Chinanews.com, Beijing, November 11 (Zhang Yuhui) On the 25th, the written examination of public subjects in the 26 national examination will be held. According to the State Civil Service Bureau, a total of 2024,3 people are planned to be recruited in this national examination, and as of the end of online registration and qualification review, a total of 96.303 million people have passed the qualification examination of employers, and the ratio of the number of people who have passed the qualification examination to the number of recruitment plans is about 3:77.

There is such a group of candidates, while racing against time to prepare for the upcoming written exam, they are also experiencing a refund storm that spans two years of public examinations.

In recent years, public examination training has become an industrial chain. To stand out from the competition, some candidates make up their minds to invest in themselves. However, what awaits them is not the refund guarantee that they can get even if they fail, but the routine of the public examination training agreement class.

Data map: National examination candidates are checking the examination room schedule. Photo by China News Service reporter Liu Lixin

Routine 1: "But the package is returned"

After failing the public examination in 2022, Cheng Yan (pseudonym) began her nearly year-long road of rights protection. Unlike the 30-45 days after submitting the refund procedures and verifying the materials agreed in the agreement, she did not receive the refund of 5,4 yuan she had long received until the end of May this year. Now, a group of candidates who have signed up for the 2023 public examination training agreement class have walked the same path she once walked, struggling in the difficult rights protection.

Song Ming (pseudonym) is one of them. In August 2022, he signed up for the full agreement class of the written examination and interview of the public examination offered by a training institution, and signed an agreement with the institution, which specified in detail the conditions, standards and procedures for refund. After Song Ming failed to "go ashore", he immediately applied to the training institution for a refund of the training fee. However, from the submission of the refund procedures on August 8 to the present, he has not waited for the 8,8 yuan refund promised by the training institution.

"There is no follow-up when you submit the refund information, and everyone else is the same, everyone is stuck with tens of thousands of dollars in the agency." What happened to Song Ming and other students who were defending their rights stemmed from the promise of the organization at the time.

Chinanews.com searched on social platforms and found that there are many students who sign up for the "but refund" public examination training course. Some education experts analyzed that the students passed the exam or not, which is caused by two factors, on the one hand, teaching, on the other hand, learning, but the business model of "but refund" attributes too much to the teaching party, which is equivalent to writing a blank check to the students.

The refund storm is intensifying. According to Song Ming, now, the training institution he signed up for has canceled the agreement class for full refund, and has changed to a partial refund for failing to pass the exam. An intermediary of the training institution told Chinanews that at present, the 2024 provincial examination agreement class adopts three billing methods, among which students can pay 22999,5000 yuan first and refund <>,<> yuan after being hired. Although the refund fee has been reduced, the "promise" of "no refund" continues.

Data map: Candidates enter the national examination center. Photo by China News Service reporter Wei Liang

Routine 2: From "no money to return" to "installment refund"

In August last year, the list of proposed hires for positions in the provincial examination and positions for adjustment, replacement and supplementation in a certain province were announced, and Liu Jia (pseudonym) determined that the provincial examination was not on the list. When taking the exam, it was the epidemic situation, and Liu Jia and the students who also signed up for the agreement class took the risk to participate in the whole process of the exam, because the agreement stipulates that only those who participate in the relevant links of the exam can get a refund after failing the list, "The public examination training is very expensive, and I still have friends who throw 8,10 or 12,1 yuan into it." However, after she applied for a refund from the training institution, the agency said in October that "there is no money and it can't be refunded", and offered to let her go to the written examination class in the second half of the year for two months. After Liu Jia refused, from December to January this year, the agency proposed a refund to Liu Jia in installments.

The agreement signed by Liu Jia and the training institution stipulates that "Party A shall pay the refund amount to the bank account provided by Party B within 30-45 working days after receiving the complete refund procedures submitted by Party B, and Party A shall pay the refund amount to the bank account provided by Party B within 6-19800 working days after verifying that the materials are true and meet the refund conditions". "If I don't agree to ask for a full refund in installments, I don't necessarily have to be able to refund it when, so I accepted the installment refund proposed by the agency with the mentality of getting back how much I got back first." But after getting several refunds, in June this year, the agency stopped refunds, and it was about 6000,<> yuan short of the promised <>,<> yuan.

There are also students who do not agree to the installment refund that is not specified in the agreement, which is the case with Cheng Yan. "At that time, there were already many people on the Internet who suggested not to accept installments, so I refused. They have already defaulted, and they said installments, who knows if they will keep the agreement? Cheng Yan believes that if the training institution has integrity, it should refund the fee on time, and should not "rectify this again".

After the installment refund stopped, Liu Jia began to complain to the 12345 hotline, the Education Commission, the petition department and other forces about the training institution. Later, Liu Jia learned that the agency seemed to be "rich again". After many complaints and requests for help, Liu Jia finally got all the refunds in October this year. At the same time, Song Ming accepted an installment refund with a total value of nearly 10,4 yuan, but only received one installment and never heard back, "as long as they don't complain, it's okay."

In June this year, the Jiangsu Provincial Consumer Protection Commission announced the results of a special survey on the education and training industry for public entrance examinations, which involved six public examination institutions. The results of the survey show that the refund process is cumbersome, and the training institution passes the buck. According to the survey, 6.6% of the respondents said that they had a refund experience, of which 38.9% of the respondents said that they encountered unreasonable deductions or refusals to refund when refunding fees. In addition, judging from the complaints, consumers often encounter the loss of contact with staff and the passing of responsibilities between institutions in the process of refund, resulting in difficulties in refunds.

Routine 3: "Let's go through the legal process"

"You can't retreat, you go through the legal process." After the application for a refund failed, some students waited for such a sentence from the training institution.

Tianyancha data shows that among the main causes of action involving judicial cases of an education and training institution, there are 292 disputes related to education and training contracts, occupying the first place. Of these, 117 cases have been closed and 175 cases have not yet been closed.

An education and training institution is in the top 10 in terms of the causes of action involved in judicial cases. The picture comes from Tianyancha

After decisively rejecting the installment refund proposed by the institution, Cheng Yan filed a lawsuit on the electronic litigation platform of the local court where the institution belongs. After the case was filed, the court recommended that Cheng Yan withdraw the lawsuit and told her that the supervisory authority would refund the full amount at the agreed time, and received the refund after withdrawing the lawsuit. The whole process lasted more than half a year, but fortunately, Cheng Yan finally received a full refund.

Cheng Yan mentioned that the agreement stipulates the ways to resolve disputes under the agreement, and the two ways are "filing a lawsuit with the people's court" and "applying to the arbitration commission for arbitration". A person who provides legal services related to education and training contract disputes told Chinanews that everyone's training agreement is different, "the agreed litigation can only be litigated, and the agreed arbitration can only be arbitrated". After submitting the arbitration application and passing the pre-trial, the claimant shall pay an arbitration fee of RMB 17000,<> to the arbitration commission, which shall be borne by the losing party after the conclusion of the case. According to the legal service person, the arbitration is final and the result is relatively fast.

"I haven't learned how to go through the legal process yet, I just know that I've spent a lot of energy and money." In order to wait for the refund he deserved, Song Ming was physically and mentally exhausted.

This refund turmoil is still to be continued. (ENDS)