Jimu news reporter Liu Dongli
Intern Zhang Jie
Recently, Mr. Yu, a citizen of Nanchang, was angry with a company's "strong words".
In June this year, Mr. Yu paid 4,280 yuan to let the company run the takeaway business of his own small shop. The contract stipulates that if the total number of orders does not reach the agreed number within three months, the operation service fee will be refunded. However, after three months, the takeaway business of the store operated by the company has not improved, and the company said that it will refund up to 1500 yuan.
"The other party said that the contract was written to refund the operation service fee, but it was not written to refund the full amount!" On October 26, Mr. Yu reported the matter to the Jimu News Hotline 027-867777777, and he angrily said: This company is simply a strong word.
Mr. Yu's Brine Restaurant Shop (Photo courtesy of interviewee)
Months of "information bombing" persuasion
Since May this year, Mr. Yu has been running a brine restaurant called Huangtou Duck on Hongdu North Avenue in Donghu District, Nanchang City, and pondering takeaway breakthroughs. Just at this time, a person nicknamed "Summer" on Mr. Yu's WeChat recommended takeaway operations to him, promising to operate for three months on a trial basis, with a guarantee of 6800 singles, and if it could not be completed, it could be refunded.
"Since we opened a fruit shop in September last year, she has been recommending this project to us." Mr. Yu's wife, Ms. Li, told Jimu News that at first they did not believe it, but they could not stand the frequent "information bombardment" of the other party, and they had the idea of trying.
Through the WeChat chat record, the reporter saw that "Summer" sent a very encouraging text to Mr. Yu almost every once in a while: "A cake shop that operates a home cooperation, with more than 900 effective orders in the past 30 days, a turnover of up to 220,000, and more than 40 valid orders yesterday, don't you want such a single volume?" "You're busy running your store every day, and takeout doesn't bring you a decent amount of revenue." Leave it to us, don't spend energy to study the rules of the platform, wholeheartedly do a good job of the product, and cooperate to make money together, right? "The company's brand upgrade, the price will rise next month, now the cooperation or the original price, this year do not consider the takeaway to do?"
At first, Mr. Yu ignored it. Until the end of March this year, "Summer" said a little complainingly: "Boss, we can give you 50 to 70 orders a day, and you don't even reply to the news." Mr. Yu asked the other party to come to his store to talk in detail, indicating that he was willing to try to operate for a month. But the other party refused on the grounds that he was not in Nanchang: "We mainly do online takeaway." Whether you're local or out of town, do it online, no need to go to the store. And said that the cooperation is signed on a quarterly basis, and there is no effect in the short term.
At the beginning of May this year, Mr. Yu's brine restaurant opened. "Summer" told him that through the company's backstage big data analysis, Mr. Yu's store is located in the business circle is very good, whether it is the flow of people or the per capita consumption level is sufficient, if you can cooperate for three months, they can give the amount of guaranteed orders, not capped.
Although the series of words of "Summer" are encouraging, Mr. and Mrs. Yu still have doubts: "If you are really like this, it should be the merchants who take the initiative to find you, rather than you come to me every day to lobby." At the same time, he was worried: "I am afraid that if I pay the money, you will ignore me." But these doubts were dispelled by the other side's ticket-like promises.
On the evening of June 22, Mr. Yu paid 4,280 yuan through WeChat to sign a three-month contract with Wuhan Food & Meal Network Operation Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Food & Meal"), and sent his own in-store goods, prices, etc. Only then did he learn that "Summer", who had been in contact with him, was a young woman named Sun Moumou, who was the sales manager of the company.
Three months of takeaway operations were mediocre
On October 20, Ms. Li showed Jimu News the contract signed by the two sides.
The cover of the contract reads "Doraemon Operation Contract". The two parties agreed that Food & Beverage Mou (Party B) would provide takeaway consulting services and takeaway platform agency operation services for Mr. Yu's (Party A)'s physical stores. The authority entrusted by Party A and entrusted to Party B for operation includes, but is not limited to: the daily operation and management of the takeaway platform business, the promotion of the takeaway business, the promotion of the promotion of the product, the on-line and offline management of the product, the adjustment of the price of the product, and the analysis of the market situation. During the cooperation period, if the sum of the single volume of Party A in the first quarter on the Meituan and Ele.me platforms does not reach 6800 orders, the operation service fee will be refunded.
"Committed to 6800 orders in three months, the average daily calculation should be 75 orders, but in fact, after three months, the total takeaway volume in the store is not 75 orders." Ms. Li combed the business situation of the store and found that during the contract period from June 23 to September 23, under the operation of the company, the total takeaway volume of the store on the Ele.me platform was only 25, of which two were invalid orders; from July 24 to September 23, the effective order volume of the Meituan was only 19.
Jimu News reporter searched for Mr. Yu's shop Huangtou Duck (Tianji Junyuan store) on the Meituan takeaway and found that the store set up dozens of dishes, but the sales were not high. Among them, the highest monthly sales are spicy duck feet, with 21 copies sold per month. Other dishes such as spicy duck wings and duck intestines are sold for 0 servings a month. On the Ele.me platform, the monthly sales volume of the entire store is only 19 orders.
"In fact, as early as July, I felt that something was wrong, and the takeaway volume in the store did not have a little 'splash'. But at that time, she gave the explanation that she was making basic adjustments to the store in the early stage. Mr. Yu said that until the expiration of the contract in late September, the total number of takeaway orders operated through the company was only more than 50, far less than the 6800 orders agreed at that time. He offered a refund.
On October 8, the company's customer service sent a refund detail, showing that after deducting the cost of diagnostic reports, store decoration, menu optimization, store activity planning and other expenses, the total refund amount was 610 yuan. After Mr. Yu repeatedly expressed his dissatisfaction, the other party increased the refund amount to 720 yuan and 1080 yuan, until the middle of October, the company finally agreed to refund 1500 yuan.
"Before signing the contract, it was clearly stated that it would be refunded if it did not reach the guaranteed amount, but in the end it was not even half!" Mr. Yu angrily said that the refund process, which was originally normal, made him feel like he was "begging for food".
"Refund" ≠ "full refund"?
According to Tianyan, Wuhan Food and Beverage Mou Network Operation Co., Ltd. was established on February 10, 2017, and was once named Wuhan Longmen Yuejia E-commerce Co., Ltd., which was renamed as Food and Beverage Mou on April 12, 2021, with a registered capital of 1 million yuan, and its business scope is Internet sales, consulting and planning services, enterprise management consulting, etc. Jimu News reporters noticed that there are many complaints about the company on the Internet. In September 2021, some netizens posted on the black cat complaint that they paid 3880 yuan to let the company operate the takeaway on behalf of the company, and the contract agreed to complete 5,000 takeaways in one quarter, only 5 orders were completed after expiration, and finally only 640 yuan was refunded.
On the afternoon of the 25th, the reporter contacted Wuhan Food and Beverage Mou Network Operation Co., Ltd. The staff said that the contract signed by the two sides only stated that the sum of the single quantity did not reach a certain number, and then "refunded the operation service fee", but did not say "full refund". "If he has any objections, he can be sued by the court." The staff member expressed reluctance to communicate more and hung up the phone.
In this regard, Yang Yang of Hubei Weili Law Firm believes that according to Article 498 of the Civil Code of the People's Republic of China, "where there is a dispute over the understanding of standard terms, it shall be interpreted in accordance with the usual understanding." Where there are two or more interpretations of the standard terms, an interpretation unfavorable to the party providing the standard terms shall be made. Where the standard terms and non-standard terms are inconsistent, the non-standard terms shall be used. "When there are two interpretations of the amount refunded by the contract, it should be understood according to the unfavorable interpretation of Party B, that is, the refund of the basic operation service fee of 4280 yuan.
At the same time, Lawyer Yang Yang also reminded that when the parties sign the contract, they should clarify the content of important terms such as the name of the fee and the amount of refund.
On the 26th, the Jimu News reporter verified with the two major takeaway platforms of Meituan and Ele.me respectively and found that Wuhan Food and Beverage Mou Network Operation Co., Ltd. is not the official cooperation agency of the two platforms.
"There is a special third-party service portal for takeaway operation on the merchant version of the Ele.me platform, and the merchant can understand the service content of the service provider by displaying information." The relevant person in charge of Ele.me said that Ele.me reviews and restricts the entry of these third-party institutions, and once there is a problem with the institutions settled on these platforms, the merchant can feedback to the Ele.me service hotline at any time.
Meituan said that at present, the platform's "takeaway butler service" project only cooperates with a small number of generation operating companies in Wuhan, and these generation operation companies will not easily promise merchants how many orders can be reached. It is recommended that when choosing a company operating on behalf of the company, first check whether the company's qualifications are complete, whether there have been relevant complaints in the past, etc., it is best to see if the company has a formal business place and the corresponding operation team, and choose carefully.
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