Chinanews client, Beijing, September 27th (Reporter Zhang Ni) The National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival is approaching, and it's the peak consumption season when the "purse cannot be covered".

However, data from the Second Intermediate People's Court of Beijing shows that irrational "surprise consumption" during holidays can also easily lead to prepaid contract disputes.

The court reminded that consumers should keep their eyes open while "buying, buying, and buying", and properly keep the advance payment vouchers, so as to facilitate future rights protection.

Data map: A large number of tourists entered Nanjing Zhongshan Mausoleum to visit.

Photo by China News Agency reporter Yang Bo

Holiday prepaid contract disputes are mostly concentrated in three areas

　　The reporter learned from the Beijing Second Intermediate People's Court that from 2017 to the end of August this year, a total of 586 cases involving prepaid contract disputes including education and training, tourism, catering, entertainment, fitness, and beauty salons have been concluded.

Among them, most are cases where contracts are concluded during holidays and expenses are deposited in advance.

　　Judging from the characteristics of the case, the prepaid contract disputes during the holidays are mostly concentrated in the fields of tourism, beauty salons, and catering services.

　　Defendants in prepaid contract disputes are generally operators, presenting a centralized feature, and most of them are "multiple litigation and one" stakeholder series.

Since pre-paid contract disputes are mostly concentrated in industries such as tourism, catering, beauty salons, and fitness, the same operator corresponds to a large number of consumers. Once the operator fails to perform contractual obligations or has flaws in fulfilling obligations, it is easy to form group litigation.

　　In addition, prepaid contract disputes are clearly categorized, and the types of disputes are concentrated in the following aspects:

　　The first is that there is no written contract, and the verbal promise made by the operator to promote the card application cannot be fulfilled when the consumer actually consumes, and the two parties have a dispute.

　　The second is that the operator’s store is closed due to a broken capital chain or poor management, and the remaining unconsumed amount in the consumer’s prepaid card will not be refunded.

　　Third, in the format contract provided by the operator, especially the agreement on refunds, there is a "overlord clause", and consumers and operators have disputes over the content of this clause.

　　Fourth, the operators did not obtain the consent of the consumers, improperly handled and disclosed the personal information that the consumers filled in when applying for the prepaid card, violated the relevant regulations on personal information protection, or violated the privacy rights of consumers.

Data map: Beijing Road Pedestrian Street, Guangzhou.

Photo by Chen Jimin

How to protect rights when encountering traps?

These evidences must be retained!

　　The Second Intermediate People's Court stated that some consumers tend to consume more irrationally during holidays and have a herd mentality when purchasing goods and services.

Many business operators seize the consumer's psychology and use a variety of promotional methods to find ways to increase sales. The prepaid method has become an effective means for businesses to raise funds.

Since consumers are not as sure of contract terms as they usually do, some "pits" that could have been circumvented have fallen into carelessly.

　　Therefore, the court reminded that consumers must remain rational in the atmosphere of “focused spending and surprise consumption” during the 11th minor holiday, and choose and purchase prepaid consumption cards scientifically and rationally according to their actual needs and economic conditions.

　　When applying for a prepaid consumer card, consumers must not be brainwashed by salespersons’ "spoofs" and intensive advertisements. They must remain rational and do not make a hasty decision to purchase a prepaid card when they first contact a salesperson.

Especially some newly opened stores need to be more cautious.

　　When preparing to purchase a prepaid consumer card, you must carefully read and understand the relevant terms of the contract. For those without a contract or the card agreement is too simple, you must sign a detailed and clear written contract separately.

　　In addition, consumers should properly keep the pre-paid consumption contract and pre-payment vouchers. If paying via WeChat or Alipay, they should check whether the identities of the receiving merchant and the counterparty of the contract are consistent, and save screenshots of the payment interface.

For each subsequent consumption, the merchant is required to provide a single consumption certificate to check the balance in the prepaid card to prevent multiple or stealing.

　　After disputes with merchants, promptly report the problems to regulatory authorities, consumer associations, polling organizations and other institutions through channels such as the consumer complaint and report hotline and the national Internet platform "12315" as soon as possible, and protect rights in a timely manner.

(Finish)