Washing your hair costs thousands of yuan, and many popular online chain stores are closing down
2024-08-10
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Recently, a reporter from Dute News received a tip-off that:All 21 stores of the popular Shanghai chain store "JolieJolie Loves Shampooing" (hereinafter referred to as Jolie) suddenly closed, leaving consumers with no way to get a refund。
The reporter noticed that its official mini program showed "access to this page has been stopped", and all stores on Meituan and Dianping showed "closed", and the merchants could not be contacted at present. It is understood that consumers have spontaneously formed a rights protection group.
On Dianping and Meituan, all Jolie stores are shown as "closed". (Screenshot of the mini program page)
Purchase 3 new user packages for RMB 1,314 in July
The first time I made an appointment to wash my hair, the store was closed
Consumer Pu Pu is a new customer of Jolie. In early July, on the recommendation of the shampooer, he bought three new customer packages for 1,314 yuan. At the end of July, he wanted to make an appointment for a shampoo, but found that the mini program could not make an appointment, and no one answered the phone call. "It was not until someone in the (Jolie) group asked the employees if the store had closed that I realized something had happened."
Like Pupu, there are many consumers who only found out about the store closure after seeing the group message.
Xiaotao and Xiaoxi are old customers of Jolie. When Xiaotao learned about the store closure, she had just recharged her card and had a balance of 9,600 yuan.
According to her, Jolie's boss Yang had invited her to invest privately before. Xiaoxi started shopping at the store two years ago. On July 25, when she was washing her hair in the store, the shampooer was still promoting the products. The store seemed to be operating normally, but when she made another reservation a few days later, the mini program continued to show that it was full.
"Usually there are many customers, so we have to make an appointment one day in advance, but it's not right when the rooms are fully booked for several days." Xiaoxi told reporters.As more and more consumers asked in the group whether the store was closed, an employee replied that the boss ran away with the money.。
Screenshot of Jolie employee’s response to store closure provided by the interviewee.
Junwen, Xiaoyue and Xiaozhi are also old customers of Jolie. The three of them have been recharging their accounts in the store for a long time. They all thought that the store was opened in a large shopping mall and "there were many customers, so they never thought it would go bankrupt."
Dute News reporter learned that consumers have spontaneously formed a rights protection group.Consumers have recharged balances ranging from several thousand to tens of thousands of yuanMany consumers have already complained to the local 12315 and 12345 hotlines, or filed a case online or went to the police station to report the incident. On August 6, after going through all the above procedures, consumer Zuzu shared his experience in the group, discussed with group members about collective reporting, and agreed on a time to go to the mall in question to inquire about the situation.
Mall: The incident happened suddenly and the police have been notified
Qichacha shows that Jolie's parent company is Shanghai Zhuolihui Technology Co., Ltd., which is registered in Fengxian District, Shanghai. It was established in November 2019 and its current status is shown as "in existence"; the legal representative of the company is Yang Moumou, and it currently still has 43 affiliated companies.
Yang Moumou has previously publicly stated that Jolie, as a scalp and hair care brand, is mainly targeted at middle- and high-income women. According to its consumers,The charge for a hair wash ranges from more than 100 to more than 1,000.In terms of location, all of its 21 stores are located in high-end business districts in Shanghai, such as HKRI Taikoo Hui, BFC Bund Financial Center, Crystal Shining Qiantan, etc.
The Dute News reporter contacted several shopping centers including Xingye Taikoo Hui, BFC Bund Financial Center, Crystal Shining Qiantan and West Coast Phoenix Nest to inquire about the progress of the incident. Several shopping malls said that the closure of Jolie on July 31 was sudden, and the malls did not feel that there was any problem with its business conditions beforehand. After the incident, each mall has reported the incident to the police and contacted the local market supervision and management bureau, and publicized the relevant situation in the mall, and then reported the situation of additional registered consumers to the relevant functional departments.
The shopping mall involved, Xingye Taikoo Hui and West Coast Phoenix Nest, issued a notice. (Photo provided by the interviewee)
Some shopping malls revealed that consumers come to inquire about the situation every day, and at least a dozen victims have been registered. In addition, the mall learned that Jolie still owed employees wages, and the relevant wage arrears were consistent with what the employees had revealed before.Some shopping malls said that they were in arrears of rent, but they could not disclose the specific duration as it was a trade secret between them and their customers.。
A reporter from Dute News called the Shanghai Fengxian District Market Supervision Administration to inquire about the progress of the case. As of press time, the phone was still busy or no one answered.
In addition, on August 4, Jolie's legal representative Yang published an "abnormal business situation statement" on the official account, which mentioned that "the company is discussing restructuring and reopening stores as soon as possible. Some stores have begun to prepare for reopening and are working hard to complete all card charging-related issues before the end of August." The reporter called several times, but no one answered the call as of press time.
The merchant ran away after prepayment
What should consumers do?
Dute News reporters noticed that service providers like Jolie, such as hair salons, beauty salons, and gyms, usually offer higher prices for single services, and only prepaid recharges can get discounts. After experiencing the service, many consumers feel that they can consume it for a long time, and often recharge to get discounts. But the risk behind this is that consumers cannot predict the operating conditions and financial conditions of the operator. Often, there is no clue that the "runaway" operator will close the store. Information asymmetry leads to such cases from time to time. If the merchant "runs away" after payment, how can consumers protect their rights?
Deng Meirong, a full-time lawyer at Guangdong Guangxin Junda Law Firm, has handled several similar cases. She said that in similar cases, the core demand of consumers is generally to get their money back.At present, it seems that there are only a few cases where rights protection and repayment are successfully obtained, and it is difficult to achieve the purpose of repayment in most cases.。
The difficulty in collecting the money is mainly due to the fact that the companies involved have no money or have transferred the money, and the legally responsible entities have no property to execute. Even if they win the case, they still cannot collect the money. In addition, the high cost of rights protection in the early stage, the long investment time and the great loss of energy often discourage consumers.
Regarding how consumers can protect their rights, referring to previous cases, Deng Meirong suggestedWhen filing a complaint with the Market Supervision and Administration Bureau, consumers can sue the operator in court in their own name.Before filing a lawsuit, you can also check whether the company has any affiliated companies, parent companies, etc., and try to find other entities that can bear responsibility.
The "Regulations on the Implementation of the Consumer Protection Law of the People's Republic of China" came into effect on July 1, proposing new regulations on the supervision of prepaid consumption, providing strong guarantees for standardizing prepaid consumption models and safeguarding consumer rights.
Among them, Article 22 clearly stipulates that after receiving the advance payment, the operator shall provide goods or services in accordance with the agreement with the consumer, shall not reduce the quality of goods or services, and shall not arbitrarily increase the price. If the operator fails to provide goods or services as agreed, it shall fulfill the agreement or return the advance payment according to the consumer's request.
Lawyer Deng Meirong further explained that consumers can request a refund of their prepayment in the following situations: first, the operator fails to provide goods or services as agreed; second, the operator encounters major operating risks that may affect the operator's normal provision of goods or services in accordance with the contract or trading practices, such as changing the business premises making it inconvenient for consumers to receive goods or services, changing service personnel, etc.; third, reasonable reasons such as damage to the consumer's health; fourth, the prepaid consumption contract is terminated, invalidated, revoked, or determined to be ineffective.
An industry insider reminded consumers that when making prepaid purchases, they should avoid making large one-time recharges or cumulative recharges to high amounts. They should make recharges in moderation and observe the store's operations. If anything is wrong, they should refund or consume promptly.
[Source: Dute Client]
