Food and medical care have become areas with high incidence of pet consumption disputes
□ Our reporter Han Dandong
□ Intern Wang Yitian
Because his pet dog was sick and needed treatment, Tianjin citizen Li Han went to the pet hospital four times and spent more than 10,000 yuan to perform four operations on the dog.
Later he learned that he had been pitted by the pet hospital.
Li Han's experience is not alone.
The "2020 China Pet Industry White Paper (Consumption Report)" shows that food and medical care are areas with a high incidence of pet consumption disputes; physical stores are areas with a high incidence of consumption disputes; quality issues are the main cause of consumption disputes.
In recent years, with the increase in ownership and the improvement of pet owners' care for pets and the improvement of consumption quality, the pet peripheral service industry has been developing day by day.
However, a recent investigation by a reporter from the "Rules of Law Daily" found that pet service agencies have frequent chaos, and many pet shops or pet hospitals have various "pits".
Lack of standards for self-pricing
Pet hospital collects black money
Starting from October 2021, Li Han's pet dog became unwell and needed catheterization, so he took the dog to a pet hospital in Jinnan District, Tianjin.
Li Han recalled that after the doctor checked the dog's condition, he said a lot of professional terms, and then told him that he might need further examination to determine the dog's specific condition.
After tossing all morning, Li Han brought back his dog with a bag full of medicines and a long bill.
But when he stepped out of the pet hospital's door, the doctor stopped him again: "Your dog is in a special condition. It will definitely not be completely cured once. You will come again next week."
In this way, Li Han took the dog and went through 4 operations at the pet hospital. He did not expect that the dog's condition would relapse shortly after returning home.
In desperation, Li Han changed to a pet hospital for treatment.
The doctor at this pet hospital told him that a problem that could have been solved by a single operation was split into four abruptly. This kind of pain is unbearable for pet dogs.
Li Han said that he spent a total of more than 10,000 yuan before and after the previous pet hospital, including a recharge card, a membership card, and a total of more than 6,000 yuan for the operation.
The doctor at the second pet hospital told him that he had spent a lot of wrong money.
Liu Lin from Chongqing also encountered a similar situation.
In August 2021, Liu Lin took the family cat to a pet care hospital for pet sterilization, and was told by the hospital that 10 indicators were unqualified and could not be operated on.
In order to get the cat's index back to normal, Liu Lin spent nearly 2,000 yuan on the medicine before and after, but was still repeatedly told by the doctor that it was not up to the standard.
After that, Liu Lin moved to another pet hospital to do a full-body examination on the cat. The result of the examination showed that the cat had no problems and met all the conditions for the sterilization operation.
The doctor in this hospital told Liu Lin that the multiple indicators mentioned by the doctor in the previous hospital had no effect on the operation, but just to prescribe more medicine to make money.
The reporter's investigation found that the problem of arbitrary charges in pet hospitals has always been one of the topics most "falling into the pit" by pet owners.
Huang Cheng, who works in a pet hospital in Guangxi, told reporters that the prices of various foods, medicines and peripheral items in pet shops and pet hospitals are very different, and there is a lack of unified pricing, and the pet hospitals basically rely on their own prices.
"Like'Miao Sanduo Vaccine', the price of each store is different, most of them are in the price range of 160 yuan to 180 yuan, but the pet hospital where I worked before sold the vaccine for more than 200 yuan." Huang Cheng said.
Deliberately selling sick cats and dogs
Fatigue tactics drag down buyers
Zhang Han, a pet lover in Cangzhou, Hebei, bought a tabby cat one year ago, and was asked by the pet shop to sign a purchase agreement during the checkout.
Zhang Han, who loves cats eagerly, didn't care to read the agreement carefully and he initialed the name. After a few days after the kitten took him home, the problem came.
"I just took home and didn't feel anything, but after 3 days I still didn't want to eat and became sick. I took the cat to the pet hospital for an examination. The test sheet was full of unqualified indicators, the doctor Said the store sold me sick cats." Zhang Han said.
At that time, he took out the purchase agreement and looked at the content carefully, and found that it clearly stipulates that the pet can be returned unconditionally if there is a problem within one day, and if it exceeds one day, the merchant is not obliged to compensate the buyer for the loss.
According to the reporter's understanding, terms such as "week dog" and "backyard cat" are often used by pet owners to describe pets purchased from pet stores with their own diseases.
I bought my beloved pet and hugged it home, thinking that it would be able to accompany myself for more than ten years, but often backfired. These sick cats and dogs can only accompany their owners for a week.
Merchants take advantage of the lack of judgment on the health of small animals by most pet owners, thereby "cutting corners", not vaccinating their pets, and deliberately selling sick cats and dogs.
There is a “Mu Pet” pet supplies store in Liwan District, Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province. Starting from April 2021, a large number of pet owners have complained that when the store sells pets, buyers are required to sign a purchase agreement, although the agreement says The idea of "returning if there is a problem" seems to be very considerate to the buyer, but in fact it implies a routine.
According to a pet owner, none of the animals sold in this shop have a vaccine certificate, and almost all cats and dogs are sick.
The shop’s usual routine is to constantly change cats for buyers, but every cat is sick, trying to use fatigue tactics to drag the buyers down.
For similar behaviors in pet shops, relevant departments have been concerned.
In October 2021, Guangzhou Liwan District Market Supervision Bureau imposed a fine of RMB 515,000 and revoked its business license on pet cats and dogs sold by Mu’s pet store for fraudulent consumer behavior.
Bundling false propaganda
Sales routine "make up flowers"
"The price of breed pets is high, and we will get a purebred puppet cat if you sign up for a card of 20,000 yuan." This is an advertisement made by a pet shop in Guangxi when it opened, attracting a large number of cat lovers to come and consume.
Li Xiao is one of the pet owners who participated in the adoption.
According to him, purebred puppet cats are expensive breeds in the cat category, so when he saw the news of the event, he felt that he had "earned", so he applied for a card to adopt a "purebred puppet cat", and finally raised it. After a while, it was discovered that not only did the cat have no vaccine records, but it was not a puppet cat at all.
"This kitten is growing more and more ill-formed. When the kitten was 4 months old, I suddenly realized that this is not a puppet cat at all, but an ordinary white cat. Worm, the money spent up and down can catch up with buying a real puppet cat." Li Xiao complained.
Huang Cheng, who works in a pet shop, revealed to reporters that his pet shop also has various sales routines.
"When I started, the owner of the pet shop told me that as long as the customers entering the shop are inexperienced, they can recommend as many things as they can sell, regardless of whether they need it or not." Huang Cheng said.
Huang Cheng noticed that his shop had a large number of unlicensed pet supplies, many of which were purchased by the owner from unknown places.
When he asked about the purpose of these supplies, the boss answered him like this: "If the customer comes, what do you need, you will put this thing to their needs, and ask about the price first. If the customer accepts No, you will lower the price in the name of giving them a preferential price."
Huang Cheng feels helpless about this: "Many pet owners walk into our store with love. They must not have thought that what is waiting for them may be pits."
(In the text, Li Han, Liu Lin, Huang Cheng, Zhang Han, and Li Xiao are all pseudonyms)