One-to-one service contract provided by Ms. Wu The pictures in this article are provided by the interviewees
Recently, The Paper (www.thepaper.com) received a number of consumer complaints, saying that the Internet dating platform false promises to induce consumption, pay money first and then sign the contract, the content of the contract is inconsistent with the previous publicity, and the service fee should be deducted when applying for a refund.
Ms. Wu from Shanghai reflected that the "Lily Jiayuan one-to-one service" purchased by her at the Century Jiayuan Shanghai Pudong store had an overlord clause, and contacted the merchant that night to ask for a refund, but the merchant rejected her appeal; Ms. Li from Guangzhou said that she signed a one-on-one blind date service package worth 68,800 yuan at the VIP Center of Century Jiayuan Guangzhou Zhujiang New Town, and after asking for a refund, she was told that the refund not only had to bear the liquidated damages, but also deducted the "meeting fee".
In this regard, the reporter called the two stores involved separately, and the Century Jiayuan Shanghai Pudong store said that it needed direct contact between consumers and the store, and then the store number became a blank number. As of press time, the reporter has not received a corresponding reply. The staff of the VIP Center of Century Jiayuan Guangzhou Zhujiang New Town denied that there was an act of inducing the meeting and deducting money, saying that as long as the consumer met, it was the condition of the other party that was recognized in the heart. In the face of repeated questions from reporters, the staff said, "The after-sales and complaints are handled by the docking red bride." If the red lady leaves, find a new red lady to dock. ”
Xie Zhanfei, a lawyer at Beijing Jingshi (Shanghai) Law Firm, reminded consumers that consumers must carefully read the terms in the contract before signing the contract, and the merchant should also highlight the core important clauses such as liquidated damages to customers in advance, but the 30% liquidated damages ratio is "too high".
Shanghai consumers: they are brushed first, and then they sign the contract
On August 18, 2021, Ms. Wu, who had just returned from abroad for half a year, was forced by her parents to urge marriage and registered her personal information on the Century Jiayuan APP, hoping to get rid of the order as soon as possible through the marriage website. After a period of telephone sales by telephone invitation to the red bride, at about 13:00 on November 27, Ms. Wu came to a Century Jiayuan VIP Center (directly operated store) located in The Pudong District of Shanghai.
After entering the store, the e-invitation sales took her into a small private room and introduced a professional red lady who claimed to have a higher matching rate. Not long after, a red lady surnamed Wang entered the room and sat opposite Ms. Wu, who claimed to have done personnel work before, studied psychology, was a master of psychology, and also had a certificate related to psychological counselors, and said that she had become a red lady by chance, and had been working in the industry for 8 years, "the matching rate is extremely high." But from the beginning to the end, The Red Lady surnamed Wang did not come up with the relevant qualification certificates.
After a free chat, Wang Hongniang showed Ms. Wu several high-quality male information, which made her "heartbroken". Ms. Wu recalled that there was a "Mr. Gong", handsome-looking, 180cm tall, with a house and a car. Hongniang, surnamed Wang, told her that as long as she did a 'one-on-one' service, she might see Mr. Gong. Subsequently, Wang Hongniang suggested that she apply for a one-on-one blind date service package worth 48,800 yuan, with a service period of 4 months, and arranged to meet 8 high-quality men.
Ms. Wu said that she did not have so much money at that time, and Hongniang, surnamed Wang, immediately said that she could pay with Alipay's "Huabei", and also looked at her sesame credit score and Huabei quota. After seeing that her "Huabei" amount was only 500 yuan, Wang Hongniang signaled that she could pay with a credit card loan.
A salesperson who once worked for Century Jiayuan told the surging news that the service package of Century Jiayuan basically started at 10,000 yuan, and most members who came to offline stores did not prepare for payment in advance. In order to ensure the completion of the on-site brushing, they will generally ask to check the members' sesame credit scores and Huabei quotas, or encourage them to open the lending functions of other online platforms, "this is the conventional operation method." ”
To avoid trouble, Ms. Wu's father transferred 48,800 yuan to her WeChat. Ms. Wu said that as soon as the money arrived, Wang surnamed Hongniang handed over the POS machine to brush away the full amount, and then took a contract called "Lily Jiayuan One-on-One Service" for Ms. Wu to sign. "I went straight to the place where I needed to sign, pointed my finger, and I didn't even have time to read the contract." After more than 5 hours of sales, she walked out of the store and returned home.
Ms. Wu reflected that there was a refund overlord clause in the contract
The day after signing the contract, the refund was rejected
Ms. Wu said that on the afternoon of November 28, 2021, when she took out the signed contract and read it carefully, she found that there was a suspected "overlord clause" in the termination and rescission of the contract. The contract states that after the contract comes into effect, during the performance of the contract, if one party terminates the contract without authorization under non-statutory circumstances, the party proposing to settle the contract shall pay liquidated damages of "30% of the total amount" of the contract to the other party.
Ms. Wu said that it was not until after swiping the card that Wang Hongniang hastily read the contract for her, urged and used her mobile phone to guide her to sign quickly, and did not take the initiative to explain important terms and liabilities for breach of contract throughout the process. In her view, the act had violated her right to know. That night, she contacted The Red Lady, surnamed Wang, to ask for a full refund and terminate the contract, but was refused.
Since then, Ms. Wu has contacted the red lady every day to ask for a refund, but the other party has not given a specific reply, saying that she has feedback to the parent company of Century Jiayuan, "Beijing Huaqianshu Information Technology Co., Ltd.", and asked her to wait.
On December 4 and 5, 2021, Ms. Wu took her aunt to the offline store and asked for a refund again, but the sales staff at the scene blocked them at the end of the corridor and prevented them from entering the store. Ms. Wu said that a person in charge who called herself "Director Bao" clearly told Wu that it was impossible to refund the full amount, and that the specific situation could only be replied to after feedback to the Beijing headquarters.
Under the stalemate between the two sides, Century Jiayuanfang called the police and said that Ms. Wu was "disrupting the operation.". After the coordination and communication of the police at the scene, on the afternoon of December 10, Ms. Wu and the relevant staff of Century Jiayuan came to the case-handling police station for mediation.
After several mediations, the parties reached an agreement that Ms. Wu would bear 12% of the liquidated damages. Century Fortune promised to return the remaining money to its account within 30 days. But Ms. Wu remains unhappy with the results. She believes that although she signed the contract, the two parties have not yet begun to perform the contract and have the right to refund all fees.
Guangzhou consumers: See a blind date to deduct 6,000 yuan
Similar to Ms. Wu's experience, a Ms. Li from Guangzhou told the surging news that in mid-May 2021, under the continuous promotion of the sales of red brides, she signed a one-on-one blind date service package worth 68,800 yuan at the VIP service center of Zhujiang New Town in Century Jiayuan Guangzhou, with a service time of 1 year and an appointment of 12 men.
Payment receipt provided by Ms. Lee
After the contract was signed, Ms. Li quickly received a message from the service lady that there was a man who could arrange a meeting. However, after listening to the man's personal situation, Ms. Li did not meet her requirements. However, under the persuasion of the red lady, Ms. Li still met with the man, but the other party only talked to Ms. Li face to face, and there was no follow-up.
That night, Ms. Li asked for a refund to the service red bride, and the other party refused and promised to "recommend a better man to you next time." However, the 5 men recommended and arranged to meet her by the service red lady did not meet her mate selection requirements, including divorced men, "I clearly said that I did not accept it." ”
Did not meet the right object, even the most basic hardware conditions can not be reached, expect the frustrated Ms. Li and the responsible red bride to terminate the contract and refund the matter, but the other party changed the previous statement, said that the refund can be, but to bear the liquidated damages, and deduct the service fees of the 6 men seen.
When Ms. Li looked over the signed service contract at this time, she found that one of the clauses stated that "the candidate recommended by Party B did not fully meet the criteria agreed in Annex IV, but Party A approved that there was no appointment", which was deemed to be that Party B provided an appointment service.
In this regard, Ms. Li expressed her non-approval and acceptance. She believes that she has previously proposed to the red lady that the men's conditions do not meet the requirements, but under her continuous persuasion, she reluctantly went to meet, and was not told that the meeting will be deducted, "to know that it costs 6,000 yuan to see a person, I will not go to see it." At the same time, before signing the marriage contract, Red Niang never mentioned the issue of "liquidated damages", and she also believed that the act violated her right to know.
Ms. Li said that her appeal has not yet been dealt with, and many of the red brides who were responsible for receiving her have left one after another, "Then who should I find to defend my rights?" ”
The terms of the "Appointment Service" in the contract signed by Ms. Li
Lawyer: The client himself is also responsible, but the proportion of liquidated damages is too high
For the complaints of the above two consumers, the surging news reporter called the two stores involved.
On December 21, 2021, the staff of the Vip Service Center of Shanghai Pudong, Century Jiayuan, said that for the issue of first swiping the card and then signing the contract, consumers need to contact the store directly, and said that they would send someone to call the surging news. However, when the reporter called again on January 1, 2021, the store number had become empty. As of press time, the reporter has not received a reply.
The VIP service center of Guangzhou Zhujiang New Town told the surging news that consumers need to contact the relevant person in charge of Century Jiayuan, and the offline store is not responsible for after-sales service. On January 1, 2022, the store staff also said that they recommended the right person to the customer according to the customer's mate selection requirements, but there may be a slight difference in reality, "as long as the customer agrees to meet, it means that the customer actually recognizes the recommended opposite sex in his heart, and needs to deduct the corresponding fee." For the reporter's repeated questions, the staff replied perfunctorily throughout the process, saying, "After-sales and complaints are handled by the docking red bride." If the red lady leaves, find a new red lady to dock. ”
Regarding the above-mentioned contract signing and refund difficulties, Xie Zhanfei, a lawyer at Beijing Jingshi (Shanghai) Law Firm, told The Paper that the process of signing the contract after paying the money first shows that the customer does not fully recognize the content of the contract, and the business contract of century Jiayuan store should be a standard contract, and the core important clauses such as liquidated damages should be clearly stated to the customer in advance, so the customer can propose to terminate the contract, and the reason for the termination is that the party of Century Jiayuan has not fully fulfilled the duty of reminder, "if the service has not yet started." The customer only needs to compensate for the labor cost losses that May exist in the process, and the 30% liquidated damages ratio is too high. ”
Guo Xiaoming, a lawyer at Shanghai Zhonglian (Chengdu) Law Firm, said that according to the regulations, the contract must be agreed by both parties, and if the terms have not been read before signing the contract and the consumer is not aware of the terms, "this contract is not binding." But in reality, the consumer will face a difficulty - the consumer has no way to prove that he has not seen the contract beforehand. However, Guo Xiaoming pointed out that because Century Jiayuan adopts standard terms, the store has not fulfilled the obligation of prompting and explaining, and consumers can still claim that the terms are invalid.
As for the problem of being induced to meet and deduct money reflected by consumers, Guo Xiaoming said that if the merchant did not explain in advance that it needed to deduct fees, there was an act of inducing consumers to meet, which harmed the interests of consumers, and the signed clause could also be claimed to be invalid.