“the internet search of the `national single post-sale phone' thought that after finding the official sale of the brand, it had not come to pass.” a few days ago, ms. Zhang's family had a breakdown in her family's cooking stove, telephone counselling, placement at the door, and inspection and repair... It was not until after the master had reported unreasonable prices that she realized that she had met “after a false sale”。
As household electricity tenure increases, the demand for maintenance increases year after year, so does the “false after-sale” disorder. A recent survey by workers' daily journalists found that, when consumers enquired about home electricity after sale telephone calls through social platforms or search engines, a large number of licensed brokers, often under the banner of “brand-specific” “brand maintenance”, were at the forefront of the search results, making sharp profits with expensive accessories, non-transparent fees, etc. The proliferation of false information after sale is squeezing the living space of the regular maintenance staff
The customer service, the maintenance teacher and the middleman form “after a false sale”
“the other party on the telephone first offered the number of the work and then gave me a detailed description of the fee, stating that the door fee was $40 and the fee was $300.” ms. Zhang recalled that since the rates introduced by the maintenance master were clear and priced in a reasonable manner, she had dropped her guard。
"teacher says a module costs $1280, out of confidence in the official after-sale, although it feels a little unreasonable, and i don't ask much." ms. Zhang said that it was not until the teacher left that she called again for advice on the basis of a fee, and the other party simply hung up the phone and she realized something was wrong. Taking photographs of the spare parts that would be replaced on the internet, she found that the so-called “core module” in the master's mouth was only a general capacitor with a unit cost of about $10. “at a later stage, i checked the real after-sale phone through the company's customer service at the brand-named official flag shop, confirming that the number previously called was false.” ms. Chang。
What happened to ms. Zhang is not an example. The analysis of complaints received by the national association of consumers of china in the first half of 2025 shows that after-sale services are more prominent in consumer complaints received, which account for 26. 47 per cent of the total number of complaints。
The wang master, who works in the air conditioning maintenance service in beijing, revealed to journalists that these fake sales are usually followed by a “small group” consisting of customers, maintenance masters and brokers: “the middleman produces and promotes fake web pages, and the customer service is responsible for handling consumers and maintenance masters, who are paid a high price for repair at home and are then split proportionately.”
According to master wang, middlemen use more confusing keywords such as “brand-specific” “brand maintenance” to promote search engines, social platforms and the perception of consumers as official brand sales. “they pay for promotion, push their information to the front stage, and consumers find it easier to trust them when they search.” wang said。
How can you pick up a “after a fake sale”
As mentioned by master wang, most of these fake-sale teams are themselves “maintenance masters”, i. E., the formation of exclusive maintenance teams through regular cooperation or full-time employment. In this model, the master's income is directly linked to the fee, so the higher the price, the higher the share the teacher gets。
Why would a maintenance teacher choose to work with such a “false after-sale” team? “most of the current electricians are in a `scramble' state, with a low industry entry threshold, with a large number of people not systematically trained and rushing to take up jobs on the basis of simple skills? These teachers have difficulty in obtaining piecemeal orders because of their inexperienced skills and hastyness, which can be obtained only through collaboration with the “after-sale” team.” the ma master, who had been working on household electricity maintenance in shandong zinan for many years, told journalists。
The lack of a consumer perception of this is also an important reason for the persistence of “false sales” due to the high level of specialization in the domestic electrical maintenance industry. "i came to the door with a colleague of this type once before, dealing with a common problem of leaking air conditioning at a particularly high price, which is to be expected from customers who are not aware of the business and their trust in the word `official'," said wang master。
At the same time, the pricing of household electricity maintenance itself lacks uniform standards. “in many cases, the core cost of maintenance is not the act of the spare parts or repairs per se, but the failure clearance in the preceding period. Some hidden issues are judged by the master's experience, which makes it difficult to quantify pricing.” the pedagogue after part-time household electricity sales told journalists that the vague pricing space for household electricity maintenance also gave “false sales” the opportunity to drill into the void。
Cut the grey chain of interest
“the grey chain of interest behind the `false sale' is not only designed to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of consumers, but also to provide an equitable environment for the development of repairers who are at the bottom of the line and whose professional skills pass”. At the faculty of law of the university of jilin, a lecturer from the department of economic law and research, edo, made a presentation。
The auditing and regulation of web platforms is the first line of defence. The civil code provides for the fulfilment of the obligation of pre-censorship, including, inter alia, the obligation to register a real name, the obligation to issue an audit and the obligation to inspect in real time. In her view, the authorities concerned should strictly enforce the relevant regulations, strengthen the regulation of web platforms and avoid the use of false information after it has been sold to crowd out the living space of regular maintenance staff。
“in addition, the platform's `special audit obligations' could be further clarified by including `maintenance services', in particular after-sales services claiming `officially authorized', as high-risk areas for which the platform is required to meet its special audit obligations.” manning, a practising lawyer at beijing law office, recommended that the platform, when reviewing information on maintenance services, not only verify the qualifications of the enterprise, but also review the qualifications of the maintenance teacher and ensure transparency throughout the maintenance service chain。
The core of the regulation of industry is to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of maintenance teachers. Manning suggested, on the one hand, that the establishment of a system of certification of maintenance personnel should be promoted, that skills training and certification of practitioners should be regulated, and that more market opportunities should be made available to those with real skills; on the other hand, industry associations should take the lead in developing uniform reference fees for maintenance services, clarifying the pricing rules for door-to-door fees, inspection fees, spare parts and maintenance fees, avoiding abusive competition for prices and providing reasonable returns to the professional skills of maintenance staff。
