Ms. Wu, who lives in Haidian District of Beijing, was quite distressed recently. Before the Spring Festival, she just recharged a 1,000 yuan prepaid card in a laundry shop downstairs in the community, and only used it once. But a few days ago, she suddenly discovered that the shop had "people go empty", but she never received any information.

"I have been doing laundry in this store for nearly 4 years, and the service relationship is relatively stable, so when the clerk said that recharge of 1,000 yuan can enjoy a 20% discount, I don't have to think about it and recharge it." Ms. Wu was very helpless when talking about this .

In fact, like Ms. Wu, there are not a few consumers who suffer from the "stepping on the pit" of prepaid cards. In recent years, "prepaid card consumption" has become popular in industries such as laundry, catering, gyms, beauty salons, education and training.

Prepaid card consumption means that consumers pay a certain amount of money to the prepaid card issuer in advance, obtain consumption vouchers, and obtain goods or services on a time and period basis, and consumers enjoy certain discounts from it.

However, due to information asymmetry, imperfect rules, and inadequate supervision and other reasons, merchants "people go empty", and consumer funds "float" sometimes occurs.

It is worth noting that, due to the impact of the new coronary pneumonia epidemic, some businesses, especially self-employed individuals, have tight cash flow, and the consumption of prepaid cards has been severely tested.

The reporter's investigation found that in addition to the "disappearing" merchants, some of the normal business merchants also unilaterally announced the suspension of prepaid card payments, and consumers must use cash transactions. As for when the prepaid card can be restarted, the merchant did not give a clear answer.

So, when consumers encounter the above problems, can they only admit that they are unlucky? Faced with the "minefield" of prepaid cards, how should consumers protect their legitimate rights and interests?

According to industry insiders, in accordance with the rules of prepaid cards, actually paid consumers and merchants have signed consumer service contracts, and have chosen to consume in the form of prepaid. If the merchant suspends the use of prepaid cards and only supports cash consumption, this is a unilateral change in the consumption method and lacks a legal basis.

In contrast, the problem of merchants "going empty" and consumers "no refund" is even more difficult. "If people go to the premises because of poor management, then the business cannot be suspended or unable to perform due to the epidemic prevention and control measures, so the unpredictable, unavoidable, and insurmountable provisions of Article 1178 of the Contract Law are applicable. The cause of force majeure led to its breach of contract and requested that its liability be reduced or exempted. "Said Zhang Xiaoju, a lawyer at Beijing Zhongwen Law Firm.

Zhang Xiaoju said that even if affected by the epidemic, the merchants must fulfill their notification obligations in a timely manner, and they cannot "leave the building empty". After the state requires resumption of production and production, it is even more impossible to fail to perform contractual obligations on this ground.

Therefore, this kind of behavior of the merchant is a serious breach of contract, and it should bear the continued performance and bear the responsibility for breach of contract. As a consumer, you can file a lawsuit requesting the court to rescind the contract according to the specific situation.

"Both parties can also change the service mode through negotiation, and change the offline service into an online service." Zhang Xiaoju said, of course, the change of the contract requires both parties to negotiate and agree. If the consumer does not accept the contract change, he can still choose to request the cancellation of the contract. The right to ask the merchant to refund the relevant fees.

If the merchant using the prepayment method involves a large amount of money in the case involved, and according to the specific actual situation of the merchant, it is not a situation that cannot be fulfilled, but it is suspected of signing, signing, In the process of performing a contract, concealing true equal deception and defrauding the other party ’s large amount of property constitutes a crime of contract fraud. Consumers can keep relevant invoices, contracts, transaction records, and choose to alarm to solve.

In addition, consumers can also choose to use administrative means, such as dialing 12315 to complain to the industry and commerce administration department where the merchant is located to protect their legitimate rights and interests.

Our reporter Guo Ziyuan