The price is cheaper, the car inspection is more professional, and many people are looking for online bloggers in the automotive field to buy cars because of such publicity. However, recently, the company belonging to the well-known car blogger "Car Price Intelligence Station", which has 124,000 followers, was accused of "thunder", and some consumers said that they had not received the car after paying the full amount of the car to the blogger's account, involving nearly 100 consumers, and the relevant amount was nearly 10 million yuan.
The reporter learned that the "online purchasing automobile industry" is a new industry that has developed and extended from the media in recent years. The car buyer provides the target model to the car blogger, and the car blogger relies on the car source resources in his hand to inquire widely from car dealers across the country to seek the best car price, and after the car buyer pays the full amount, the vehicle will finally be delivered to the car buyer through logistics.
The company to which the account in question belongs is Guangzhou New Car Buy Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as the "New Car Company"), which focuses on "providing fans with the most cost-effective online convenient car purchase service", and has long released videos about car prices, buying cars in 4S stores for fans, and picking up and delivering cars, which has attracted the attention of many car buyers.
Some consumers said that when they defended their rights, they found that they had been told that they had "ordered" when they bought a car through the account, but the other party actually did not pay a deposit to the 4S store. The photos provided by the other party for car booking and car inspection were also found to be "multiple inspections of one car", and the information of the same car was sent to different car buyers. They believe that the parties involved have been suspected of fraud.
In this regard, the account and staff involved responded live on May 7 after losing contact for nearly 10 days, saying that the company's capital chain was broken, resulting in no turnover, and the current funding gap is about 7 million yuan, and they are seeking ways to repay debts. However, consumers are demanding a refund of the car or the provision of the car as agreed.
At present, the Market Supervision and Administration Bureau of Tianhe District, Guangzhou City, where the company involved is located, said that it has intervened in the investigation and locked up the company that bought the new car, and the company that bought the new car cannot change the information until the consumer dispute is resolved.
The staff of the Xian Cun Police Station of the Tianhe District Bureau of the Guangzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau told The Paper that many consumers have received reports of the case, and due to the large amount of money involved, the case has been transferred to the Economic Crime Investigation Brigade for investigation and processing. "Whether a case can be filed depends on whether the economic investigation can be characterized as contract fraud."
The account involved "Car Price Intelligence Station" has 124,000 followers on the bilibili platform
A large number of consumers reported that they had not delivered the car for a long time when they were looking for car bloggers to buy cars
In March 2024, Mr. Wang, who wanted to buy a car, paid attention to an account on the bilibili platform, "Car Price Intelligence Station", whose bloggers often post videos about models and market analysis, and said that they can provide online car purchasing services.
The reporter saw that the account has been operating and updating since 2018, has 124,000 followers, and has been certified by the platform as a "well-known bilibili car up owner". The profile of the account said: "The first market new media on the whole network, the most real model market analysis, the most preferential car source quotation plan, to provide fans with the most money-saving online convenient car purchase service." It also attached a WeChat ID.
"I've watched their videos for a long time, and there are not only videos of people who bought cars, but also videos of their delivery, and there are also many successful cases of picking up cars in the comment area, so I don't have any vigilance." Mr. Wang said that on March 26, he added the WeChat account provided in the profile of the account to inquire about the price of his favorite model.
Mr. Wang told reporters that after adding WeChat, the other party said that the "car price information station" is holding a series of activities for the third anniversary of the super group, and gave a great discount for buying a car, "I went to the offline 4S store to see the car, the naked car price is about 120,000 yuan, their price can be about 10,000 yuan cheaper than the 4S store, and it also includes a series of services such as licensing and insurance, I think it is much more convenient than the 4S store." Mr. Wang said that it was the first time he bought a car and he was worried about being "tricked" by the 4S store, so he chose the account to buy a car online.
After paying a service fee of 1,000 yuan, Mr. Wang added the WeChat account of the "stationmaster" and was pulled into an "exclusive super group group", which "has four staff members, who are responsible for car supply, finance, logistics and customer service Q&A". Mr. Wang said that on March 28, after confirming the process of leaving the car, the staff drew up a "super group plan" and a vehicle purchase contract for him, and said that the car lock and car inspection would be completed within two days.
After signing the vehicle purchase contract, Mr. Wang transferred a deposit of 5,000 yuan to the other party, "They said that the logistics fee was at their own expense, about 800 yuan to 1,200 yuan, and I also tested it and asked if I could pick it up, and the other party said yes, and I didn't doubt them."
Two days later, Mr. Wang asked if the target vehicle had been matched, and "the other party replied that I had found the current car, but the distance was relatively far, and they found me logistics and included my logistics fee." Mr. Wang said that he agreed, but in hindsight, it was probably a rhetoric and routine for them to avoid users from picking up their cars on site.
On April 7, a staff member claiming to be a "third-party vehicle inspection inspector" entered the group and posted a set of car inspection photos and third-party vehicle inspection results in the group, showing that everything was normal with the vehicle. In the afternoon of the same day, the staff of the company that bought the new car sent a payment guide in the group, and Mr. Wang paid the balance of more than 10 yuan for the purchase of the car as required.
However, Mr. Wang, who was waiting at home to collect the car, did not wait for the logistics information, "On April 28, I asked about the transportation of the car, and they said that the information was being implemented, but they have not given any effective information, and on April 30, they lost contact directly, WeChat did not reply, and the phone could not be reached, so I began to wonder if I had been deceived."
After realizing that the situation was not normal, Mr. Wang opened the account of the "car price information station" and found that the account had been stopped on April 27, and in the comment area of the last video, a large number of consumers said that they did not receive the car after payment, and the staff lost contact, "I contacted some victims in the comment area, and they have set up a rights protection group, and when I entered, there were already seventy or eighty people in the group, and they were still entering."
Mr. Lin, another consumer in the group, told reporters that after paying the full amount, he checked with the 4S store where he picked up the car and found that the 4S store did not receive the deposit from the "car price information station", "They were deceiving the whole process, including car booking, car inspection, car pick-up and other information were fake." After communicating in the group, consumers found that many people received car inspection photos and certificates of conformity from the same car, which was suspected of "one car with multiple inspections".
The vehicle purchase contract signed between the consumer and the company that buys the new car
The company involved responded live on the spot: The capital chain is broken
On April 27, another auto self-media account released a video about the incident, saying that it could help consumers defend their rights.
Mr. Tan, the person in charge of the account, said, "The car purchasing industry is an industry that has gradually transformed and developed in the past four or five years, and all of us are working diligently, and we can't let everyone lose trust in this industry because of this person." ”
Mr. Tan said that at present, it is understood that this incident has not only affected consumers, but also 4S stores and logistics parties. "There are some 4S stores that only received a small deposit to hand over the car, but did not receive the final payment, and some cars were advanced by the logistics party, but they could not repay the advance after the funds were broken." He said that there were still some orders that did not even pay a deposit to the 4S store, but the parties involved lied to consumers that "they had ordered", "At first, we thought it was just an example, but the more statistics were made, the logistics company alone detained more than a dozen vehicles, and the victims added up to more than 90, and the total amount has basically reached 10 million."
As a blogger in the automotive industry, Mr. Tan said that the online purchasing industry of automobiles actually mainly earns the price of "poor information". "Every dealer across the country gives different discounts, ordinary consumers can't understand them one by one, online purchasing is to help consumers understand the 4S store with the largest discount, and charge a certain service fee after ordering a car, which is equivalent to a buyer."
However, he said that after the online purchasing agent generally negotiates the price, the consumer will directly pay the money to the account of the 4S store, and the new car company requires the consumer to pay the money to his own account, "one is the problem involving business tax, the other is that the customer has direct transfer records and contracts with the 4S store, and the follow-up vehicle has problems, and the customer rights protection is more secure, we just earn an intermediary fee, and there is a problem with the company directly collecting the car payment when buying a new car."
In addition, Mr. Tan said that there are also problems with the "super group price" given by the company that buys a new car, "We have also been paying more attention to the price of our peers, and when we saw the super group price provided by these consumers who defended their rights, we went to verify it, and found that our agents in our hands have not been able to find the ultra-low group purchase price quoted by the company buying a new car no matter which region." For example, he said that a 4S store gave a discount of 40,000 yuan to the company that bought a new car, but in order to facilitate the deal, the company would give the customer a discount of 44,000 yuan.
On May 7, nearly 10 days after the disappearance, the "Car Price Intelligence Station" conducted a live broadcast through Bilibili's account. The reporter saw in the live broadcast replay that Fu, the person in charge of the account, came forward to respond. He said that the company did not run away, but because he was in a state of escape after the company's crisis, he did not answer the phone and did not reply to WeChat.
He said in the live broadcast that due to the rupture of the company's capital chain, resulting in no turnover, the current funding gap is about 7 million yuan, and he is trying his best to solve it, "What can be raised now is 2 million yuan of funds, we will first return it to everyone in proportion, and we will continue to sell shares in the future, and I will also persuade our other shareholders." We will resolve and deal with this matter in a very positive manner."
Mr. Liu, a consumer, told The Paper that the plan proposed by the company to buy a new car is to sign a settlement contract with the consumer who did not mention the car, refund 20% of the actual payment amount first, and then repay 80% according to the company's actual business situation. But he believes that "it's just a blank check, and there's no guarantee that he'll pay it back." ”
Regarding the above-mentioned Fu's statement in the live broadcast, consumer Xiao Chen questioned, "They all received money from car buyers, and then paid 4S stores to order cars, without any advance funds, and directly earn service fees, if there is no misappropriation of funds in this model, why is there a funding gap of 7 million yuan?" ”
On May 11, the reporter contacted the logistics company that has long-term cooperation with the new car company, the person in charge of the company said, "the payment of the car by the logistics party" is the operation mode of the new car company, the amount of advance is uncertain, generally about 70% of the car, "we will pay the car to the 4S shop when we pick up the car, after the car arrives at the destination, we will deliver the car to the owner when the new car company gives us the money."
He said that this time before the agreed date of pick-up, they did not receive the advance for a long time, so they could only detain the car first, "At present, we can still contact them normally, they promise to make up the advance in May, and we will deliver the car to the owner after we receive it."
In response to the above situation, the reporter tried to contact the person in charge of the "car price information station" account and the company to which the account belongs, Guangzhou Mai Che Technology Co., Ltd., but did not receive a response.
The reply of the account leader "webmaster" in the group
Market Supervision Bureau: The company that buys a new car has been locked down
On May 9, Fu, the person in charge of the "Car Price Information Station" account, set up an "Intelligence Station Communication Group", saying that he would make a "Daily Work Report" every night and post it in the group, so that everyone could know the daily work arrangements and implementation of the company that bought a new car.
The reporter saw through the screenshot that on May 10, Fu said in the group: "I personally think that the best solution to deal with the current problem is: the first step is to resume production and work; The second step is to borrow 2 million to deal with part of the problem; Step 3: Sell your shares quickly and solve all the problems. On May 11, Fu said that he had cooperated with the investigation of the economic investigation and the police station in the jurisdiction, and wrote a brief prospectus, hoping to completely solve the problem in the form of financing, and if interested, he could consult separately. On May 13, Fu did not continue to update the previous day's work report after updating it, which caused concern among users.
In response to the above situation, on May 15, the reporter contacted the Xian Cun Institute of the Market Supervision and Administration Bureau of Tianhe District, Guangzhou, and the staff of the institute said that the dispute over the purchase of a new car company is currently being followed up by the Municipal Supervision Bureau, "The company has told us that it is raising funds, but it is not enough to fill the vacancy." The AMR has now locked down the company that bought the new car, and the company cannot make any changes until these consumer disputes are resolved. In addition, the staff member also said that the city supervision bureau does not have the right to enforce the new car company, and suggested that the victim report the case to the police, or take legal channels to defend their rights.
On the same day, the staff of the Xian Cun Police Station of the Tianhe District Bureau of the Guangzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau told reporters that the police station has received many reports from consumers, and due to the large amount involved, the case has been moved to the Economic Crime Investigation Brigade for processing.
Mr. Lin, a consumer, told reporters that he had also reported the case to the Xian Cun Police Station and was told to give a reply on whether the case could be filed within 60 days at the latest.
Source: The Paper