Halfway through the class, the "trace" of the training institution is hard to find; after spending 20,000 yuan to apply for early education classes, the institution will only be compensated 1,000 yuan for bankruptcy...For the "thunderstorm" and "running" phenomenon of training institutions, there are places to explore new solutions. Policy--
The third-party agency supervises prepayment, is it reliable?
Our reporter Wu Wenxin
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"Great discounts" is one of the reasons why parents choose to pay large amounts of prepayment. However, after the collapse of education and training institutions, parents who prepaid will only suffer a greater loss.
Lawyers believe that due to the relatively simple legal facts, if parents sue, most training companies will lose the lawsuit, but because the company goes bankrupt, it is difficult for consumers to recover the money, which is a realistic dilemma.
In the face of this dilemma, some places introduce third-party institutions to strengthen the supervision of advance funds, which may become a solution.
Recently, Ms. Wang from Beijing purchased a musical instrument training course for her child at a training institution. After the institution provided part of the class hours of training, it was unable to continue to provide course training due to poor management.
Ms. Wang sued the training organization to the court, requesting the cancellation of the "Course Sales Agreement" signed by both parties and the refund of the remaining class time fee of 20,000 yuan.
The case was heard by Beijing Haidian Court, and the judgment supported all of Ms. Wang's claims.
For the parents who have suffered from the "dark loss" of the prepaid method of training institutions, this undoubtedly brings a glimmer of hope to their recovery path.
It is difficult to recover the remaining class fee
In the past two years, many educational institutions have gone bankrupt, involving many fields, from study abroad institutions to off-campus tutoring institutions to early education institutions, many of which are well-known brands.
Many parents originally valued the popularity of the chain brand to buy a word of mouth, but they were caught off guard and bought a "sad".
Mr. Zhao reported to his children for offline one-to-one tutoring at a well-known national chain educational institution. “At the time, I chose this institution because it was a national chain and its popularity was good.” Mr. Zhao said.
Mr. Zhao paid 18,000 yuan in tuition, but the cost of the class was less than 8,000 yuan, and the training organization was hard to find, which made him very distressed.
"At the beginning of December last year, I couldn't contact the relevant person in charge. I sold it to a parent rights protection group, but the group was full, and I didn't go in either." Mr. Zhao said.
Mr. Zhao's situation is not alone.
Although some institutions have not “disappeared” from bankruptcy, they cannot fully refund the remaining class fees to consumers.
Mr. Wan enrolled his son for an early education class last year. The course lasted for one year and the cost was nearly 20,000 yuan. Due to the epidemic, the store could not be opened. In July and August last year, the store could not bear the financial pressure and declared bankruptcy.
"The store promised to compensate, but there was no way to fully refund the remaining class time fee, so we calculated the number pro rata, probably refunding me more than 1,000 yuan," Mr. Wan said, "Half of the class time fee was lost."
The reporter learned through lawyers that, in recent years, such education and training institutions have run away, and cases involving parents demanding compensation have been frequent.
"After the consumer and the training organization sign the contract, the organization should fully perform it. If the training organization fails to perform it, this situation constitutes a breach of contract. Parents can file two appeals: one is to require the training organization to continue to perform the contract and to make supplementary lessons. Completion; the second is to terminate the contract. The part of the contract that has been performed will not be investigated. If it is not performed, the performance will not be continued and the training institution will be required to refund." said Shi Xiaofeng, a lawyer from Beijing Xinnuo Law Firm.
"The legal facts of this type of case are relatively simple, and basic training institutions will lose the case. However, because a normal operating company goes bankrupt, it is difficult for consumers to recover money. This is also the current dilemma encountered." Shi Xiaofeng mentioned.
Under the heavy blow, prepayment still has hidden dangers
It is a consensus that the prepayment method is risky. Why do most parents still choose to pay tens of thousands of yuan in advance?
"Great discounts" is one of the original intentions of parents choosing to pay large prepayments.
"The training institution I applied to my children is that the more you top up, the more you can get back. The money returned can be used in any subject." Mr. Wang said.
In fact, behind the collapse of many education and training institutions, the shortcomings of the prepayment method have been exposed.
For enterprises, advance payment is essentially a corporate liability, but it can easily be regarded as corporate funds.
If training institutions have reduced enrollment numbers and lowered cash flows such as parents' request for refunds, breakage of the capital chain, bankruptcy and bankruptcy may become a "magic curse" that companies cannot escape.
For consumers, they enjoy preferential treatment when registering classes. However, once a training institution closes down, consumers often have to bear the risk of not being able to get the amount of compensation due.
In fact, as early as 2018, the "Opinions on Regulating the Development of Off-campus Training Institutions" issued by the General Office of the State Council mentioned that the charging period and teaching arrangements of off-campus training institutions should be coordinated, and no one-time fee that spans more than 3 months should be charged. .
In April 2020, the Ministry of Education also issued a reminder to reiterate that off-campus training institutions for primary and middle school students must strictly abide by the above regulations.
In October 2020, the General Office of the Ministry of Education and the General Administration of Market Supervision issued the "Notice on Centralized Remediation of Off-campus Training Institutions' Use of Unfair Standard Terms to Violate Consumers' Rights and Interests."
Under the heavy blow, why do educational institutions still charge long-term training fees in advance?
"The emphasis is on supervision in the matter. In the daily management of the government, if it discovers that the training institution charges overdue fees, it must be punished in time." Shi Xiaofeng said.
In addition, some experts said that in the long run, local regulations and implementation rules need to be formed as soon as possible, and local legislation should also be followed up in time to make more stringent regulations from the legal level.
Strengthening capital supervision becomes a solution to the problem
According to the Beijing Dongcheng District Market Supervision Administration on consumer complaints from education and training institutions (11.21-12.20), many education and training institutions have repeatedly appeared on the list, including some "famous brands", but the complaint resolution rate of some institutions is not optimism.
In this regard, the Beijing Dongcheng District Market Supervision Administration reminds consumers that before registering, consumers should check on the spot whether the training institution has obtained the business license, the license issued by the education department or the human and social security department, and whether the teaching teacher Have the corresponding qualifications, whether the training place is safe, whether the training content, and the course arrangement are reasonable, you can conduct a pre-class audition.
If consumers encounter the phenomenon of running out of training courses, they can consider protecting their legitimate rights and interests through legal channels when the two parties cannot resolve it through negotiation.
"If consumers want to go through litigation procedures, they need to keep good evidence. There are four main types: contracts, payment records, class records, and notifications from training institutions." Shi Xiaofeng said.
The reporter learned that many parents discovered during the compensation process that the legal representative of the training organization had changed.
"The legal representative is the representative of the educational institution, and the change of the legal representative does not affect the responsibility of this educational institution to parents." Shi Xiaofeng said.
In October 2020, the Consumer Council of Shenzhen, Guangdong Province held a "good people raise their hands to build consumer trust in China" to support enterprises to make promises such as "refunds without reason during the contract period" and "advance payments subject to bank supervision".
When consumers purchase courses on the Kechengbao platform, they apply for the prepayment supervision service, and the prepayment paid by the consumers will enter the bank supervision account.
After the consumer confirms the class, the fee will be transferred to the corporate account, realizing "one lesson, one elimination".
Recently, Beijing Shijingshan District launched the "prepaid consumer credit supervision and service platform", and the first batch of 51 off-campus training institutions were included in the prepaid supervision platform and received real-time supervision.
After training institutions are incorporated into the pre-paid supervision platform, every tuition fee paid by the parents of students can be found on the platform. If there is any change in funds of training institutions, there is also a corresponding early warning mechanism.
"Cash flow is reduced, which may increase corporate financing costs to a certain extent, and consumers need to bear this part of the risk. However, the introduction of third-party institutions to supervise prepaid funds can make claims settlement easier. In the long run , Is a good thing for consumers." Shi Xiaofeng said.
Some experts said that educational institutions can deliver security deposits to relevant departments or purchase commercial insurance. If there is a break in the capital chain, they can use advance security deposits or pay consumers through insurance companies.