Beauty cards, barber cards, fitness cards, car wash cards...... Nowadays, whether it is eating, haircuts, or even drinking a cup of milk tea, it is popular to apply for a prepaid card, but due to factors such as commercial risks, relevant policies, and years of epidemics, the disputes caused by this are also increasing.
On the morning of March 26, the Pinggu Court held a press briefing on cases involving prepaid service contract disputes to introduce the trial of cases involving prepaid service contract disputes and released four typical cases, which were presided over by Li Yang, member of the Party Group and director of the Political Department of the Pinggu Court. Tan Caizhi, deputy to the Beijing Municipal People's Congress, and Zhang Yajun, deputy to the Pinggu District People's Congress, attended the press briefing.
It is understood that from 2019 to 2023, the Pinggu Court will hear and conclude a total of 2,121 cases involving prepaid service contract disputes. Among them, the disputes are concentrated in the fields of education and training, sports and fitness, beauty salons, etc., accounting for 97%. Most of these cases are group lawsuits, the subject matter is generally small, and the litigation claims are single, all of which require the termination of the contract, and the service provider returns the prepaid fee and pays liquidated damages.
Bai Xueying, a member of the party group and vice president of the Pinggu Court, said that in recent years, the rapid development of the prepaid consumption model, the wide range of service fields, and the expansion of the number of people and capital scale have made the effective supervision and benign operation of the prepaid consumption model a "major event" related to economic development, urban management, and people's lives. As a judicial organ, while doing a good job in the trial of disputes involving prepaid service contracts, the courts should go behind the disputes, analyze the current situation of contradictions, the causes of similar cases and the path of governance, move from "individual trials" to "prevention and control of similar cases", and promote the regularization and legalization of the operation of various service industries involving prepaid consumption, which is a necessary and urgent task at present.
According to Liu Xiaojuan, president of the case filing division (litigation service center) of the Pinggu Court, the Pinggu Court found that there are four difficulties in the trial of cases involving prepaid service contract disputes, such as frequent "cluster + change", obstructed service, "difficulty in finding people", broken capital chain, "difficulty in refunding" for enterprises involved in litigation, high cost of consumer rights protection, "difficulty in adducing evidence" in litigation, multiple prepaid traps, and "difficulty in identification" of criminal offenses.
At the meeting, Chi Jinghan, assistant judge of the Case Filing Division (Litigation Service Center) of Pinggu Court, reported four typical cases involving disputes over prepaid service contracts. In the case where the internal agreement on the debt at the time of the change of the company's legal representative could not be used against the consumer, the consumer and C Beauty Company agreed to terminate the service contract relationship between the two parties through negotiation, but C Beauty Company argued that the company had changed its legal representative before, and the previous legal representative should bear the obligation to refund the fee. After trial, the court held that the company's internal agreement on the debt when changing the legal representative cannot be used against the consumer, and even if the service organization changes its name, legal representative, person in charge and other matters, or when the legal representative is changed or the equity transfer is internally agreed on the debtor, the changed legal representative or shareholder, as the actual operator of the service organization, shall not refuse to perform the obligations of the single-purpose prepaid card consumption contract, and the consumer has the right to require the service agency to continue to provide services or return the remaining advance payment.
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"It is hoped that these typical cases can urge the majority of operators to operate in accordance with the law and operate in good faith, on the one hand, improve the management and evaluation of staff, and provide consumers with information on the purchase and use of prepaid consumption cards in a true and comprehensive manner. On the other hand, if the redemption of the prepaid consumption card is affected by reasons such as suspension of business, closure of business, or relocation of business premises, a notice shall be issued in advance, and the consumer shall be informed by phone call or text message, and the consumer shall choose to continue to perform or request a refund in accordance with the contract. Chi Jinghan said.
In order to fully protect the rights and interests of consumers and help consumers improve their legal awareness of rights protection, the Pinggu Court suggested: be cautious when consuming and be sure to sign a contract. In prepaid consumption, it is necessary to enhance the awareness of self-protection, fully investigate the qualifications of merchants, product or service quality, and third-party guarantees, choose merchants with complete licenses, high visibility, and good reputation, and be sure to sign a written service contract to avoid consumer disputes in the future, and there is no basis to follow. Be rational before recharging, and don't be impulsive in consumption. When applying for a prepaid card, you should consume rationally according to your actual needs, and the one-time deposit amount should not be too large, and do not be confused by the merchant's promotion of discounts and impulsive consumption. In the process of protecting rights, evidence should be preserved. In the case of non-fulfillment of the merchant's promise, the original merchant's obligations after changing the operator, and the failure to continue to provide services, etc., the law should be actively used to protect their legitimate rights and interests.
The NPC deputy said
Deputy to the Beijing Municipal People's Congress, Secretary of the General Party Branch and Principal of the No. 7 Primary School in Pinggu District Tan Caizhi: With the theme of disputes involving prepaid service contracts, this press conference analyzes the trial situation and characteristics of such cases, summarizes the typical problems of disputes involving prepaid service contracts, and explores the effective path of prevention, mediation, and resolution of such disputes, which not only provides tips for consumers on how to ensure the safety of their funds, but also provides guidance for operators on how to better abide by the law and operate in good faith, and effectively promotes the source prevention and substantive resolution of such conflicts and disputes. Kudos to Pinggu Court!
Zhang Yajun, deputy to the Pinggu District People's Congress, secretary of the general party branch and director of the neighborhood committee of Jinguyuan Community, Binhe Street: In recent years, with the development of information network technology, prepaid consumption has developed rapidly as an emerging consumption model, which has promoted consumption and expanded domestic demand to a large extent. However, due to the characteristics of prepaid consumption, such as prepayment and one-way risk, the information between buyers and sellers is asymmetrical, and consumers are very easy to touch the trap in the transaction process, resulting in damage to their rights and interests. The Pinggu Court paid close attention to the current situation of consumer rights and interests protection, and the four cases selected for the press briefing were closely related to the lives of the people, and carried out vivid legal popularization for the people. It is hoped that the Pinggu Court will continue to promote in-depth governance in the field of prepaid consumption and better safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of consumers!
Contributed by: Pinggu Court