Can you adopt a cat with a market value of more than 1,000 yuan for free without spending a penny? Recently, some netizens posted that there is a contract "trap" in the "free adoption" business of Chongqing Hongyang Pet Company.
▲Shop-related adoption promotion
According to the store's publicity, customers can adopt a kitten from the store without spending a penny, provided that they need to buy cat food from the designated app every month for 18 months. However, netizens found that these cat foods are several times higher than the market price, and some brands have even "never heard of it";
In addition, the clerk also verbally promised the customer that "within 18 months, if the cat dies or is lost, as long as the after-sales service is contacted to explain the situation, the contract can be terminated." However, netizens found that the provisions in the contract were not in line with the clerk's commitment - if the cat food was not purchased as required for more than a month, the adopter would have to bear a one-time liquidated damages of 3,000 yuan, and how to terminate the contract if there was a cat death was not explained.
The topic immediately attracted widespread attention and discussion, and many netizens said that they had encountered a similar situation. A number of lawyers told Red Star News that the contract was unreasonable. "The contract mentions the purchase of cat food in order to guarantee adoption, but if the 'adoption' no longer exists, for example, the cat has died, then the 'contract cannot be performed' and the adopter can no longer purchase its product."
▲ A user's "free adopted cat" propaganda on the Douyin APP. Screenshot from Douyin
【Adoptive Dilemma】
Adopted cats are frequently affected by cat plague
Stopping the purchase of cat food will face a penalty of 3,000 yuan
Xiao He (pseudonym) is a recent graduate who has just left the university campus. In September 2020, he saw a message of free cat adoption at the "Chongqing Cat Bar" and added the store's WeChat. According to the pictures sent by the store, Xiao He took a fancy to a cat.
The store told Xiao He that there was no need to pay any fees for adopting a cat, but it was necessary to pay a total of 800 yuan for vaccines and deworming fees. Xiao He immediately paid the fee to the store's WeChat, and then went to the offline store called "Chongqing Hongyang Pet Company" to collect the target cat to be adopted.
According to Xiao He's recollection, at that time, an employee of the store briefly introduced the provisions of "buying cat food for 18 consecutive months" and handed Xiao He a contract.
"I'm still a little wary," Xiao He told Red Star News, who twice asked the clerk whether the adopter would need to continue to buy cat food if the adopted cat died or went missing within 18 months. The clerk responded that if it was not for human reasons, the contract could be terminated by simply informing the store, stressing that "the contract is not signed to force the adopter to go to the store to consume", but to "provide protection for the cat to prevent the adopter from abusing the cat".
▲Explanation of the clerk side
"I was about to read the contract when I was told, 'There's nothing to see, just sign it.'" Xiao He signed the contract.
After bringing the cat home, Xiao He fed the cat the cat food purchased from the aforementioned shop. The next day, Xiao He found that the cat was reluctant to eat at first, and he also had symptoms of diarrhea and unable to walk, so he took the cat to the hospital for examination. The doctor told Xiao He that his cat had cat plague. Xiao He spent more than 1,000 yuan on medical expenses to cure the cat.
In November 2020, Xiao He's adopted cat was lost. He sent WeChat to the after-sales employees informing them that the cat he had adopted had been lost. The other party said that he had learned of the matter, and then deleted Xiao He's WeChat, and Xiao He thought that the matter had come to an end and stopped buying cat food from the store.
However, nearly half a year later, in April 2021, Xiao He received a summons from the Shapingba District People's Court in Chongqing. According to the contents of the summons, he was sued by Chongqing Hongyang Pet Company for "violating the contract", and the other party demanded that he pay a liquidated damages of 3,000 yuan.
▲Relevant civil complaints. Courtesy of the interviewee
Xiao Zhang (pseudonym), who also adopted a cat through the offline store of Chongqing Hongyang Co., Ltd., also encountered a headache. Her cat died of cat plague on the fifth day of adoption.
"The owner said to go to the store to re-receive a cat, or pay 3,000 yuan in liquidated damages according to the contract, I asked the shopkeeper to test the (replaceable" cat first, and then adopted it after the result was negative, but the other party refused. Xiao Zhang felt that this request was very unreasonable, "I just want a healthy cat, the other party did not agree to me did not go to get it, what is the point of taking back a sick cat?" ”
Xiao Zhang told Red Star News that she is currently facing the dilemma of paying liquidated damages or being forced to continue to buy cat food.
Experiencing similar embarrassments, there is also Xiaonan 's (pseudonym)'s girlfriend. On September 9, 2021, Xiaonan's girlfriend saw an advertisement for Chongqing Hongyang Co., Ltd. to adopt a cat for free in the WeChat circle of friends, and then went to the "Bear Child Pet Castle" store in Dadukou District of Chongqing to collect the cat and signed an electronic version of the adoption contract.
▲ "Bear Child Pet Castle" page on the Little Red Book APP. Courtesy of respondents
The contract shows that Party B (the adopter) must purchase cat food worth 330 yuan in the form of a package on the "Tao Pet Mall" APP for 18 consecutive months; if it is not purchased for 1 month, Party B must bear a one-time liquidated damages of 3,000 yuan.
In addition, Article 4 of the contract stipulates that "if the cat dies of any disease or other non-human accidental death within one week", after Party B provides evidence and is confirmed by Party A, Party A can provide a cat replacement service, and Party B shall go to the pet hospital to test for cat plague on the same day; if the result is negative, Party B shall bear the cost of testing.
▲Relevant contract terms. Courtesy of the interviewee
On September 26, the cat adopted by Xiaonan's girlfriend was found to be cat plague, no spirit, no food, and diarrhea. However, at this time, it has been 17 days since the date of adoption, and the 7-day "return period" agreed in the contract has passed.
The Red Star News reporter noted that in the contract signed by Xiaonan's girlfriend, there is another article 6 mentioning, "During the performance of the agreement, the cat dies or is lost due to other reasons, and Party B can choose to buy a cat at a discount at Party A, or buy a cat elsewhere, and the performance of this agreement is not affected", but it is not stated that Party B can terminate the contract because of the loss of the cat.
【Suspicious】
The designated cat food is more than 10 times the market price
Advertised that "joining a year easy monthly income of more than 60,000"
Why do the above-mentioned consumers encounter adopted cats one after another suffering from cat plague, is it a "coincidence" or a trap?
On September 24, a Red Star News reporter called three pet hospitals in Chengdu. Relevant doctors have said that cat plague is a very common acute contact infectious disease, which can usually be cured after treatment and care. However, the incubation period of cat plague can be much more than one week, and there is also a certain chance of "false negative" when tested for cat plague before the onset of the disease.
▲ Cats that become ill after the adopter takes it home. Courtesy of respondents
One of the doctors stressed that the first week of the cat's illness is usually fierce, and some weaker cats may have difficulty surviving this "most dangerous" week. Another doctor said that even if the cat survives this week, the reduced immunity and physical fitness caused by the illness are still dangerous for the cat.
The pet doctor told Red Star News that if the kittens are indeed vaccinated, the probability of developing cat plague is low. The adopter told Red Star News that several adopters had asked the store manager for the cat's vaccine certificate, but the other party could not provide it.
In addition, the Red Star News reporter searched on the relevant shopping platform and found that the cat food purchased by Xiaonan, that is, the "Barless" cat food with a price of 330 yuan in the "Tao Pet Mall" APP, was not queried on other head e-commerce platforms. A local pet business owner in Chongqing also said that "I have never heard of the ('Barlais') cat food brand."
Xiao He introduced to the Red Star News reporter that he bought a cat food called "Ellotty" from the adoption store every month, weighing 2kg and priced at 250 yuan. He paid the store through WeChat, and the other party mailed the cat food to him. However, the Red Star News reporter searched from a head shopping platform and found that the cat food was marked as "cat and dog universal", and the price marked by the platform store "Ellotti Pet Mall" was 92-99 yuan / 10kg, with an average of less than 20 yuan of 2kg, less than one-twelfth of the price of the adoption store.
▲The brand and pricing of cat food in the purchase package related to the "Tao Pet Mall" APP. Courtesy of the interviewee
Red Star News reporter learned on the "Tao Pet Mall" APP that the developer of the APP is Ran Moulei, and the functions include "providing users with pets with a way to purchase pet-related supplies online", "providing users with free online pet adoption and adoption signing", and "releasing breeding information" and "sterilization, foster care, pet knowledge" and other services.
After logging on to the APP, the reporter found that although there are all provinces, regions and municipalities directly under the central government, including Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, in addition to 48 stores in Chongqing City and 1 store in Deyang City, Sichuan Province, other provinces, regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government show "no stores". Click on "Merchant Join", and the information on the electronic poster indicates that to become a regional partner of the company, you need to pay 15,000 yuan to the company, which includes the items needed to open the store and the cost of breeding cats. The poster also reads, "Easy monthly income of more than 30,000 yuan for half a year of operation; easy monthly income of more than 60,000 yuan for one year of operation."
▲Related promotional posters. Courtesy of the interviewee
According to the pictures and video materials provided by Xiaonan, once the adoption is signed, there will be two cat food with a price of 180 yuan in the "Hot Recommendation" column on the home page, and there is a "fulfill the adoption contract" button in the middle of the home page. Click this button to see the breed of cat they have adopted and the address of the adoption store; click "Fulfill Contract" to enter the selection and purchase page of the cat food package.
Some adopters told Red Star News that their "Fulfill Adoption Contract" button had been turned off when the contract had not expired and they could not continue to buy cat food.
【Insiders broke the news】
The part-time clerk said he was unaware of some of the terms of the contract
Industry insiders say the adopted cats come from dubious sources
According to Tianyan, Chongqing Hongyang Pet Co., Ltd. was established on August 14, 2018, the legal representative is Ran, the main personnel are Ran and Ran Lei, and the business scope includes the sale of pet supplies and pet feed. From June 10, 2020 to October 22, 2021, Chongqing Hongyang Co., Ltd. has made 72 court announcements, all of which are "contract disputes". Among them, except for the case on June 10, 2020, the case number is (2020) Yu 0106 Min Chu 6053, the defendant is Chongqing Hongyang Pet Co., Ltd., and the defendants in the remaining cases are individuals.
Companies under Ran's name also include Chengdu Hongpet Pet Service Co., Ltd., which was established in August 2019, Changsha Hongpet Pet Co., Ltd., which was established in November 2019, and Kunming Hongpet Pet Service Co., Ltd., which was established in December 2019. As of press time, Chengdu Hong'ai Pet Pet Service Co., Ltd. had 19 judgment documents on contract disputes, all of which were "withdrawn from the lawsuit" by the Chongqing Shapingba District People's Court because the plaintiff (Chengdu Hong'ai Pet Pet Co., Ltd.) did not pay the case acceptance fee in advance within the specified time.
Xiao He told the Red Star News reporter that he had reported to the Industrial and Commercial Bureau where Chongqing Hongyang Pet Co., Ltd. was registered, and the relevant Industrial and Commercial Bureau responded that the situation belonged to the business strategy of the merchant, and the Industrial and Commercial Bureau could not manage and restrain it.
Xiao Kai (pseudonym), a clerk who had worked part-time in a store of Chongqing Hongyang Pet Co., Ltd. for several days, told Red Star News that he saw the recruitment information of the store in the school part-time QQ group, and learned that the work content was probably "taking care of cats, taking cats out to play", the salary ended day by day, and someone adopted a cat can be regarded as a commission.
Xiao Kai said that during his part-time job, he never met the store manager himself. He had read the adoption contract, but only paid attention to the relevant matters related to the purchase of cat food, did not pay attention to the clause that "the purchase of cat food should be interrupted to pay a liquidated damages of 3,000 yuan", nor did he know the specific rules of the cat food package in the "Tao Pet Mall" APP and the WeChat Mini Program of the same name. Xiao Kai told the Red Star News reporter that when he joined the company, the store manager did not explain the adoption contract in detail for him, but only let him "read it for himself, and those who did not understand can ask", nor did he advise him to remind customers to read the contract carefully.
According to Xiao Kai's recollection, there have also been customers who have questioned the provisions of the contract for the purchase of cat food, "The contract is written to buy the more expensive 330 yuan of cat food, the store manager orally said to the customer that he can buy 180 yuan a bag of cat food every month, but it was not written into the contract, when I asked the store manager about this, the store manager said 'it's okay'." ”
▲The related purchase package also includes a choice of 120-180 yuan. Courtesy of the interviewee
Xiao Kai also said that in the days when he worked part-time, no customer asked about Article 2 in the contract, "If you do not buy cat food for one month overdue, Party B will bear a punitive liquidated damages of 3,000 yuan at one time" and "whether you need to continue to buy cat food after the cat is lost".
A person familiar with the matter revealed to the Red Star News reporter that the owner of a store of the company mentioned in the chat that the purchase price of their cat is much lower than the wholesale price of the market, "about 200 yuan to 500 yuan", but according to the breed of adopted cat, "if you buy from a regular cat house, the purchase price may be as high as 5,000 or even tens of thousands of yuan." They definitely got it below market price, but not necessarily all of them were sick. ”
However, as for the source of the cat, the above-mentioned insider said that the owner did not specifically mention it, but he speculated that the cats were so cheap, it may be stray cats caught from the street, or it may be cats that are not normally airlifted from other places.
On September 23, a Red Star News reporter contacted one of the heads of the "Bear Child Pet Castle". The person in charge told reporters that the cats in the store were imported from the "cat houses" in Chongqing and Chengdu, and repeatedly stressed that "everything is clearly explained to the guests", and the liquidated damages are also "definitely talked about", and the contract is not clearly seen as "the adopter's own problem". The reporter tried to call the relevant telephone of Chongqing Hongyang Pet Co., Ltd., and the operator said that he was not a relevant person of the company.
▲Cats adopted by consumers in the offline stores of Chongqing Hongyang Co., Ltd. Courtesy of the interviewee
【Lawyer's Opinion】
Part of the relevant contract may not be legal
Adopters may claim a collective appeal
In May, about 50 adopters, along with Xiao He, were sued by Chongqing Hongyang Pet Co., Ltd. "We learned that the probability of winning the case was unlikely, although the contract was unreasonable, it had legal effect, and the judge said that due to the different circumstances of each person, the adopter could only fight with Chongqing Hongyang Company separately." Xiao He said.
Xiao He learned from a dispute mutual aid group that about 30 adopters had been sued before that, and most of the adopters eventually lost. A small number of adopters have the recordings or videos left by the sellers when they made verbal commitments, and for such adopters, Hongyang Company terminated the contract and did not file a lawsuit with them.
Adopter Kobayashi (pseudonym) was also sued by Chongqing Hongyang Co., Ltd., but Hongyang Company then chose to withdraw the lawsuit, "I don't know the specific reason, the court did mediation in the middle," Kobayashi said. Red Star News reporters saw on the China Judgment Document Network that from April 16, 2021 to May 26, 2021, Chongqing Hongyang Co., Ltd. has successively withdrawn 13 pet adoption contract dispute appeals, and the People's Court of Shapingba District of Chongqing Municipality has allowed the withdrawal of lawsuits, and Chongqing Hongyang Pet Co., Ltd. has borne the case acceptance fee.
Red Star News reporters consulted Fu Jian, a lawyer at Henan Yulong Law Firm, Zhao Jianjian, a lawyer at Beijing Zhongming Law Firm, and Zhang Yunlong, a lawyer at Yunnan Tianwaitian Law Firm, on the relevant contract disputes. All three lawyers argued that the contract was unreasonable. However, if enough adopters suggest that they have suffered a similar situation, it is possible to achieve termination of the contract.
"This is an 'adoption contract,' not a 'sale of goods' contract." Zhao Jianjian told Red Star News that the contract was illegal. In his view, the contract referred to the purchase of cat food in order to guarantee adoption, but if the "adoption" no longer existed, for example, if the cat had died, then "the contract could not be performed" and the adopter could no longer purchase its product. Moreover, the adoption contract cannot restrict the consumer to purchase a certain type of goods.
"However, contracts lose their legal effect only when they are violated by prohibitive laws of the State, such as criminal law or administrative law. If there is sufficient evidence to prove that Party A deliberately caused the cat to suffer from cat plague, or the adopter could not detect it during the test in the store, but there was a problem after one week, the act was a contract fraud on the grounds of adoption, and at the same time, this was a cruel act of cruelty to the life of the animal, which may constitute a very serious violation of the law. Zhao Jianjian said.
Zhao also pointed out that if the adopter suspects that the shop owner is maliciously spreading cat plague, he can start the police according to the "crime of endangering public safety by dangerous means" in article 115 of the Criminal Law, and ask the police to assist in the investigation. In addition, if there are enough adopters as circumstantial evidence to prove that everyone really did not see the contract, or the clerk has urged Party B to sign and interfere with Party B's reading of the contract, you can apply for rescission of the contract, and the number of valid circumstantial evidence needs to be judged by the judge, and the victim can collect as many similar cases as possible.
Lawyer Fu Jian also told Red Star News that because the adopters and the company signed the standard terms, although most of the adopters did not have audio recordings at the time, if enough adopters proposed that they had encountered a similar situation, they could testify as witnesses to prove that the company had not fulfilled its duty of reminder, collected evidence, and asked the court to terminate the contract as a class action. "Whether a class action lawsuit can be conducted depends on whether the litigants have common rights, obligations and common interests in the subject matter of the litigation. If the above conditions are met, it may assert a joint action. Fu Jian said.
The adopter's cat died of cat plague. Courtesy of the interviewee
Lawyer Zhang Yunlong believes that the contract is ostensibly a contract for adopting a cat, but in fact it is more like the content of purchasing cat food. The irrationality of the contract is that the contract should be an expression of the true intention of the two parties, the contract should be concluded on the basis of the willingness of both parties, and the parties to the contract should follow the principle of good faith. "The agreement reached by the parties is counted, even if it is not written in the contract. The contract does not clearly stipulate Party A's obligations, but requiring Party A to provide healthy cats is in line with the purpose for which the parties entered into the contract. ”
However, Zhang Yunlong said that despite the unreasonableness, the contract was still valid, but he also stressed that "if enough adopters present that they have encountered a similar situation, it can be used as a defense." Remember to keep the relevant evidence to prove that the cat received was unqualified at the beginning, and requested to terminate the contract on the grounds that Party A was obviously at fault and caused the purpose of performing the contract to be frustrated. ”
At present, Xiaonan and others are actively looking for adopters with similar situations and striving to terminate their contracts with Chongqing Hongyang Pet Co., Ltd. "In fact, these adopted cats are the most pitiful." Xiao Nan sighed.
Red Star News reporter Luo Dani intern Wang Yuzheng
Edited by Li Binbin