CCTV News:According to the website of China Consumers Association, in the first half of the year, consumer demand such as holiday shopping and travel continued to be released, and the regulatory authorities created a safe and secure consumption environment to boost consumer confidence. How to ensure the protection of consumers’ rights and interests in the colorful consumption experience has become the focus of public concern.
The China Consumers Association, People’s Daily Public Opinion Data Center and China Consumer Magazine jointly found that in the first half of 2023, the offline performance was "difficult to refund", the hotel B&B broke the contract infringement dispute, the hidden dangers of food safety problems of well-known catering brands, the poor service experience of video platform members, the infringement "trap" of research tour, the Carrefour supermarket shopping card restricted consumption, the air mileage points were cleared, and the online celebrity bamboo tube milk tea was exposed.
First, there is a dispute about "difficulty in refunding tickets" for offline performances.
Social influence: 95.4
Topic analysis
In the first half of the year, many consumers reported that they encountered problems such as "difficulty in refunding tickets" during the consumption of offline performances. Consumers complained that barley net, Fanwan Island and other well-known ticketing platforms had unreasonable measures to change their tickets and refund tickets, and topics such as "Why are concerts being refunded" were once on the hot search list of social platforms. Some public opinion has questioned that some organizers and ticketing platforms have taken measures such as real-name registration system to crack down on scalpers, but they have not matched the perfect after-sales service, and have passed on the business risks and costs to consumers, which is contrary to the original intention of protecting consumers’ rights and interests.
In related disputes, some ticketing platforms responded with the rhetoric that "the cultural services carried behind the tickets are characterized by timeliness and scarcity, and once the tickets are refunded, the secondary sales will be affected", but it has not been recognized by the public. Many consumers believe that tickets sold in the aviation, railway and film industries also have such characteristics, and relevant industries have introduced specific measures or actively supported the "return and change of tickets". All parties in the offline performance industry should actively refer to the experience of such industries and properly solve the infringement concerns when the offline performance market is hot.
Second, the hotel B&B was exposed to many infringement disputes.
Social influence: 90.4
Topic analysis
Before and after the May 1 holiday, the "price increase and breach of contract" of hotel homestays caused public concern, and many consumers reported that the accommodation link became a bad experience in their journey. "Women’s booking in February is approaching ‘ May Day ’ Cancelled order ""B&B ‘ May Day ’ In hot topics such as lying about being seized because of prostitution for price increase, consumers claimed that they encountered infringement disputes such as "breach of contract" by hotel operators and booking platforms during their holiday trips.
In fact, consumers have a certain psychological tolerance for the moderate increase in the price of holiday hotels. Consumers’ disappointment mainly stems from the fact that at the moment when the enthusiasm for traveling is high, the accommodation service that welcomes consumers is not based on more standardized management and more personalized experience. On the contrary, the merchants disregard consumers’ rights and interests for economic benefits, and they violate the contract with tricks, which undoubtedly "pours cold water" on consumers’ enthusiasm. Some consumers have questioned that some platforms are not sound enough to punish businesses for breach of contract, which leads businesses to dare to ignore consumer rights. Public opinion appeals that all parties in the hotel and lodging industry should show "sincerity" and actively change the status quo that infringement problems frequently appear during holidays.
Third, well-known catering brands are exposed to food safety problems.
Social influence: 86.5
Topic analysis
During the "March 15th" this year, in such incidents as "the blue frog in online celebrity restaurant was exposed and the kitchen was chaotic", "the meal was retrieved from the demon trash can for a long time and served to customers" and "43 cockroaches were found after Yoshinoya’s eating", the food safety problems of well-known catering brands were exposed and caused heated discussion among netizens. Many consumers called "the professional ethics of the merchants dare not compliment", "various routines make consumers lose trust" and "How many restaurants can withstand the investigation".
In this kind of incident, how to improve supervision and let consumers "buy with peace of mind and eat with peace of mind" in the food field has become the focus of public opinion. Some brands take well-made meals and high-quality ingredients as their selling points, and attract consumers to "pay the bill" through various marketing means. However, there may still be food safety problems that infringe on consumers’ rights and interests under their carefully created brands. Once such hidden dangers are exposed, not only the brand reputation of the enterprises involved will be lost, but also the overall image of the catering industry will be affected. Public opinion believes that standardizing online and offline interconnected catering brands and stores has put forward higher requirements for regulatory means. To protect consumers’ "safety on the tip of the tongue", we can’t always rely on "undercover" exposure, and to make supervision more "sensitive" requires exploring various paths.
Fourth, the video platform membership service is "discounted"
Social influence: 85
Topic analysis
At the beginning of this year, many members of the video platform complained about their bad consumption experiences on social platforms, including limiting the number of login devices and the definition of screen projection, etc. Some consumers thought that some practices of the video platform were suspected of infringing consumers’ rights and interests. For example, some consumers who claimed to be "seven-year-old fans" of iQiyi took Aiqiyi to court for "unilaterally changing the terms of the contract, which constituted a breach of contract". Some consumers also said that in recent years, the membership fees of video platforms such as Youku, iQiyi and Tencent Video have been rising, but the rights and interests of members have been discounted, accusing the video platform of "coercive price increase" and criticizing the video platform for "eating ugly".
Public opinion believes that in the fiercely competitive market environment, video platform operators can’t pass on all the pressure to consumers under various pretexts, or even "generate income" at the expense of consumers’ consumption experience. When some conventional services force consumers to pay the bill, it will inevitably lead people to question their formulation of the "overlord clause"; At the same time, when the video platform takes relevant measures to limit the reselling and dismantling of accounts, it should also avoid "accidentally hurting" the basic rights and interests of consumers. Public opinion appeals that the video platform should adopt a responsible business model in its operation, and sincerely provide thoughtful services for its members and users.
Fifth, the infringement of the study tour is frequent.
Social influence: 84.8
Topic analysis
During this year’s small holiday and summer vacation, the infringement problem in the consumption of study tours has attracted attention. Topics such as "Parents exposed their children to participate in research tours and were scolded by instructors", "Some research tours did not study" and "10,000 yuan of Qingbei research became a photo punch at the school gate" frequently appeared on the online hot search list. In this kind of incident, parents expect their children to broaden their horizons and improve their literacy through educational research tours, and they will not hesitate to pay high fees to sign up for various "research camps" for their children. However, they have encountered problems such as improper goods, mere formality and high prices. Some research projects have even been found to have problems such as inadequate security risks and staff punishing students. Many chaos makes parents and students "come on the spur of the moment and return home disappointed", which also makes many parents flinch.
In this kind of incident, some research institutions blurred the key information during publicity, which made parents misunderstand the real situation. There are also some institutions that "bury traps" in contracts. Once an accident occurs, they will shift the responsibility to insurance companies, individual students and even parents, which leads some parents to fall into a situation of "difficult rights protection". Public opinion calls for strengthening the standardized guidance of the "study tour" industry, promoting the survival of the fittest in the industry on the basis of protecting consumers’ rights and interests, and giving students and parents more choices, so as to achieve a win-win situation between operators and consumers.
Six, Carrefour shopping card to limit consumption
Social influence: 80.4
Topic analysis
At the beginning of January, the media reported that "Carrefour shopping card settlement is limited" was reported in Beijing, Shenyang, Kunming, Wuxi and other places. A large number of consumers said that they were restricted when paying with shopping cards after Carrefour shopping, which aroused widespread concern in society. Some consumers said that in the past, Carrefour’s shopping card could be used to pay for all goods, but now only a small number of goods can be paid by shopping card, which is suspected to be related to the operating difficulties of many Carrefour stores.
Public opinion believes that the incident exposed hidden dangers such as "low illegal cost of card issuers", which led to infringement problems. According to some media surveys, from the model texts of card purchase agreements in Beijing, Jiangsu and other places, the liability for breach of contract is limited to returning the balance of the gift card, and there is little agreement to pay liquidated damages to the defaulting party. This objectively leads to the situation that the illegal cost of the card issuer is too low, and it is difficult to properly solve the consumer dispute.
Seven, the clearing of air mileage points caused consumer dissatisfaction.
Social influence: 74.8
Topic analysis
On June 18th, Hu Bing, an actor, posted a video on social platforms, saying that her accumulated 500,000 China Eastern Airlines mileage points suddenly became invalid, and questioned the airline’s reminder service. For a while, topics such as airline points redemption, points invalidation, and points service have sparked heated discussions. Hu Bing’s experience is not a unique case, but a major factor that promotes the hot topic of the event. According to the media, there have been many similar complaints against other airlines before, and the problem of "clearing points" not only exists in the civil aviation field, but also involves hotels, restaurants, e-commerce and other fields.
Public opinion believes that the hidden dangers of infringement on members’ consumption points have long existed. On the one hand, some consumers think that the consumption points are only the benefits attached by the merchants, and they don’t pay attention to this right, and they don’t know it when their rights are damaged. On the other hand, consumers are relatively passive compared with merchants, and there is not much bargaining space in the rules of consumption points. Consumers can only "bargain" with customer service when safeguarding their own rights and interests, and it is difficult to obtain an ideal solution. Public opinion appeals that when making points into value-added services to improve users’ stickiness, businesses should show enough sincerity in setting conditions such as deduction of points, redemption of prizes, and time limit for using points, instead of just using this as a gimmick to increase new users. When consumers want to redeem points and benefits, they can’t set up many obstacles, causing infringement disputes such as "difficulty in redemption".
Eight, the shared charging treasure is accused of "good borrowing is difficult to repay"
Social influence: 74
Topic analysis
In recent years, with the continuous expansion of user scale and usage scenarios, problems such as unreasonable charging, low charging efficiency, easy borrowing and bad repayment, charging after returning, forcing false advertisements, and obtaining personal information beyond the limit have become consumers’ "slots", and "charging treasure assassins" have repeatedly appeared on the online hot search list, and related consumer rights protection incidents have attracted public attention. If a consumer spits out that in order to return the "street electricity" shared charging treasure, he actually spent more than 100 yuan on oil to drive to the original place to return it; Some consumers said that they borrowed a "search electricity" shared charging treasure, and after returning it on time, they found that they were still deducted in the early morning of the next day and felt "wronged"; Some consumers said that the "monster charging" charging treasure rented in different locations was three times more expensive than borrowing it for three hours, questioning the "pricing mystery" of charging treasure.
In related disputes, compared with operating companies, consumers are often in a weak position. In the process of safeguarding rights, they need to negotiate and communicate with operating companies many times, which takes time and effort to recover losses, and sometimes they are delayed, shirked and even deadlocked by operating companies. In addition, some consumers may fail to detect the wrong deduction of fees or privacy disclosure in time, resulting in damage to their rights and interests without knowing it. Public opinion believes that solving the current situation of frequent problems in the shared charging treasure industry requires the participation of all parties and joint management. In addition to clearly marking the price and other matters, enterprises also need to clearly indicate the consumer complaint feedback channels to improve the efficiency of consumer dispute resolution.
Nine, online celebrity bamboo milk tea was exposed to food safety issues
Social influence: 73.7
Topic analysis
"Bamboo milk tea" is a new product in online celebrity in the second quarter of this year. However, controversial issues related to it are also emerging on social platforms. Some consumers have reported that the "bamboo milk tea" sold by some merchants is not only expensive, but also tastes worse than expected, and even there are food safety hazards. If a netizen sends a video exposure, a tea shop in Tangqi Scenic Area in Hangzhou "cleans the moldy bamboo tube and prepares it for milk tea"; Some media exposed that the bamboo tubes of the bamboo tube milk tea shop in Nanjing Confucius Temple Scenic Area were directly labeled and sold to customers without disinfection, infringing on consumers’ right to safety and security.
In the highly competitive new tea market, "bamboo tube milk tea" is a marketing attempt made by merchants to conform to the trend of "face value economy", and its popularity shows that this kind of product has a side that suits consumers’ preferences. However, frequent disputes show that the internal quality of this product is still difficult to satisfy the public. Public opinion calls for businesses not to trample on the "red line" of food safety in pursuit of profits, and relevant departments should continue to strictly supervise such "online celebrity" products to effectively protect consumers’ rights and interests.
Ten, low-cost tour groups hidden compulsory shopping problem.
Social influence: 64.3
Topic analysis
On June 4th, some netizens posted videos on social platforms. A female tour guide of a tour group in Yunnan forced tourists to buy goods, and satirized the dissatisfied tourists for being "indifferent, selfish and shameless", and the low-cost tour "forced consumption" infringed on consumers’ rights and interests, which caused heated public opinion. In addition, some media surveys have found that there are many chaotic phenomena such as "changing the itinerary at will", "killing customers", "compulsory shopping" and "tourists being stranded" in the low-cost tour groups for the elderly launched by some travel agencies.
Some consumers said that the problem of infringing on consumers’ rights and interests, such as low-cost group compulsory shopping, has become a "chronic disease" mainly because tourism, as an experiential consumption, can only judge its advantages and disadvantages after experience, which makes it difficult to safeguard rights. Especially after disputes arise, travel agencies often hinder consumers’ complaints on the grounds that the specific itinerary details, the number of shopping spots and the length of stay are not agreed in the contract. Public opinion appeals that during key periods such as holidays, relevant departments should pay more attention to consumers’ complaints and reports about violations of consumers’ rights and interests by low-cost tours, and accurately crack down on illegal activities such as deceiving registration, concealing rules, and compulsory shopping, so as to eliminate "black-hearted merchants" who do not live up to their names, ensure the normal order of the tourism market, and let tourists enjoy a comfortable journey.
On the whole, all parties in the industry are actively exploring various measures to improve the consumer experience, but it also exposes many potential risks of infringement. First, some businesses or platforms have inadequate rights and interests protection measures, which are inconsistent with the actual needs, resulting in some safeguards not being effective, or forming new rights protection difficulties and lacking "sincerity". Second, when some operators carry out online celebrity marketing, they only pay attention to the appearance of commodity packaging and the flow of brand communication, but ignore the inherent quality assurance of products, which has become an IQ tax that consumers dislike. Third, practitioners in some industries take advantage of consumers’ pursuit of "good quality and low price" to "cheat consumers" by sacrificing service quality and even infringing on consumers’ rights and interests, which leads to constant controversy. At the moment of promoting the sustained recovery of consumption, it is expected that all parties in the industry will take the protection of consumers’ rights and interests as an important part of their long-term planning in the subsequent development, taking into account their own interests and the legitimate rights and interests of consumers, and completely change the frequent and high-incidence situation of infringement problems in some fields.