBox]

Interesting post!

I signed up to Qype some months ago and I received a very simialr call, but I resolutely said no to a premium listing. I always wondered if I'd been too quick to do so, wanting to wait to work out then best places to advertise and I'm glad I did!

I did feel they were putting on the pressure a bit. That instantly puts me off. They gave all these stats on how many search for your product, but as I do fancy dress costumes, and this was at the 'dead' time of the year, the stats they said for Bristol seemed to be pretty unlikely (because thousands of people would be looking for costumes in Feb on Qype alone of course!). Had it been Halloween or Xmas maybe!

Anyway, sorry to hear that you went for it and had a bad experience. Very glad I didn't!!!! Hopefully this will help others or at least make them revise their policy.