At the same time as losing the opportunity to study for graduate school, Wang Wendi also lost 8,800 yuan.
This is the "insurance premium" he paid to a transfer service agency.
Li Cheng paid 65,000 yuan of "insurance premiums", but in the end he could not go to school.
On May 5, the national postgraduate admissions adjustment service system was closed, and the 2022 postgraduate entrance examination officially ended.
The adjustment is called the last mile on the road to the postgraduate entrance examination. If a candidate passes the national line in the initial test but fails to pass the school line of the school they are applying for, or passes the school line but is not admitted after the re-examination, the candidate will have one more "landing". Opportunity - Participate in postgraduate examinations.
However, because the time, quota and standards of each college's annual transfer are uncertain, this leads to information gaps between different candidates.
Taking advantage of the information blind spots and anxiety of candidates, a group of institutions under the name of "adjustment and record keeping" came into being.
These transfer training institutions use "internal information" as bait and promise to "guarantee wrongdoing", firmly grasp the candidates' seven inches, and keep the candidates in the last mile all the way.
In the end, some candidates who "entered the pit" not only did not have access to education in the end, but also faced difficulties in refunding money and defending their rights.
On the Black Cat Complaint Platform, there were 5,167 matching results for complaints about "postgraduate entrance exams", and a total of 1,676 complaints about "guaranteed refunds".
In the case of false propaganda in postgraduate entrance examinations, and consumers requesting refunds, the amounts ranged from 1,000 yuan to 10,000 yuan.
According to industry sources, the so-called "guarantee" is just a "game of probability" to achieve the purpose of collecting money.
Lawyer Peng Yanjun believes that the institution recruits students in the name of "guaranteing the class". This exaggerated and vague propaganda is suspected of false propaganda and violates the provisions of the "Advertising Law".
And if education and training institutions really have "internal cooperation" with colleges as claimed in their propaganda, the nature will be even more serious. In addition to false propaganda, once verified, it will constitute a criminal offense.
"As long as you pay 65,000, you will definitely go to school"
Li Cheng graduated from University for two years and has a stable job. He hopes to find a more ideal job by improving his education through postgraduate entrance examination.
He signed up for a training course in political subjects and met a teacher surnamed Zhao.
On February 21st, Li Cheng scored 313 points.
On March 11, the national line for postgraduate entrance examination in 2022 announced that Li Cheng was nearly 40 points higher than the national line. "The national line is not of much reference value. Most people pass the line with 30-40 points." The college is still about 10 points away, and he lost the chance to retake the test.
In Mr. Zhao's study tutoring group, information also began to emerge - "Students who need re-examination guarantee and adjustment, please contact me as soon as possible", and even the words "guaranteed record" appeared.
Li Cheng was a little anxious, so he contacted Mr. Zhao for consultation.
After he reported basic information such as majors and scores, Mr. Zhao quoted 65,000 yuan based on his grades and majors, and provided twenty or thirty colleges as application options. The geographical locations of the schools were distributed in Northeast China, Guangxi, Yunnan and other places.
Mr. Zhao claimed to be able to contact the teachers of these colleges and universities to ensure that these colleges can reserve places. As long as Li has made enough money, he will definitely go to school.
Under anxiety, Li Cheng decided to give it a try.
On the one hand, this teacher Zhao is well-known in the political training for postgraduate entrance examination. Li Cheng has taken his class, "I feel that such a big teacher will not lie to me"; on the other hand, Teacher Zhao has posted a lot of successful adjustment cases in the group , "He said that some students who had just crossed the national line went to 211 in remote areas under his control. Then I just wanted to go to an ordinary school and felt that he could definitely help me. That's the mentality."
At the end of March, Li Cheng paid 65,000 yuan to Mr. Zhao's personal account through bank transfer, and signed a "guarantee agreement".
In this agreement, the goal of both parties is to ensure that Li Cheng enters the scope of the re-examination of the intended colleges and universities within the scope of negotiation, and obtains his intended major.
Only one school was specified in the agreement, but in the later coordination process, Mr. Zhao provided a total of 20 or 30 schools to choose from, and about 15 actually applied for the postgraduate entrance examination adjustment system.
The agreement stipulates that if the adjustment fails to achieve the final goal, Party B will deduct 5,000 yuan as the operation fee, and the balance will be fully refunded.
Li Cheng needs to apply when the colleges and universities within the scope of negotiation open the transfer system, and tell Mr. Zhao after completing the application.
"Mr. Zhao said that he will do the rest." All Li Cheng has to do is to wait for the results and prepare for the retest.
The first application to a college ended in failure, "Your score is too low," Teacher Zhao explained to Li Cheng.
They started to try other schools, but they did not enter the re-examination. "Almost every school has too low scores. This year's situation is serious." Li Cheng recalled.
During this period, Mr. Zhao assured several times that it would be 100% no problem to apply to these schools in Li Cheng's situation.
"He said that he would discuss with the teachers of relevant colleges and universities to expand the re-examination ratio. For example, if you are ranked 130, he will discuss with the school to expand the scope of the re-examination to 150, but in the end it has not been realized."
"The last school, he also told me that he has contacted the dean, 100%, he will be admitted tomorrow, but it was unsuccessful in the end." After a month of battle, all hope has been exhausted, and there is almost no one to apply for. School was over, and Li Cheng felt that he had fallen into a trap.
A reporter from the Beijing News contacted Mr. Zhao as a candidate.
Mr. Zhao told reporters that all the students who signed up for the guarantee he brought this year have successfully "landed".
Mr. Zhao said that at different stages of the postgraduate entrance examination, he provided different record-keeping services. If he signed up for record-keeping before the preliminary examination of the post-graduate entrance examination, his “recording” included providing original questions, delineating the scope of the examination, relaxing the batch, and guaranteeing the passing of the re-examination. For other services, the cost is more than 100,000 yuan, and the entire process of recording is operated by him personally contacting the school.
Different colleges and majors have different fees.
If it is registered in the transfer stage, the included services are re-examination guarantee.
When the reporter asked Mr. Zhao whether the registration process was guaranteed, he replied: "This depends on mutual trust." He introduced to the reporter that if you sign up for the registration before the postgraduate entrance examination, the full refund for the failure of the postgraduate entrance examination due to the professional course examination will be refunded due to public No refund will be given to those who fail the class exam, and 40% of the full amount will be refunded for those who have failed the first attempt.
On May 4, a student with a score of 370 in the new major asked Mr. Zhao about the 2023 postgraduate entrance examination. The guaranteed schools provided by Mr. Zhao include a university in Hebei and a university in Qufu, with a cost of 140,000 yuan and a 100% guarantee .
However, according to the statistics of netizens, in 2022, the minimum score for the admission of a new major of a university in Hebei is about 373 points.
routine
Wang Wendi is a medical candidate and has applied for a master's degree in ultrasound imaging.
His score was 340 points. After missing out on the ideal college, he chose to adjust.
He paid 8,800 yuan to a transfer counseling agency through the WeChat store. The name of the order was displayed as "Retest Guaranteed Class", and the contract name was also "Retest Guaranteed Class".
The contract stipulates that the tutoring course has a total of 25 class hours, and three teachers are responsible for each, one for daily English question and answer, one for professional class tutoring, and one for transfer teachers.
The teacher of the professional class is a senior student who is studying imaging at a medical university.
Wang Wendi was dissatisfied with the level of the teacher's class. He took two classes before and after, which added up to three hours.
The institution did not schedule any more classes for him in the future.
He added the WeChat of the adjustment counselor, and according to the other party's suggestion, filled in the ultrasound imaging majors of many schools, and none of them received the re-examination notice.
Later, I changed to clinical medicine, but I didn't receive any notice.
Afterwards, the teacher directly "put it down" and did not reply to the message, let him look at the adjustment system by himself, and fill in whatever school has a place.
In the end, the adjustment counselor suggested that he go to basic medicine, which he can take on his own strength and does not need any assistance from the adjustment institution, "Because I have a high score for basic medicine. If I go to basic medicine, I will still use Have them?"
On April 12, seeing that there were not many places available for the ultrasound imaging major, Wang Wendi began to apply for a refund at the micro-shop. The reasons were: the training institution did not fulfill its promise, one was that the class hours were not enough, and the other was that the adjustment was unsuccessful.
The teacher of this training institution said that the contract stipulates that dropping out of the course in the middle of the course means giving up in the middle of the course, and no refund will be given.
The person in charge of the agency replied to Wang Wendi on WeChat that because of the high cost, he could only refund more than 3,000 yuan.
He also added, "If you don't choose a school or a major, I will definitely guarantee you to go to school this year."
After the negotiation failed, Wang Wendi began to complain on the WeChat shop. Based on the chat records and screenshots provided by Wang Wendi, the WeChat shop determined that both parties were responsible, and let both parties negotiate on their own. If the negotiation did not reach an agreement over time, the WeChat shop supported the deduction of the three-hour fee and supported the training institution. A refund of 7150 yuan.
At present, Wang Wendi has not reached an agreement with the other party, and the training institution refuses to implement the judgment result of the micro store. The micro store has punished the store and removed all the products in the store.
After adding the person in charge's WeChat, the reporter found that he had already started to promote the "guaranteed record" for the postgraduate entrance examination in 2023. In a promotional picture called the Baolu Preliminary Reexamination Class, the price for the initial test was 14,888 yuan and the retest was 5,000 yuan.
The reporter asked him about the postgraduate entrance examination counseling in 2023. He recommended one-on-one professional tutoring for seniors with high scores. From the initial test to the retest, the price should not exceed 20,000 yuan. "This pass-guarantee class is already the cheapest."
When the reporter asked if he could get a refund if he failed, he replied that the class with less than 20,000 yuan is an ordinary guaranteed class.
If you apply for the "Stronger Guaranteed Class", you need to pay 40,000 yuan, including the re-examination and adjustment of the initial test. If you are not admitted, you can get half of it back.
bet on the odds
Statistics from the Ministry of Education show that in 2022, the number of applicants for postgraduates nationwide will be 4.57 million, an increase of 800,000 from 3.77 million applicants in 2021, a growth rate of 23%, a record high, and an increase of 800,000 since it became the national unified examination for postgraduates in my country. the highest rate.
With the increasing number of postgraduate entrance examinations, postgraduate entrance examination institutions that provide various services emerge in an endless stream: analysis of postgraduate entrance examination school selection, closed training, reexamination guarantee classes, etc.
Qi Hang, the founder of a postgraduate research institute, concluded: "In the long run, among these businesses, the most stable profit is the recording and broadcasting course, and the most risky is the adjustment business, because it is either the hard work of making money and sorting out information. For a few hundred yuan, I will give you a compiled list of the adjustment of various colleges; or it is an empty-handed white wolf, charging a high price to ensure that the college admits candidates, but refunds it, and gambles on the probability, as long as there are many people who sign up There's always money to be made."
A reporter from the Beijing News found that there are various types of postgraduate adjustment services on the market, ranging from a few hundred yuan for adjustment information, to several thousand yuan for one-to-one school selection guidance, to tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of "guarantee". passed”, everything.
Qi Hang introduced that "guaranteed admission" is a business offered by many institutions. Postgraduate entrance examination institutions often claim that they have a relationship and can obtain internal adjustment information, and professional instructors will provide one-to-one adjustment guidance to ensure that candidates are accepted by the institution. If the cooperative orientation school is admitted, if it is not admitted, a full refund will be given.
Qi Hang told reporters that in most postgraduate adjustment services, the "one-to-one" customized guidance service advertised by the institution is actually "one-to-many". The Dispensing Guidance Analysis is also only slightly adjusted according to the template.
Qi Hang said that these security guards used "black box operations" and "internal relations" as a shield.
It is not a problem for many candidates to over-adjust based on their own grades and levels. As long as they understand the adjustment information disclosed by the relevant colleges and universities, participate in the re-examination and make adjustments according to the process, they can be admitted. It didn't take effect, and "guarantee" just played a placebo effect.
The promise of "if you don't accept admission, a full refund" mentioned in the agency's publicity also has an invisible clause. Under what conditions, when to refund, and how much to refund are all determined by the agency, and there are various reasons. Refusal of refunds.
In the cases that Qi Hang contacted, some institutions did get refunds in the end, but the time for refunds was not timely. Candidates were required to apply with the screenshots, ID cards and other information that were not accepted by Yanzhao.com. Slow", "there is a problem with the financial system" and other reasons for dodging the refund.
Some candidates who have successfully obtained a refund from the institution posted that the refund after repeated urging was returned after more than half a year of payment, and it was called from the account of a financial institution.
finer division of labor
Qi Hang said that in a more model-based organization, there will be a more detailed division of labor, and there will be special publicity personnel.
For example, "teaching teachers" are people who are responsible for promoting the services of institutions. They will join major postgraduate exchange groups, and some are responsible for actively speaking in the group, taking the opportunity to find out the candidates' intended colleges and basic information, and learn from the seniors of the direct department. The identity of the elder sister is a private letter to the candidates, and they share their "reporting experience", so as to promote their training institutions.
In addition, institutions will also install many "navy troops" to follow each other on public social platforms and group chats to show the reliability of their institutions.
Wei Shulin once signed up for a full-time course at a well-known postgraduate entrance examination institution, and after she successfully passed the postgraduate entrance examination, she also returned to this institution for a part-time job.
The institution where Wei Shulin works provides an online smart system for the candidates to conduct information query. The staff responsible for data update use codes to crawl the data of various colleges and universities on the Internet. The seniors and sisters who are studying in colleges and universities in the institution will also supplement the transfer information. , after the candidates click into the system, they can choose their majors, and then they can see the information of colleges that can be adjusted.
Qi Hang found that candidates often "learned" from seniors and sisters who were successful in the previous postgraduate entrance examination, but seldom looked for those failed experiences, and candidates who were deceived by the transfer agency often could only admit that they were unlucky.
In Qi Hang's experience, compared with mature institutions, the individual complaints and reports of candidates often appear weak and cannot compete with them.
Most institutions will have staff to connect directly with the candidates, and sometimes establish a communication group that pays to guarantee the candidates, but the students in the group are not allowed to speak, in order to prevent the candidates applying for the class from communicating with each other and making joint reports.
The exposure of social platforms will also be "criticized". Wei Shulin once posted in the reply area of different questions on a social platform complaining about the "pit" of his organization, but these posts were deleted in the name of "infringing on the interests of enterprises".
Flip through the agency's related comments, "It's basically either 'I don't think so,' or it's a tirade that this agency is exceptionally good."
"Highly Priced Guaranteed" or Suspected of a Crime
In response to a similar case of "high price guarantees", lawyer Peng Yanjun of Beijing Changhong Law Firm believes that if training institutions or individuals use illegal bribes to do related "internal dredging" work, relevant personnel may be involved in Bribery and other crimes.
If a training institution or individual makes a false promise of "with internal relationship and 100% admission", does not actually do any work, fails to achieve any "guaranteed" goal in the end, and refuses to refund the fee afterwards, then their behavior belongs to For the purpose of illegal possession, fictitious facts, defrauding others of money, suspected of fraud.
In response to Li Cheng's case, Peng Yanjun analyzed that if Mr. Zhao only used his own experience and information advantages to help candidates increase the chances of admission, but always falsely promised to "have an internal relationship, 100% admission", and If this is a gimmick, then his behavior belongs to the behavior of deceiving and misleading consumers by improper means, which constitutes consumer fraud and can be imposed by the market supervision department.
The name of the agreement signed by Li Cheng is "2022 Postgraduate Examination Adjustment Service Agreement". In the agreement, what specific services does Mr. Zhao provide after charging a high fee of 65,000 yuan?
"The lack of clarity on these key matters throughout the agreement is puzzling."
In addition, for the large number of non-refundable exemption clauses in the agreement that are beneficial to Mr. Zhao, Peng Yanjun analyzed that these exemption clauses are essentially overlord clauses unilaterally formulated by operators to evade legal obligations and reduce their own responsibilities, and are usually invalid clauses , students can get the corresponding refund.
"In judicial practice, there are a lot of cases where candidates cannot get refunds. I have received a lot of similar inquiries." Lawyer Han Zhuolun of Beijing Yingke (Kunming) Law Firm believes that "guaranteed classes" is a legal gray area. The relevant laws and regulations are not perfect, and there are many cases of illegal operations.
But the road to rights protection is often difficult, mainly because of insufficient evidence, or ultimately the training institution has no property to enforce.
Peng Yanjun analyzed that in Wang Wendi's case, the clause about "dropping a class midway is a waiver and no refunds" belong to the overlord clause, which violates the principle of fairness.
"Weidian's processing decision is based on the faults of both parties during the performance of the contract to determine their respective responsibilities, which is more reasonable."
In addition to Li Cheng and Wang Wendi, some candidates complained about their own experiences: paying 2,980 yuan, "I gave the contact information of the three schools and asked me to call myself, but in the end, none of them entered the re-examination." Some candidates spent 99 yuan to enter Group, the content of the group chat is the official information and basic preparation steps for re-examination and adjustment. The number of people attending the class is nearly 200. After a class, the group disbands and the person in charge disappears.
Peng Yanjun believes that the institution recruits students in the name of "guaranteing the class", and this exaggerated and vague propaganda is suspected of false propaganda.
Article 24, Paragraph 1, Paragraph 1 of the "Advertising Law" stipulates: "Education and training advertisements shall not contain express or implied guarantees for further education, passing examinations, obtaining a degree or qualification certificate, or the effect of education or training. The content of the sexual commitment. The corresponding market supervision and administration bureau can investigate it and impose corresponding administrative penalties in accordance with the law.”
"Guaranteed Recording Package" Seriously Threats Exam Security
The reporter combed and found that for the chaos of postgraduate entrance examination training institutions, government departments from the central to the local have relevant policy regulations or rectification requirements.
At the National Postgraduate Admissions Examination Safety Video Conference held by the Ministry of Education in 2015, Du Yubo, then Deputy Secretary of the Party Leadership Group and Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Education, pointed out that some examination training institutions changed their methods and used the so-called "guaranteed record package" and other banners Carry out "exam assistance" activities, which seriously threaten the safety of the examination.
Local education and examination departments should work with public security, industry and commerce and other member units of the inter-ministerial joint meeting system to focus on cleaning up and rectifying the new situation, and severely crack down on illegal and criminal activities related to examinations.
In 2022, the Ministry of Education's "2022 National Postgraduate Admissions Management Regulations" clearly requires that any department or staff within the admissions unit is strictly prohibited from holding or participating in postgraduate counseling activities.
Chu Zhaohui, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Educational Sciences, said that the current state governance of off-campus training is full-scale, but the existing implementation is prioritized. .
Chu Zhaohui observed and found that every year there are news of "high price guarantees", but these institutions still have market space, because in real life, "some people do get through these paths."
In Chu Zhaohui's view, the current postgraduate admissions are still mainly based on examinations, "this will give training institutions a loophole."
He pointed out that if the evaluation system is diverse and comprehensive, training institutions cannot meet diverse needs and there is no fixed range of knowledge, then training institutions will not expand rapidly and widely.
Lawyer Peng Yanjun also reminded candidates that "passively entering the pit" is excusable, but "actively entering the pit" is really inappropriate. Candidates should realize their dream of postgraduate entrance examination through formal and legal channels and their own efforts, rather than go to superstition "guarantee the pass". ” and other abnormal means.
If they have "entered the pit", Peng Yanjun suggests candidates to resolve the dispute through the following four ways: negotiating with institutions to resolve disputes; complaining to relevant departments; applying for mediation by consumer associations or other mediation organizations established in accordance with the law; filing lawsuits in the people's court for resolution; If you are involved in a criminal offense, you can report it to the public security department.
Lawyer Han Zhuolun suggested that the complaint can be divided into two situations. First, it depends on who is the subject of the agreement. If the subject is a school, the complaint should be filed with the local education bureau; Complaints from consumer associations; secondly, to see if the other party runs a school without a license, falsely advertises, or does not invoice private accounts to collect payments, etc., you can complain to the corresponding education bureau, market supervision bureau or local tax bureau.
(Li Cheng, Wang Wendi, Qi Hang, Wei Shulin are all pseudonyms)
Beijing News reporter Zhu Qinghua, intern Wang Yifan and Wang Yixin