A drop of water can refract the sun's rays.
A case can demonstrate the rule of law.
Core values are the spiritual ties that a nation relies on to maintain and the common ideological and moral foundation of a country. If there is no common core values, a nation and a country will have no place to go and no place to go. As the adjudication organs of the state, the people's courts undertake the sacred duties of enforcing the law and handling cases, clearly determining right and wrong, determining points and ending disputes, punishing evil and promoting good, and safeguarding justice, and shouldering an important mission in cultivating and practicing the core socialist values. A judgment of the court is not only a handling of a specific case, but also a guide to social customs.
Every year, the people's courts conclude a large number of cases, and some of these seemingly "small" cases have had a huge impact, conveying the positive energy of the rule of law, leading a new trend of morality, winning full recognition from all walks of life, and playing a positive role in promoting the core socialist values.
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Two female college students were attracted to the store to take photos by the photo studio's 19.9 yuan advertisement to experience costume photography, and they wanted to spend the least amount of money to take beautiful photos, but in the end they spent a sky-high price of 26,000 yuan. This news of "the routine behind the low-cost photography of 19.9 yuan" was on the hot search during March 15 last year. What is going on? How does the case go to court after it is brought to court?
Case review
Things have to start with a Douyin advertisement, in December 2019, two female college students, Xiao Min and Xiao Xuan, swiped the costume photography experience activity promoted by the photo studio on Douyin, and the beautiful costume photos and the 19.9 yuan "cabbage experience price" are particularly exciting. At first, the two also had doubts about whether the good thing of "19.9 yuan for a photo" was true, "Little sister, we don't have any additional fees, including clothing, makeup, and photos", the reply of the photo studio's customer service dispelled their doubts.
When they arrived at the store, the two found that 19.9 yuan could not get the effect of the advertised film at all, "the effect of the 1100 yuan package is much better than the final product", and under the recommendation and persuasion of the clerk, the two signed a package agreement of 1100 yuan. At this point, the 19.9 yuan experience activity has become a 1100 yuan package.
During the shooting, a new wave of sales is coming, you must use ampoules, and the clothing must also be upgraded, "If you don't buy it, you won't be able to shoot that effect", I can't stand the persuasion of the clerk, and the two signed a "supplementary agreement" of 1588 yuan, so far, the actual consumption has been upgraded to 2688 yuan.
When it came time to select the film, on the one hand, several clerks tried their best to persuade "how beautiful the photos are" to keep a few more photos, and on the other hand, the filmmaker operated the mouse and did not cooperate in deleting the photos. The order originally included only 17 photos, but more than 200 were actually taken, and due to various disturbances in the selection process, the two girls only deleted some of the photos, and finally left 109 photos. Under this wave of strong sales, the two signed a "supplementary agreement" of 24,000 yuan and two "photography service contracts" presented by the photo studio to pay for additional items such as film selection and photo albums.
So far, the original 19.9 yuan photography experience has been upgraded to more than 26,000 yuan, because they can't afford to pay the high fees, the clerk guided the two people to open Huabei, installment and other online loan services to borrow money for consumption, one operation, and finally paid most of the fees, and the remaining 5,900 yuan could not be paid.
After leaving the store, the more Xiao Min and Xiao Xuan thought about it, the more they regretted it, they were just students in school, there was no source of income, and they couldn't afford it, so they contacted the film selector that night, and repeatedly proposed to delete the photos and reduce the cost, but they were all rejected by the other party on the grounds that "the contract has been signed, the photos have been sent to the manufacturer to be made, and there is no way to change them".
After mediation by the Shanghai Hongkou District Consumer Protection Committee to no avail, the two sued the court, requesting that all contracts signed by the two parties be terminated, and that the studio refund the contract price paid of more than 20,000 yuan, and the balance of the contract of 5,900 yuan will not be paid.
On February 2, 2021, the Shanghai Hongkou Court held a public hearing of the case. In court, Xiao Min and Xiao Xuan said that during the filming, the two repeatedly proposed to delete the photos and lower the package standard, but the studio clerk persuaded them with various arguments, and they were able to leave the store for nearly 5 hours when selecting the film, and the photo studio's behavior obviously violated their right to know and choose as a consumer.
In this regard, the studio argued that the company's business is standardized, all packages are independently chosen by consumers, which is a normal sales behavior, and the contract signed with consumers is legal and valid, and should be protected by law, and if the agreement is terminated, the consumer should bear 90% of the total amount agreed in the contract for breach of contract.
After the trial, the court held that the two parties in this case should have a contractual relationship, with the two plaintiffs as the contractors and the defendants as the contractors. The series of agreements signed by the two parties are true expressions of intent, established and effective in accordance with the law. In this case, there were a total of five agreements.
First, for the order agreement of 1,100 yuan, Xiao Min and Xiao Xuan requested to be terminated, and the court allowed it, but considering that the photo studio had provided clothing and makeup services, took more than 200 photos and carried out photo retouching, which caused a certain amount of work, the court determined to compensate the photo studio for reasonable losses at its discretion.
Second, for the supplementary agreement of 1,588 yuan, the photo studio provided services such as dress upgrades and cosmetics upgrades according to the agreement, and the two of them had completed filming and the agreement was fulfilled, lacking a basis for termination, and the court did not support it in accordance with the law.
Third, with regard to the supplementary agreement of 24,000 yuan and the two "Photography Service Contracts", after the signing of the three agreements, the two plaintiffs disputed with the defendant on the performance of the supplementary agreement on the same day, and then proposed to the defendant to terminate the agreement on December 26 of the same year, which met the statutory conditions for exercising the right of arbitrary termination, and the studio did not submit the work results agreed in the supplementary agreement.
In the end, the court ruled in accordance with the law that the 1,100 yuan order agreement, the 24,000 yuan supplementary agreement and the two "photography service contracts" signed by the two parties were terminated in accordance with the law, and the photo studio returned 18,600 yuan to Xiao Min and Xiao Xuan, and rejected Xiao Min and Xiao Xuan's other claims. (The above names and company names are pseudonyms)
【Judge's Thoughts】
Judge Cao Yanmei of Shanghai Hongkou Court:
The case of the "19.9 yuan sky-high photography case" itself is not complicated, but now that I recall it, I actually faced a lot of pressure during the trial at that time.
First of all, the attitude of the agent of the photo studio is extremely resolute, he stands on the position of autonomy of will and the contract should be observed, insists that the agreement signed and confirmed by both parties cannot be terminated casually, and expresses his dissatisfaction and incomprehension many times in court, asking to continue to perform the agreement, and if it is terminated, the other party is required to bear 90% of the total contract price for breach of contract. The judgment of the legal relationship between the parties and the right to terminate the contract is the most critical difficulty in this case.
Secondly, the confrontation between the two sides is still relatively fierce, the plaintiff is two female college students from other rural areas who came to Shanghai to study, they are relatively weak in the consumer relationship, and they can muster up the courage to file a lawsuit is also supported by the Hongkou Consumer Protection Committee, the Hongkou District Procuratorate appeared in court to support the prosecution, and the Hongkou Judicial Bureau appointed a legal aid lawyer for them, and the two sides can be said to be-for-tat in the trial.
Finally, because the marketing of the defendant in this case, such low-cost drainage was quite common, there was also a voice on the Internet at that time, and there were many people who believed that the merchant's routine sales behavior violated the principle of good faith and even constituted a forced transaction.
Therefore, how to handle this case in accordance with the law was really stressful at that time. I had a similar life experience and felt sorry for the plight of these two students. However, as a judge, I have the motivation and responsibility to ascertain the facts and make judgments with a professional attitude, based on the facts and the law, so as to play a good role in guiding and demonstrating the whole society as much as possible.
Judging from the content and characteristics of the contract in which the defendant provided the plaintiff with services such as taking photographs and making albums at the request of the plaintiff, the two parties met the contractual relationship, and the plaintiff, as the customizer, enjoyed the right to terminate at will in accordance with the law. However, there are three major restrictions on the exercise of the right of arbitrary termination: first, the intention to terminate must be notified to the other party, second, the notice of termination must reach the other party before the completion of the contract, and third, if the termination causes losses to the contractor, the losses must be compensated.
In this case, the two parties signed a total of five agreements, of which the first package agreement of 1,100 yuan was finally upgraded to an agreement of 24,000 yuan, which is also the largest agreement. For the performance of this agreement, the defendant did take more than 200 photos for the two plaintiffs, but the agreement also included the refinement of the photos and the production of photo albums. This involves a very core issue in this case, and it is also a point in time when I asked the defendant to confirm it in court, that is, when the plaintiff notified the termination, in fact, the plaintiff filed for termination at 11 o'clock in the evening on the day of signing the agreement, and at this time it was impossible for the defendant to carry out photo retouching, album production and other acts, so the defendant did not have any loss for this part of the content that had not been performed. Finally, the court pronounced a judgment in court, finding that some of the five agreements had been fulfilled and could not be terminated, some were partially terminated, and some were completely terminated, and the defendant returned more than 18,000 yuan to the plaintiff.
I still clearly remember that on the day the judgment was announced, the two plaintiffs themselves also appeared in court, and in the final statement of the parties, I asked them to take turns to talk about their understanding of the dispute and their thoughts on opening an online loan to carry out super-power consumption behavior. After the verdict was announced, they also sent me a letter of thanks, which specifically said, "Abide by the judge's teachings, learn from this lesson, clarify your spending ability, establish a correct view of consumption, and no longer consume impulsively......
As for the defendant, I proposed that as a business operator, he should abide by social morality and business ethics, operate in good faith, and protect the legitimate rights and interests of consumers. In fact, the defendant's attitude until the judgment was pronounced was that he did not accept mediation, insisted on the continued performance of the contract, and made it clear that he would appeal after the judgment was pronounced. However, after receiving the judgment, the attorney called me and asked me to inform the plaintiff's bank account number and prepare to fulfill the judgment, and then I did do it in a timely manner. After the verdict of this case, I paid close attention to the follow-up situation, and the social response after the verdict was still very good. After the judgment, I also put forward three judicial suggestions on the unreasonable and irregular behaviors existing in the defendant's business activities, hoping that the company can rectify and standardize its operation in accordance with the law. In about two weeks, the defendant studio replied in detail, sincerely accepted the judicial suggestion, and expressed its determination to comprehensively rectify, in addition to saying that it would educate employees on professionalism and revise the standard terms of the contract, it also said that it would set up a 24-hour cooling-off period system in the agreement, and the customer could unconditionally terminate the contract within 24 hours after signing the contract. At present, the company is in normal operation.
【Representative's Comments】
Xu Juehui
Deputy to the National People's Congress, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee, Director and General Manager of Shanghai Port International Passenger Transport Center Development Co., Ltd
This case is very educational, the judge did not discuss the case, but from the actual point of view to fully consider the social effect of the case, not only to regulate the business routines, but also to regulate the irrational consumption behavior of college students, this judgment not only defends the dignity of the law, but also highlights the justice and temperature of the judiciary, combines the spirit of the rule of law with the core values of socialism, and realizes the emotional, reasonable, The unification of the three is of great significance for inheriting the traditional Chinese virtues and promoting the core values of socialism under the new development pattern. I note that after this judgment was rendered, the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission and other five ministries and commissions jointly issued a document to further standardize the supervision and management of college students' Internet consumer loans, which shows that a good judgment has a positive role in promoting social development, and I hope that the court can disseminate more cases closely related to people's livelihood and let the concept of the rule of law take root in the hearts of the people.
Original title: "[Explain the Law with Cases] College Students 19.9 Yuan Spent 26,000 Yuan on a Photo Shoot in the End, What Routine?"