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Cadillac brand image source: Visual China

Blue Whale News, August 2 (Reporter Li Zhuoling)The maintenance coupons that I spent thousands of yuan on became "waste paper" because the 4S shop closed down?

Recently, a Cadillac owner named Wang Fu (pseudonym) reported to Blue Whale News that after buying a car from Henan Xulong Kaiwei Automobile Sales and Service Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Henan Xulong Kaiwei"), he encountered a 4S store that was closed to refunds, and the maintenance package he had purchased at the store for thousands of yuan was nowhere to be redeemed. Several other car owners also reported that they paid a deposit of 10,000 yuan to apply for purchase tax subsidies when buying a car, and they were promised to return it within two months, but it has not been returned yet.

"We, the car owners, have just started our rights protection journey since we received a text message from SAIC-GM on March 26, notifying them of the termination of the authorized Cadillac dealership with Henan Xulong Kaiwei Automobile Sales and Service Co., Ltd." said Wang Fu (pseudonym). According to him, there are currently no less than 40 car owners who have encountered the above-mentioned problem, and the rights protection group he belongs to has about 45 members.

According to data from the China Automobile Dealers Association, more than 8,000 4S stores will withdraw from the Chinese auto market from 2020 to 2023, and it is expected that more than 2,000 stores will withdraw from the market this year. In the tide of 4S stores withdrawing from the market, there may be many "rich people" running around to defend their rights. Who should cover the bottom line for this?

4S stores are deserted. Image source: provided by the interviewed car owners

Unable to recover the money, the car owner complained that he was "passed the buck"

Less than three years after buying a car from Henan Xulong Kaiwei, Wang Fu did not expect that he would encounter the problem of the 4S store closing down and the maintenance package he spent thousands of dollars on being difficult to redeem.

According to Wang Fu's recollection, he picked up a Cadillac CT5 at the store on August 30, 2021. Then, in December of the following year, he spent 3,880 yuan to buy six oil and filter maintenance packages at the 4S store.

But after only two times, Wang Fu received a text message on March 26 this year, in which the manufacturer terminated the authorized cooperation with Henan Xulong Kaiwei as a Cadillac brand dealer. When he came to the store for maintenance again in early June, the 4S store was deserted, and the other four maintenance coupons in his hand became "waste paper."

Maintenance coupons cannot be redeemed. Image source: provided by the interviewed car owner

"People like me who spent 3,880 yuan to buy a six-maintenance package and have not used it all are just the tip of the iceberg of the closure of Henan Xulong Kaiwei stores. It is understood that there are people who paid more than 10,000 yuan to buy a 15-maintenance package and have not used ten of them, and there are people who paid less than 10,000 yuan when buying a car to bind the lifetime maintenance service and have only used it three times." Wang Fu told Blue Whale News.

In addition to the problem of purchased maintenance packages being difficult to redeem, many car owners have reported that the 10,000 yuan deposit they paid when applying for purchase tax subsidies when buying a car is difficult to recover.

"When I bought the car, the 4S store said that a deposit of 10,000 yuan was required (to apply for a purchase tax subsidy), which would be refunded within two months after submitting the formalities. What this means is that the manufacturer would refund the money to the 4S store, and the 4S store would then refund the deposit to the customer. When I received that text message, I went to the store. The manager at the time said that the refund would be given to me in a few days, and then it kept dragging on until I found out in May this year that the 4S store had run away." Xu Hua (pseudonym), who bought a Cadillac CT5 from the store in December last year, told Blue Whale News.

He San (pseudonym), who also bought a Cadillac CT5 at the store in December last year, also encountered the problem of not getting his deposit back. "The 4S store promised to return it to me after three months. When the time came, I asked them again, and they said the manufacturer had not yet issued it to them. I believed them. So I asked them several times every few days, but they kept dragging their feet and said the manufacturer had not returned it. Until now, the problem has not been solved."

It is difficult to get back the deposit of 10,000 yuan. Image source: provided by the interviewed car owner

After the 4S store closed, Wang Fu and Xu Hua called the store service hotline many times but received no response. They also called the manufacturer's customer service to explain the situation. The manufacturer gave the mobile phone number of a person in charge of Henan Xulong Kaiwei, saying that they had terminated their cooperation with Henan Xulong Kaiwei and that this mobile phone number was the only one on record. The manufacturer could not handle other issues, but no one answered the phone number after calling it many times. "The back-and-forth 'passing the buck' operation made us car owners angry and helpless."

At the same time, car owners are also very confused about the manufacturer's response and approach. "The manufacturer has repeatedly told us that the purchase of maintenance packages is a transaction with Henan Xulong Kaiwei store, which is a third-party behavior. Then why does the 4S store only carry Cadillac as a car brand? Why is the Cadillac car brand logo printed on the card used for the purchased maintenance package? Why does the settlement slip on the official APP show the purchased 3880 package as a maintenance item?" Wang Fu said.

In the eyes of car owners, Cadillac, as a manufacturer and also the former upstream management party, has to help car owners negotiate and deal with these subsequent issues.

Former employee: I have worked here for seven years and am currently going through labor arbitration

In response to the car owners’ statements, Blue Whale News called the official consultation hotline of SAIC-GM Cadillac for an interview.

Relevant staff said that they had indeed received feedback from users, "If they want to deal with the self-operated stored-value coupons or unofficial maintenance packages they purchased from Henan Xulong Kaiwei, the manufacturer only gave them a contact number, and they can call the contact person of the 4S store to resolve it."

The staff member also said that although this 4S store was previously an authorized station of Cadillac, the cooperation has been cancelled and the 4S store is also an independent entity. Users can contact the store to resolve the issue. "The feedback we have received so far is all about maintenance vouchers. As for the deposit, we still need to contact the contact person of the 4S store to verify and resolve the issue."

Blue Whale News also called Henan Xulong Kaiwei's sales hotline, after-sales hotline, and the 4S store contact number provided by the aforementioned car owner many times, but most of the calls could not be connected. Some contact information had been "suspended due to arrears" and some were invalid numbers.

When calling the 4S store contact information provided by the manufacturer and some car owners, the person said that he was also resigned and many customers called him every day. He could only suggest going to the manufacturer to coordinate and solve the problem, or to complain to the relevant department. In his opinion, this store was a former Cadillac dealer and the manufacturer had the supervisory responsibility.

Car owners have received SMS messages from manufacturers terminating authorized cooperation. Image source: provided by the interviewed car owners

A former employee who had worked at the store for seven years told Blue Whale News the whole story of how the store closed.

According to his recollection, when the store was delisted at the end of March but was still open, the normal plan was to move customers and related maintenance packages to another store. However, perhaps due to some disputes, the plan was unsuccessful and the store was closed on May 28. It was closed very suddenly, and the store was suddenly told the day before that it would "close tomorrow."

Regarding the problems raised by the aforementioned car owners, he said that they were true, and according to his estimation, more than thirty or forty people were involved in the purchase tax subsidy deposit alone.

The former employee also said that he is currently in arbitration. "During the arbitration, I met with the relevant person in charge of the company, but I couldn't see him again or contact him afterwards. We were also affected. More than a dozen people in the store lost their jobs overnight, which is equivalent to the illegal termination of their labor contracts. We definitely want compensation."

The lawyer suggested that the case be resolved through litigation.

So, in this incident, who should be held responsible, the manufacturer or the 4S store? And how should car owners protect their rights?

Li Zilong, senior partner of Guangdong Fazhi Shengbang Law Firm, told Blue Whale News that 4S stores and manufacturers only have a cooperative relationship, and the maintenance packages and purchase tax deposits purchased at 4S stores are different from the quality problems of the car itself.

It pointed out that according to Article 43 of the "Product Quality Law", "If a product defect causes personal injury or property damage to others, the victim may request compensation from the product manufacturer or the product seller." If there is a quality problem with a car, consumers can go to a 4S store or to the manufacturer to protect their rights, and they have the right to choose.

Li Zilong said that maintenance packages and purchase tax deposits need to be handled according to the "relativity of the contract". Article 465 of the Civil Code states that "a contract established in accordance with the law shall be protected by law. A contract established in accordance with the law shall only be legally binding on the parties, except as otherwise provided by law." After the 4S store closes, consumers can only choose to sue the company to which the 4S store belongs and protect their legal rights and interests through litigation.

In addition, Xu Kang, a lawyer at Guangdong Fazhi Shengbang Law Firm, told Blue Whale News, "In addition to resolving disputes through litigation, you can also file a complaint with the consumer association where the 4S store is located and seek help from the consumer association."