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With the emergence of credit consumption and the convenience of electronic consumption, "prepaid consumption" has gradually increased and has become an emerging form of consumption in the service sector. And this kind of prepaid consumption "hot" is often accompanied by the word "risk", in which merchants suspend services without authorization, and even "roll out of money" incidents occur from time to time.
Advertisement slogans such as "recharge 100 yuan to get 20 yuan" and "recharge 300 yuan to enjoy a 20% discount" are believed to be familiar to many citizens, and many consumers are also willing to accept this preferential prepaid consumption. Gradually, all kinds of membership cards and rechargeable cards on the citizens will increase, and risks will follow. Case of
:
prepaid recharge is difficult to guarantee long-term discount
Ms. Liang, a citizen living on Dazhong Road, complained to Wuzhou Consumers Association about a prepaid consumption dispute last year at a restaurant located on Wenlan Road. “I bought a VIP card from Guoguoxiang Restaurant in 2014, and I spent 1,000 yuan when purchasing the card.” Ms. Liang said that in more than two years, she only spent more than 200 yuan.
Soon after, Guoguoxiang Restaurant was renamed "Urban Renjia Leisure Restaurant". The staff of the restaurant said that the VIP card of Guoguoxiang Restaurant can be replaced with the VIP card of Urban Renjia Leisure Restaurant, and the balance in the card can also be transferred to the new card. . In fact, the remaining money in Ms. Liang’s VIP card could not be transferred to the new VIP card. The reason turned out to be that “the balance in the card is large and will not be replaced”. Ms. Liang originally thought that after recharging the VIP card, she would enjoy a long-term discount, but she did not expect that over time, not only did she not enjoy the discount, but she was also very angry.
Coincidentally, Miss Xiao, who works in a private company, has a similar experience. She told reporters that in 2015, she had applied for a membership card of 600 yuan in a barber shop near Xinxing Road Transportation Kindergarten. “At that time, she felt that the store’s service was good and there were discounts on card spending, so she applied for a card.” . Due to busy work, Miss Xiao has not had time to go to the barber shop for consumption. In June 2016, Miss Xiao who planned to travel to the barber shop to spend money, but found that the barber shop not only has a decline in service quality, but also has a lot less staff. "Could it be that the door is about to close..." Miss Xiao, who felt bad, had to make an appointment with a friend and consumed the balance in her membership card within a month.
On February 8, a number of consumers came to the gate of the Grimm's Fairy Tales Children's Photography Center to discuss how to protect their rights. Photo by Chen Yuyan (data picture)
The recent “shutdown and rectification” of the Grimm's Fairy Tales Children's Photography Center in our city exposed the risks of prepaid consumption to the public. According to statistics from the Wuzhou City Department of Industry and Commerce, nearly 800 consumers have filed consumer complaints against the photography studio, involving more than 400,000 yuan, of which about 70% of the consumers have paid a prepayment but have not yet filmed.
Consumers:
recharge to apply for a card based on experience or a friend's introduction
For prepaid consumption, which is more popular nowadays, many citizens frankly say that whether to recharge or apply for a card is judged by personal consumption experience on the one hand, and on the other hand through relatives and friends .
A month ago, Ms. Meng, a 33-year-old citizen, applied for a membership card of 500 yuan at a hairdressing, beauty and nail salon called "Xianshow" on Oqili Road. Ms. Meng said that she knows the risks of applying for this kind of membership card, so she generally uses up the amount in the card in a short time. "Basically, every time I do my hair styling, I will apply for the card." Aunt Meng said that one hair styling is about three to four hundred yuan. In this way, the balance in the card is only more than 100 yuan. The balance in the card will be used up soon, so there is not much risk. Mr. Yang, a citizen of
who lives in Huayang Garden,’s "card application experience" is quite similar to that of Ms. Meng. Because there are a lot of cashmere and down clothes at home, they often have to be dry-cleaned, so before the Spring Festival this year, Mr. Yang bought a 200 yuan membership card at the Temanyi dry cleaner. Mr. Yang said that applying for a card in this store is mainly because the store has been operating for a long time and the operating conditions are stable. "But if I only dare to recharge one or two hundred yuan, I still worry about encountering the situation of the shop owner leaving the money."
Merchants:
promotion is also conducive to capital turnover
So, how do merchants view prepaid consumption? Ms. Lin, the operator of
Grimm’s Fairy Tale Children’s Photographic Studio, admitted that as a business, she definitely wants to attract customers through various activities.It is a good way of marketing. In addition, photographers arrange photography for customers and need to reserve time for them. If consumers do not pay the advance payment first, they will not come to consume in the end, and the photography studio frees up time and space for customers. Other tasks are difficult to carry out. At the same time, it also caused a waste of resources.
On March 14, consumers and Ms. Lin (first from right), the operator of the Grimm's Fairy Tale Children's Photographic Studio, conducted mediation at Datang Industrial and Commercial Office. Photo by Xie Yun Cheng Guohu, the person in charge of
Baolilai Fitness Club, said that for the fitness industry, prepaid consumption is not only a business method, but also a practical need of the industry. He said that in service industries like fitness clubs, consumer persistence is the most important. "We have also tried to promote more favorable secondary card services, which cost only 20 yuan each time. However, because consumers have not developed the habit of long-term exercise, the number of times they come to fitness is naturally not much. But if you apply for a membership card, consumers There is often a mentality of'Why not come if you have spent money', so you will come often.” In addition, Cheng Guohu admitted that since the club’s investment in fitness equipment and venues is not small, consumers are allowed to pay in advance. Consumption can ease the pressure of capital turnover to a certain extent. Attorney
: You need to pay more attention to prepaid
reporter learned that as early as 2012, the Ministry of Commerce formulated the "Management Measures for Single-Purpose Commercial Prepaid Cards (Trial)". The Measures stipulate a fund depository system, that is, companies that receive advance payments must deposit a certain percentage of funds in banks, and the funds cannot be used at will. However, the Measures stipulate that enterprises that implement the fund deposit management system are limited to three types of enterprises: large-scale card issuing enterprises, group issuing enterprises and brand issuing enterprises. For ordinary self-employed businesses, etc., there are no clear requirements.
The relevant person in charge of the Consumer Rights Protection Section of the Wuzhou City Administration for Industry and Commerce said that in terms of market access, the industry and commerce department will review the qualifications of operators. However, handling services such as membership cards for customers is the autonomous behavior of the main operator, so the industry and commerce departments can only strengthen supervision and guidance and provide consumer guidance for consumers.
“Prepaid consumption is actually a financing behavior performed by operators with their own integrity as a guarantee, and the service has a certain lag.” Liu Yan, a lawyer at Guangxi Dongzhong Law Firm, said that the current integrity system is not perfect. Under this circumstance, this mode of consumption will enable operators to acquire rights in a concentrated manner. In addition, some operators have weak service concepts and lack of integrity awareness, which can easily cause consumption disputes.
Liu Yan said that for prepaid consumption, consumers must first measure whether they need the service for a long time. In addition, consumers need to know something about whether an operator has a business license and what is the status of the business. Before paying the money, consumers should put all the conditions in front, such as the range of services purchased by themselves, how to solve the problem of the merchant's failure to redeem the service, refund procedures, conditions, etc., and sign relevant contracts and agreements. In case of consumer disputes, these are strong evidences. If the behavior of the merchant is suspected of fraud, the consumer must promptly report the case to the public security department.
suggestion:
establish a margin system to restrict
Nowadays, many citizens will have several prepaid discount cards and discount cards. In addition to discounts, everyone is more concerned about how to avoid consumption risks.
Citizen Miss Huang believes that a corresponding margin system can be established for prepaid consumption. "Like the Taobao deposit, it is automatically deposited into the Taobao account when the merchant opens the store. Once a dispute arises, the deposit will be used to compensate the buyer first to ensure the rights of consumers." Ms. Huang said.
Luo Bin, who has a background of legal expertise, also agreed to establish a margin system. He said that nowadays the wages of migrant workers have established a security deposit system. Before the start of the project, the construction unit needs to deposit special funds for wages in a special bank account at 3% of the project contract price. Relevant departments may consider referring to this model to establish a related deposit system to protect consumer rights.
Wuzhou release
wuzhoufabu2015
▍Source: Xijiang Metropolis Daily
▍Text: Xijiang Metropolis Daily reporter Xie Yun
▍Picture: From the Internet (except for signature)
▍Typesetting: Zheng Yuhua
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