Producer / Sina Technology(ID:techsina)
Author / Ken Hanako
Edited by / Han Dapeng
Since June 13, the mainland has experienced the first regional high temperature weather of the year. Official data shows that in the month since, the highest temperature of 71 weather stations across the country has exceeded historical extremes, and more than 900 million people have been affected by high temperature weather.
Under the high temperature weather, the demand of consumers to buy air conditioners also continues to heat up, and the frequency of air conditioning use is also higher, which brings the problem that consumers have also encountered problems such as door-to-door installation and maintenance. Sina Technology found through multiple interviews that in addition to air conditioners, consumers have also encountered similar problems in the maintenance of refrigerators, televisions, door locks, water pipes and so on.
Among them, some on-site maintenance service personnel are scattered individuals, which is the most common group of random charges; Even if consumers find those maintenance masters who have platforms and brand parties endorsement and more transparent price information, they are still invincible, and when they encounter these problems, they can only spend money to solve them.
Property, street shops and street masters are not reliable
Mr. Li, who lives in a community in Beijing's Asian Games Village, discovered a leaking kitchen sink in mid-July. Inexperienced, he immediately contacted the property and asked the maintenance master to come to the door for inspection. Just hung up the phone for 15 minutes, the master came to the door, after inspection found that the hose is aging and needs to be replaced.
"Then the master went back to find the materials, and it didn't take long for me to call me and tell me that two hoses cost 100 yuan." Mr. Li felt that it was too expensive, so he remembered to buy on the takeaway platform, and he saw that many supermarkets in the vicinity were on sale, and the two hoses were priced at only 35 yuan. Therefore, he refused to buy the hose from the master, only needing him to provide replacement and repair services, the cost was 60 yuan.
But for the week that followed, the repair master had been pushing back on the grounds of busyness, and he was forced to use the water basin to pick up the leaking water during this period of time, pour it out regularly, and use it as often as possible. Finally, the repair master finally came to the door, and when replacing the hose, he removed other parts including the faucet and the pool on the grounds that "the space is small and the tools cannot be used", and told him that "the faucet is aging and needs to be replaced at the same time." ”
In the end, Mr. Li could only put aside the hose purchased, and purchased a complete set of equipment provided by the master, including faucets and hoses, plus a total maintenance cost of 240 yuan. "In the end, the money is still not less, it is really invincible." Mr. Li was quite upset about this and did not expect that the on-site maintenance service provided by the property would be the same.
Ms. Zhang has also encountered such problems. In June, she once forgot to bring her key when she went out, so she had to ask for help from the door lock shop in the community, and the owner immediately contacted the locksmith for her. "Originally it was 80 yuan to open the lock, but after the door came to the door, I said that my atomic lock was the most difficult to open, the price increased to 150 yuan, changed a lock, and another 800 yuan." Ms. Zhang is also helpless, she knows nothing about the door lock, but she must open the lock to enter the door, so she can only listen to the master's arrangement.
Xiao Zhao, who had fluoridated two air conditioners in his home in early July, also encountered this problem. He saw at the door of the community that there was an air conditioner maintenance master waiting for the work, in the spirit of a quick solution, he asked the master about the price of fluoride, and was told that "it is not expensive, dozens of yuan." He then took the master to the door, only to find that dozens of yuan was only the price of 1 pressure unit, and he also needed to work at height.
"According to the quotation of 1.5P of frequency conversion, 60 yuan of fluorine for 1 pressure unit, 100 yuan for high-altitude work, and I spent 880 yuan in the case that an air conditioner was not full." Xiao Zhao felt that he had been wronged, and he blamed himself for not asking clearly. So he decided to make up for the knowledge of the common maintenance items of these home appliances and understand the price market.
"I found that on some third-party home appliance repair service platforms, it only costs about 600 yuan for my two air conditioners to be filled with fluoride." However, Xiao Zhao carefully understood and found that different platforms may have problems because of differences in standards.
Platform endorsement, the problem can not be eliminated
Combined with the clues provided by Xiao Zhao, Sina Technology queried and compared on the relevant platforms, which also found some problems.
The same is to take air conditioning fluorine as an example, the more common 1.5P frequency conversion wall hanging air conditioner, in the Jingdong service flagship store, fluoridation using a price, in the range of 1-3P, the price of fluoridation to full is 289 yuan / unit, but the provisions of 3-15 floors of high-altitude work, each charge 100 yuan high-altitude fee.
Sina Technology learned from the customer service of the Jingdong service flagship store that the Jingdong service is charged according to the number of units, even if the two air conditioners are very close, or even if the two are dependent, they are also charged according to the number of units.
The Jingdong service flagship store also clearly marked the charging standard of each common maintenance item on the page, and in the table, Sina Technology found that after the fault phenomenon was classified, Jingdong service provided different maintenance solutions. Taking the poor refrigeration/heating effect as an example, if it is fluorine, the unit price of 1-1.5P wall-mounted air conditioner is 274 yuan / unit, the price of cleaning filter is 122 yuan / unit, and the price of replacing the four-way valve is 743 yuan / unit.
However, in the charging table, Jingdong Service also suggested that the charging standard is for reference only, and the actual fee will vary according to different brands, and the float can reach up to 30%. Similar floats exist in Woodpecker home repairs.
Sina technology query found that on the woodpecker, or to take the air conditioning maintenance as an example, in the charging standard, only the charging range is displayed, such as the charging range for adding refrigerant (fluoride) is 256-399 yuan / unit, the non-refrigeration is 349-558 yuan / unit, the non-start / no blowing is 339-546 yuan / unit, and the noise is 326-558 yuan.
After leaving the contact information, the woodpecker repair master who received the dispatch quickly communicated by phone, in which the maintenance master repeatedly guaranteed that the price was transparent and there were documents to query the details. Also taking the 1.5P variable frequency wall-mounted air conditioner as an example, the master claims that the price of adding fluoride to full on the woodpecker is 256 yuan / unit, if the two are very close, you can only charge a high-altitude fee of 100 yuan.
This is slightly different from the standard of JD.com's service. The comparison found that even for maintenance services such as fluorineation and replacement of pipelines, which are mainly fixed consumables, the pricing of the two platforms has a gap of at least a few tens of yuan. Xiao Zhao said bluntly to Sina Technology that this difference does not know whether the unit price of fluorine is different, or the way maintenance masters add fluoride is different. He believes that this consumable needs to be more clear about the unit price and reduce the space for maneuvering.
In the consumer service platform black cat complaints, the number of complaints against woodpeckers in the past 30 days has reached 105, and the cumulative number of complaints as of August 1 has reached 1119.
One user said that he placed an order in Woodpecker on July 31 to repair the living room lamp, replaced four lamp tubes, and the unit price reached 86 yuan, plus 120 yuan installation fee, the total charge reached 464 yuan. But later, he found the same wattage and brand of lamps on the e-commerce platform, with a unit price of only 16 yuan.
There is also a user complaint, July 26 in the woodpecker order maintenance air conditioning, maintenance master came to the door did not find out the reason for not refrigeration, said to add fluoride, added 3 pressure after full, and then charged another 349 yuan. However, the cooling effect of the air conditioner is still not good, the user contacted the platform customer service, was told by the maintenance master that the problem of fluorine can be repaired free of charge within 3 months, but the others have to be recharged.
Experts: Consumers should pay attention to retaining evidence to protect their rights
Chen Yinjiang, deputy secretary-general of the Consumer Rights and Interests Protection Law Research Association of the China Law Society, said in an interview with Sina Technology that although the problems faced by home appliance maintenance are very different, the differences in parts, materials and technical levels will be reflected in the difference in prices, and it is easy to have consumption problems.
Chen Yinjiang believes that the official maintenance services of home appliance manufacturers are relatively clear in terms of price list, the price transparency is relatively high, and the service process is relatively perfect, which can effectively help consumers reduce the possibility of encountering arbitrary charges and overcharging, and protect the legitimate rights and interests of consumers.
Third-party service platforms such as Jingdong Service and Woodpecker are actually the first responsible persons for consumers to purchase home appliance maintenance services, and are obliged to provide training to help technical personnel who provide maintenance at home to improve their capabilities, as well as to restrict their behavior through rules and regulations, standardize work processes, and ensure service quality.
Chen Yinjiang also particularly reminded that consumers should avoid those individual service providers on the unregulated platform and individual service providers without qualifications, which is also the hardest hit area of consumer infringement incidents. Taking Ms. Zhang and Xiao Zhao as an example, when they provide door-to-door service by maintenance masters, they should first understand the qualifications of service personnel to ensure that they meet the requirements, and secondly, before the maintenance service begins, they should clarify the price to the maintenance personnel, require clear price marking, and pay attention to the maintenance content, but also pay attention to saving evidence such as recordings, videos and payment information, and ask for bills and maintenance lists so that they can protect their rights when disputes occur.
He also suggested that whether it is the official after-sales service provided by home appliance manufacturers, or the maintenance services provided by third-party platforms and individuals, if consumers believe that their rights and interests have been infringed, they can refuse to pay fees on the spot, and use the preserved evidence to require the platform to intervene, or apply to the consumer association for mediation and arbitration, if they cannot reach an agreement, they can use litigation to resolve disputes.
For the platform, Chen Yinjiang said that for the repair and maintenance projects of common home appliances such as refrigerators, home appliances, washing machines and televisions, the price should be clearly marked on the website, App or promotional materials, and the price should also be clearly marked and clearly informed for consumables, working hours or service fees to ensure the consumer's right to know; At the same time, it is also necessary to standardize the behavior of service personnel through rules and regulations, and strengthen after-sales protection; After the end of the maintenance service, for the maintenance items, consumables and service costs, etc., an invoice should be provided and the maintenance list should be listed.