A large number of China Unicom users were "abnormally deducted" in the early morning Legal experts: should be announced and apologized

Source: China Consumer Daily

In the early hours of May 6

A large number of China Unicom users

Suddenly received a 95 yuan deduction notice

subsequently

Without the user's consent

Refund directly to the credit

More than 1700 complaints have been made...

What's going on

How does China Unicom respond?

Let's take a look at the "China Consumer Daily" reporter's investigation

In the early morning, the unexplained deduction of 95 yuan superimposed package package

Automatic charges cannot be cancelled

Mr. Yang of Shenyang, Liaoning Province, told the China Consumer Daily reporter that at about 1 a.m. on May 6, he suddenly received a bill of 95 yuan deduction from China Unicom, and the bill prompted the deduction content as "arrears do not stop" service.

▲Screenshot of Mr. Yang's deduction bill

Mr. Yang: "I was a little confused at the time, so I quickly inquired and found that I accidentally activated the automatic deduction function in January. ”

According to Mr. Yang, the deduction account he opened was WeChat change, when the WeChat change balance was more than 200 yuan, after being deducted 95 yuan for no reason, he immediately canceled the automatic deduction function, but the mobile phone screen popped up "the existing project is deducting the fee can not be canceled" prompt. After 10 minutes, Mr. Yang was deducted 95 yuan again, and the deduction content was exactly the same as before.

Mr. Yang: "Fortunately, my balance is not enough to deduct another 95 yuan, otherwise it may continue to be deducted." ”

At 7:00 a.m. on May 6, Mr. Yang opened the China Unicom APP to inquire and found that the deduction item at 1 a.m. was a "superimposed package package", and at about 3 a.m., the two deductions totaled 190 yuan and were fully recharged into his call fee.

According to Mr. Yang, the mobile phone package he currently uses is a king card with a monthly fixed fee of 19 yuan, which requires pre-charge phone bills, which cannot be used in the case of arrears, and the mobile phone is not in a state of overdue downtime when the fee is deducted in the early morning. Mr. Yang immediately called China Unicom's customer service phone to complain, but after dialing for nearly an hour, the customer service phone kept prompting him to "the artificial seat is busy, please dial it later." So he launched a complaint through the online platform, and at about 15:00 on May 6, Mr. Yang's WeChat change account received two refunds totaling 190 yuan.

The system upgrade caused the user to deduct the fee abnormally

China Unicom did not announce the situation

The reporter's investigation found that on network platforms such as Black Cat Complaint and Sina Weibo, a large number of China Unicom users complained about the unprovoked deduction in the early morning. Up to now, the cumulative number of complaints on China Unicom in 24 hours has exceeded 1700 black cat complaints. Some netizens on Sina Weibo posted pictures saying that they were directly deducted 380 yuan, and some netizens said that although the fee has been refunded, it is directly converted to the phone bill instead of returning to the deduction account in the same way.

As of press time, China Unicom has not explained to users the reasons and solutions for the unexplained deduction incident in the form of an announcement.

▲ A large number of users on the black cat complaint platform reported that 95 yuan was automatically deducted in the early morning. Profile picture

▲ Netizens posted on Weibo that the superimposed package fee of 380 yuan was deducted. Profile picture

▲ Comments from netizens on sina Weibo under the topic of #China Unicom privately increasing business. Profile picture

The reporter called China Unicom's customer service to inquire about the reason for the deduction in the early morning.

Customer service said: "This large-scale deduction is due to the system upgrade caused by the user deduction abnormality, we have returned the deduction to the user's voice fee balance at the first time, if the user does not agree to return to the balance we can also return to the user's deduction account." ”

▲ Weibo @ China Unicom customer service said on May 7, "due to system upgrades, some users have been abnormally deducted."

And when the reporter asked how many users were involved in this deduction? What measures has China Unicom taken to prevent such a situation from happening again? The customer service said that it would feedback the reporter's question to the superior department, but as of press time, it had not received a reply.

Lawyer's opinion

"System upgrade" must be proved by evidence

Lu Yun, a lawyer at Beijing Yihe Zhonghong Law Firm, said in an interview with China Consumer Daily:

First of all, according to the relevant provisions of the Consumer Rights and Interests Protection Law, China Unicom's unauthorized deduction of fees has infringed on consumers' right to property security and fair trade. The so-called "reason for the system upgrade" of China Unicom's customer service needs to come up with sufficient evidence to prove and explain to consumers, and at the same time, it should strengthen system security management to avoid similar situations from happening again;

Secondly, unless the user chooses to switch to the phone bill, the deduction should be refunded in the same way. If the number of users involved in the deduction is large, wide-ranging and the amount is large, China Unicom shall give consumers a reasonable explanation in the form of an announcement.

Wang Jiucheng, a lawyer at Beijing Lidao Law Firm, told China Consumer Daily that item 10 of the Notice on Regulating the Tariffs and Charges of Mobile Information Service Business (Xinbu Qing [2006] No. 574) clearly stipulates that when users complain to basic telecommunications enterprises about the tariffs and charges of mobile information service business, the basic telecommunications enterprises should be responsible for properly handling them and implement the "first question responsibility system".

For the failure to remind or confirm in accordance with the regulations, as well as the lack of customized relationship or incomplete charging behavior, the basic telecommunications enterprise should refund the fee to the user immediately after verification, and strictly fulfill the compensation commitment made by the enterprise to the public.

Moreover, according to The First Paragraph of Article 40 of the Telecommunications Regulations (Decree No. 666 of the State Council), telecommunications business operators shall not restrict telecommunications users from using the services they specify in any way in telecommunications services. Article 74 stipulates that in violation of the provisions of Article 40 of these Regulations, the telecommunications management organs of provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government shall order corrections, make a formal apology to telecommunications users, and compensate telecommunications users for losses. According to the above provisions, China Unicom interfered with consumers' use of established business in the form of stacked packages, and should apologize to consumers and refund relevant fees to consumers.