According to the beijing youth newspaper, in recent days, the shanghai police have succeeded in dismantling a criminal group that used low-priced online passenger service and fraudulently repaired the underground shop to collect the cost of mobile phone maintenance, and have captured dozens of suspects in various parts of the country, for a sum of over $30 million. Interviews with journalists found that mobile phone maintenance is an area where consumer complaints are more concentrated. According to the beijing youth journal, the water in the mobile phone maintenance industry is so deep that ordinary consumers are vulnerable to “casualties”, that the maintenance is needed to find a regular professional shop, while at the same time doing their best to ensure that it is well thought out。
Cases
$200 for cell phone maintenance
It turns to $3,200
According to xinhua's daily telecommunications report, earlier this year, mr. Ni, who lives in shanghai, accidentally broke several cracks on his mobile screen. Although it did not affect use, it was too unpretty that he searched online for a brand repairer for the mobile phone, and “passenger” asked questions about the cell phone model, purchase time and failure, indicating that it could be repaired with only $200, but that there would be risks when the screen was removed before the price could be finally confirmed. Upon receipt of the appointment number, mr. Niu went to the physical door shop designated in the first write building at the appointed time。
After taking his cell phone into the operating room for “dismantling” minutes, the engineer informed mr. Ni not only that his cell phone was broken but that his inner screen had been damaged, and that mr. Ni had to agree to replace the so-called “original screen” and “fix” the mobile phone soon after payment of $3,200。
By march, the cell phone had again broken down, and mr. Ni went directly to the official maintenance point of the brand. After being informed by the staff that there were no signs of repair or replacement of the inner screen of the mobile phone, mr. Ni realized that the previous maintenance might have been deceived and reported it to the shanghai city public security directorate。
Police
Low prices attract customers to
If you refuse to repair, you will sell the spare parts
After receiving the report, the shanghai changning police, after data analysis and comprehensive research, identified a company called quantum shuttle media ltd., located in fujian, which operates 20 mobile phone maintenance and association stores in six cities across the country, as well as 15 internet shops on various major electric power company platforms。
Following an in-depth investigation, the police found that this was a new type of fraud group that was fraudulent to high maintenance costs. In mid-september, the police were able to capture the group's main suspects, wu yi, and others, in parallel and centralized networks in guangdong, hunan, shandong and anhui。
U-ii gave the correct account of the modus operandi and the modus operandi, which were divided into two parts: “line passenger service” and “underline maintenance”。
The “online” service arranges for individuals to conduct maintenance operations in various search sites, ensuring that consumers are given priority in searching for keywords and misleading consumers to search for official brand sites. When a client calls or communicates online, the customer service offers a price below the market price based on a pre-designed set of jargons, which attracts customers to physical shops for maintenance, and if the city does not have a physical shop, the internet store is recommended to direct the customer to the mail cell。
“underline maintenance” is carried out by entity mobile phone repair shops recruited by the group in various locations, which are generally staffed by a manager and three engineers. When the client arrives at the shop, the engineer first tries to get the client to approve the “risk agreement” and then removes the mobile phone from the client's view by taking it to the maintenance room on the pretext of testing maintenance. This was followed by fabrications, exaggerated cell phone failures and the creation of false images, such as black screens, inability to turn on the machine, which eventually forced clients to agree to pay high maintenance costs. Indeed, so-called “original plant parts” are counterfeit or second-hand parts, some of which are not even replaced at all. If the client refuses to maintain, the engineer will also secretly replace the original spare parts with the original spare parts for profit。
Investigations
There's been a lot of complaints about cell phone maintenance risks
In the survey, north qing journalists found that many netizens had experienced similar experiences and that, because of information asymmetries, netizens felt “too many traps” when they were repairing their mobile phones。
One consumer stated that his external screen was broken and sent to the after-sale site for repairs, which cost $1279, and that neither the fingerprints nor the sim card could be used properly. “... I heard the maintenance master broke the metaware inside the cell phone during the change. I bought the car, i broke the windshield, you broke the engine, and now i need another engine
Another consumer indicated that his own mobile phone had been sent for repair, that a spare had been replaced and that it had cost $150 at a modest price. However, it took some time to return, and problems will arise when the spare parts are found. On going to another shop, the other party indicated that the so-called official spare parts, which had been replaced, were miscellaneous spare parts valued at up to $50, and that the original batteries contained in the mobile phone had been switched off。
Previously, a survey by the department of insurance revealed that 10 of the 18 mobile phone repair shops interviewed had problems of “light and unsick care”, seriously violating consumer rights。
Strike
Usually you don't have to change the main board
Consumers have to choose a regular store
Dr. Wu, co-founder of the extremes, told north qing newspaper journalists that mobile phone maintenance was currently conducted in about three ways: by brand-holder officially authorized repair shops, which were highly credible, but with relatively low prices and coverage, many cities or regions had no offline shops; by common underline individual repair shops, which were largely unregulated, with prices, spare parts quality, service processes not transparent and without safeguards, which were the most likely to lead to complaints; and by internet maintenance platforms, which were cheaper than official prices and services more transparent than small shops。
In his view, the mobile phone maintenance industry is painful: it is expensive to sell officially and it is difficult to get to the shop; third-party maintenance is not well felt by users because of the lack of transparency in prices, spare parts, service processes, etc., and even because of the many cases of abduction by some service providers。
“it is, frankly, the use of asymmetrical information to bully consumers and not understand the price.” according to the mobile phone industry analyst yang, a number of mobile phone after-sale service points are currently priced for mobile phone maintenance services on the face of the country's “three packs”, but in practice, the consumer's ignorance of mobile phone technology is often used as a “problem” to describe the problem as a major problem and thus to generate high maintenance profits. “this practice is highly subtle, more difficult to regulate than the misrepresentation of prices and more harmful to consumers.”
So, what should consumers pay attention to while repairing their mobile phones? The almond master, who has many years of experience with mobile phone maintenance, has revealed to north qing newspaper reporters that there are many different kinds of deciphers, such as being able to open them when he comes in, and that all the other functions are normal, so it's usually not a problem. However, if consumers ' mobile phones are completely inoperable, including in case of malfunctioning and failure to turn on, it is easy to give maintenance staff some operational space. "for example, if you can't turn it on, he'll replace you with a bad screen, a bad camera, a problem. Then when the main plate is turned on, he will inform you that there is a problem with it, because his screen is not bright, so he is sure it is a problem with your lord's board. After that, it turns out that your screen still doesn't light up, so he might say that your screen and camera have problems. In that case, consumers are caught in a trap of layers.”
Master almond said: “if it is inert, most of it is on the screen, it is possible to burn between the main screens, but this is rarely the case for normal use. Some consumers would have been able to operate normally, but were unable to do so after repair, which is possible in the event of a heavy fall leading to welding, which is not generally possible.”
