Quality Testing Labs | Branding | Positioning | Marketing | Concept | Strategy | Look & Feel

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QTL - The first Organization to develop a fines-based Licensing Program for web Sites and businesses to help them gain and maintain User Confidence and Trust.

Here's the story:

In the year 2000, Rob Cummings predicted that security and privacy issues along with deceptive Internet marketing and other practices would lead to the downfall of many Internet Sites as well as the organizations behind them - online and off. He was ahead of his time.

Rob Cummings founded, created, and launched qualitytestinglabs.com (QTL), after he wrote, designed and developed the first fines-based Consumer Trust and Confidence Program along with close friend and associate Gil 'Buck' Pulliam.

Rob Cummings formed QTL as an organization to help Internet Users regain Confidence and Trust in the Internet, as well as in traditional business.

QTL was created to administrate a Licensing program to enable all Organizations to regain (or maintain) the highest level of consumer confidence, trust and loyalty worldwide.

The program worked via a Code of Ethical Business Practices combined with financial penalties for Code violations and compensation to customers for violations. It addressed all consumer/user issues and concerns including personal Privacy, Security, Customer service and others - online and off.

Through Rob's connections, Lloyds of London expressed serious interest in helping QTL. A high-level US representative was about to present the QTL concept in London. The hope was that Lloyds would provide insurance to cover potential fines of QTL member organizations, and this insurance would repay investors and others in the event that fines were imposed as a result of violations of the member's agreed Code of Ethical Business Practices.

An idea slightly before its time, yet with vision of what was about to come.

QTL was on the verge of success when the Internet bubble burst in late 2000, but the burst of the Internet bubble was not the cause.

Instead, the very problem QTL set out to solve proved far more acute than even QTL could imagine.

The fall of Enron, Worldcom, Anderson Consulting, and all the others that followed made the need for QTL and its independent fines-based organization blatantly clear. It also made clear why more had not become early adopters.

The questionable accounting practices and procedures of these and other corporations would have resulted in fines had they been QTL members. Had the program moved just slightly faster, Lloyds would have pre-qualified these businesses, potentially reducing the improprieties - and risk.

The fines these companies would have had to pay for business practice violations would have been exorbitant (far higher than Rob or anyone else involved could even have imagined), however, if these companies had been Licensed by QTL, the proceeds from the associated fines and the insurance would have paid back many investors and others hurt by their improprieties - and the backlash to all involved would have been minimized.

Unfortunately, Quality Testing Labs and the vision Rob Cummings had, was too far ahead of its time - or just a bit behind it. Shortly after it launched, to the surprise of even top Wall Street Analysts, companies such as Enron, Worldcom, even Andersen Consulting, proved there was an even greater need for a fines-based Consumer Trust and Confidence Program than the Founders of Quality Testing Labs could have imagined.

See the Site.

QTL was and remains the first to offer a Program to regain that trust through Licensing, development of a Code of Ethical Business Practices, financial penalties for violations of the Code, and compensation to Users. At some point in time Rob plans to re-launch Quality Testing Labs. That time may be now.

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