According to the Central Radio and Television Corporation's Economic Voice "Daily 315", in recent years, museums have become a popular choice for people to travel, and when it comes to holidays, it is even more difficult to find tickets, requiring tourists to make reservations early. Just this past New Year's Day holiday, some consumers reported that the free tickets that could not be booked in the official channels of the Hunan Provincial Museum were sold at a price of nearly 90 yuan on the e-commerce platform. Why spend money to enter a museum that is free to visit?
During the New Year's Day holiday, ms. Chu, a tourist, booked a visit ticket through the official WeChat mini program of the Hunan Provincial Museum, and the results showed that the "basic display" of free visits was in a ticketless state from the 1st to the 3rd. In order to leave no regrets on this trip, Ms. Chu tried to search for tickets for the Hunan Provincial Museum on the Meituan platform. However, she found that the ticket she found was not free, and the price was 89.8 yuan. Ms. Chu said: "I placed an order on Meituan on January 1, 89.8 yuan. I asked, what is the pricing standard of 89.8 yuan for merchants? The tour guide told me that it was not convenient for him to tell me. ”
In order to verify Ms. Chu's statement, on the morning of January 3, the reporter opened the Reservation Platform of the WeChat public account of the Hunan Provincial Museum and saw that there were "no remaining tickets" on the day of the "basic exhibition". Subsequently, the reporter searched for "Hunan Provincial Museum" on the Meituan APP and found that the tickets on January 3 showed that they could be reserved, and the price was also 89.8 yuan. The "Fee Description" on the product description page explains that the 89.8 yuan fee includes the "Changsha Mawangdui Han Tomb Exhibition Hall" and the wireless headset manual interpretation service, and the "Hunan People - Sanxiang History and Culture Exhibition Hall" free visit.
The reporter browsed the official website of the Hunan Provincial Museum and found that the museum's visiting items are divided into free and paid, some special exhibitions need to be paid, the full price ticket is 50 yuan; and the basic display and thematic display are free, such as "Changsha Mawangdui Han Tomb Exhibition" and "Hunan People - Sanxiang Historical and Cultural Exhibition" belong to the "basic exhibition". In other words, the museum visit project sold on the Meituan group should have been free and open to the public.
Therefore, the tourist Ms. Chu is very confused: the official channel can not book a free ticket, why spend money to buy it on the e-commerce platform? Where do the tickets for platform merchants come from? Ms. Chu said: "After I finished buying, I thought: Why do I have to spend money?" Wonder if there is any relationship between travel agencies and museums? Did they buy most of these qualifications, sell them to us, and then give us a lecture? ”
With the same question, the reporter contacted the merchant on the Meituan platform - Hunan Renrenyou International Travel Service Co., Ltd. Merchants said that their tickets are genuine, as long as the reservation on the Meituan is successful, they can let visitors enter the museum. The merchant said: "You can rest assured that the ticket is successful in our order, and 100% guarantee that you will enter." Even if you don't have an appointment ticket, we will find someone to help you bring it in. ”
For the cost of 89.8 yuan, the merchant explained that it consists of three parts, including the cost of valet reservation, the service fee of the tour guide and the cost of the wireless headset. He confirmed to reporters that tickets can be made through special appointments in the absence of tickets in the official channels of the museum. However, the fee of 89.8 yuan does not include paid special exhibition visits, and can only visit the "basic exhibition" that was originally free. As for who booked the tickets, the merchant did not answer positively.
Reporter: "New Year's Day holiday, I took my ID card to the official website to make an appointment has no tickets, how can you make an appointment to get a ticket?" ”
Merchant: "Everyone can make an appointment and definitely won't look for me, we have to spend money to find someone to get this ticket, there is someone who is specially there to make an appointment." If you want me to make an appointment, I can't make an appointment. You (official channels) can get the above, others will not come to me to buy, right? ”
Reporter: "Did you also make an appointment through their official people at the Hunan Provincial Museum?" ”
Merchant: "I don't know about that. We have a special appointment ticket. There is never a situation that cannot be done. ”
So, do the tickets sold on the e-commerce platform have anything to do with the museum? The reporter consulted the Hunan Provincial Museum on this, and the staff responded: the museum does not cooperate with any third party, and the interpretation services provided are all free. She told reporters that the museum has also received similar feedback from tourists before, and in order to prevent malicious "ticket swiping", corresponding preventive measures have been taken. The museum staff said: "We did not cooperate with any third parties, our basic display, including the explanation, was free, and we also boycotted, and when some viewers reported that they were selling our tickets, we had already issued a public announcement." In order to resist their malicious 'swiping', our basic display is not allowed to refund, that is to say, you have booked our tickets, you can not withdraw your tickets and then transfer them to others. We speculate that it is possible that the merchant bought the ticket for our paid exhibition, but it was only 50 yuan or 25 yuan, and then sold it to the audience. ”
Shao Tong, a lawyer at Beijing Chaoyang Law Firm, believes that the sale of museum tickets that were originally free by merchants infringes on the legitimate rights and interests of consumers. Lawyer Shao Tong said: "We should not have paid extra to obtain this right to free visits, so this is definitely an infringement of our consumers' right to know and fair trade." Consumers are reminded that when purchasing merchant services, they must first verify the source of the services and avoid paying for services that should be enjoyed for free. ”