After the 7-day VIP membership expires, it will be automatically renewed for half a year. Disputes over the automatic renewal of the APP are frequent.

Disputes over automatic renewal of some APPs frequently arise, and some consumers have reported that——

[Focus on consumption worries around you ⑥] After the 7-day VIP membership expired, it was automatically renewed for half a year.

　　Our newspaper, Beijing, March 26 (Reporter Tao Wen) "At the end of 2023, in order to catch up on a TV series, I spent 0.1 yuan to open a seven-day VIP membership on a certain video platform." Today, Ms. Li, a consumer from Harbin City, Heilongjiang Province He told reporters that he did not expect that VIP membership would be automatically renewed until June this year, and nearly 100 yuan would be deducted before and after.

　　Ms. Li said that after the 7-day membership expired, the platform automatically renewed the membership fee by 29 yuan, extending the membership rights for one quarter; on March 13 this year, the platform automatically renewed the membership fee by 68 yuan again. "After the seven-day membership service expired, I never opened the video software again. I accidentally checked the payment records and realized that I had been paying money," Ms. Li said.

　　Many consumers have had similar experiences, and some have been automatically renewed for several years. One netizen said that his father’s subscription on the video website was automatically renewed for four years, costing him nearly a thousand yuan. On the Black Cat complaint platform, there are as many as 150,000 complaints about automatic renewal, with audio and video software, office software, etc. being the hardest hit areas.

　　According to the "Measures for the Supervision and Administration of Online Transactions" that will be implemented in May 2021, if online transaction operators provide services by means of automatic extension, automatic renewal, etc., they should provide services five days before the consumer accepts the service and five days before the date of automatic extension, automatic renewal, etc. Draw consumers’ attention in a conspicuous way, and consumers can choose independently.

　　Since Ms. Li did not receive any significant reminder before the deduction, she eventually negotiated with the platform’s manual customer service to claim back 68 yuan.

　　"For some time, automatic renewal issues of some APPs have frequently caused consumer disputes, mainly because some platforms have failed to perform significant reminder obligations in accordance with relevant regulations out of profit motives. In addition, due to the low cost of illegal violations by operators and the investigation and punishment of such illegal activities by relevant departments, Factors such as insufficient intensity often lead to damage to consumer rights," said Liao Jianxun, a lawyer at Guangzhou Guoding Law Firm.

　　In fact, in addition to the lack of obvious reminders before deductions, consumers are also dissatisfied with automatic renewals because it is difficult to find the unsubscription entrance and the cost of refunds is high. Ms. Li bluntly said that although part of the fee was eventually refunded, the process of finding the unsubscription entrance and communicating with customer service took up two to three hours of her time.

　　During the National Two Sessions this year, some members of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference suggested canceling mandatory automatic renewal and allowing users to choose whether to automatically renew. In addition, app stores and platforms must enhance their awareness of audit responsibilities and establish unified industry standards for unsubscription services. Cui Lili, a professor at the Department of Digital Economics at Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, also believes that the platform should form a standard process for automatic renewal issues so that unsubscription and purchase enjoy the same information transparency and operational convenience.

　　The reporter noticed that the "Regulations on the Implementation of the Consumer Rights Protection Law of the People's Republic of China" that will be implemented on July 1 this year stipulates that if operators provide services through automatic extension, automatic renewal, etc., they should provide services before consumers accept the service and Before automatic extension, automatic renewal, etc., draw consumers’ attention in a prominent way. Liao Jianxun said that this is to further standardize automatic renewal from the legal level and help to better safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of consumers. (Worker Daily)