According to the website of China Consumers Association on January 14th, China Consumers Association (hereinafter referred to as "China Consumers Association") recently released the "Top Ten Consumer Rights Protection Public Opinion Hot Spots in 2020", which are: price and quality issues of anti-epidemic products Outstanding; new problems of “live delivery with goods” emerge in an endless stream; “Double 11” complex rules are difficult to damage the “payers”; there are many disputes over cancellations in hotels, tourism, and travel; long-term rental apartments have successively exploded and run away; online training services are frequently chaotic; It is difficult for minors to recharge online games and make rewards and refunds; take-out platforms "wait 5 minutes" are accused of "throwing the pot" to consumers; overtime charges for smart express cabinets cause dissatisfaction; airlines have many restrictions on "unlimited flight products".
The China Consumers Association stated that looking back on 2020, consumer rights protection public opinion showed the following characteristics: First, the issue of consumer rights protection related to the epidemic has become prominent; second, the Internet consumption is soaring, live broadcast, online education, online games, and other "cloud" consumer rights protection More prominent; third, new business and new models have brought about new consumption problems, and the voice of "strong supervision" in the Internet economy has increased; fourth, traditional complaints hotspots are still the focus of public opinion, and the consumption environment needs to be further improved.
At the beginning of the new year of 2021, the China Consumers Association (hereinafter referred to as "China Consumers Association") and People's Daily Online Public Opinion Data Center, based on big data platform data and the results of public opinion and social influence, jointly sorted out the "Top Ten Consumer Rights Protection Public Opinion Hot Spots in 2020" .
The China Consumers Association stated that it hopes to help relevant departments, consumer associations, industry associations, and enterprises to solve the difficulties and pain points of consumer rights protection through combing the list and interpreting hot spots, creating a comfortable consumer environment for consumers, and strengthening the foundation of consumption for economic development. Sexual role, further promoting consumption recovery.
1. The price and quality of epidemic prevention products are problematic
Since the outbreak of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, the market demand for epidemic prevention products has exploded.
As a result, cases of violations of the quality of anti-epidemic products and consumer complaints have increased significantly.
The problem of protecting the rights of epidemic prevention products consumption is embodied in five aspects: First, individual illegal operators sell "three nos", fake and inferior masks.
The second is to commit fraud in the WeChat group in the name of purchasing or group buying masks.
For example, artist Huang Moumou committed fraud under the pretext of "selling masks."
The third is to take the opportunity to drive up the prices of anti-epidemic supplies such as masks, protective clothing, and thermometers.
For example, a Beijing pharmacy was fined for selling 10 masks for 850 yuan.
Fourth, individual e-commerce platform merchants infringe on the legitimate rights and interests of consumers through unscrupulous business practices such as "cutting orders," bundling, and selling masks to induce consumers to download APPs.
For example, a large number of consumers reported that the e-commerce platform "Dolphins" had "cut orders" through Weibo and complaint platforms, and they were named by the China Consumers Association.
Fifth, due to the estimated sales of individual e-commerce platform merchants, but the actual delivery of anti-epidemic products such as masks, alcohol, and disinfectants sold was not timely, causing consumer dissatisfaction.
For example, Nanding Company claimed to have the goods, but after the consumer placed an order to buy the masks, it was delayed in delivering the masks, and was jointly negotiated by the Beijing Consumers Association and the Tongzhou District Consumers Association.
The epidemic is not only a "big test" for the comprehensive management capabilities of relevant departments, but also a "touchstone" for testing the quality of platforms and businesses.
Public opinion believes that the relevant departments have strengthened supervision, carried out several special actions, severely investigated and dealt with illegal production and sales of anti-epidemic products such as masks, and spared no effort to guarantee the quality of anti-epidemic products and market supply, and help maintain market order.
Consumer associations at all levels earnestly performed their duties, intensified the handling of epidemic-related consumer disputes, and effectively protected the legitimate rights and interests of consumers.
Public opinion calls for e-commerce platforms to earnestly fulfill their supervisory and industry responsibilities, and merchants should assume more social responsibilities and operate with integrity.
2. New problems of "live streaming with goods" emerge in endlessly
In 2020, live broadcasts with goods frequently "turn over", not only the old problems such as poor product quality, false publicity, and inadequate after-sales service are still prominent, but new problems such as public figures bringing goods, fraudulent orders, fraudulent traffic, and false reports have also emerged one after another. .
In November, the China Consumers Association named Li Jiaqi, Li Xueqin, and others who participated in the live broadcast that had problems such as non-exchange of goods after purchase and water injection of data.
After the incident, Li Jiaqi and Li Xueqin expressed that they attached great importance to social supervision and would further optimize business processes and put the responsibility of protecting consumers' rights and interests in place.
In addition, topics such as the fact that Simba's bird's nest was accused of sugar water, and Luo Yonghao's admission that the Pierre Cardin sweater was fake have also sparked public opinion.
Live delivery of goods as a new consumer format, while bringing convenience to consumers, it also increases consumption risks to a certain extent.
In response to the chaos of live streaming, relevant departments have "brightened their swords."
The State Administration of Radio, Film and Television issued the "Notice on Strengthening the Management of Online Show Live and E-commerce Live Broadcasting" in November 2020, and the State Administration of Market Supervision issued the "Guiding Opinions on Strengthening the Supervision of Online Live Broadcasting Marketing Activities" on November 6 to strengthen online show The guiding standards of live broadcast and e-commerce live broadcast have strengthened guidance and value leadership, and the compliance of live broadcast e-commerce is accelerating.
Consumer associations at all levels actively perform their duties, conduct interviews on live e-commerce platforms with outstanding problems and strong consumer feedback, supervise the rectification of problems, and effectively protect the legitimate rights and interests of consumers.
Public opinion believes that online platform operators should strictly control online sales of products, live content and online anchors, timely curb the flow of bad products to the market, and effectively block the spread of illegal and bad content, so that consumers can buy and use them with ease.
Live broadcast practitioners, especially public figures such as celebrities, internet celebrities, and entrepreneurs, should take the initiative to examine themselves and take a rigorous attitude to guide rational consumption.
Consumers should also enhance their awareness of risk prevention when participating in live events.
Public opinion expects that relevant departments, consumer associations, e-commerce platforms, practitioners, and consumers will work together to build a good live broadcast ecosystem.
3. The "Double 11" complex rules are hard to break the "payers"
Compared with previous years, the "Double 11" in 2020 will start in late October, and it can be called the "longest online shopping festival in history."
In the recent month’s promotional activities, major merchants have launched "lowest price throughout the year", "deposit deduction", "red envelope subsidy", "full discount", "limited time purchase" and other preferential activities to attract consumers' attention, but full discount, allowance, Complicated calculation methods such as red envelopes and merger purchases are comparable to mathematics exam questions, and are ridiculed by netizens as "don't dare to challenge the Olympiad."
Among them, Taobao and Tmall platforms have designed such complicated rules that the full payment coupons cannot be used for non-consolidated final payment, no refunds can be made on the day of "Double 11", and the final payment can only be refunded. These complex rules It not only reduces the consumer experience, but also raises consumers' doubts about its rationality.
In addition, many consumers have reported that some commodity prices on platforms such as Tmall and JD.com have problems such as price increases and discounts, false promotions, induced transactions, and big data.
Every year, "June 18", "Double 11" and "Double 12" are peak periods for consumer rights protection.
Consumption chaos during the promotion period not only reflects the many consumer rights protection issues that exist in the platform economy, but also presents the current uneven e-commerce ecology.
In this regard, relevant departments should further strengthen the supervision of online shopping, promotion and other new consumer business forms and models, and at the same time, should also implement normalized supervision of e-commerce platforms and employees; e-commerce platforms should further strengthen their own operation management and standardize business activities. Make every effort to protect the legitimate rights and interests of consumers.
Public opinion calls for less "routines" and "calculations" in "Double 11", and more "sincerity" and "benefit".
Four, there are many disputes about unsubscription in hotels, tourism and travel
In the early days of the epidemic, major airlines, travel agencies, hotels, catering companies, and OTA platforms saw a surge in demand for refunds and reforms. However, the inability to process refund and reform orders in a timely manner caused a large number of consumer complaints and even collective rights protection in individual areas.
Specifically, in terms of catering services, some consumers have booked New Year’s Eve dinners, weddings, birthdays and other banquets, but due to the impact of the epidemic, they can’t have dinner together. There are more disputes with merchants when canceling reservations. For accommodation, individual hotels take the opportunity Issues such as price increases, refusal to refund deposits or prepayments are prominent; in terms of travel services, there are more complaints such as difficulty in refunding air tickets, slow processing of air orders, arguing between airlines and OTA platforms, poor service attitudes, and unclear air ticket refund and change policies. High; In terms of travel services, some platforms and travel agencies did not refund in time or used vouchers instead of refunds, causing consumer dissatisfaction.
Facing the severe test of public health emergencies, government departments and business entities such as airlines, travel agencies, hotels, catering companies, OTA platforms, and scenic spots must sum up their experience and lessons.
From the government's perspective, relevant departments, consumer associations, and industry associations should formulate and revise emergency plans to urge enterprises to safeguard consumer rights.
From a corporate perspective, business entities such as airlines, travel agencies, hotels, and catering companies must always put consumer rights in the first place and pay attention to the protection of consumer rights, while OTA platforms must also play the role of coordinator to help consumers solve practical problems. To assist consumers in protecting their rights in accordance with the law.
In addition, while maintaining rational consumption and patient communication, consumers must also actively exercise their supervisory powers to safeguard their legitimate rights and interests.
Five, long-term rental apartments run away from thunderstorms one after another
In 2020, there will be thunder explosions and road running incidents in eggshell, green guest, nest guest, Lan Yue, and implied long-term rental apartments.
The explosion of long-term rental apartments not only caused a large number of tenants to be unable to obtain the services promised by the platform, but also faced the situation of paid rent or loan but no room to live, and the landlord also faced problems such as not receiving the rent and the house being unable to recover. .
Some tenants who were also victims and the landlord also had disputes over the issue of housing leases, and even experienced excessive behavior.
Long-term rental apartment companies have gradually developed and grown in the housing leasing market by taking advantage of the national policy of "no speculation in housing and housing" and "simultaneous hire and purchase".
However, some companies have obtained a large amount of rent precipitation through the method of "long-term rent and short-term payment", and use these funds for bidding housing and irrational expansion.
These violations of laws and regulations have led to high-speed consumption of deposited funds, which eventually caused the capital chain to break, the company exploded with thunder, and the person in charge lost contact.
In response to a large number of consumer rights protection issues caused by thunderstorms in long-term rental apartments, public opinion strongly condemned the phenomenon that the heads of long-term rental apartment companies lost contact with each other. At the same time, they believed that the relevant departments should act decisively and must not let the parties involved in the problem run away. The mess" is left to the government and society.
Public opinion believes that the regulatory authorities should establish and improve the long-term rental apartment supervision mechanism as soon as possible, and at the same time strengthen the supervision of the participation of Internet financial institutions in the housing leasing business, effectively reduce the financial leverage ratio of the housing leasing market, and promote the high-quality development of the long-term rental apartment industry.
Public opinion expects that long-term rental apartment companies can achieve sound development, continuously improve their own service levels, improve service quality, and safeguard the vital interests of landlords and tenants.
6. Frequent chaos in online training services
During the epidemic, online education consumption rights protection problems, which have experienced a blowout development, frequently appeared.
In July 2020, CCTV's "3·15" party exposed the false promises of Hixue.com, which caused consumers to fall into the predicament of easy payment and difficult return.
In the same month, Xueersi Online School was interviewed by the Beijing Cyberspace Administration of China and the territorial education authority due to vulgar videos and abetted premature love and was ordered to rectify within a time limit.
The online English learning organization "Akasuo Foreign Teachers Network" was exposed to the poor teaching quality of foreign teachers, being late, playing with mobile phones, etc., and the teaching qualification certification is doubtful.
"DaDa English" was accused of modifying the attributes of the course without authorization, and the major course was shrunk and turned into an oral course.
In October, "Excellent Education" was exposed to the fact that the headquarters were empty, parents had difficulties in refunding fees, and teachers' salaries were also delayed.
In December, "Xue Bajun" was accused of mismanagement, students applied for refunds, teachers were fired, and many parents of students had nowhere to ask.
Online teacher qualification fraud, institutions running schools without a license, inducing consumption, false propaganda, overlord clauses, and difficulty in canceling contracts and refunding fees, etc. are all chaotic, making it increasingly difficult for consumers to defend their rights.
In addition, the "instalment loan" in the online education industry has also been criticized by public opinion.
In response to the chaos in the industry, on the one hand, online education platforms need to return to the education standard from capital competition as soon as possible, strengthen industry self-discipline, and provide high-quality services to consumers; on the other hand, relevant departments need to further strengthen administrative supervision and unite consumer associations. Social organizations formulate online education service standards, consolidate the protection of rights protection systems, and standardize the development of the online education market.
Seven, it is difficult for minors to recharge online games, give rewards and refunds
In recent years, the development of the "home economy" has entered the fast lane.
During the epidemic, under the influence of objective factors such as home epidemic prevention, online entertainment such as online games and webcasting became the first choices of many minors.
It’s worth noting that minors hide their parents’ rewards for online anchors, recharge online game platforms and other related incidents from time to time. The amount of money involved is huge. Parents lose money without knowing it but have nowhere to ask for help. .
For example, "Nanjing elementary school students spent 40,000 yuan for 14 minutes to play'eating chicken games'", "Kongzi, an 8-year-old in Guangyuan, Sichuan, recharged the game and swiped more than 4,000 yuan from his father." Ten thousand yuan to sell the house" etc.
In addition, in July, the "Beijing Youth Daily" launched a related investigation on entertainment apps that parents reported more seriously. The "youth anti-addiction system" of live platform APPs such as "Yu" and "Yizhibo" is useless and full of loopholes.
In response to hidden dangers of this type of problem, in May, the Supreme People’s Court issued the "Guiding Opinions on Several Issues Concerning the Proper Trial of Civil Cases Involving the New Coronary Pneumonia Epidemic (2)", which clarified that persons with limited civil capacity can participate in online payments without the consent of their guardians. The people's court shall support the payment of money that is not suitable for the age or intelligence of the game or the online live broadcast platform, and the guardian requests the network service provider to return the money.
However, in many cases of minors' online consumption, few parents are able to seek help from the police or the news media, and few have entered the judicial proceedings.
Public opinion believes that due to cumbersome procedures, difficulties in producing evidence, and mutual excuses between operating platforms and game companies, parents often face considerable difficulties in refunding rights and protecting consumer rights and interests.
The protection of minors is the common responsibility of the whole society. This requires not only relevant departments and enterprises to improve the refund mechanism and improve the efficiency of handling refund disputes, but also requires the guardians of minors to take the initiative to shoulder the responsibility of guidance and discipline.
8. The takeaway platform "wait 5 more minutes" was accused of "dumping the pot" to consumers
On September 8, an article titled "Takeaway Rider, Stuck in the System" was "screened" on social platforms.
The article quoted multiple real cases as saying that the algorithm-driven "real-time intelligent delivery system" continuously compressed the delivery time of takeaways, which eventually resulted in riders having to work in a high-risk environment where "running against death, competing with traffic police, and making friends with red lights" .
The article attracted follow-up reading and discussion from a large number of netizens, and it also prompted the public to re-examine the algorithms, values and employment models of takeout platforms. Takeout platforms such as Ele.me and Meituan were also pushed to the forefront.
On September 9th, Ele.me responded that it would add a new function of "I'm willing to wait 5 minutes/10 minutes" during order settlement.
This response immediately caused an uproar, and public opinion generally believed that the large-scale reduction of the delivery time of takeaways began with the squeezing performance appraisal of riders used by the takeaway platform to control costs and improve efficiency as the rule maker, service fee collector and For the direct or indirect employers of takeaway riders, takeaway platforms do not reflect on their own business models, but instead appeal to consumers to make concessions, which is suspected of "kicking the ball".
Public opinion believes that to solve the problem of "system difficulties" of takeaway riders, it requires not only the active actions of the takeaway platform, the optimization of technology and algorithms, but also the mutual consultation of the takeaway platform, merchants, riders, regulators, and consumers. Promote the sustainable and healthy development of new business formats.
This also warns relevant companies that, while realizing commercial interests, they must also assume their due social responsibilities and cannot habitually "dump" consumers.
Nine, the overtime charge of the smart express cabinet causes dissatisfaction
Fengchao's membership service launched on April 30 caused quite a bit of controversy.
According to the charging rules, non-member express lockers will be charged 0.5 yuan for every 12 hours overtime, with a cap of 3 yuan.
Some communities chose to discontinue Fengchao express cabinets. Fengchao publicly explained the reasons for the charges but did not change the charging decision.
On May 13, the China Consumers Association stated that there should be no separate charges during the reasonable storage period.
On May 15th, the State Post Bureau stated that although Fengchao’s adjustment of the free storage period did not violate the prohibitive provisions of the regulations, there were problems in the adjustment process, such as insufficient consultation and improper handling. Fengchao is required to be serious. Consider the demands of users and the needs of business development, and propose reasonable solutions as soon as possible.
On the evening of May 15th, Fengchao’s official public account released the "Notes on User Service Adjustments", apologizing for the charges of express cabinets, and also adjusted the free storage period, extending the free storage period from 12 hours to 18 hours.
The overtime charging of Fengchao express cabinets has caused consumer dissatisfaction, which is mainly reflected in: First, consumers believe that Fengchao’s unilateral increase in storage fees will increase consumer costs and violate consumer rights; second, some couriers have not solicited Consumers agree that the behavior of placing the express mail in the express cabinet without authorization has annoyed consumers; third, consumers report that the items stored in the express cabinet are often taken away or lost by others.
In this regard, public opinion calls for the relevant departments to continue to promote the construction of smart express boxes, public service stations and other express terminal facilities, increase service standards and supervision, and help the masses solve the "last mile" problem.
10. There are many restrictions on airlines' "unlimited flight products"
In 2020, in order to further boost the aviation economy, many airlines will launch "Fly as you wish" products to attract passengers.
In June, China Eastern Airlines launched the first "Fly on Weekend" product in the field of civil aviation.
Passengers can take the economy class of Eastern Airlines and Shanghai Airlines unlimited times on any Saturday and Sunday in 2020, and fly to China except Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.
After the product went online, some consumers were eager to buy it.
Subsequently, Hainan Airlines, China Airlines, Spring Airlines and other airlines also launched "unlimited flights" products.
While product sales are booming, many consumers have complained.
Complaints such as harsh product usage conditions, poor user experience, difficulty in buying tickets for return trips, false propaganda, and difficulty in redemption of air tickets have triggered public opinion to ask whether the "unlimited flight" products are really convenient for consumers to travel.
The harsher conditions of use of such products have infringed on the rights of consumers to a certain extent. In addition, the product promotion focuses on "unlimited times". The promotion content and consumer experience form a large gap, leaving consumers with a company Feelings of false propaganda.
Public opinion believes that in response to the technical, after-sales, and service problems of "Flying with Heart" products, relevant departments and consumer associations at all levels should unblock the channels for consumer complaints and reports, protect consumer rights and interests, and further increase publicity. Improve the publicity system and allow public opinion supervision to exert its power.
Relevant airlines should carefully analyze the reasons for complaints about "unlimited flights" products, iterate on products, and effectively improve service quality and optimize consumer experience.