By Gu Li
"Thank you very much. Otherwise, I might have lost over thousands of Yuan." On the eve of the "International Consumer Rights Day" on every March 15, Ms. Wang solved a long-standing annoyance under the mediation of the Hongkou Consumer Protection Commission.
The service is considerate and "medicine" seems to be effective.
In December 2021, Ms. Wang was very excited when she saw the promotion advertisement of products for the treatment of ringworm of the nails at the door of a drugstore. The salesperson guided Ms. Wang to the store, and soaked her hands and feet with the liquid medicine purchased by her in the drugstore. The salesman also introduced the "star product" of the store to Ms. Wang, who was deeply troubled by ringworm of nails, and she immediately paid 89 Yuan for the product. Later, Ms. Wang paid 2,225 Yuan to the store several times.
"I went to the store to take the medicine every time. The staff removed the package, inserted the straw, and let me have it directly. I had six pills a day." At first, Ms. Wang believed in the oral medicine and felt that her condition bettered.
Ms. Wang found that she was cheated after reading the instructions carefully.
In early January this year, the store owner told Ms. Wang that the store would be closed the next day and asked Ms. Wang to take the "medicine" home. When she got home and read the drug instructions, Ms. Wang found that she might have been cheated. "The efficacy of the drug is to treat sleep problems, which has nothing to do with ringworm of nails," Ms. Wang said.
Ms. Wang thought that the store misled her to take wrong medicine and asked the store for a refund, but she was rejected. The store also said that the value of the drugs taken by Ms. Wang far exceeded the fees paid, and the arrears amounted to 4,000 yuan.
After the consultation with the store failed, Ms. Wang asked the Hongkou Consumer Protection Committee for help. After communicating with medical experts, the Hongkou Consumer Protection Committee learned that the drug is a health food rather than a drug, which is a sleeping ingredient. However, it can not be defined that the health product can treat ringworm of nails.
In this case, when providing goods and services to consumers, the defendant exaggerated some goods and misled in the sales process, and may even hide important information about the goods.
The staff of the Hongkou Consumer Protection Committee publicized the relevant provisions of the law of the People's Republic of China on the protection of consumers' rights and interests to the merchants and informed them of the importance of honest operation.Finally, the two sides reached an agreement: consumers will no longer pay any subsequent fees, all unused products will be returned, and the merchants will no longer provide services.
It is learned from the Hongkou District Consumer Protection Committee that in 2021, it handled 13,098 complaints, and the settlement rate of complaints reached 100%. Next, the Commission will make further efforts to safeguard the rights and interests of consumers and optimize the business environment, so that citizens can buy at ease and enterprises can operate more at ease.