I thought it would usher in a two-way love, but after who promised to buy a matchmaking package, the thoughtful service that was promised became a soap bubble. The reporter's investigation found that marriage agencies frequently set up routines, and in the event of a dispute, it is not easy for consumers to protect their rights-
There are many matchmaking service routines, please be careful for "marriageable people".
Shi Jia, Gao Mei, Pan Ruoxi
Core Tips
◆ If a matchmaking agency misleads consumers to buy high-priced packages by falsely claiming that it can introduce "Gao Fu Shuai" or "Bai Fu Mei" during publicity, it may constitute false publicity.
◆ The Law on the Protection of Consumer Rights and Interests clearly stipulates that consumers have the right to know the truth about the goods they purchase or use or the services they receive. Matchmaking establishments shall clearly publicize the prices of different packages, listing the content of the services in detail, and fully protect consumers' right to know.
◆ If the person who provides false information causes property loss and moral damage to consumers, consumers have the right to file an infringement lawsuit to demand compensation for economic losses and spiritual solace.
◆ The matchmaking contract is a service contract involving personal attributes, which is not suitable for compulsory performance, as long as the consumer is unwilling to continue to perform, no matter what the reason, in principle, the consumer is allowed to terminate the contract at any time.
◆ Consumers have the right to negotiate the terms of the matchmaking contract, and the standard clauses and exemption clauses that are obviously unfavorable to themselves should be clearly proposed, and the merchant should be required to give a reasonable explanation, or the unreasonable clauses can be crossed out, and both parties shall sign and confirm in the modified part.
A good relationship is often desirable. And young people who travel to all corners of the city are either buried in work or have a small social circle, and not everyone can meet a beautiful love unexpectedly. In order to avoid the embarrassment of "being urged to marry every festival", many "marriageable people" choose to go into a marriage agency for help, and the marriage agency has become a fast lane for them to find marriage and get rid of singles. However, in the process of the development of the matchmaking market, various "revelations" and complaints have never stopped. Recently, some consumers reported to reporters that marriage agencies carry out "brainwashing publicity", the charging standards are chaotic, and it is difficult to refund and protect rights... All kinds of business chaos are harassing consumers.
In order to explore the truth, the reporter visited a number of marriage agencies on the spot to experience the "different scenery" on this fast track to get rid of singles.
Routines
"Fancy publicity" is only for offline customers
Xiao Wei (pseudonym), a consumer who purchased the "19998,<> yuan matchmaking package", introduced her first experience with a matchmaking agency to reporters: "When I was scrolling through the circle of friends, I saw an advertisement with a handsome man wearing a white T-shirt on the screen, and it was written next to it, 'Such a man, do you want him to be your boyfriend?' Xiao Wei thought that he had been repeatedly urged to marry and had an unpleasant quarrel with his parents, so he clicked on the message interface, and then the dialog box jumped to a form applet, prompting Xiao Wei to fill in personal education, place of origin, nature of work unit, mobile phone number and other information.
A few days later, Xiao Wei received a call from a person claiming to be a matchmaker from a matchmaker: "Hello lady, there is a man who matches you, he is more than 1.8 meters tall, a returnee from an Ivy League school, an engineer of a central enterprise, there are two suites in Beijing's Third Ring Road, a Beijing brand BMW, do you want to get to know him?" Xiao Wei was excited when he heard this, and expressed his hope that the "matchmaker" would help him pull the strings. The "matchmaker" asked Xiao Wei to go to the store of the matchmaking agency to chat in person, and the "matchmaker" would evaluate Xiao Wei's appearance, family, work and other conditions before arranging a meeting.
Xiao Wei told reporters that it is reasonable to get to know each other face-to-face about marriage events. She went to the store alone, but was called to a closed hut by the "matchmaker", and then was subjected to "anxiety brainwashing". For example, the "matchmaker" mentioned that "you are almost 30", "you are almost past the best childbearing age", and "work, education, economic foundation, appearance, etc. are average" and "you must have a clear understanding of yourself". When Xiao Wei asked about the "excellent man", the "matchmaker" said that as long as Xiao Wei bought the matchmaking service package, she could arrange for them to meet. Subsequently, Xiao Wei signed a matchmaking package of 19998,<> yuan under the attack of a number of "matchmakers", "senior backbones" and business managers. However, in the follow-up service, when Xiao Wei asked when he could meet with the "excellent man", the "matchmaker" deduced that the man was "famous".
In order to further verify the situation, the reporter tried to fill in the mobile phone number on the website of a marriage agency, and soon after, a "matchmaker" contacted the reporter, saying that there was a high-quality male customer who matched the reporter's conditions very well and wanted to make an appointment to chat offline. When asked if he could make sure to see the man, the "matchmaker" did not respond directly, but asked the reporter to come to the store. Subsequently, the reporter walked into the matchmaking agency as a blind date, as Xiao Wei said, the "matchmaker" never mentioned the male customer mentioned on the phone, and different "matchmakers" turned on the "anxiety brainwashing" in turn, and then asked the reporter to buy a package. What is puzzling is that several "matchmakers" have not come up with the price list for a long time, but always say that "the price varies from person to person", and under repeated inquiries by reporters, "matchmakers" only verbally told reporters, "The price of the package ranges from 1,20 yuan to <>,<> yuan."
In this regard, Lei Mingguang, executive director and deputy secretary-general of the Marriage Law Research Association of the China Law Society, said: "If a marriage agency misleads consumers to buy high-priced packages by falsely claiming that it can introduce 'Gao Fu Shuai' and 'Bai Fu Mei' in publicity, it can constitute false publicity. China's Advertising Law stipulates that "advertisements shall not contain false or misleading content, and shall not deceive or mislead consumers." Advertisers shall be responsible for the authenticity of the content of the advertisement."
Faced with the high package price of the marriage agency, Li Shuangqing, a lawyer at Dentons, is not surprised. He told reporters that he had handled a case of "sky-high matchmaking services", involving a marriage agency that made "high-end customers" pay millions of yuan in marriage service fees. On this issue, Lei Mingguang said: "As a market operator, marriage agencies should be subject to the supervision of the market supervision and management department. The pricing of matchmaking packages cannot be 'arbitrary', and the relevant departments should regulate it. In addition, the Law on the Protection of Consumer Rights and Interests clearly stipulates that consumers have the right to know the truth about the goods they purchase or use or the services they receive. Matchmaking establishments shall clearly publicize the prices of different packages, listing the content of the services in detail, and fully protect consumers' right to know. ”
Haunted
"There are countless people" but they have repeatedly been "wrong"
Xiaohua (pseudonym) spent 3,30 yuan to buy a matchmaking package, and complained bitterly after receiving the service. She told reporters: "The 'matchmaker' arranged more than <> blind dates for me in a year, but none of them succeeded, and there were even very few boys who asked me to eat for the second time. ”
The reporter interviewed a number of consumers who had purchased matchmaking packages, and found that many people had such confusion as Xiaohua, but they were suffering from only having met each blind date once, and it was difficult to prove that the other party was a marriage trust, so it would be gone after the expiration of the service period. Xiaohua complained to reporters: "My appearance and conditions are okay, and the failure rate of the blind date arranged by the marriage agency is too high!" Also, some of the boys introduced to me by the 'matchmaker' obviously did not meet my initial requirements, and they were purely making up! ”
"There are countless matchmakers" but they have repeatedly encountered "wrong goods", is the authenticity of the blind date information introduced by the marriage agency guaranteed? In this regard, several marriage agencies interviewed by the reporter said that "the member information is absolutely true, and the contracted members need to provide ID cards, degree certificates, real estate certificates, bank statements and other materials for verification, and the company will review the information through the legal department, and verify with the public security organs to ensure that the identity of the blind date is true." A matchmaking company specifically stated that if a member discovers that the other party's information is false after dating, the company will ask the party who has falsified the identity to compensate and pay the compensation directly to the deceived member.
Regarding this statement of the marriage agency, Lei Mingguang said that the marriage agency said that they could network with the public security organs, and it was obviously a lie, and the public security organs protect the personal privacy of citizens, so how could they allow the marriage agency to casually inquire about the personal information of citizens for the purpose of introducing them? To verify the true information of the blind date, you need to pay more attention and observe more.
Li Shuangqing also pointed out that if the person who provides false information causes property loss and mental damage to consumers, consumers have the right to file a tort lawsuit to demand compensation for economic losses and spiritual solace. In addition, if the consumer suffers losses due to the fault of the matchmaking agency during the audit, the consumer can request a refund of the service fee and compensation for the loss from the matchmaking agency in accordance with the contract. However, due to the limited means of the marriage agency to review the materials, if it cannot avoid the loss of the consumer after fulfilling its prudent review obligation, the loss compensated by the marriage agency is limited. Consumers can't just take the word of a marriage agency and trust others.
Disputes
Once the service has started, it cannot be suspended or terminated
Xiao Wei revealed to reporters that she signed a contract with a marriage agency, agreeing that the marriage agency would introduce 6 blind dates to her within 20 months. But after a period of time, Xiao Wei's face was "crazy acne", considering that it might affect the image of the blind date, she communicated with the marriage agency whether she could suspend the service and wait for her face to recover before continuing the blind date. However, the matchmaking agency rejected her request outright, replying that "once the service starts, it cannot be suspended".
Xiao Wei's experience is not unique, and many marriage agencies have similar regulations. When the reporter asked, if you find a partner through relatives and friends and get married within the service period, can you terminate the contract? The marriage agency replied, "I can't cancel the contract, and I won't refund the fee." In addition, there are many consumers who found that the blind date did not meet their own requirements and asked for a refund, but also was refused, "I have seen a few blind dates feel inappropriate, 'matchmaker' persuaded me to lower the standards, and later introduced to me The conditions of the blind date object are getting worse and worse." I wanted a refund, and they told me that there was no refund or termination"...
Is it legal to pay such a high service fee, but the consumer cannot request the suspension or termination of the service contract after signing the contract?
Li Shuangqing introduced to the reporter the "sky-high price matchmaking service" case mentioned above - the plaintiff, Mr. Zhang (pseudonym), signed a love customization service agreement with the defendant a cultural development company, stipulating that the company would provide Mr. Zhang with relevant materials or information on marriage candidates within the service period, with a total service fee of 100 million yuan, and the company would start the service after the first payment of 30,20 yuan; The second payment of 20,50 yuan within <> days; Pay $<>,<> for the third time before the introduction of candidates. In addition, the agreement also stipulates that during the period of entrustment of services, Mr. Zhang may propose in writing to suspend the services. After the contract came into effect, the defendant started the service when Mr. Zhang had not yet made the payment, and Mr. Zhang made it clear by email and phone call that he would not start the service first, but the defendant still did not suspend the corresponding work and demanded that Mr. Zhang pay the service fee on time. Mr. Zhang then sued the company to the court to terminate the contract, and the court upheld Mr. Zhang's claim after trial.
In this regard, Li Shuangqing analyzed: "The marriage contract is a service contract involving personal attributes, which is not suitable for compulsory performance, as long as the consumer is unwilling to continue to perform, no matter what the reason, in principle, the consumer is allowed to terminate the contract at any time." ”
Cao Qiaoqiao, a post judge of the Xicheng District Court in Beijing, told reporters: "Any contract has the statutory right to terminate. Even if there is no agreement on termination in the matchmaking service contract, the statutory right of termination cannot be limited by the agreement between the parties. Some matchmaking agencies say that 'once the contract is signed, it cannot be dissolved' is not true. In the event of an objective circumstance in which the purpose of the contract cannot be achieved, the consumer may claim his or her rights through the statutory right of rescission. ”
Cao Qiaoqiao also told reporters that the marriage service contract is not suitable for the service period, and the marriage service is difficult to quantify with a fixed period, if the purpose of the contract is not achieved, but the contract service period has arrived, resulting in the contract no longer being performed, which is obviously unfair to a civil subject. Therefore, marriage agencies should provide services to consumers within a reasonable period of time, and consumers should not be forced to accept multiple services in a short period of time.
In the interview, the reporter learned that the marriage agency generally provides a standard contract, and many consumers do not carefully read the terms of the contract when signing the contract, so they will naturally not discuss and modify the content of the matchmaking agency, so that it is difficult to claim rights when there is a problem in the performance of the contract. In this regard, Cao Qiaoqiao reminded consumers that consumers have the right to negotiate the terms of the matchmaking contract, and the standard terms and exemption clauses that are obviously unfavorable to themselves should be clearly proposed, and the merchant should be required to give a reasonable explanation, or the unreasonable terms can also be crossed out, or the reasonable terms can be supplemented, and both parties shall sign and confirm in the modified part.
At the end of the interview, Lei Mingguang said that the level of services provided by the matchmaking market is uneven, and consumers should be extra cautious when choosing a matchmaking agency. In the long run, civil affairs departments, public welfare organizations, etc. are encouraged to establish public welfare matchmaking service agencies, which are not for profit, and may be more in line with the original intention of marriageable groups to find partners.