“the 4s store has not kept its promise and the complaint to the factory is useless” “buys a quality assurance service, but the other party says that the fitting must be of natural age before it can be repaired free of charge”. Recently, a number of drivers have reported the existence of problems in the 4s store, such as the lack of quality assurance and inconsistent statements。
According to the owner, the specific provisions of the services purchased at 4s were vague and the seller had the final interpretation. One of the van owners told the journalist that he had bought a “life guarantee” service of $3399 following a sales offer, but that the sale had not given the details of the warranty project and the conditions. When the vehicle batteries were accidentally damaged, the seller refused to settle the claim for “unnatural damage” and the owner was forced to repair it at his own expense. The owner of the car stated that “i complained to the manufacturer that it was the dealer's problem, and the market regulator in the dealer's place took it and left it behind”
There are also indications from the owners that even free maintenance during the quality warranty period is hidden in a “supplexed” trap. Mr. Song, the owner of the car, in his “people's complaint” message to the people's network, stated that he had replaced the corrupted window parts free of charge during the duration of the vehicle's warranty, but later discovered that, without his knowledge, the parts in the lower half of the window had been replaced by a secondary plant. In the face of the owner's doubts, the shopkeeper's attitude was preposterous, and he replied, “don't worry about the details if we change them for free”. Similarly, another bmw owner, after selling and replacing the lights, discovered that there were marks and traces of use inside the new accessories provided by the store and that the store refused to replace them。
As can be seen from the letter and message from the combo, there are not a few readers who have been subjected to acts of “spouse” in 4s. The zhejiang university's media and international cultural academy, professor shen patriot, stated that 4s shop abuse was a persistent practice, which was the result of a combination of factors such as factory oversight gaps, short-table regulation of the sector and consumer advocacy difficulties. “some car dealers' appraisals focus on sales volume and post-sales collection, and lack strict controls on the quality of services; loose controls on distributor's spare parts channels have led to the diversion of by-products into the post-sale system. At the same time, after-sale policies are vague, such as the "no maintenance of 4s, no quality assurance" hegemony clause, disguised as forcing consumers to accept high-priced services, indirectly condoning 4s。
Readers have stated that when they are subjected to unfair treatment or bullying by the 4s, the cost of defending their rights is high and they do not even know how to deal with them. While mr. Xu, the owner of the vehicle, was travelling for only 30,000 kilometres, found the brakes to be in abnormal wear and tear, and the 4s store refused to use them as “vulnerable items”. However, the owner looked through the brand three-pack manual and found that brake plates were not easily lost. The owner of the car was even more outraged by the attitude of the 4s store, claiming that “it is useless to complain to the factory”。
In response, the shen patriots believe that, first and foremost, there is a serious information asymmetry between the owner of the car and the 4s store, that consumers lack the expertise of the car, that it is difficult to judge the reasonableness of the maintenance proposal, and that it is difficult to provide evidence when defending their rights. “the second is the high cost of defending rights, cumbersome and lengthy processes, and thousands of dollars of third-party identification costs, often exceeding the cost to the owner, and consumers tend to opt out. In addition, car repair disputes are often identified as `contract disputes' rather than `fraud' and it is difficult to apply the consumer rights protection law to punitive damages for fraud `one to three'。
There are also clear gaps at the regulatory level. According to shen patriots: “the market supervision authorities conduct spot checks on 4s stores with a low frequency and with a low penalty, with a fine of thousands of yuan far lower than the proceeds of the offence, and the cost of the offence is extremely low. The vehicle maintenance industry is lagging behind in standards, and there is a lack of a clear definition of `over-maintenance' `parts' and so forth, which makes it difficult to obtain evidence when enforcing the law. Market regulation, transport, elimination, etc. Cross-cutting sectoral responsibilities can easily be extrapolated after consumer complaints.”
It was suggested that addressing the industry of 4s would require joint efforts by manufacturers, governments, industry organizations and consumers. In the first place, the responsibility of the manufacturer should be strengthened by including a post-sales complaint rate in the appraisal process and imposing heavy penalties on dealers for non-compliance. At the same time, the price of spare parts at the original plant and the standard hourly rate for maintenance workers should be disclosed, the information monopoly should be broken and consumers should be given more options for vehicle maintenance。
“the authorities concerned should strengthen their supervision by exploring the establishment of a 4s shop `blacklist' system, which would impose the maximum penalty on enterprises that have repeatedly violated the law and would make it public.” according to shen patriot, “the regulation of car maintenance services should also be established as soon as possible, with clear criteria for the determination of `over-maintenance', requiring that the list of items must be signed by the consumer prior to the maintenance of 4s stores”
It was suggested that, in order to enhance consumer advocacy, organizations such as the association could develop a knowledge base on vehicle maintenance to teach consumers to identify common means of fraud. It was also suggested that the auto repair industry itself should also promote transparency. “for example, 4s can be encouraged to introduce a `maintenance process record' system, which consumers can replay for repair and replacement. At the same time, efforts should be made to develop independent third-party brand-repair chains and to regulate 4s stores through standardized services in order to create a virtuous competition.” lee xia, a reader in jiangxi kyushu city, said。
