Recently, a nanjing citizen, liu yu (alias), called a journalist for help, and her air conditioner malfunctioned, after she had retrieved the official sale of the air conditioner in her little red book, and then the maintenance master came to the house and asked for $2,400 to add freon。
In contrast to the market price, she was puzzled to find “after a false sale”, while the official sale price was $1280, “on the telephone, the client's service was officially sold. It's hard to tell when we find something wrong after the repairs”。
According to a survey conducted by the chinese newspaper chongqing network journalist, the web platform is full of seemingly regular “400” air conditioner maintenance telephones, branded as “official branding authorization” for “ock, daegen, gryng, mitsubishi heavy work, higashi, etc.”, but often plays “low door fees and double maintenance costs”。
Is it "li qian" or "li qi"
Liu yu recalled that after she had searched for the words “the official sale of york air conditioners” in her little red book, a 24-hour service line for 400-9928-161 york central air conditioners had been shown in her curtains。
After hearing the other party's claim that it had been sold officially, liu yu indicated that the air conditioner at home was not working well. The customer service then immediately arranged for the repair master to come。
A few minutes later, a nanjing phone called from a self-declared maintenance master. During the call, the master did not deny the identity of the “joke official maintenance”. On the same day, after a check-up, the master indicated that freon would be added and that an air-conditioning component would be replaced at a cost of $2,400。
Because of his belief in the identity of york's official maintenance, liu yu agreed to the price without thinking about it。
Until the family reminded her, "do you need 2400 plus a freon?" she found out that the price was too high。
She then examined the home air conditioners and found that the “official after-sale telephone” appeared on the air conditioners, unlike the previous search of the little red book, although both telephones began with “400”。
"did you sell it officially?" this quickly casts doubt on liu。
In response, the master remained silent and claimed that liu rain should pay。
"aside from adding freon, i replaced you with a spare part, and i didn't want to charge you more!" master said to liu yu with a screwdriver-shaped air conditioner repair component that had been replaced。
At the request of the maintenance master, liu had to pay for the repairs first。
Liu rain noticed that his account name was “nanking five star refrigeration equipment”. It was only then that the teacher admitted that he was not an official maintenance, and he added that official maintenance was entrusted to third parties like them。
“if not for the official sale, then who will be responsible for the problem of repairing the air conditioning?” liu rain called york air conditioner for official sale. Shortly after the sale, york state also sent a repairer to offer a price of $1280, “we're priced in code”. And the replacement air conditioner, the master said it was worth a few cents. In the case of fraud following fraudulent official sales, the official york sales staff indicated that there had been previous calls from customers to reflect the above。
A few days ago, journalists contacted, in the name of consumers, the master of air conditioning for liu rain. According to journalists, one “one to four” central air conditioner at home is not working well to cool heat. The other party responded by telephone, requiring $600 for the total cost of maintenance, which already includes working hours, high-altitude operations and door-to-door services, undertaking no additional charges and guaranteeing “a nominal pressure”。
The journalist then stated that the price was “slightly higher than expected” and that, in the hope that it would be contained between $400 and $500, the maintenance master did not reject it, but instead offered to explain that “the cost was more than 300” and that if the offer was $500, the profit would be only 100。
The reporter of the chinese qingqing network asked for business information and did not retrieve information on the nanjing five star refrigeration equipment。
What do you mean, "for real"
Interestingly, journalists then search the little red book with the key word “400-9928-161” and find that the phone is not just a “brand 24-hour service line” for york air conditioners, but also a passenger service for various air conditioner brands, such as turing, mitsubishi, and hindley。
The journalist called the above number as a “yok” consumer and, in the face of the question of “whether or not to sell the york official after”, the client's service began to focus only on the “yok specialty”, but when the journalist asked the other party about the eventual denial of his official status, he chose to suspend the call directly when he answered the question “why, if not for the official telephone, claims to be york specialty”。
There are differences between the content of calls made by false and official customers. Most of the false post-sale calls made by journalists stated that they would charge dozens of dollars for door-to-door fees, and some of the maintenance staff even informed in advance that, in addition to the door-to-door fees, an additional $200 would be required for basic testing. However, journalists have learned that many formal after-sale air conditioners services are not charged for these costs and that the related services are priced online。
In addition, the majority of false customer calls come to the house directly to the outsourced maintenance team once the customer's home address has been identified。
However, when calling formal maintenance calls from the official network, journalists found that a number of customers would first ask consumers about the circumstances of the failure and give them a conventional solution that consumers could solve on their own, and if not, arrange for the master to go to the house for maintenance。
Interestingly, on 3 november, journalists were again able to retrieve “400-9928-161” in a small red book and no relevant information was available. The search of the york air conditioning passenger phone shows another “400” starting call, which is not the official york air conditioning telephone。
Throughout the day, on platforms such as little red book, 100 degrees, sina weibo, journalists searched official after-sale telephones in various central air conditioner brands, such as york, da king, mcweir, higashiri, mitsubishi heavy worker, haishin and others, and quickly jumped out of the page with a number of “after-sale air conditioner” telephones starting with “400”。
These numbers often appear to be authoritatively accompanied by the brand name of the clearly marked air conditioner and logo, and even with logos such as the “official” brand centre “national 24-hour helpline”。
Journalists, as consumers, make individual calls。
When calling the japanese “official service telephone 400-669-2555”, which was searched from little red book, the visitors first received hospitality, asked about the breakdown of the central air conditioner and the area where it was located, and informed the press that further contact would be made later by the maintenance master. But when the reporters asked, “is this after the official sale in japan” the other side did not answer positively, but rather vaguely: “we are specialized in maintenance, and the masters are professional.” when journalists again asked “is it official or not”, the telephone was hung up directly from the other end。
In another “official passenger service phone 400-0776-078” search from xinjiang weibo, the other side insisted that “this is the official sale”. Journalists have access to the branded official network to confirm that the official phone number starts with “95”. The journalist called that number to confirm again the authenticity of the “400” initial call, and received a clear reply: “there is only one official call after sale and the others are all false”。
However, when the repairer called back and was ready to come to the door, the journalist, as a consumer, confirmed that the other party was simply “a third party”. This type of “front-end impersonation, back-end self-disclosure” is not uncommon。
In addition, journalists have found that most of the fake customer service asks “how long has the central air conditioner been purchased” and that when the journalist returns to use more time than the official quality assurance period, the other will direct the consumer to the services of the repairer; and when the journalist returns to the official bond, the “guest service” will allow the journalist to call the real official after-sale telephone。
Price issues are equally alarming. The repair calls for the call back stated that it was only $40 or $50, which seemed attractive at a low price, but, according to feedback from some consumers on the real experience of social media platforms, during on-site repairs, maintenance masters often stated that “minor/outside plate damage” was “a need to be replaced” and issued maintenance quotations ranging from $100 to $1,000 in excess of normal maintenance prices。
Journalists will publish “official after-sale telephones” in air-conditioning brands on some web platforms, cross-checking with real after-sale telephones found on official networks or public numbers, and find that these so-called “official after-sale telephones” are all false sales under cover。
It's a "false-carrying" mess
These numbers are not officially created by brand names but appear on search pages and advertising messages. When called, consumers are often guided by “false passenger service” to attend the home by a repairer, who is eventually required to pay for maintenance costs well above official prices. Behind what appears to be a convenient and fast service is a grey chain that is hidden in a false way。
A few days ago, liu ming, who has been working on air conditioning maintenance for many years in large cities, revealed to journalists how this grey chain works: fake passenger service is issued by telephone, and the repairer is paid a high fee at home and then returned pro rata to the sham passenger service, outsourced company or platform。
Liu ming explained that he received orders mainly through platforms such as web-based home services or by impersonating official intermediaries. “customs call, the list will be given to us, but they will be given about 15 per cent back.”
He said that, while a price order on the platform in question would result in the maintenance manager receiving a fee after deducting the cost of information services, the quotations from either the platform or the broker were often very hydro。
According to liu ming, some brokers misrepresented their prices in front of their clients: “i reported $300, and they told the customers that 450 dollars and, finally, i could only get 240-250 dollars, and the rest was taken away by the brokers.” the percentage is higher when received through re-contracting outsourced companies。
“some platforms have a capacity of 20%, or even 30%.” liu ming said, “then we can only raise the offer, otherwise we cannot do it.” liu mingtang said that maintenance masters often “problem” small problems. “some of the cac malfunctions could be solved with two dollars of spare parts, but some could report 2,000 or more.” this is not unusual, as “the price of central air conditioners is generally higher”
Liu ming said that, on the one hand, the relatively few masters who could repair the central air conditioners were “technical”; on the other hand, customers who could purchase higher-priced household electricity such as the central air conditioners often did not account for more. The reason for the high profits is not only because of the profits, but also because of the huge maintenance needs of large cities。
According to liu ming, there have been numerous maintenance orders in large cities, “official sales have been too busy, at peaks there are hundreds or even thousands of backlogs, users can't wait to find a teacher who can meet them online”. Because of the shortage of supplies, teachers can “pick jobs” and even pay $3,400 to come to the door without losing their customers。
The high population density and client-paying capacity has made large coastal cities “goldfields” for foreign repairers. Liu ming told journalists that some of the brands were sold without being sent directly to the house, but rather by contracting to third-party companies, and by subcontracting to a true third-party company contracted by the manufacturer to a repairer like him, a layer of “skinning”。
In such a grey chain, users pay high maintenance fees, and the quality and safety of maintenance of products are not guaranteed. In the event of a dispute, responsibility is often difficult to trace。
When does the consumer break the pit
Journalists' investigations have found that posing as an official sale of “li's” maintenance has led to the frequent use of the pits by consumers, creating a fixed pattern ranging from low-priced seduction to high-priced slaughtering, from fraudulent qualifications to intentional damage, with consumers losing hundreds and tens of thousands more. Cases of high-price fraud and low-price inducements are frequent。
For example, ms. Liu, in shanghai, searched the “400” warranty, found a “brand authorized store” to repair the central air conditioner, paid 10,000 yuan after the air conditioner was broken, and the maintenance team lost contact. The police attacked the group and found the amount involved to be over $3 million
Previously, the wenzhou city commission for protection of the markets board had identified four major pits for air conditioning maintenance: exaggerated failure, excessive fluorine, uninsured charges, low price attraction, and precision to break such a trap. These air-conditioning repairs “ligs” have resulted in industrial chain fraud that has rendered consumers insulated。
Mr. Wang, a lawyer at jiangsu's law firm, said that issues such as the sale of “ligs” were indeed common in everyday life, which undermined not only consumer property rights but also market order. Typically, such acts involve false propaganda, consumer fraud and possible trademark infringement, with the relevant subject being held liable accordingly。
The wang zheng analyses that these fraudulent sales violate the provisions of the consumer protection act and the anti-improper competition act on the prohibition of false propaganda, which may be subject to prosecution by the market supervisory authority under the law, such as fines. In addition, their behaviour constitutes consumer fraud, infringes the consumer's right to know and fair trade, and the consumer has the right to claim reimbursement of costs and damages。
Wang jing stressed that the act could also constitute a criminal offence. Criminal liability may be incurred for fraud if the circumstances of the act, such as the large amount of fraud or multiple frauds, are serious when committed under the guise of an official sale。
In the face of such incidents, wang stated, consumers were urged to keep maintenance contracts, payment vouchers, records of conversations with maintenance personnel, photographs or videos of air conditioners after repair, official quotations after sale, etc. Subsequently, the false account number may be immediately reported to a platform such as the “little red book”, requiring the platform to take measures such as sealing, lower shelf and disclosure of its registration。
Wang suggested that consumers could file a complaint with the administration, call the 12315 hotline or report the maintenance team through the country's 12315 platform website, the app, the applet, etc。
In addition, air conditioners branders have the right and duty to defend their reputations. As providers of authentic services, branders have a responsibility to ensure that consumers have access to real and quality services. They should regularly search web platforms for counterfeit information, process it in a timely manner and alert consumers to counterfeit “after-sales” through official outlets, social media, etc。
