Our reporter Jia Li
On July 5, Gree Electric issued a statement saying: Recently, it has received reports from users that some criminals pretended to be Gree Electric’s after-sales service team, issued false after-sales service calls, and there were still problems such as arbitrary charges and unguaranteed service quality.
In this regard, the company attaches great importance to it and actively combats it through legal channels.
The relevant person in charge of the Gree Electric Appliances Marketing Department told the "Securities Daily" reporter: "At present, there are fake Gree Electric Appliances after-sales hotline information on many platforms, so the company issued a statement."
After searching online, a reporter from Securities Daily found that there is a lot of information on the Internet with the words "Gree Electric Air Conditioning Service", and even the official logo of Gree Electric is displayed in the uploaded pictures. It is found that most of the pages are not official webpages of Gree Electric Appliances, but belong to third-party companies.
At present, many consumers have complained to Gree Electric's after-sales customer service, saying that they have encountered arbitrary charges from third-party platforms due to mistaken contact.
The above-mentioned person from the Gree Electric Appliances Marketing Department said: "Some consumers have reported to the company that major online platforms are flooded with fake Gree Electric Appliances after-sales hotline information, and some of the fake Gree Electric Appliances after-sales teams have come to the door to repair consumers. There is a phenomenon of arbitrary charges. In order to protect the rights and interests of consumers and avoid damage to the interests of more consumers, the company has issued a solemn statement."
The reporter noticed that some of the current search homepages have hidden information other than the customer service phone number of Gree Electric's organ network, and marked "uncertified results may have the risk of false fraud."
It is understood that most of the after-sales service teams posing as Gree Electric are involved in the air-conditioning business.
At present, air-conditioning business revenue accounts for more than 70% of Gree Electric's total revenue.
The 2021 annual report shows that Gree Electric's air-conditioning revenue last year was 131.713 billion yuan, accounting for 70.11% of its revenue, an increase of 13.96% over the previous year.
Industry insiders believe that the frequent occurrence of impersonation is related to the current peak season of the air-conditioning market.
"At the peak of air-conditioning sales, Gree Electric's air-conditioning after-sales team is frequently impersonated. Behind this phenomenon, it highlights that the after-sales chaos in the home appliance industry is becoming more and more serious." Zhang Jianfeng, executive deputy secretary-general of China Household Appliances Business Association, said. A reporter from "Securities Daily" said that Gree Electric issued a statement aimed at relevant violations of laws and regulations in order to safeguard its legitimate rights and interests.
In recent years, a series of home appliance repair traps have been frequently exposed, such as counterfeiting the official customer service of well-known brands and "returning to the factory for repair" instead of returning to the factory.
In this year's CCTV Finance "315 in Action" special program, after-sales problems in the home appliance industry were once again exposed to the spotlight, pointing to typical problems such as opaque installation charges for home appliances, and "Li Gui" in home appliance repair and maintenance.
The phenomenon of "Li Gui" after sales in the home appliance industry is mainly manifested as follows: some counterfeit maintenance websites are under the banner of authorized maintenance of brand air conditioners, attracting customers online, and arrange "Li Gui" maintenance personnel offline for door-to-door maintenance. Disease overhaul or even artificially create faults to defraud customers of huge repair costs.
Zhang Yanbin, vice chairman of the presidium of China Household Appliances Service and Repair Association, said in an interview with a reporter from Securities Daily: "The situation mentioned in the statement of Gree Electric is not uncommon in the home appliance industry. Under the market economy, manufacturers and third parties cooperate in after-sales service. It mainly exists in the form of franchising. Most of the two parties sign a contract once a year, and some people who have terminated the contract will still undertake business in the name of brand service providers. In addition, in recent years, the agents and distributors of home appliance companies have been relatively mobile. Some agents who have not cooperated will still undertake after-sales service under the banner of the original agency brand. Some illegal acts made by these manufacturers without the authorization of the brand side will not only damage the interests of consumers, but also damage the reputation of the relevant brands. "
The frequent occurrence of after-sales chaos in the home appliance industry has also led to a large increase in consumer complaints.
Data released by the China Consumers Association shows that in 2021, the number of complaints about household electrical appliances will top the list of complaints with 108,000.
According to the survey data of the "2022 After-sales Service Digital White Paper for the Home Appliance Industry" issued by Aowei Cloud, in terms of service types, maintenance and installation are still the most important needs of consumers, and many aspects of home appliance after-sales service are still criticized by consumers. Excessive charges for maintenance fees, auxiliary material fees and other items, untimely customer service response, and low service efficiency are still the pain points that consumers report the most.
This reflects to a certain extent that there are still many problems in the maintenance fees, efficiency, standardization and professionalism of home appliance after-sales enterprises.
In order to effectively curb the occurrence of chaos, Gree Electric said in a statement that in order to effectively safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of consumers and ensure that consumers enjoy high-quality official after-sales service, consumers are requested to look for the official after-sales channels of Gree Electric.
The consumer protection committees in various places have repeatedly reminded consumers through the official website: "Choose a regular home appliance repair company, clarify the charging items and service standards, and ask for regular invoices."
According to Lu Jianguo, Secretary General of the Cleaning Appliances Sub-Technical Committee of the National Household Appliances Standardization Technical Committee, the number of complaints about home appliances is always at a high level, and after-sales are the hardest hit areas.
In this regard, relevant enterprises should standardize the after-sales system from the source and establish a sound digital after-sales service system.
Regulatory authorities should increase supervision and punishment for relevant violations of laws and regulations.
Consumers should also change their consumption concepts. When purchasing home appliances, they should not regard price as the preferred standard, but also increase the consideration of the quality of home appliances, and use cost performance as the main reference for purchasing home appliances.
(Securities Daily)