Online course training is cheated by the platform to shirk responsibility [Reporter investigates online course chaos in training institutions]
Investigate motivation
As the Spring Festival approaches, more and more people choose to sign up for online courses to learn related skills, such as graphic design, short video operations, advanced PS, etc., in order to improve themselves during the holidays.
However, many traps hidden by training institutions are hard to guard against.
Recently, a number of consumers reported to the reporter of the "Rule of Law Daily" that they encountered problems such as false propaganda, poor course quality, induced loans, and difficulties in withdrawing courses and refunding fees when signing up for online courses.
For these problems, what responsibilities should training institutions and related platforms bear?
How can consumers circumvent to protect their own rights?
The reporter conducted an investigation and interview.
□ Reporter Han Dandong
□ Our newspaper intern Wang Yitian
"The teacher in the early stage took the part-time job in person" "The monthly income of the part-time job is 2000+"... Ms. Zhao, a citizen of Changsha, Hunan, who has always wanted to learn skills through online courses to reduce the burden on her family, immediately consulted the training institution after seeing such slogans , the other party said that after students sign up for relevant courses, the organization will provide corresponding part-time jobs, such as video editing, web page production, etc., and they can easily accept part-time jobs with only one or two hours of free time every day.
If you are not satisfied, you can refund for no reason.
Ms. Zhao was moved, and bought the "Advanced Class for Graphic Creativity Masters" at a discounted price of nearly 5,000 yuan.
But after taking the class for a while, Ms. Zhao found that the course content was only entry-level, not the "advanced" as the other party said, and there was no teacher to introduce part-time jobs.
She applied to withdraw from class, but the other party gave various reasons perfunctory.
Ms. Zhao's experience is not an isolated case.
In recent years, online courses are no longer exclusive to students. More and more adults acquire knowledge from various online courses, some for part-time jobs to subsidize their families, and some for adding a skill to themselves.
However, many consumers who sign up for online courses encounter problems such as false propaganda by training institutions, easy payment and difficult refunds, and uneven quality of online courses, so they can only suffer from "dumb losses".
It is worth noting that most of these training institutions that sell online courses rely on well-known online course platforms to teach. Some students sign up because they believe that "big platforms are guaranteed", but it is usually difficult for platforms to provide effective solutions after disputes arise. Most of the excuses are "the platform does not interfere with the transaction between the two parties, please negotiate with the merchant yourself" and other reasons.
A number of interviewed experts pointed out that training institutions should be responsible for the content of their advertisements. If the content of the advertisement is false or misunderstood by consumers, and consumers pay to sign up for the course but fail to achieve the effect of the advertisement, then The advertisement may constitute a false advertisement, and consumers have the right to request the revocation of the training contract.
The online course platform cannot stay out of the matter on the grounds of "not interfering in the transaction between the two parties", but should establish a qualification review mechanism for merchants to settle in to protect the legitimate rights and interests of consumers.
False propaganda induces registration
Asked for a refund but owed
The experience of Ms. Li, a citizen of Zhengzhou, Henan, is exactly the same as that of Ms. Zhao.
Not long ago, when Ms. Li saw a short video operation training advertisement, thinking that she could learn skills and subsidize her family, she joined a public live broadcast class established by a company through the contact information reserved through the registration channel. group.
"See the effect within 3 days, and see the benefits within 7 days. You can earn at least 6,000 yuan a month. If you can't earn it, the teacher will post it for you." Such slogans were posted in the live broadcast group.
A teacher Li who claimed to be the "President of the China Short Video Association" assured in the group that he would not get a full refund within one month.
Hearing these promises, many students in the group rushed to buy courses.
After the live broadcast, Ms. Li consulted the person in charge and learned that this course was offered on a well-known online platform, with a tuition fee of 2,990 yuan and 5,000 clips of film and television works as a bonus. There will be no follow-up fees.
When signing the contract, Ms. Li saw the "partial refund clause" on the contract, and the staff responsible for signing the contract explained that "everything is subject to the teacher's words, and the full refund will be refunded if you say it, don't care about the contract."
After the payment was made, Ms. Li found that the teacher Li who had promised to lead the class had disappeared, and 5,000 clips of film and television works had also become paid resources, which required an additional 400 yuan to purchase.
"It's completely different from what I said before the class started." Ms. Li was very annoyed. She checked the "China Short Video Association" on the Internet, but found that Mr. Li found no such person in the association.
After discovering that she had been cheated, Ms. Li quickly contacted the organization to withdraw from the class.
The other party sent an account: 2990 yuan tuition fee minus 20% liquidated damages, 500 yuan handling fee and 2242.5 yuan class fee. In total, Ms. Li not only could not get a refund, but even owed the institution 350 yuan.
"According to the calculation of the contract, there is no refundable fee. We will refund you 20% as appropriate. If you agree, you can do it now." The person in charge of the agency said to Ms. Li.
But Ms. Li believes that the other party promised a full refund within one month before, and she cannot accept the other party's refund plan.
Then Ms. Li found the payment interface at that time and found that there was an item "I want to complain" in the interface. She sorted out her experience and applied for a complaint, but she did not receive any feedback after waiting for a long time.
Then Ms. Li found the contact information of the online class platform, and the other party suggested that Ms. Li send the content of the complaint to the company's email address. After doing so, Ms. Li still failed to wait for a response.
A few days later, Ms. Li contacted the manual customer service of the online platform. The customer service suggested that Ms. Li apply for a refund directly on the platform, but the result was that the organization directly rejected the refund application. The organization said that it had provided relevant courses and services and could not refund the fee. .
The reporter searched for this training institution on the platform, but found that the institution had disappeared.
It turned out that the agency had changed its name after Ms. Li complained.
The reporter searched according to the new name provided by Ms. Li, and found that the institution's homepage had 186,414 students and 795 courses, but in fact there were only 3 courses, and the registration was closed. The courses Ms. Li signed up for had also been removed from the shelves.
In this regard, Zhu Xiaofeng, a professor at the School of Law of the Central University of Finance and Economics, said that exaggerated publicity by online course merchants about their services is a violation of the prohibitive provisions of the law.
According to the Consumer Protection Law and other regulations, in addition to ordinary civil liabilities such as price reductions, refunds, and compensation for losses, merchants should also bear punitive compensation liabilities to consumers if their behavior constitutes fraud.
In addition, false or misleading publicity of goods or services also entails administrative or even criminal liability.
Hidden pitfalls of installment payment
Getting kicked for withdrawing class and refunding fees
Mr. Qu, who was studying at a university in Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province, encountered an installment payment trap when he signed up for online courses.
During the winter vacation of 2022, Mr. Qu wanted to find a part-time job to make money. When browsing the web, he found that the courses on design in an online class were very "appetite" for him, so he contacted the institution for consultation.
The other party said that the original price of the "VIP Design All-round Class" he signed up for was 7,980 yuan, but now he can enjoy a discount of 2,700 yuan for signing up. The whole course is offered on a well-known online course platform, and the teachers are also experienced experts in the industry.
Mr. Qu was about to sign up, but it was still difficult for him to pay the fee. The institution "kindly" provided him with an installment service after seeing the situation. The tuition fee of 5,280 yuan was paid in 12 installments, and he only needed to pay 440 yuan per month. .
Under the guidance of the other party, Mr. Qu downloaded a consumer finance app to complete the loan operation.
But when he completed the registration with the loan, the teacher who had been actively contacting him before never responded to the message again.
Mr. Qu hurriedly contacted the online course platform to prepare for a refund, but the staff told him that the refund does not require the operation of the online course platform. After the two parties reach an agreement, the teaching institution can initiate a refund.
Mr. Qu kept contacting the course teacher and the institution, but received no reply.
"The class was not completed, the money was not returned, but the loan had to be repaid on schedule."
Ms. Qiu, a citizen of Jinhua, Zhejiang, also had a similar experience.
She saw an online course organization in her circle of friends promoting "Purchase learning package meeting, accept orders at any time, and pay back easily", so she joined the registration consultation chat group.
"At that time, the group was very lively. The person in charge swiped the screen to send a free live class, claiming that it was limited to 3 days, and after 3 days, the course would be charged again. Later, he said that only 5 registration places were open. I thought I couldn't miss it no matter what. This is a good opportunity, so I quickly signed up." Ms. Qiu recalled.
After signing up, the high tuition fee of 6080 yuan made her face a difficult situation.
The agency said, "It can be done in installments, and you only need to pay 300 yuan per month. You can earn while learning. You can easily earn thousands of yuan a month, and you can earn as little as 300 yuan a month."
Under the guidance of the other party, Ms. Qiu handled the installment payment. When filling in the relevant information, the other party asked her to fill in the status as a freelancer, and the income was reported higher.
When she raised a question, the other party explained that "this information is to facilitate the lending platform to lend money, so there is no need to worry."
In the end, Ms. Qiu applied for "education installment" through the online loan platform, with a total principal of 6,080 yuan and interest of more than 1,000 yuan.
After the course started, Ms. Qiu found that the originally promised live class had become a recorded class, and she had to finish the prescribed course if she wanted to accept the order.
"After a few lessons, the content of the course is very basic. The quality of the course is far from the previous free class, and I can't make money from taking orders. I can only earn 5 yuan by working hard to make pictures for an hour. The monthly income promised by the original organization A thousand yuan is simply unrealistic," Ms. Qiu said.
After studying for a period of time, Ms. Qiu was exhausted physically and mentally, so she contacted the organization to prepare a refund, but the other party directly refused.
She found an online class platform again, and was also told that "the platform cannot solve the refund problem and needs to communicate with the institution."
"Training institutions keep changing their reasons for postponing class withdrawals. The money for class refunds has been delayed, and the loan cannot be repaid on schedule. I am worried that it will affect my personal credit investigation." Ms. Qiu said worriedly.
Platform regulation is essential
Freedom of trade is no excuse
The reporter noticed that in these transaction disputes, the online course platform stayed out of the matter on the grounds of "not interfering in the transactions between the two parties".
Is this reasonable?
Zhu Xiaofeng analyzed that although the legal relationship between merchants and consumers is relative, any third party including the platform is not allowed to intervene at will, but compared with other third parties, the platform has the responsibility to supervise and manage the platform in accordance with laws and regulations The obligation of the operator is that the platform does not interfere with the transaction disputes between merchants and consumers without distinguishing the specific circumstances, which is unreasonable and legal.
In this regard, the platform should distinguish the specific circumstances of the legal dispute between the merchant and the consumer, and take necessary measures to protect the legitimate rights and interests of the consumer if the merchant is suspected of fraud and other means infringing on the legitimate rights and interests of consumers.
Yue Qiang, senior partner of Beijing Hairun Tianrui Law Firm, also believes that the online course platform's move is unreasonable.
“The platform party shall, in accordance with relevant provisions of the Civil Code, the Measures for the Supervision and Administration of Online Transactions, and other laws and regulations, establish an inspection and monitoring system for the operators on the platform and the goods or service information they publish. Those who violate market supervision and management laws, regulations, and rules, harm national interests and social public interests, and violate public order and good customs, shall take necessary disposal measures according to law, keep relevant records, and report to the market supervision and management department at or above the county level where the platform is domiciled. Strongly said.
Meng Qiang, a professor at the Law School of Beijing Institute of Technology, told reporters that if an e-commerce platform operator knows that there are problems with the products sold by the operator on the platform, or that there are problems with the online course services provided, or that there is an act that violates the legitimate rights and interests of consumers, but fails to take necessary measures If so, it shall bear joint and several liabilities with the operators on the platform.
"The platform does not just do nothing without intervening in the transactions between the two parties. It should ensure that the transactions between the two parties are authentic, safe, and reliable, and can protect the legitimate rights and interests of consumers. This is also the basic obligation of the platform." Meng Qiang said.
Zhu Xiaofeng believes that the platform should establish a qualification review mechanism for merchants to settle in, assign personnel to review the qualification materials and information provided by merchants within the publicity time, give review conclusions, archive merchants' qualification materials and information, and regularly or irregularly review merchants' qualifications materials and information.
The validity of the brand ownership or brand authorization certification materials operated by the merchant and the integrity of the brand authorization link should also be reviewed as required, and the consistency between the approved use range of the trademark, the authorized use range of the brand, and the business category and products of the merchant should be reviewed.
Yue Qiang proposed that the platform should adopt a review mechanism of strict review before the settlement and long-term inspection and monitoring after the settlement.
After entering the platform, an inspection and supervision system shall be established for the operators on the platform and the goods or service information they release. In the case of public order and good customs, necessary disposal measures shall be taken in accordance with the law, relevant records shall be kept, and reports shall be made to the market supervision and management department at or above the county level where the platform is domiciled.
"Platform operators should also establish a sound credit evaluation system. Once an operator on the platform is complained about infringing on the legitimate rights and interests of consumers, the platform is obliged to disclose the negative reviews and play a warning role. It is also a punishment to prevent more consumers from falling into the trap." Meng Qiang added.
How should consumers protect their rights if they encounter the problem of online course refunds?
Zhu Xiaofeng suggested that e-commerce disputes can first be settled through negotiation, requesting mediation by consumer organizations, industry associations or other legally established mediation organizations, or through consultation and mediation through platforms; Long hotline 12345 and other channels for complaints and reports; in addition, consumers can also file lawsuits to protect their rights if there is sufficient evidence.
Yue Qiang reminded that consumers can make rights protection requests against online trading platforms.
According to the relevant provisions of the Civil Code, if the platform party knows or should know that a merchant has infringed on the civil rights and interests of others by using its network services, and fails to take necessary measures, it shall bear joint and several liabilities with the merchant; according to the relevant provisions of the Criminal Law, the platform party may also constitute an aid to cybercrime activities. crime.