Pay the last payment the day before, and drop 100 the next day! Well-known sports brands ＂arbitrarily change preferential policies＂ lead to controversy

　　Recently, many consumers gave feedback on the black cat complaint platform. The well-known sports brand Adidas issued a large coupon again after the consumer paid the final payment, and the price dropped. "backstab" had previously participated in the pre-sale of consumers, and the customer service refused to refund the difference. Up to now, there have been more than 20 collective complaints on the black cat complaint platform.

　　A consumer described in detail the "backstab" behavior of the merchant in the complaint. On October 24th, after paying the deposit, he has been squatting in the live broadcast room to grab coupons. Officially, the denominations are 1000-200. However, after paying the final payment on the evening of the 31st, he found that a larger coupon of 1000-300 was issued on November 1st, and he worked hard to grab coupons in the live broadcast room. How to make up the bill and recharge the shopping card, but there was no coupon of 1000-300. The consumer thinks that it is unfair to change the preferential policies at will, and asks the merchants to make up the difference, but it is rejected. The merchant responded by saying that it accepted the refund of the return. However, the consumer’s coupons and accumulated red envelopes have been used, and the loss caused by the refund is too great. It questioned: Is it a consumer fraud that merchants induce consumers to participate in pre-sale with the so-called "lowest price" but change preferential policies at will?

　　Up to now, Adidas Group has only indicated on the black cat complaint platform that it is aware of it and is in contact with consumers. There is no other response.

　　Source: Black Cat Complaint

　　The search of the reporters of the rule of law network found that there are not a few consumers who have encountered this experience. Some consumers have successfully defended their rights through Taobao platform intervention or calling the 12345 consumer hotline. However, many consumers still face the situation that merchants refuse to pay compensation and delay processing.

　　Source: Little Red Book

　　In 2009, Taobao took the lead in launching the "Double Eleven" promotion. Since then, the annual "Double Eleven" has been regarded as a consumer carnival day, and major e-commerce platforms and merchants have launched various "Double Eleven" promotional activities, such as full reduction, pre-sale discounts, discounts for live broadcast rooms, signing in red envelopes, red envelopes for shop members, and candy teams. All kinds of consumer benefits have dazzled consumers. However, in recent years, the design of "Double Eleven" promotional items has become more and more complicated, and many consumers have complained. Now "Double Eleven" seems to be a double test of mental and physical strength, and it will never be a discount that you can’t understand, a full red envelope that you forget to use when you are not careful, a coupon that you can grab late at night and a spike price. Simple and clear discounts seem to have become a "past tense".

　　The "Double Eleven" Raiders Map compiled by netizens. Source: Little Red Book

　　Source: Weibo

　　In fact, the reporter of the rule of law network noticed that the situation of "backstab" consumers like Adidas is not an isolated case. During the "Double Eleven" in 2021, the beauty brand L ‘Oré al Paris claimed that the pre-sale of the live broadcast room in Li Jiaqi was the biggest in the whole year. At that time, the price of the live broadcast room was 429 yuan and 50 pieces, which reached about 368 yuan after various discounts were superimposed. However, after the end of the pre-sale period, the official flagship store of L ‘Oré al Paris issued tens of thousands of store coupons of 999 minus 200 in early November, and with various platform discounts, the lowest hand price of this product was 257.7 yuan. The price difference was so large that it once aroused public anger, and consumers complained jointly. Finally, the brand publicly apologized and gave coupons to end the storm.

　　Source: Weibo

　　During the "Double Eleven" in 2022, a netizen reported that an e-commerce platform intended to guide consumers to buy Apple mobile phones in advance, which led to the loss of 200 yuan for the first batch of buyers compared with those who bought later, and the platform refused to negotiate and compensate the difference. He said that he bought an Apple mobile phone on October 31, during which the platform induced consumers to say that the price of the "Double Eleven" activity of Apple mobile phone was similar on October 31 and November 1, and the cost of buying an Apple 14 mobile phone in the first wave of "Double Eleven" activities was 6349 yuan. However, only two days later, the platform subsidized the red envelope 100 yuan on November 3, and the purchase price on that day was 6,249 yuan. Since then, the second wave of "Double Eleven" activities has issued coupons 750 yuan, and the price of Apple’s 14 mobile phone has dropped to 6,149 yuan.

　　According to the public opinion analysis of China Consumers Association on consumer rights protection from October 20 to November 13, 2022, there are 768,340 negative messages about "promotional price disputes", accounting for 14.01% of the total spit information.
%, with a daily average of 30,734, showing a fluctuating upward trend. Spitting is concentrated in the second half of the promotion period, and the content of spitting mainly points to the problems of price increase first and then discount, high pre-sale price and so on.

　　Daily trend chart of negative information about promotional price disputes. Source: China Consumers Association

　　Lawyer Zhang Yinfu, a senior partner of Beijing Yingke Law Firm, said that if a merchant deliberately conceals or exaggerates the preferential strength during the pre-sale, it is suspected of fraud. As the main body of selling goods, merchants need to bear corresponding responsibilities for the goods they sell. The Measures for Punishment of Infringement on Consumers’ Rights and Interests stipulates that the information provided by business operators to consumers about goods or services shall be true, comprehensive and accurate, and they shall not engage in any of the following false or misleading propaganda acts, and shall not sell goods or services at false "clearance price", "sale price", "lowest price" or other deceptive prices. The Measures for Punishment of Consumer Fraud stipulates that operators who provide goods or services fraudulently shall be given the following penalties according to law: 1. The administrative department for industry and commerce shall order them to make corrections, and may impose a single punishment or a warning according to the circumstances, confiscate the illegal income and impose a fine of more than one time but less than five times the illegal income, and impose a fine of less than 10,000 yuan if there is no illegal income. 2. If the circumstances are serious, it shall be ordered to suspend business for rectification and revoke its business license. According to Article 55 of the Law on the Protection of Consumers’ Rights and Interests in People’s Republic of China (PRC), if an operator commits fraud in providing goods or services, he shall increase the compensation for the losses suffered by the consumer according to his requirements.

　　"The key to this incident is whether the merchants promise to pre-sell consumers to enjoy the’ lowest price’. If the merchant makes it clear that consumers in the pre-sale period can buy goods at the lowest price, but then changing the promotion method violates the previous commitment, it is an infringement of consumers’ right to know and choose. " Chen Yinjiang, deputy secretary general of china law society Consumer Protection Law Research Association, pointed out.

　　As for the way that merchants allow consumers to return goods and refund, but refuse to pay the difference, Chen Yinjiang said that it is the right of consumers to choose to return goods or refund the difference, and merchants should compensate consumers for the actual losses caused by their actions. In addition, the platform’s responsibility for assistance should also be seriously implemented. After discovering or receiving complaints from consumers, the e-commerce platform has the obligation to assist consumers in investigating rights protection and urge businesses to deal with them. If the platform provider knows or should know that the seller or service provider uses its platform to infringe upon the legitimate rights and interests of consumers and fails to take necessary measures, it shall be jointly and severally liable with the seller or service provider according to law.

　　"With the advent of the’ Double Eleven’, consumers need to be cautious while enjoying shopping happiness, and pay attention to retaining relevant evidence such as consumption vouchers, product discount interfaces, and video and audio in the live broadcast room as a guarantee for future rights protection." Chen Yinjiang said.

　　Topic planning | Rule of Law Network Research Institute

　　Text | Fan Jie