If you buy an electrical appliance, you will encounter various reasons for having to pay an expensive fee when you encounter a breakdown and repair. There are many additional conditions for warranty, door-to-door fees, dismantling fees, and many other items, which have led to more and more consumers reflecting that it is easy to buy electrical appliances and difficult to repair electrical appliances; All kinds of fancy routines make consumers both "headache" and "distressed".
Home appliance maintenance, fancy routines make people trick
The bath bomb in Ms. Cheng's home, a citizen of Jinan, Shandong Province, recently failed, but the maintenance staff suggested that Ms. Cheng replace the bath bomb after coming to the door, the reason is that "the machine belongs to the old model, the current accessories are incomplete, and the maintenance cost is similar to that of a new one". What Ms. Cheng doesn't understand is that the price of buying a bath bomb in 2019 is only 599 yuan, and now it takes 450 yuan to replace the motherboard, and the machine has become an old model with "missing accessories" in only 4 years.
Some time ago,Some consumers posted a video on social platforms to reflect,Spend 2700 yuan to buy a TV,Contact the official for repair because of an accidental broken screen,But I was told that it takes 4600 yuan to replace the screen,It's a lot more expensive than buying a brand new machine。 In this regard, the staff of the TV brand involved responded that the maintenance cost includes the cost of accessories and materials, especially the high labor cost.
Every year, "Double 11", "Double 12" and other big promotion peaks, each sales "pro" one by one, but the after-sales link is obviously lagging behind and the attitude is cold. "Take this monitor and say,Although the warranty is two years,But the screen crack is not covered by the warranty,It takes 688 yuan to replace,It's too expensive。 The reply from the customer service was, 'Remember to buy broken screen insurance next time'. Mr. Huang, a citizen of Beijing, said.
The various problems in the maintenance of household appliances are hot issues in the acceptance of consumer complaints by local consumer associations. For example, the Shandong Provincial Consumer Association pointed out that due to information asymmetry and other reasons, the after-sales maintenance service of household appliances has excessive maintenance or false price reporting. The Beijing Municipal Consumer Association pointed out that there are maintenance traps in the maintenance of household appliances, such as minor illnesses and major repairs, small parts and large replacements, and sky-high prices.
In October 2023, the "Jiangsu Provincial Household Appliance Service Satisfaction Survey Report" released by the Jiangsu Provincial Consumer Rights Protection Commission pointed out that consumers are generally satisfied with household appliance services, but the maintenance charges are not transparent, the service process needs to be standardized, and the maintenance efficiency is not satisfactory. Nearly eight out of ten (78.7%) of the respondents have encountered maintenance charges for on-site installation or repair services. Among them, "the charging standard is not transparent, and there is a difference between the price displayed on the platform and the actual price charged" is the most common problem, accounting for 44.5%.
How difficult it is to avoid the "pit", don't let the after-sales ruin the brand
The reason why there are many "pits" in home appliance maintenance is directly related to the long-term opaque information, lack of charging standards, and the proliferation of "black maintenance" in this industry.
For example, it is not uncommon for a promise to be free before the maintenance and charge after the repair. Sun Xiao, a citizen of Weifang, Shandong, told the reporter that the official customer service promised that the water heater he purchased would be repaired free of charge during the warranty period, but the worker informed him that the maintenance was free, but the consumables used in the maintenance need to be charged separately. This expensive consumables made Sun Xiao feel distressed for a long time, and afterwards she found that the same model of consumables on the Internet was only 1/5 of the price she paid.
In addition to the opaque information, the industry lacks a unified charging standard, resulting in a variety of costs incurred in maintenance. For example, when repairing an air conditioner, a pipe that is obviously 3 meters enough must be 5 meters. From door-to-door fees to labor costs, to material costs, each one is more expensive than the other. Banyuetan reporters combed through the complaint information of consumer complaint platforms such as black cat complaints and found that door-to-door fees, installation fees, material costs, labor costs, punching fees, dismantling fees and other charging items are dazzling, and the charging items of different brands are different.
Zhang Xiangyang, the person in charge of the e-commerce operation of a home appliance brand, told reporters that the current after-sales maintenance market is mixed. Some large brands have official after-sales teams, while some small and medium-sized brands rely on third-party maintenance agencies to provide after-sales service, and the quality of maintenance is difficult to guarantee.
Li Jie, a lawyer at Beijing Guantao Zhongmao (Qingdao) Law Firm, believes that the Civil Code and the Consumer Rights Protection Law stipulate that consumers have the right to know the truth about the goods they buy or use or the services they receive, and that the goods or services provided by merchants should be clearly marked. Therefore, if the door-to-door free installation service provided by the merchant wants to charge other installation material costs or other service fees beyond the agreed agreement, it should clearly prompt and inform the consumer during the sales process or before providing the service, otherwise the consumer's right to know will be infringed.
Laws and regulations must be regulated, and the industry must be self-disciplined
In response to the chaos of household appliance maintenance, consumer associations in many places have been taking action. The Hubei Provincial Consumer Commission and others jointly announced the list of 180 household appliance maintenance and after-sales service outlets in the province in 2023, and the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Market Regulation issued the "Beijing Municipal Regulations on Household Appliance Repair Service Clearly Marked Prices", which stipulates that consumers must be actively informed in advance of the "door-to-door fee", and consumers can only provide door-to-door services and charge fees after confirmation.
Zhang Xiangyang believes that the regulatory authorities should play a role, especially to regulate third-party maintenance agencies, requiring them to enhance the transparency of their work, disclose all work processes and charging prices, and inform consumers in advance before maintenance, and seek consumer consent.
Liu Junhai, a professor at the Law School of Chinese University, believes that due to the different types of electrical appliances and the inconsistent cost of parts between household appliances, it is difficult to standardize the maintenance price uniformly. However, industry associations and other organizations can play an active role in encouraging different home appliance enterprises to unify the standards for the types of charges and try to reduce the number of charges.
The relevant person in charge of the Shandong Provincial Consumer Association reminded consumers that after the maintenance is completed, they should ask for the maintenance service voucher and charge invoice in time, and in case of consumer disputes, it is convenient to use it when protecting their rights. When it is found that its legitimate rights and interests have been infringed, it can protect its legitimate rights and interests in accordance with the law by complaining to the relevant departments or local consumer associations.
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Source: Half Moon Talk