In recent years, the Nandu "Reporter Gang" has repeatedly received complaints from citizens about consumer disputes about "waterproofing and leakage repair". Approaching the "March 15" International Consumer Rights Day, consumers who stepped on the pit asked for help, some of whom said that after paying 35,000 yuan in construction fees to merchants, the water leakage in their homes became more serious. In addition to the help of many cases, some citizens can't help but ask: Who should manage the waterproof leakage trap of online platforms?
"Waterproof leakage repair disputes" have been frequently reported
Consumers spent thousands of dollars to fill the leaks
In February this year, the Nandu "Journalists' Gang" received two consecutive requests for help. Guangzhou citizen Ms. Li saw an advertisement on WeChat to fill the leakage, and after contacting the workers for construction, she spent 8,000 yuan to fill the leakage without seeing results. "The advertisement advertises that it does not smash the wall or groove, and easily solves the leakage at home, which makes me very excited." Ms. Li said that when the construction workers came to the door, they claimed to use the glue injection process for construction, and they only needed to find the leakage point and pour special glue into the wall through two pinhole-sized holes to stop the leakage. ”
A few days after the incident, Ms. Li discovered that there was still a water leak in her home, and contacted the other party to ask for rework, but was refused. She later searched on the Internet and learned that her experience was not unique, but because she did not save the screenshot at that time, nor did she ask the other party for relevant credentials, it was very difficult to defend her rights.
On February 19, Ms. Zhong, who lives in Shenzhen, also encountered a similar routine. Because of the water seepage on the wall of the bathroom at home, she found a business called "Fan Ting Mu Professional Waterproof Leak Repair" through the search engine, and after telephone communication, the other party sent someone to check it. Ms. Zhong said that the other party's staff recommended the use of drilling and glue injection to repair, and the cost of glue was 280 yuan per catty, but did not clearly disclose the dosage. It was not until more than an hour after the glue was injected that the staff told Ms. Zhong to share 180 kilograms of glue, with a cumulative cost of nearly 50,000 yuan. After bargaining, the two sides finally sold for 35,000 yuan, and due to the lack of cash, she and her husband paid the money to the construction workers in two installments by swiping credit cards.
A merchant who came to Ms. Zhong to "fill in the leaks".
In the following days, Ms. Zhong found that the glued wall still leaked water, and recalled that the two staff members who came to the door also had many doubts. First, the business she saw on the promotion page was named "Fanting Mu Professional Waterproof Leakage Repair", but the person who came to the door did not show his work certificate, and the signature in the "Waterproof Project Contracting Contract" left behind was "Guangzhou Panyu District Dalong Bowei Waterproof Leakage Repair Service Department", and the payee was "Foshan Chancheng District Hutongkou Catering Service Store", why does a merchant have three identities? Second, Ms. Zhong inquired into the industrial and commercial registration information of the "Guangzhou Panyu District Dalong Bowei Waterproof Leakage Repair Service Department" and found that the individual industrial and commercial enterprise had been listed in the list of abnormal business operations by the Panyu District Market Supervision Administration in June 2022 because the registered business premises could not be contacted.
After paying 35,000 yuan to "repair the leak", the wall of Ms. Zhong's house still seeped water.
In addition, the other party had shown Ms. Zhong an inspection report of the so-called "waterproof material" to prove the authenticity of the material she used for injection. The reporter contacted the inspection agency that issued the report, and the other party inquired about the report number and replied that "the number is inconsistent with the entrusted unit and the name of the sample". That is, the so-called report is quite possible to be falsified. The reporter also contacted the construction and charging staff for Ms. Zhong by phone, but the other party hung up the phone and refused to be interviewed.
Ms. Zhong told reporters that after she complained from many parties, the construction party contacted her and said that she could go to the door for warranty, but due to the problems with the other party's business license and the use of materials, she no longer trusted and only asked for a refund of the fee, but the other party refused. "I also complained to the search engine platform, and the platform only asked us to communicate and did not deal with it further." Nandu reporters contacted the platform about the relevant situation, but as of press time, the platform did not respond.
Routine features:
Counterfeit brand, multiple identities, use three no glue
Previously, the Nandu "Journalist Gang" has also reported similar cases many times, and launched unannounced visits to this type of consumer trap, from which an industrial chain of illegal businesses using Internet platforms to publish false advertisements, online solicitation of customers, and offline pit people has been sorted out. However, the helpers still came into contact with the consumption routine of waterproofing and leakage repair from the Internet platform, and after spending a lot of money, the water leakage situation in the house did not improve.
In 2021, Guangzhou citizens Mr. Li and Mr. Feng found waterproof leakage repair merchants on Douyin and Taobao respectively, and the other party collected 7,000 yuan and 12,000 yuan respectively after completing the "leakage repair repair" for them in the form of "leakage repair materials are charged by the pound", but the water leakage situation has not improved. Merchants subsequently find various excuses to no longer provide services. The reporter visited the place where the business license of one of the merchants was registered, and found that "no such person" was found on the address, that is, the so-called "leather bag company". Finally, through the intervention of Nandu, the money of the two citizens was returned, but the online platform that released the business information did not respond to the reporter's interview.
In 2022, citizen Ms. Liu found a waterproof leakage repair business in Meituan, and the other party used the "glue injection process" for construction, and Ms. Liu spent 5,000 yuan for this. In the same year, a citizen of Jieyang, Guangdong, also asked Nandu for help, and after seeing the waterproof leakage repair advertisement in UC Browser, he spent 3,000 yuan to find a leakage repair worker for construction, which also did not have a waterproof effect.
The "leakage" effect of the consumer's roof.
It is not difficult to find that there are many similarities in the above-mentioned citizens' encounters with filling leaks and stepping on pits. First of all, the leakage merchants are all from the Internet platform, and they like to use well-known waterproof paint brands at home and abroad, and the identity of the merchants on the platform is likely to be inconsistent with the identity of the person who actually provides services offline. In the in-depth investigation, the reporter found that some waterproof leakage advertisements on the Internet are actually just the entrance to attract customers, and these customer information with leakage needs will be resold or distributed to offline teams across the country by merchants who publish advertisements, and then the offline team will go to the door to construct and charge.
During the unannounced visit, agents showed reporters the video advertising materials they had prepared to fill in the leakage merchants.
Secondly, the identity and qualifications of the offline construction team are doubtful. Citizens who asked for help said that the construction personnel would not take the initiative to show their identity when they came to the door, and the "waterproof contract" signed with them was also a crude and simple agreement. Although some citizens see the other party showing their business licenses, the result of complaints is often that "the registered address cannot be found", falling into a dead end of rights protection.
In addition, most of the such waterproof leakage repair merchants use the so-called "glue injection leakage repair" process, the service is not clearly marked, only in the early stage of construction to inform the project according to the weight of the material charge (tens of yuan or hundreds of yuan a pound of glue), there is no commitment to the price ceiling, the actual consumables are often tens of pounds, the cumulative cost of thousands or even tens of thousands of yuan. Consumers often find it difficult to discern the actual consumption and can only suffer losses. Many consumers who asked for help recalled that most of the leakage materials (glue) used by these merchants did not have clear product names and other information, and were suspected of using "three no products".
Consumer Questions:
Who should be in charge of the leakage filling routine of the online platform?
Nandu reporters sorted out and found that in recent years, consumer disputes over "waterproofing and leakage" have frequently appeared throughout the country, and it is difficult for consumers to protect their rights afterwards. The reporter's investigation found that the advertisement on the online platform may be just an intermediary, and after the advertisement attracts customers who need to fill leaks, the customers are sold to the offline construction team. Due to the lack of supervision, these waterproof leakage advertisements often bring out false propaganda, "leather bag companies", consumer traps and other chaos.
Some industry insiders analyzed that in the early years, there was a group called "leakage repair gang" in the society, which circulated throughout the country in the name of waterproof leakage repair, providing high-priced leakage repair services to consumers who lacked professional decoration knowledge, which was actually inducing consumption and suspected of fraud. Professionals believe that the "high-priced waterproof leakage repair service" and the "leakage repair gang" characteristics of the online platform are highly overlapping, but the way of customer acquisition is changed to online, which is more decentralized and hidden, and more conducive to evading supervision. Therefore, many consumers call for public security and market supervision departments to pay attention to it in time and rectify the chaos in the vertical consumption field of "waterproof and leakage" as soon as possible. Nandu reporters noted that at the end of 2022, the Hangzhou public security department identified the behavior of some criminals fraudulently using the banner of big brands and publishing "waterproof leakage" advertisements to defraud high-priced fees through online as online fraud, and controlled some merchants and construction personnel who published advertisements in accordance with the law.
So, how should citizens who have encountered similar routines defend their rights? Ms. Zhong told reporters that she later complained to Guangzhou 12345 about the false publicity and induced consumption of merchants, and the Panyu District Consumer Council responded to her a week later that "no business activities related to 'Dalong Bowei' were found at the registered address, and the complaint could not be further verified and handled, and the mediation was terminated according to law, and the complainant was advised to resolve the dispute through other legal channels."
If she complained to the regulatory authorities, she was responded with "termination of mediation", and if she filed a lawsuit in court, the cost of time and energy may be even greater, and Ms. Zhong's rights protection issue reached an impasse.
In this regard, the Nandu reporter also submitted an interview to the Guangzhou Municipal Administration for Market Regulation. Relevant staff said that waterproofing and leakage repair belongs to the field of house decoration, except for the part involving false advertising of merchants, the rest is not a market supervision function, it is recommended to consult housing and construction departments. The staff added: "If the website and the merchant are out-of-town, they are also handled by the local function. ”
Lawyer's Viewpoint:
Consumers can gather evidence to complain about "false advertising"
With regard to the publication of false waterproof advertisements, some consumers believe that because the registered addresses of merchants and online platform operators may be in other places, local consumers will often encounter the problem of remote jurisdiction when they complain to the regulatory authorities after being deceived, which will increase the cost and difficulty of rights protection. Wang Meizhou, a lawyer at Guangdong Bowen Law Firm, said that according to the Interim Provisions on Administrative Punishment Procedures for Market Supervision and Administration, if there is an illegal act in Internet advertising, the market regulatory department where the advertiser is located and the advertising agent is located has the power to exercise jurisdiction.
Lawyer Wang Meizhou suggested that consumers should actively collect evidence after encountering similar fraud, verify the identity of waterproof and leakage merchants and advertising platforms, and complain to the local market regulatory department for illegal acts such as false advertising. "If consumers complain that the service effect of the merchant is inconsistent with the advertisement, then the regulatory authorities, after paying attention to such phenomena, should also actively seek professional institutions to conduct an appraisal and determine whether there is any behavior such as publishing false advertisements, so as to play a role in safeguarding the rights and interests of consumers."
Expert Reminder:
The water leakage problem is professional and complex, and the "easy to fill the leak" advertisement cannot be trusted
"From the perspective of the industry, this kind of charging method that only charges the weight of the glue, and uses this to charge consumers a high price, is suspected of charging arbitrarily." Jiang Botao, director of the Consumer Professional Committee of the Guangdong Decoration Industry Association, believes that as a kind of decoration and decoration project, the specific asking price of the service should be determined by the value of the project. Jiang Botao told reporters that the causes of water leakage in houses are diverse, and each case requires targeted preparation of construction plans, claiming that the use of "glue injection process" can solve various water leakage problems, which is irresponsible and unprofessional. In Jiang Botao's view, the higher value in waterproof leakage repair projects is usually labor costs, and the so-called "glue materials" that are often tens of hundreds of yuan a pound rarely appear in professional construction teams.
Liu Qijun, an appraisal engineer of Guangzhou Fubao Decoration Engineering Quality Appraisal Co., Ltd., believes that before carrying out decoration projects such as waterproofing and leakage, whether the construction contract is standardized is also crucial. After looking at the "construction contracts" signed by a number of deceived consumers and the leakage repair merchants, he said that such contracts provided by the leakage repair merchants were too rough, excluding a large number of clauses that were unfavorable to the construction party, and it was not easy for consumers to protect their rights in this way. Liu Qijun suggested that industry associations and regulatory authorities advocate the use of standard contracts in the field of decoration and decoration projects to better clarify the responsibilities and rights of both consumers and contractors, and then play a role in safeguarding the legitimate rights and interests of consumers.
Finally, Liu Qijun also reminded consumers that waterproof leakage repair is a complex and meticulous decoration project, which needs to be taken seriously by a professional team, and cannot be gullible in the "easy repair" and "glue injection" of advertising, the easier it looks, the deeper the routine may be. In the case of water leakage in the house, the reasonable way is to go to the building materials market to find a merchant with deep business qualifications and purchase big brand waterproof materials, "Buy materials, the merchant will naturally recommend the construction team to you, from the material to the business, are with address, evidence, compared to the team that does not know where to come from, it will be more reliable." ”
Produced by the "Reporter Gang" column group in Nandu
Written by Nandu reporter Wei Zhixin and Huang Shulun
Image courtesy of interviewee