UK businesses have accused the provider of a popular invoicing app of daylight robbery after a price increase of as much as 1,500%.
Customers have shared their outrage after the app, used by many firms to track timesheets and produce invoices, hiked its bills with little warning.
Many of those affected are small businesses and sole traders who say the software had become central to the way they run their day-to-day operations.
Some said moving to an alternative system would take time and money, as historical records, client details and workflows would need to be transferred.
“When a business is locked into one piece of software, a sudden price rise can feel like a ransom demand.”
“We built our whole billing process around this software, and now we are being asked to pay many times more for exactly the same service,” said one small business owner.
The company said in a statement that the new pricing reflected investment in the product and changes to the features available on different plans.
Business groups said the episode highlighted the risks for small firms that rely heavily on subscription software over which they have little control.
Consumer and business advisers recommend checking contract terms carefully, keeping regular exports of important data, and reviewing alternatives before renewal dates.
Some customers said they only discovered the increase when their latest invoice arrived, prompting complaints that the change had not been communicated clearly enough and leaving little time to budget for the higher cost or plan a switch.
Several customers said they had already begun looking for other providers, while others were seeking clarification on whether existing contracts would be honoured.
