Why
is the
return of more than 5,000 yuan water purifier rejected frequently?
Manufacturer: It is a "small probability event" Expert: Consumers can request returns
In September last year, Ms. Li's family who lives in Changping, Beijing, spent 5,530 yuan to buy a household water purifier at a third-party store "a flagship water purifier" on the JD platform. In less than a year, the water purifier was frequent. There are as many as seven or eight failures.
During this period, after returning to the factory for 2 times for repairs, 1 time for a new machine, and several online after-sales remote repairs... But the fault has not been completely eliminated.
A reporter from Beijing Youth Daily learned that Ms. Li's family no longer trusts the sellers and manufacturers' promises and hopes to return the goods for a refund.
An official after-sales service firm disagrees with the return, believing that he "has been wholeheartedly helping customers deal with problems."
The manufacturer’s technician, Mr. Liu, said that the failure is a small probability event and can be returned to the factory to upgrade the equipment for free.
At present, both parties have applied for the JD platform to intervene in the arbitration.
user
Repeated maintenance in 4 months
Water purifier failure has not been completely resolved
Ms. Li’s first purchased the water purifier in September last year. At the beginning of April this year, the water purifier had a problem for the first time—not producing water.
The factory’s technicians had visited home for repairs, but to Ms. Li’s surprise, the technicians had to connect with the engineer online when they arrived at the site, and could only work under the engineer’s remote teaching. “The proficiency is not as good as mine.” Ms. Li was angry. Say.
After a series of procedures such as video guidance, door-to-door maintenance, and remote connection of technicians, the factory agreed to send a spare machine to Ms. Li's family and return the original machine at the same time. Factory maintenance.
What surprised Ms. Li's family was that returning to the factory for maintenance was only the beginning of the trouble.
First, when replacing the spare filter element of the machine, the machine will automatically prompt to reset. Ms. Li believes that such a setting of the machine program will bring potential drinking water safety hazards.
The manufacturer claims that it is sufficient to replace the filter element according to the prompt on the panel, or "you can also replace the filter element if you are not satisfied with the water quality."
The inspection results showed that the machine bought by Ms. Li's family was not faulty. The merchant returned the original machine and recalculated the warranty period for a period of one year.
A few days after receiving the original machine, and before Ms. Li's family could send the spare machine back, the original machine broke down again.
After a series of online maintenance instructions by the manufacturer and technicians, the machine failure still has not been completely resolved.
"After returning to the factory for the second time, they didn't even screw the screws of the machine casing." Ms. Li said.
In the four months since the first problem, the water purifier has frequently failed. Ms. Li’s family can only drink bottled mineral water most of the time. She joked that the only thing she drank was piled up with a person. Taller.
Ms. Li's family, who was greatly disappointed with the product quality, said bluntly: "Your machine is too difficult to serve. Our request is to return it!"
factory
No water idling failure is a small probability event
Provide multiple ways to handle maintenance
According to the communication between Ms. Li and the factory, a manufacturer believed that the failure of Ms. Li’s water purifier was due to the improper placement of the water tank, which caused air to enter the water inlet pipe of the machine. If the machine runs for a long time to produce water, it will cause the machine to malfunction and fail to function properly. use.
A reporter from the Beijing Youth Daily asked Mr. Liu, a technician from a certain manufacturer, “It is a small probability event that the machine runs idling and malfunctions without water. We have completely solved this problem through product design improvements.” Mr. Liu said.
But Ms. Li disagrees with this statement, "After returning to the factory for overhaul at the end of July, the factory said that the machine had been upgraded and replaced, and this problem still exists after we received the repaired machine."
She further questioned: Is the problem of the machine’s air intake causing no water production a problem caused by one or two consumers or a more common problem?
The merchant responded. According to statistics, there are currently 3 machines that cannot make water, but the troubleshooting videos provided by the merchant can completely solve the customer's problem.
In order to further solve this problem, the merchant will re-upgrade the program for customers free of charge. The upgraded machine will automatically monitor whether it enters the air and activate the protection mechanism to prevent customers from not putting the water tank in place, causing the machine to enter the air and become unusable.
In response to errors or defects in the solutions provided to consumers after sales, the factory said that it will provide corresponding solutions and videos for customers to handle them by themselves; if not, it will arrange for remote guidance by engineers; if it is not resolved in the end, Will be returned to the factory for processing.
During the warranty period, the factory will help customers repair it free of charge.
expert
Enterprises cannot shirk responsibility with "low probability"
If multiple repairs cannot solve the problem, you can request a return
For the repeated maintenance, Ms. Li's family felt tired and exhausted. In the latest failure, she rejected the merchant's proposal to return to the factory for maintenance.
She believes that during the warranty period, the product has quality problems many times, and consumers have the right to request a refund.
The factory stated that it has wholeheartedly helped customers deal with any problems in accordance with the national three-guarantee regulations, and bear the relevant expenses, without the customer paying a penny, but the customer did not cooperate with our technicians to inspect the machine and refused to return to the factory for inspection.
The reporter of Beiqing Daily noticed that the water purifier purchased by Ms. Li’s house is marked on the product page. The after-sales guarantee provided by the seller includes a 12-month warranty after the new machine is installed and used, free of maintenance costs (filters and other consumables are not covered by the warranty) .
The warm reminder also indicates that it supports 7-day return without reason (not supported after use).
Ms. Li's family stated that they had not paid attention to the after-sale protection when purchasing.
The reporter from the Beijing Youth Daily also learned that the seller was responsible for the maintenance, renewal and round-trip freight of the machine in Ms. Li's house.
On the purchase page of the water purifier, free replacement for several years is a value-added guarantee, which requires additional payment at the time of purchase, and Ms. Li's family did not purchase the relevant guarantee at that time.
So, for the situation marked on the page, does it comply with the relevant laws, and is the request of Ms. Li's family to return a refund legitimate?
Li Bin, a member of the China Consumers Association Lawyers Group and Beijing Zhongwen Law Firm, told Beijing Youth Daily that in this incident, the two parties agreed to a warranty period of one year. If there are multiple failures during the warranty period, it will be repaired but not normal. If the consumer purchases the water purifier, the contractual purpose of purchasing the water purifier cannot be realized, and the consumer can claim to cancel the contract and refund the purchase price.
If there is a malfunction, but it does not affect the basic functions, it can be solved by repair, replacement, etc., and the return conditions may not be met.
"The key depends on the severity of the quality problem and whether it can be repaired. At present, the Jingdong platform has accepted complaints, and you can wait for Jingdong's handling opinions, or you can complain to the consumer association and request mediation to return the goods." Li Bin said.
According to Chen Yinjiang, deputy secretary-general of the China Consumer Rights Protection Law Research Association, according to the Consumer Rights Protection Law, if the goods or services provided by operators do not meet the quality requirements, consumers can return the goods in accordance with state regulations and the parties’ agreement, or Operators are required to perform replacement and repair obligations.
In the absence of national regulations and agreements between the parties, consumers can return the goods within seven days from the date of receipt of the goods; if the statutory conditions for termination of the contract are met after seven days, consumers can return the goods in a timely manner, and if they do not meet the statutory conditions for termination of the contract, they can require the operator to perform Obligations such as replacement and repair.
"After consumers bought the water purifier seven or eight failures a year, and even returning to the factory for repairs could not solve the problem, the failure still occurred. It shows that the quality of this water purifier caused consumers to be unable to use it normally, and the purpose of the contract could not be achieved. , In line with the statutory conditions for the termination of the contract, so consumers can request a return or exchange." Chen Yinjiang told a reporter from the Beijing Youth Daily, "Enterprises cannot shirk responsibility on the basis of a low probability of occurrence, because once a problem with a low probability occurs, For consumers, it is a 100% problem. Companies should be responsible for the quality of their own products, rather than dragging on and damaging the rights and interests of consumers."
Another person in the legal profession who did not want to be named stated that, according to the principles of civil law, if the product has quality problems or multiple repairs cannot be resolved, consumers can request a return, and if there is a loss, they can request compensation for the loss.
If the Jingdong arbitration platform can solve the problem, of course it is better; but if the decision is delayed for a long time, consumers can go directly to the court to sue.
A reporter from Beijing Youth Daily learned from the customer service office of JD.com that third-party sellers and consumers can apply for JD’s customer service to intervene in arbitration when they disagree during the shopping process.
At present, Ms. Li's family has applied for the platform to intervene in the arbitration, and the factory also stated that the customer has submitted it to the JD platform for processing, and the specific results need to be waited for JD.com to make a settlement.
Text / Our reporter Wen Jing, intern reporter Wang Xiaoran
Coordinator/Yu Meiying