It's the season of eating crabs in golden autumn, and during the National Day holiday, crab cards and crab coupons have become a consumption hotspot.

"China Consumer News" conducted an experience survey on this.

  On September 23, Suzhou Yangcheng Lake Hairy Crab Catching Festival was held. At the same time, other types of lake and river crabs also "climbed" onto consumers' dining tables one after another.

"China Consumer News" reporters have seen on e-commerce platforms such as JD.com, Tmall, and Pinduoduo that various gift cards and coupons for famous landmark products such as Yangcheng Lake hairy crabs and Panjin rice field crabs are selling well, with prices ranging from about 200 yuan to thousands of dollars.

  In addition to online platforms, offline physical stores such as Hema Xiansheng also sell crab cards and crab coupons, online reservations, and express delivery.

  "China Consumer News" survey found that with the improvement of fresh cold chain logistics, crab card and crab coupons are more and more inclined to "online reservation, cold chain express", and most of them promise "dead crab package compensation", if the delivery Crabs are dead. Consumers need to take pictures of the dead crabs and the express order, and send them to the customer service within a certain period of time. After review, the claim can be settled.

However, "China Consumer News" also saw in the comment area of ​​the e-commerce platform that some consumers complained that they could not contact customer service and the customer service was slow to reply, resulting in failure to make a successful claim.

  Is the price of crab card and crab coupon really affordable, is it convenient to pick up the goods, and how is the after-sales service?

"China Consumer News" selected three brands and conducted an experience test.

  Brand 1: Crab champion

  Test Results:

  There is no preferential price on the official website

  E-commerce platforms are cheaper

  Digital models mislead consumers

  The Yangcheng Lake hairy crab brand "Crab Champion" claims to have more than 110 directly-operated stores in 30 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions across the country.

According to the investigation of "China Consumer News", "Crab Champion" mainly sells hairy crabs including "buying crab card and crab coupons online and picking up the goods in offline stores", "buying crab card and crab coupons online, picking up the goods online by express mail" and "online purchase of crab cards and crab coupons". Direct purchase in stock, express mail" three ways.

Offline physical stores currently only provide pick-up services and cannot buy crabs on the spot.

  On October 3, the official website of "Crab Champion" shows that there are 7 types of hairy crab products it sells with a total of 20 models:

  The lowest price is the 388 type of "fine three pairs (6 pieces)" with 3 taels of male crabs and 2 taels of female crabs. The official website shows that the price is 388 yuan;

  The highest price is the 4698 type of "Supreme Five Pairs (10 Pieces)" with 6 taels of male crabs and 4.5 taels of female crabs. The official website price is 4968 yuan.

  At the bottom of the model introduction area, there is a line of small characters that reads "The digital model does not represent the price".

However, "China Consumer News" found that except for the 1888 and 3188 models, the price and model of the other 18 models are the same.

  On the official flagship store of "Crab Champion" on the e-commerce platform, the price of hairy crab products with the same model as the official website is mostly lower.

  Take the Type 998 as an example:

  The official website shows that the price is 998 yuan;

  The marked price of "Crab Zhuangyuan Food Flagship Store" on the Tmall platform is 559 yuan;

  The marked price of "Crab Zhuangyuan Fresh Official Flagship Store" on JD.com is 598 yuan.

  What is the relationship between model and price?

On October 2, "China Consumer News" paid more than 400 yuan through the e-commerce platform "Crab Zhuangyuan Food Flagship Store" to buy a coupon for 798 type hairy crabs (the official website shows a price of 798 yuan), and sold them on the Crab Zhuangyuan Hairy Crab Seafood. The spree Haidian shop successfully mentioned crabs.

  When picking up the goods, the staff in the store said that "798" and other digital models have nothing to do with the price. The model number and price of some hairy crab products on the official website are the same, because the official website has no preferential activities, it is the original price, and the price of the e-commerce platform is relatively low. It is because of the preferential activities, the prices of the same type of hairy crabs on different e-commerce platforms are not the same.

  Ms. Xiao, a consumer who came to the store to pick up the goods, said: "When I was choosing hairy crabs this year, I saw the 998 type and thought the price was 998 yuan, which was acceptable, but later I looked on the e-commerce platform and found the price of the same type. It's less than 600 yuan, which is several hundred yuan cheaper, and I feel that it is a lot cheaper, so I placed the order directly."

  Brand 2: Crab full hall

  Test Results:

  Offline stores can buy crabs directly

  The price is more affordable than the crab card

  The specified model may not be mentioned without an appointment

  "Crab Man Tang" is also a nationwide Yangcheng Lake hairy crab chain brand, claiming to have more than 150 directly-operated stores.

Its sales methods include "buying physical crab card and crab coupons + express delivery", "buying physical crab card + offline store pickup", "offline store direct purchase" and so on.

  "China Consumer News" found on its official website that the official customized crab cards have 11 digital models, such as 498, 888, 3888, 5888, etc., but these digital models are not marked with prices.

  On the short video platform "Crab Mantang Official Flagship Store", the corresponding prices are listed for the digital models. For example, the price of the 498 type is 368 yuan, the 888 type is 666 yuan, and the 5888 type is 4488 yuan.

I asked the customer service "What does the 498 type and 888 type mean, is it the original price?" The customer service answered in the affirmative.

  On October 2, a reporter from "China Consumer News" placed an order on the short video platform "Crab Mantang Official Flagship Store" and purchased a model 498, which corresponds to 6 hairy crabs (3.2 taels for male crabs, 2.2 taels for female crabs, Three of each), a QR code will be automatically sent as a voucher after purchase.

According to reports, consumers need to send a physical card to the customer's registered address through a private message and after the verification with the customer service is correct. Consumers can also pick up the goods in offline stores or request door-to-door delivery according to the verification code.

Invoices can be issued after consumption in offline stores.

  On the morning of October 3, a reporter from "China Consumer News" came to the offline store of "Crab Man Tang" in Liangxiang, Fangshan District, Beijing to pick up the goods.

Here, the reporter of "China Consumer News" saw that there are all kinds of fresh crabs of different weights in the water tank, and the prices are also different.

For example, the price of a 110-gram female crab is 59 yuan, and the price of a 160-gram male crab is 79 yuan.

  The store staff told the "China Consumer News" reporter that the so-called Type 498 and Type 888 are only the names of the packages corresponding to the number, weight, male and female crabs, etc., and do not represent the price. This Type 498 corresponds to 6 crabs, but because there is no advance notice. Make an appointment, the number of 3.2 taels of male crabs in the store that day is not enough to pick up the goods.

In addition, the QR code obtained by the reporter after payment needs to be exchanged for the physical crab card, which must be sent from Suzhou before the goods can be picked up.

She suggested that it is better to return the crab card and buy crabs directly at the physical store, which is more affordable.

Offline direct purchase of more than 6 can get 20% off, buy 7 get one free, buy 8 get two free.

  The reporter of "China Consumer News" made a simple calculation. For a female crab of 59 yuan, a 20% discount is 47.2 yuan, and 3 only cost 141.6 yuan; a male crab of 79 yuan, a 20% discount is 63.2 yuan. 3 It only costs 189.6 yuan, a total of 331.2 yuan, and the 498-type crab card with the same weight, quantity, and sex is 368 yuan.

If you buy more, the price can be even cheaper. For example, the price of the 688-type crab card for 8 crabs is 508 yuan, while the same 8 crabs are purchased directly at the physical store for only 394.4 yuan.

  The reporter of "China Consumer News" finally bought 6 female crabs directly in the physical store.

The purchased crab card was also successfully refunded, and the price paid was refunded to the account in real time.

The reporter of "China Consumer News" then checked and found that all 6 crabs could survive, and their weights basically met the requirements, but one had no anti-counterfeiting buckle.

  Brand 3: Crab Capital

  Test Results:

  Crab cards sold on e-commerce platforms are cheaper

  Some models of crab cards are out of stock in physical stores

  Refunds are troublesome

  "Crab City" is also a national chain brand of Yangcheng Lake hairy crabs. According to its official website, there are hundreds of stores across the country covering 200 cities, and the issued crab card can be redeemed at all stores nationwide.

  On October 1st, "China Consumer News" purchased a "classic 468 type" crab card at the self-operated flagship store of JD. There are a total of 3 pairs (6 pieces) of female crabs, and there are 4 ways to pick up the goods: store pickup, WeChat pickup, official website pickup and telephone pickup.

The customer service staff said that they support self-pickup in stores across the country. After receiving the card and coupon, go to the official website to inquire about the offline store in the city where you are located, and you can redeem it at the store with the card.

  On October 2, "China Consumer News" came to Xiduhui (Zengguang Road Store) to exchange and pick up the goods.

Store staff told China Consumer News that the crab in the set menu cannot be redeemed now.

The price of gift vouchers in offline stores is the same as the price of online gift vouchers. For example, the price of 798-type gift vouchers is 798 yuan.

"There are no male crabs in the store now, and the 468-type coupon is a crab that can be exchanged for 468 yuan according to the standard of the local store."

  "China Consumer News" saw a "National Retail Price List of Crab City" on the counter in the store, which marked "150 grams of male crabs: 78 yuan a piece, 125 grams of female crabs: 88 yuan a piece" , If you buy 3 cards each, the price is 507 yuan, and you only need 458 yuan to buy the coupons of the same specification package online.

  "China Consumer News" asked, when will the corresponding crab in the card and coupon package arrive?

The store staff said: "I don't know, you bought it on an e-commerce platform. It's different from our offline package. There is no such package offline."

  The store staff said: "Because no one wants the 468-type package now, generally consumers of the 798-type, 998-type and 1888-type will buy more."

  "China Consumer News" noticed that there are 12 types of crabs in the "2022 Beijing Crab City High-end Hairy Crab Price List" provided by the clerk. The cheapest is the 798 type, and the coupon is priced at 798 yuan. The most expensive It is the 3999 type, and the coupon is priced at 3999 yuan.

In addition, there are five types of "National General Vouchers": 600 yuan gift certificate, 1000 yuan gift certificate, 2000 yuan gift certificate, 3000 yuan gift certificate and 5000 yuan gift certificate.

  Since the offline store could not redeem the crab in the specified package, on October 3, "China Consumer News" contacted the online customer service of Crab Capital JD's self-operated flagship store to request a refund of the card, and the customer service staff replied: "Scratch the password. Returns are not supported after the zone."

  "China Consumer News" told the customer service that the purpose of scratching the password is to provide the account number and password of the crab card to the staff to verify and pick up the goods, but the store does not have the package on the crab card, why can't the card be refunded?

The "Crab Capital" e-commerce flagship store stated in the "Four Guarantees for Hairy Crab Gift Vouchers" on the product introduction page: the coupons cannot be exchanged according to the appointment, and after verification, you can enjoy a subsidy of up to 90 yuan.

In this regard, the customer service staff said: "Online appointments are supported for mailing, and you can also pick up crabs in the store in mid-October."

  "China Consumer News" called the customer service hotline of the e-commerce platform to inquire about the refund of the card, and applied for after-sales service on the order interface.

Afterwards, the customer service staff called and said that they only need to inform the card number and password.

"China Consumer News" received the refund on the same day.

  Author/Ren Zhenyu Zhang Linbao Duke