In recent years, laws and regulations have been issued in many places across the country to strengthen the management of prepaid cards——
Prepaid card consumption, be careful to be "carded"
Beauty cards, haircut cards, fitness cards, car wash cards... In daily life, many consumers have used prepaid cards, and prepaid consumption is becoming more and more popular.
This consumption method can promote consumption and prosper the market to a certain extent, but in the process of development, some chaos has also appeared.
When applying for a card, the merchant promises various discounts, but once the service is unsatisfactory and the store is closed, the refund of the card becomes a problem for people.
In recent years, relevant laws and regulations have been promulgated in many places across the country to manage single-purpose prepaid cards and put a legal "curse" on the consumption of prepaid cards.
Prepaid consumer disputes have a long history
"I set up a membership card at the barber shop and charged 500 yuan to enjoy a 30% discount." Mr. Wang, who works in Chaoyang District, Beijing, told reporters that the original price of 58 yuan for a haircut is about 40 yuan after discount.
In the opinion of Mr. Wang, who has frequent haircuts, it is quite cost-effective.
Xiao Li is a graduate student in Beijing, and he likes food. He uses cards and recharges in many restaurants.
"There is a Sichuan restaurant with very authentic dishes. I saved 1,000 yuan, and when I apply for a card, I get a free meal, and then I get a 20% discount." Xiao Li said that this card can be used not only by himself, but also by friends. Affordable and convenient.
With the rapid development of electronic consumption and credit consumption, prepaid consumption has gradually become a common consumption method.
"The so-called prepaid consumption refers to a consumption method in which consumers pay a certain amount of money to operators in advance, and then obtain goods or services on a one-time basis or on schedule." Chen Yinjiang, deputy secretary-general of the Consumer Rights Protection Law Research Association of the China Law Society, said.
Liu Junhai, a professor at the Law School of Renmin University of China, believes that in an ideal situation, buyers and sellers can achieve a win-win situation.
Consumers can get real discounts, project gifts, etc., without the hassle of paying each time; for merchants, not only can they finance funds and expand their scale, but they can also use this method to lock in customers.
With the popularity of prepaid consumption, some problems also follow.
Through interviews, the reporter found that some consumers apply for a card due to impulsive impulse or business inducement, but have not yet consumed, or are dissatisfied with the service after a few consumptions, and want to return the card but are rejected; some businesses even close their doors or run away. , consumers cannot continue to enjoy the service, and the remaining money is difficult to recover...
In April of this year, the "Annual Report on the Protection of Consumer Rights and Interests in China (2021)" released by the China Consumers Association pointed out that disputes over prepaid consumption have always been a difficulty faced by consumer rights protection.
In 2021, affected by the fluctuation of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, consumers are easy to pay in the early stage, and the complaints about the difficulty of refunding in the later stage will increase significantly year-on-year.
"Prepaid cards are carriers of prepaid consumption, which are divided into multi-purpose prepaid cards and single-purpose prepaid cards." Chen Yinjiang introduced that the former is issued by specialized institutions, can be used across regions and industries, and is regulated by the People's Bank of China; the latter Issued by commercial entities, common life cards such as fitness cards, beauty salon cards, car wash and laundry cards, and supermarket shopping cards are all single-purpose prepaid cards.
"Of the two, single-purpose prepaid cards are widely used in commodity and service transactions, which is a regulatory difficulty."
Ms. Zhou, who lives in Fengtai District, Beijing, loves fitness. Earlier this year, she set up a 2,000-yuan annual card in a gym near the community.
But what she didn't expect was that the store closed within 2 months of applying for the card.
Also a fitness expert, Ms. Xie, who lives in Dazhou City, Sichuan Province, also applied for a card at a local gym.
"I said it well when I applied for the card, but later I found out that there are always more people who come to exercise than equipment. In such an environment, how can I be in the mood to exercise." Ms. Xie said frankly.
When the service is not good, or the business is closed, a refund is often the first reaction of consumers.
However, in practice, prepaid card consumption is faced with the problem of refunds. Over time, many consumers choose to give up and consider themselves unlucky.
Signing a contract with a business is easy to ignore
"The legal nature of prepaid card consumption is a consumption service contract." Chen Yinjiang pointed out that the establishment and performance of ordinary consumption contracts are synchronous and have a one-time feature, while prepaid card consumption contracts are "pay first and consume later"" Single payment, multiple performance”.
In this long-term and continuous process of contract performance, merchants are likely to be affected by various uncertain factors, resulting in disputes with consumers.
During the interview, the reporter noticed that, unlike paying with one hand and delivering with one hand, most consumers tend to ignore signing contracts with merchants when applying for prepaid cards.
Among them, the fitness, education and training industries are more likely to sign contracts, and the rest of the common prepaid card consumption industries are rare.
"The rights and obligations of both parties are agreed orally, and merchants rarely provide written contracts. They will not provide corresponding bills and consumption details when collecting money and making settlements. Due to the lack of detailed and clear written agreements, consumers can only enjoy goods or services. With a prepaid card." Chen Yinjiang said that once a dispute occurs, consumers are often in an embarrassing situation of "no evidence" due to lack of strong evidence.
Having a contract doesn't mean everything will be fine.
Ms. Liu from Hebei set up a membership card in a beauty club, but was unable to enjoy related services because of the move, so she negotiated a refund with the beauty club.
But the beauty club refused to refund the fee, on the grounds that the signed contract stated that "withdrawal due to personal reasons, the paid membership fee will not be refunded".
"When many businesses sign contracts with consumers, they use a drafted format contract, which is often mixed with clauses that are unfavorable to consumers." Chen Yinjiang said that this "overlord clause" is set for reasonable refunds by consumers. Obstacles and damage to the legitimate rights and interests of consumers.
At present, there is only one regulation at the national level for the regulation of single-purpose prepaid cards - the "Administrative Measures for Single-purpose Commercial Prepaid Cards (Trial)" implemented in November 2012.
Liu Junhai said that with the passage of time, the "Measures" had a lag and only covered three industries: "retail industry, accommodation and catering industry, and residential service industry", and did not cover other prepaid card consumption industries that have emerged in recent years.
With regard to the supervision of advance funds, the "Measures" require enterprises in the above three major industries to file and register, and to deposit funds for deposit in proportion.
Chen Yinjiang said that, in fact, whether or not to file and deposit funds in custody depends on the voluntary self-discipline of card issuers in most cases.
Why do you sometimes apply for a card when you know there is a risk?
In the survey, "big discount" is the answer that reporters heard the most.
"Large discounts and generous rebates are the trump card for operators. Many merchants induce consumers to buy prepaid cards by creating the illusion of 'there is no store in this village'." Liu Junhai said that in the face of various discounts, consumers will inevitably act impulsively. Card.
Comprehensive system regulation of prepaid card consumption
Not long ago, the Beijing Shunyi District Market Supervision Bureau fined a beauty salon company 3,000 yuan and ordered the company to temporarily stop issuing prepaid cards.
The basis for punishment comes from the just-implemented "Regulations on the Administration of Single-purpose Prepaid Cards in Beijing".
The "Regulations" stipulate that when selling single-purpose prepaid cards, operators shall issue certificates to consumers that specify relevant content, or sign a written contract.
The beauty and hairdressing company did not show evidence or sign a contract when selling prepaid cards, and continued to commit illegal acts after being ordered to make corrections.
The case also became the first administrative penalty case in Beijing to apply the new regulations on prepaid cards.
The "Regulations" also stipulates a "7-day cooling-off period", that is, as long as the consumer does not use the card after purchasing the card, the contract can be unconditionally terminated within 7 days, and the operator should refund all the prepaid fees at one time; , do not re-apply, the right of interpretation belongs to the operator” and other unfair and unreasonable regulations on consumers; establish a depository system for pre-collected funds, and punish operators who fail to deposit funds in accordance with regulations...
In recent years, Shanghai, Jiangsu, Gansu and other places have also issued relevant regulations to strengthen the management of single-purpose prepaid cards.
Liu Junhai said that on the basis of local legislation, we should summarize experience, study and introduce national-level laws and regulations as soon as possible, and comprehensively and systematically regulate the consumption of prepaid cards in terms of access conditions, business requirements, code of conduct, capital supervision, and rights protection and relief.
Prepaid card consumption involves market supervision, commerce, public security and other departments, and it is easy to form a "vacuum zone" due to multiple supervision.
Xu Haiyan, a professor at the School of Law of the University of International Business and Economics, said that it is necessary to further clarify the scope of powers and responsibilities of various departments. Specialization, intelligence and socialization.
"Businesses should continuously improve their awareness of social responsibility, operate with integrity, and focus on providing better products, services and improving word of mouth." Chen Yinjiang said.
Xu Haiyan pointed out that for consumers, it is necessary to maintain a rational and mature consumption mentality, examine the business scale and credit status of businesses, and not blindly listen to sales pitches.
If you have purchased a prepaid card, you must keep the relevant tickets and electronic evidence so that you can fulfill the burden of proof on the claim when defending your rights.
"I haven't used it a few times, and the card is about to expire." Ms. Wei from a community in Beijing received a message in mid-April that the barber shop downstairs would be closed.
What to do with the rest of the card?
When Ms. Wei was worried, the store called and said that it had connected with another barber shop, and customers could continue to enjoy related services.
It is a good way to negotiate solutions between merchants and consumers.
Under the epidemic, offline shops have been closed from time to time. Some businesses do it maliciously, while others have difficulties in business operations.
In response to the situation that some businesses temporarily suspend business and cannot continue to provide services due to the force majeure of the epidemic, some experts have suggested that consumers and operators should understand and give in to each other.
After the difficulties are over, merchants can compensate consumers by providing better services and more discounts.
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Key Points of "Regulations on the Administration of Single-purpose Prepaid Cards in Beijing"
Article 11 Under any of the following circumstances, an operator shall not issue a prepaid card or renew the card for consumers:
(1) Being listed as a dishonest person subject to execution;
(2) The legal representative or main person in charge is listed as a dishonest person subject to execution due to the illegal conduct of the unit they work for;
(3) Being included in the list of abnormal business operations;
(4) applying for cancellation or in the process of going through the cancellation procedures;
(5) Other circumstances prescribed by laws and regulations.
Article 12 Consumers enjoy the following rights:
(1) To understand the recordation of the operator and the depository of advance funds;
(2) Fully understand the contents, quantity and quality, price and fee, validity period, balance return, risk warning, liability for breach of contract, dispute resolution, etc.
(3) independently decide to purchase a prepaid card;
(4) Knowing the usage of prepaid cards, inquiring about consumption records, balances and other information;
(5) Other rights stipulated by laws and regulations.
Article 13 An operator shall issue a certificate to the consumer stating the following:
(1) The names or names, contact information, etc. of both parties;
(2) Information on the operator's receiving account, amount received in advance, payment method, and performance guarantee measures;
(3) The content, location, quantity and quality of the goods or services to be redeemed, as well as the type of payment calculation, charging standards, and deduction methods;
(4) The time limit for performance, and the period of self-owned or leased or leased business premises;
(5) Risk warning;
(6) The scope and conditions of use of the gift rights and the method of handling refunds;
(7) The handling method of advance receipts under the circumstances of change, suspension, termination, etc.;
(8) Refund calculation method, channel and handling fee;
(9) The methods of reporting loss, re-application and transfer;
(10) Consumption records and balance inquiry methods;
(11) Liability for breach of contract;
(12) Methods of resolving disputes.
If an operator signs a written contract with a consumer that contains the content specified in the preceding paragraph of this article, it shall be deemed that the evidence has been issued.
The model text of the prepaid card written contract shall be formulated by the municipal industry competent department in conjunction with the municipal market supervision and administration department.
When formulating a model contract, the opinions and suggestions of consumers, operators, consumer associations, industry associations, and chambers of commerce shall be heeded.
Article 14 If the prepaid card sets the validity period and the prepaid amount is relatively large, the operator shall make a risk warning to the consumer in the written contract.
Article 15 The standard clauses, notices, statements, store notices, consumer notices, etc. formulated by the operator shall not contain unfair and unreasonable provisions for consumers, such as no refund, no supplement, and the right of interpretation belongs to the operator.
If the standard terms, notices, statements, store notices, consumer notices, etc. contain the content specified in the preceding paragraph of this article, the content is invalid.
Article 16 If a consumer fails to pay for the goods or services within seven days from the date of purchasing the prepaid card, he has the right to request the operator to refund the card. Consumers shall return or pay a reasonable price for gifts or services given by purchasing a prepaid card.
The business operator that is included in the depository management in Paragraph 3 of Article 22 shall open a special depository account for prepaid card advance funds at the depository bank, deposit the advance-collected funds that meet the prescribed requirements into the special depository account and withdraw them in accordance with the prescribed methods.
(Shi Zhipeng)