■ Press: A large number of users complained about being misled by the "0 yuan membership membership" activity.
You can enjoy membership discounts by "enrolling as a member for 0 yuan". It looks beautiful, but in reality it may be full of "routines". Recently, a consumer complained to " Consumer Report " about her "disturbing" experience in NetEase's carefully selected member recruitment campaign.
"Sign up as a member for 0 yuan", but a year later she discovered that the membership fee was not 0 yuan.
Ms. Li reported to Consumer Reports that recently, she suddenly received an automatic deduction message for WeChat payment carefully selected by NetEase. Feeling confused, she immediately consulted NetEase Yanxuan customer service, but was told that it was because the canvas shoes she purchased in August last year enjoyed a 59 yuan membership discount. Now that the membership has expired, the order discount money must be returned. customer service also said that there were specific terms and conditions when the membership was activated, and Ms. Li took the initiative to check and agree.
Ms. Li recalled that she didn’t think much about it when she placed the order. “Because I saw ‘0 yuan membership membership’ clearly marked on the page, I was very excited. Naturally, I thought that there was no membership fee, so I just opened it. " Ms. Li also said that after checking "Originate membership for 0 yuan", some agreement pages did pop up for confirmation, but she did not read the agreement carefully. There are so many words in it, I can’t possibly read them one by one.”
Ms. Li told this publication that she only purchased something from NetEase Yanxuan once and never used its membership service again. If the price of the membership fee is clearly marked, she will choose to activate it or not. Even after is activated, if the membership fee is deducted, she will consume again on the platform and enjoy membership services.
Looking back on the whole incident, Ms. Li couldn't agree with it. She believed that NetEase Yanxuan's approach was playing word games and deceiving consumers. "My request is not to get NetEase Yanxuan to refund dozens of dollars, but I think there are many people who have fallen into this trap like me. After inexplicably opening a membership, they were forced to deduct money in the end even if they didn't use it. ."
A large number of consumer complaints Misled
According to "Consumer Reports", NetEase Selected Pro membership annual card is originally priced at 149 yuan. Users can sign up as a member with Sesame Credit and Huabei for 0 yuan. They can enjoy certain membership rights first and become members after one year. Payment will be automatically deducted upon expiration. According to the amount of money saved by the user, if it is less than 149 yuan, the amount of money saved will be deducted, and if it is more than 149 yuan, only 149 yuan will be deducted. Once the Pro membership is purchased and activated, it cannot cancel or terminate the Pro membership midway during the validity period, or require a refund of the membership fee.
"Consumer Report" noticed that it was not just Ms. Li who had this experience. On the Black Cat Complaints platform, a large number of consumers complained about being misled by NetEase's carefully selected "0 yuan membership membership" activity, so that in the Payments were automatically deducted without your knowledge. This publication searched the Black Cat Complaint Platform using the keywords "NetEase Select" and "Pro Member" and found a total of 871 complaint results. The problems were mainly concentrated on "false propaganda", "inducing consumption", "arbitrary deductions", etc. .
On social platforms such as Weibo and Zhihu, "Consumer Reports" also found that many consumers reported similar situations.
A few days ago, "Consumer Report" consulted NetEase Yanxuan customer service as an ordinary consumer about the details of the "0 yuan membership activation" activity. According to the page link sent by the customer service, this publication noticed that the page is currently displayed in conspicuous fonts. : "Use it for 1 year first and then pay the card fee."
It is also worth noting that some consumers who have opened a 0 yuan membership said that NetEase Yanxuan claimed that "you can enjoy free shipping every day", but in fact it is free shipping for the first order, and then it is free for orders over 99 yuan. But most people don’t know this when they first sign up for membership.
Many consumers have reported that they are not aware of membership deductions. Does this mean that NetEase’s carefully selected promotions contain misleading content? Has NetEase Strictly Selection fulfilled its obligation to effectively inform matters concerning the major interests of users? In response, "Consumer Reports" sent an interview letter to NetEase Yanxuan, but as of the time of publication, no relevant reply had been received.
Yin Jinhuo, a lawyer at Beijing Yingke (Guangzhou) Law Firm, said in an interview with Consumer Reports that the "Civil Code" and the "Consumer Rights and Interests Protection Law" clearly stipulate that operators must provide relevant goods or When providing services, consumers must be informed of matters involving significant interests of consumers, and consumers must be reminded in a conspicuous manner. If there is no notification or explanation, causing consumers to make wrong judgments without understanding or knowledge, consumers can claim to terminate the relevant contract.
Attorney Yin also reminded consumers that when making decisions in online consumption scenarios, they should carefully check the relevant terms and content, especially the pop-up dialog boxes or received messages.
activities have been questioned many times for being "deeply involved"
In fact, "Consumer Reports" found that in recent years, NetEase Yanxuan has repeatedly caused dissatisfaction among many consumers due to alleged false propaganda issues in its activities.
In May 2021, Qilu Evening News reported that NetEase Yanxuan was complained by Yanxuan pro members for unauthorized changes to membership rights. It is reported that after becoming a member of NetEase Yanxuan, you can enjoy the rights of receiving designated products for 0 yuan once a month and free shipping every day. However, starting from May 1, 2021, NetEase Yanxuan has unilaterally changed its preferential strategy. Orders where products are purchased for 0 yuan will not be able to be stacked with daily free shipping benefits. According to old users, when registering as a member, the first two benefits can be used normally, but later it was discovered that the goods received for 0 yuan per month are no longer free of charge, and a minimum postage of 8 yuan needs to be paid separately. Lawyer Yu from Shandong Dongfeng Law Firm said that the rights and interests regulations when members are opened should belong to an agreement or contract and should be implemented until the membership expires, and unilateral changes or deletions are suspected of breach of contract.
In July 2021, China Technology Investment reported that NetEase Yanxuan had received frequent complaints due to unclear thresholds and induced order behavior in new recruitment activities. It is reported that NetEase’s carefully selected newcomers can enjoy “full refund on their first order”. It claims that “you will get back as much as you buy, 100% refund in full, which is equivalent to 0 yuan purchase”. However, many consumers have reported that the amount returned after the actual order is placed can only be 30% of the order amount each time, which cannot be fully deducted, and the consumption time will be limited and will be void after expiration. Some consumers said, "This kind of promotion really misleads many people. In fact, (the promotion) of 'full refund' should not limit the usage threshold and usage time."
Lawyer Li Min, senior partner of Shanghai Hansheng Law Firm, pointed out that NetEase Yanxuan only marks the activity rules button in the upper right corner of the activity page and identifies the activity rules on the product details page, The terms restricting the use of balances do not use pop-up windows, bold and enlarged fonts, special reminders and other reasonable methods to remind consumers, which is suspected of failing to fulfill the obligation to prompt or explain the format terms. According to the Civil Code, consumers can claim this restriction. The terms do not become part of the contract and are not effective.
It is worth noting that recently, "Consumer Report" noticed on the NetEase Select app that the "first order 0 yuan" new member recruitment campaign is still in progress, and the detailed rules of the campaign have not been reminded in a conspicuous way. consumer.This magazine logs into the NetEase Yanxuan app as an ordinary consumer, and the page pops up "Full Refund for the First Order". When this magazine clicks "Buy Now", the page jumps, This magazine clicks on the small words that are not obvious in the upper right corner of the page. "Activity Rules" details page found that the activity has restrictions on the use time, usage scope and deduction amount of the balance. The "balance" returned by cannot be withdrawn. It can only be used as a deduction for some products when placing an order. It can be used to deduct up to 40% of the order amount. It is valid until the last day of the following month. When this magazine filled in the order, the words "150 RMB balance will be refunded immediately after placing the order" appeared many times on the page. When this magazine canceled the order, the page displayed, "The balance of 150 yuan is about to arrive. Are you sure you want to give up the payment?"
In November 2021, upstream news reported that NetEase Yanxuan was accused of bundling products on the grounds of receiving free eggs. Sell merchandise. reported that Mr. Liu complained that he received a text message from NetEase Yanxuan about receiving eggs for free on November 2, 2021. After entering the official account, Mr. Liu found that he needed to purchase other items in order to receive them "for free". Inconsistent with the previous text message promise, Mr. Liu believed that there was dishonest management, false propaganda and bundled sales. Later, Mr. Liu called the customer service phone to complain, and received a reply: You must buy something before you can receive it.
According to public information, NetEase Yanxuan was officially launched in April 2016. It is NetEase’s original lifestyle e-commerce brand and claims to provide consumers with one-stop, full-category, and all-round solutions for a better life. Official website data shows that NetEase Yanxuan has accompanied 30 million new middle-class users to "live the way they like."
pictures丨Photo provided by the interviewee, NetEase carefully selected Weibo, NetEase carefully selected app, Black Cat complaint screenshots, Zhihu screenshots, Weibo screenshots, Dianbao, etc.
