Recently, the housekeeping service platform "51 Family Butler" was exposed to operating difficulties and suspended services. A large number of consumers are facing the problem of prepayment refunds. Some netizens posted that as soon as they made a deposit, the platform suspended services and could not contact customer service. Some consumers even faced losses of tens of thousands of yuan. What are the difficulties in regulating prepaid consumption? How can consumers avoid wasting their prepayments?
Housekeeping platform suspended services due to operating difficulties
A large number of consumers encountered refund problems
Recently, the "51 Family Butler" housekeeping service platform announced that it would suspend services due to a break in the capital chain, causing widespread concern. A large number of users reported that they had pre-recharged thousands or even tens of thousands of yuan, but now they are facing the problem of being unable to return it. Some consumers have gone to the company headquarters to defend their rights.
public information shows that "51 Family Butler" mainly provides employee-based housekeeping services such as hourly cleaning, home nanny, babysitting, and elderly care. The service covers Guangzhou, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Foshan and other places. The company is headquartered in Haizhu District, Guangzhou City .
On the evening of October 28, "51 Family Butler" issued a letter to customers, saying that the company decided to suspend services from October 29, and the recovery time will be notified separately depending on the recent self-rescue results.
△Network screenshot
Ms. Huang from Guangzhou is an old user of “51 Family Butler” and has been using the service for four or five years. In August this year, she spent 9,900 yuan to purchase a national annual card that provides 5 free services for 50 times. However, this unused annual card has been unable to make normal reservations for housekeeping services recently, and no one answered Ms. Huang’s call to the platform’s customer service phone number.
Ms. Huang said that at the end of August, the platform customer service informed her that there was a discount for renewing the service, so she recharged. "Since October 27, the housekeeping staff has not come to the door. I contacted customer service, and the response in all aspects was very slow. I have purchased 50 services in the past and have 4 services left. From August to October, I used the old package and the new one. The package has not been used after recharging. "
△51 Screenshot of Family Butler's official website
The platform started the "Double Eleven" pre-sale
and currently all service products have been removed from the shelves
A reporter searched on an online complaint platform and found , there are dozens of complaints about "51 Family Butler" being unable to make reservations for housekeeping services.
In April this year, Ms. Yang (pseudonym) from Foshan, Guangdong recharged 10,800 yuan, and she still has 5,940 yuan unspent. The platform cannot continue to provide services, and the remaining money cannot be refunded. Ms. Yang revealed that many people have encountered the same problem, and "many customers have gone to the headquarters to get debt letters." The
reporter learned from the "Customer Claims Confirmation Letter" provided by the consumer that this document confirmed the user's remaining balance after purchasing "51 Housekeeping Services". It mentioned that "is unable to perform the contract due to our own operating reasons... After review and approval by our company, we agree to terminate the above service contract on the date of issuance of this confirmation letter and confirm the above claims."
Reporters found that on October 15 On October 19th, “51 Family Butler” was still promoting the “Double Eleven” pre-sale activities. On October 19, the platform conducted three member welfare live broadcasts. However, 's "51 Family Butler" applet currently displays "resting, temporarily accepting orders", and all service products have been removed from the shelves.
Yesterday (October 31) afternoon, the reporter contacted the customer service hotline of "51 Housekeeping Service". Customer service said that the platform service has indeed been suspended. "Regarding the refund issue, a notice was posted on the WeChat official account. According to the above guidelines, you can first receive the credit confirmation letter, which is mainly to confirm the remaining payment and amount of the services you purchased from our company. After receiving it, wait for the notification to be processed uniformly."
customer service staff further explained that the public security and judicial departments are currently involved in the matter. "When the company encounters difficulties, we can only restart if there is a turnaround. The company is still actively looking for ways to save itself."
Industry Association has intervened to deal with
Experts: Improve the legislative system and strengthen administrative supervision
Reporters learned from relevant departments in Haizhu District, Guangzhou that in response to the poor management of "51 Family Butler" that resulted in arrears of employee wages and prepayment of customer recharges, relevant Haizhu District The department has intervened and interviewed the relevant person in charge of the company, instructing the company to strictly fulfill its main responsibilities.
The Shanghai Home Service Industry Association also announced that it has recently received multiple reports against Guangzhou Weixiang Internet Technology through channels such as the 12345 citizen hotline. Co., Ltd. Shanghai Branch. The company has a broken capital chain. Since the number of complaints increased, the association has intervened and established an emergency response team to assist the company in properly handling it.
△Network screenshot
China Law Society Consumer Rights Protection Law Research Association. Deputy Secretary-General Chen Yinjiang said that ’s current supervision of prepayment needs to be improved, which has also led to the issue of prepayment having been a hot and difficult issue for consumer complaints in recent years.
“Because consumers hand over money to merchants in advance, under current laws. There is no clear supervision of funds in the system, and merchants can control the funds. If the merchant does not manage well or transfers funds through other channels, it will be difficult for consumers to get the remaining money back. Even if the consumer wins the lawsuit, it will be difficult to get it back because the merchant is insolvent. "
Chen Yinjiang believes that the root cause of solving the prepayment problem is to ensure the safety of consumers' prepaid funds. Therefore, it is necessary to strengthen the daily management of prepayment, such as approving whether the enterprise can carry out prepayment based on the business credit situation of the enterprise. Business.
Chen Yinjiang also suggested that regulatory authorities should pay attention to the supervision of prepayments, promote the successful experience of some regions in governing and regulating prepayment chaos, and relevant legislation should also follow up in a timely manner
"Beijing. There are "Beijing Regulations on the Management of Single-Purpose Prepaid Cards", and Shanghai has also formulated management regulations for prepaid cards. For example, in the education industry, one-time charging period cannot exceed three months and no more than 60 class hours. In fact, there are prepayment management regulations in different industries and regions, but because they may be limited to a certain industry or region, or the level is not high enough, the effect is not obvious during the implementation process. "Chen Yinjiang believes that to effectively solve the problem of prepayment, the key is to strengthen legislation at the national level.
Director Producer/Duan Ruizhong Supervisor Producer/Yu Yanhong Duty Director/Lin Lin
Producer/Li Rong Chen Zhengfei Editor/Han Jinnan
Source: China Central Radio and Television China Voice
