"Zero-based promotion of junior college and undergraduate."
"Learning 30 minutes on mobile phones every day makes it easy to have a bachelor's degree."
"Studying a bachelor's degree quietly, no need to go to school, no need to resign, and amaze everyone."
"You don't need to resign for postgraduate studies, and you can read 985 and 211 famous schools while you are on the job."
At the beginning, Wang Bin saw this kind of advertisement and applied for the postgraduate entrance examination training course.
After paying the fee, he found that the refund was not unconditional. The agency believed that he did not meet the conditions for the refund, and he threw more than 10,000 yuan in vain when the number of his family fell. He was in a dilemma.
Many office workers, like Wang Bin, who need to improve their academic qualifications contact online educational institutions through advertisements posted on various platforms.
When they wanted a refund, the online educational institution told them they were not eligible for a refund.
They said they did not sign the relevant agreement or did not know the terms of the refund in the agreement.
Online education providers say they have signed agreements before making payments.
People's Daily Online's "People's Direct Hit" investigation found that a number of consumers had disputes over refunds with three online education institutions, Wuhan Jushi, Suntech and Jiayan.
The local education department said that some institutions have as many as 1,000 or 2,000 complaints per month.
Can't get a refund?
Wang Bin's college major is engineering. After graduating in 2015, he has been doing after-sales maintenance of mechanical equipment and has changed 5 jobs so far.
In his view, jobs with low educational thresholds do not last long.
As he grew older, he was eager to improve his education and find a stable job close to home.
In February of this year, when I was unemployed and at home, this idea intensified.
On February 8, Wang Bin saw the advertisement of the postgraduate entrance examination course of Wuhan Jushi Online Education Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Wuhan Jushi) on the social platform. After clicking the link, the company's staff enterprise WeChat appeared.
According to the staff, the course is a full-service managed class, and the head teacher served him throughout the journey and successfully landed.
Listening to the other party's introduction that the pass rate of junior college students is "very high", he signed up for a basic full-course class of 5,999 yuan.
After the registration was successful, Wang Bin added the head teacher's WeChat.
"College students always take this class if they want to go ashore once, and this is a guaranteed graduation and employment package." Knowing that he has a college degree, the head teacher told him that it is difficult for college students to go ashore once, and suggested changing to a guaranteed class.
The staff of Wuhan Julion introduced the Baodu class to Wang Bin.
Photo courtesy of the interviewee
"This year is the fifth year of the postgraduate entrance examination reform, and next year's postgraduate entrance examination will also undergo major changes. If you can't get on the shore once, you will not be able to take the examination after the junior college." The head teacher said that the professional courses and the re-examination are taught by the teachers of the colleges who applied for the examination. Fees, including basic class fees, have a scholarship of 6,000 yuan.
Wang Bin believed that if he signed up for the guaranteed class, he could go ashore at one time, and paid another 9,800 yuan to upgrade to a VIP exclusive landing class.
Following the staff's prompt, he downloaded the Sino-British Postgraduate Entrance Examination APP.
After logging in, he found an agreement on the order page.
The agreement stipulates that students must meet the three criteria of test scores, study time and completion rate of exercises before they can apply for a refund.
"If I had known this content in advance, I would never have signed up." Seeing the content of the agreement, Wang Bin regretted it and asked the head teacher for a refund that night.
The class teacher said that he would help him find after-sales personnel to deal with it.
The chat records provided by Wang Bin show that when the staff sent him the payment code for the first fee, he mentioned "signing a guarantee agreement for the registration meeting", and the payment code for the second fee was sent by the head teacher without mentioning the agreement.
But Wang Bin said that he didn't see the agreement when he scanned the QR code to pay for the two fees, and the signature page popped up after payment, "a blank handwriting board with nothing on it, I thought I wanted to prove that I paid, so I signed it. "
Without waiting for a reply, he contacted the customer service of the Sino-British Postgraduate Entrance Examination APP.
The customer service said that if the class he signed up for failed to pass the test for the first time, he would be refunded according to the agreement.
The customer service said that the agreement can be checked before payment, and it needs to be signed and checked after applying for the class. "The fee for the postgraduate entrance examination is relatively high, and any student must sign up after careful consideration."
Another consumer reported on the People's Daily Online "Leadership Message Board" that they encountered similar problems in Wuhan Jushi.
There is no agreement on the scanned payment page of the payment code received by a consumer.
Another consumer said that the agreement can only be seen after paying the fee and signing, but there is no document on the signature page.
Wuhan Julion replied to "People's Direct Hit" that the company's market-oriented courses all have the words and options "I agree to the xxx course agreement" on the payment interface. After clicking the submit order, a reminder text "Please read the agreement and pay" will pop up. There are no related agreements that have been reported by consumers.
However, Wang Bin said that he did not place the order on the above-mentioned course payment interface, but paid by scanning the payment code provided by the salesperson.
In this regard, Wuhan Jushi has not yet responded.
Wang Bin scans the payment code on the payment page that appears.
Photo courtesy of the interviewee
Liu Jiayin, a lawyer from Beijing Yuecheng Law Firm, said that the agreement signed during the order payment process is usually a standard clause prepared by the institution in advance, and the institution should fulfill the obligation of reminding or explaining the content of the clause that has a major interest in consumers, otherwise it will lead to consumption. If the user fails to notice or understand, the consumer has the right to claim that the clause does not become the content of the contract.
Two days after calling 12315 to complain, the after-sales staff contacted Wang Bin and finally agreed to refund the fee, deducting the platform operating fee of 599 yuan, and the processing cycle was 25 to 35 working days.
The payment was made using a consumer loan. While waiting for the refund, Wang Bin needed to pay interest.
He calculates the refund time every day, and still has not received the refund for 35 working days.
The family members were also anxious, and reported the false propaganda of Wuhan Jushi on the "leadership message board".
Two days later, he received a refund.
The Letters and Visits Bureau of Wuhan East Lake New Technology Development Zone replied that the District Market Bureau did not find any suspected violation of the relevant laws and regulations of market supervision, and the two parties reached an agreement on a refund after coordination.
The salesperson's promise is inconsistent with the agreement?
Li Li also encountered difficulties in refunding.
In February last year, she signed up for Wuhan Suntech Online Education Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Wuhan Suntech) for a 13,800-yuan premium written test agreement class, including a 8,000-yuan guarantee.
After failing the postgraduate entrance examination, Li Li applied for a refund of the 8,000 yuan security deposit.
The head teacher said that she did not complete 40% of the live broadcast courses and did not meet the requirements of the claims settlement agreement.
Li Li provided the reporter with two materials: the online training service agreement and the guarantee service terms of the purchased courses. Among the guarantee service terms, there is a stipulation that the attendance rate of the students in the written test live broadcast class should reach 40% of the total time, and the guarantee service terms are not stamped.
Wuhan Suntech replied to "People's Direct Strike", saying that Li Libao is a management-type joint entrance examination boutique written test agreement class. The special guarantee service of this class is the insurance for claims settlement. The training service agreement has the same legal effect.
Lawyer Liu Jiayin said that if the online training service agreement mentions that the guarantee service clause binds both parties or makes it an appendix, it can be considered that the guarantee service clause is a part of the agreement and is valid.
If it is not mentioned in the agreement, it needs to look at the evidence of both parties. If the consumer can prove that the agency promises to provide refund protection in accordance with the guarantee service terms, and the consumer agrees to accept it, he can claim that it has legal effect between the two parties.
Li Li said that the salesperson sent a picture after introducing the service content of the written test agreement, with the words "but the refund amount is 8,000", and there are 3 lines of small words below, the specific content is not clear.
After the refund was rejected, she asked the salesperson to send the picture again. In the picture sent by the other party, the three lines of small characters below "However, the refund amount is 8,000" are clearly visible, and one of them is "40% or more of the live broadcast attendance during the 22-year examination period". ".
The pictures that Wuhan Suntech staff sent to Li Li twice.
Photo courtesy of the interviewee
Wuhan Suntech said that the promotional posters provided by the sales staff for the trainees fully described the additional conditions for refunds.
Li Li did not agree with this.
Compared with Wuhan Suntech's reply to the "People's Direct Attack" poster with clear content, Li Li said that the poster sent to her by the sales staff was vague.
When paying, the salesperson first sent Li Li a text message link, asking her to pay a deposit of 1,380 yuan to activate the account, and then asked her to open a text message link to enter her name and ID card information.
According to Li Li's recollection, she entered her name and ID card information at that time to confirm that the name and course amount were correct, but she did not read the other contents carefully.
The salesperson then sent a picture showing "contract signed complete".
Li Li paid the remaining fees through the payment code.
Wuhan Suntech said that the company has informed and reminded Li Li of the refund clause through multiple process links.
The company sent Li Li a message containing "Please read the "Service Agreement" and the relevant terms of protection (if any), and click the link for details...".
On the day of registration, the head teacher called Li Li to introduce the content of the refund and claim settlement.
A message sent by Wuhan Suntech to Li Li.
Photo courtesy of the interviewee
The information provided by both parties showed that the head teacher introduced to Li Li that the content of the refund claim was after Li Li paid.
After the class teacher's introduction, Li Li asked the sales staff twice if they could not get a refund, and the sales staff said "8,000 refunds".
Wuhan Suntech did not respond to the promise of the sales staff.
Wuhan Suntech staff responded to Li Li's refund question twice.
Photo courtesy of the interviewee
Liu Jiayin said that whether the refund conditions are met is usually subject to the contractual agreement signed by both parties.
If the agency has not negotiated with consumers to directly use the standard terms that are inconsistent with its commitments, and has not fulfilled its obligation of prompting or explaining, and the consumer can prove that the agency has made an explicit commitment to it, it has the right to claim that the agency will refund the fee according to its commitment. .
He reminded that consumers should pay attention to whether the content of the contract is consistent with the commitment of the marketer when signing a contract, and if it is inconsistent, choose carefully.
Is the partner agency reliable?
Although Yu Feng successfully landed, he still had a dispute with an online education institution due to cost issues.
Restricted by family conditions, Yu Feng went out to work after graduating from junior high school.
He works during the day and participates in skills training at night. He has successively obtained 15 skill certificates, and has passed the college entrance examination by himself. He has now been promoted to the middle level of the company.
He estimated that if he continued to rise, he would have to take another undergraduate degree in engineering.
In June 2021, he signed up for Wuhan Jiayan Online Education Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Wuhan Jiayan) to fail the refund guarantee class.
The staff said that all tuition fees are 8,980 yuan from registration until the certificate is obtained, and there is no secondary charge.
The course agreement signed by both parties stipulates that Wuhan Jiayan is responsible for collecting and paying tuition fees.
In October, he took the adult college entrance examination and was accepted by Xuzhou Institute of Engineering.
Course Agreement.
Photo courtesy of the interviewee
In early January 2022, Yu Feng consulted the head teacher on cooperation channels and payment.
The head teacher sent a screenshot of the chat, which read "Xuzhou Engineering said don't go, don't worry, we have cooperation channels to deal with".
The head teacher said that he would pay the connection fee so that he did not have to worry about it.
Uneasy in his heart, he contacted the teachers of Xuzhou Institute of Engineering.
After learning about the situation, the other party said: "Our total tuition fee for two and a half years is 5,500 yuan. Why don't you sign up yourself? We have to find an unreliable institution!" The reporter called Xuzhou Institute of Engineering, and the staff said that the school has no cooperative relationship with Wuhan Jiayan. .
Wuhan Jiayan staff responded to Yu Feng's questions about cooperation channels and tuition fees.
Photo courtesy of the interviewee
In late February, Yu Feng received a text message from Xuzhou Institute of Engineering, informing him of the latest registration and payment time, and overdue registration was deemed to have automatically given up his admission qualification.
In early March, the head teacher asked him to contact the college to pay the fee, and the after-sales staff would contact him later.
In the end he paid the tuition himself.
The after-sales staff replied that he would refund part of the fee in June.
"I don't know if it's true or not. I've been very depressed every day for the past few months. I studied law in college, and I was deceived. I didn't dare to tell the people around me about it."
Liu Jiayin said that if the fee items listed by the institution include tuition, but the actual situation does not match it, it is suspected of price gouging, and consumers have the right to ask the institution to refund.
Zhang Jun has already received his graduation certificate, but he is not happy at all. He feels that the gold content of this graduation certificate has shrunk.
In May 2020, he applied for the online MBA program of Peiding University in Wuhan Suntech.
The course consists of two semesters, totaling 71,300 yuan.
Before paying the fee, the salesperson introduced that Pedding University is one of the accredited members of the Western Colleges and Universities Alliance, which is the highest accreditation at the American university level.
Wuhan Suntech staff introduced the situation of Pedding University to Zhang Jun.
Photo courtesy of the interviewee
In December 2021, Zhang Jun saw in the MBA class group that some students said that Pedding University had withdrawn from the Western Union of Colleges and Universities.
The head teacher explained that Pedding University was originally a member of the Western Union of Colleges and Universities in the United States, and then temporarily withdrew due to restructuring. The school replied that it is expected to rejoin in mid-December.
Zhang Jun did not wait for the news that Pedding University had rejoined the American Western Association of Colleges and Universities.
He believes that the sales staff of Suntech in Wuhan did not inform the key information that Pedding University had withdrawn from the Western Association of Colleges and Universities when recruiting students, which led to the depreciation of the diploma.
In late January 2022, he proposed a refund.
The head teacher said that he did not withdraw from Pedding University when he signed up. Whether he is a member of the alliance has nothing to do with the gold content of his graduation certificate. His course has been completed, and refunds are not supported.
Liu Jiayin said that in this case, whether or not to request a refund needs to take into account factors such as the general consumer's awareness of the relevant situation in the field, whether the cooperation relationship between the institution and foreign universities is real, and other factors, and comprehensively consider whether the university is a member of the alliance. influence of consumers' purchasing decisions.
If it can be determined that this factor played a greater role in the purchase of the course by the consumer, the consumer has the right to request a refund.
Zhang Jun felt that the teacher taught him well, and he learned some management experience and methods, but he signed up for the Western Colleges and Universities Alliance at the time, "It's too embarrassing to spend so much money to get a certificate that is not recognized. According to Zhang Jun, there are more than 40 students in his class.
Wuhan Suntech replied that Pedding University will withdraw from the American Western University Alliance in 2020.
But the reply did not mention the month of withdrawal.
According to the official website of the Western Association of Colleges and Universities Commission on Advanced Colleges and Universities, Pedding University was granted candidacy on June 30, 1976, and voluntarily revoked its accreditation on February 28, 2020.
Who controls the quality of teaching?
Feng Juan is a housewife who likes to study in her free time and has enrolled in different classes.
She studies not for work needs, but to enrich herself and enrich her life.
Recently, she has been very interested in Sinology. After listening to 4 free live classes of Wuhan Jiayan, she felt that the atmosphere was good.
She likes live classes, students can interact with the teacher, and the teacher's speech is more contagious.
She asked the salesperson how many live classes they had, and the other party said 80 classes, two to three classes a week, and they could watch the recordings.
In March of this year, she paid 8,800 yuan to sign up for the lecture course of Jiayan Guoxue University.
The staff of Wuhan Salt Plus introduced a total of 80 live classes to Feng Juan.
Photo courtesy of the interviewee
After the official class, Feng Juan noticed that the first two classes were already in the curriculum system before she signed up.
In the third class, she found that the same teacher appeared in two different live classes at the same time.
She asked the course coordinator why the third class was still recorded and broadcast, and the other party told her that the teacher had deliberately recorded a class in advance because of the time conflict with another live class.
However, Feng Juan found that the fourth quarter was still a recorded and broadcast class.
The explanation given by the course docking personnel is that the course mode is live broadcast plus recorded broadcast. If the teacher's open class conflicts with the daily course time, or the teacher has something to do, it will be recorded and broadcasted in advance, so the number of live broadcast and recorded broadcast classes cannot be determined.
Wuhan Jiayan staff replied to Feng Juan's course format.
Photo courtesy of the interviewee
She asked the salesperson, who had said there were 80 live classes, when the first live class would start.
The other party replied to her that the 80 live broadcast classes will not change, and there will be recordings after the live broadcast, but now it is reversed.
She can watch the recording first, and if she doesn't want to watch it, she can be transferred after the live broadcast starts.
It will take almost two months for the course to be recorded, and the live broadcast will begin at that time.
Feng Juan noticed that about 500 or 600 people were watching each class.
She couldn't understand, the class had already started and the format of the course had not yet been decided.
Feeling cheated, she offered a refund.
The after-sales staff said that more than 1,300 yuan of comprehensive service fees need to be deducted, and it will be credited to the account within 40 to 50 working days.
The online training service agreement provided by Feng Juan did not specify the course format.
Liu Jiayin said that if the contract agreement is unclear, if the consumer can prove that the salesperson has clearly made a commitment to live teaching, they can claim that the institution is in breach of contract.
If the institution charges in advance but fails to teach by live broadcast as agreed, consumers have the right to ask them to teach as agreed, or refund the corresponding advance payment and calculate the interest until the actual refund date.
There is no right to deduct the service fee in the event of a default by the institution.
Regarding the questions reported by the two consumers, as of press time, the reporter has not received any reply from Wuhan Salt.
According to incomplete statistics, from January 1, 2021 to April 10, 2022, there were more than 200, more than 20, and 5 messages on the "Leader Message Board" about Suntech, Jiayan, and Jushi, respectively. The main contents are: Refunds are difficult due to various reasons.
In September 2019, 11 departments including the Ministry of Education jointly issued the "Guiding Opinions on Promoting the Healthy Development of Online Education", requiring the improvement of the full-cycle system of filing, selection, supervision, inspection, notification, and withdrawal of online education institutions.
Promote online education institutions to establish quality standards, clarify service rules, and unblock online education consumer complaint channels.
The registration authorities of Wuhan Suntech, Jiayan and Jushi are all the Market Supervision Bureau of Wuhan East Lake New Technology Development Zone.
In January 2022, Wuhan Suntech was administratively punished by the Market Supervision Bureau of Wuhan East Lake New Technology Development Zone for publishing false advertisements.
The staff of the Education Bureau of Donghu New Technology Development Zone said that Wuhan Suntech has one or two thousand complaints every month, and Wuhan Jushi has a lot of complaints, all of which are transferred to the Market Supervision Bureau.
Regarding the refund complaints from the "leader message board" involving the above three institutions, the Wuhan East Lake New Technology Development Zone Market Supervision Bureau replied that the disputes between the two parties are civil contract disputes and can be resolved through negotiation. If the negotiation fails, the rights can be protected in accordance with the law through judicial channels.
The staff of the Hubei Provincial Department of Education said that cultural education and training carried out by enterprises without school licenses are beyond the scope of operation, and disputes should be handled by the market supervision department.
For an enterprise with a school-running license, the education department is obliged to supervise its school-running behavior.
(Wang Bin, Li Li, Yu Feng, Zhang Jun and Feng Juan are pseudonyms in the text)