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In recent years, "knowledge payment" has become more and more popular. Many people are willing to pay for "knowledge" with real money. Zhihu, a well-known knowledge payment platform in China, showed in its first quarter performance report in 2024 that the proportion of paid reading business revenue increased to 46.8%, becoming the largest source of income. However, Yangcheng Evening News reporters noticed that on the Black Cat complaint platform alone, there were more than 13,000 complaints containing the keyword "Zhihu".The content mostly involves automatic deductions without the user's knowledge."During the period of uninstalling Zhihu, Zhihu automatically deducted my membership fee for 13 months without informing me," "Zhihu automatically renewed my membership without informing me," "Zhihu automatically deducted my membership fee for 32 months without fulfilling its obligation to inform me." Have you used Zhihu? You may wish to check the deduction records.

Zhihu's automatic renewal sparks controversy

Public information shows that Zhihu is a Chinese question-and-answer community under Beijing Zhizhe Tianxia Technology Co., Ltd. It was listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2021 and achieved dual listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange a year later. Yanxuan Membership is a paid membership service launched by Zhihu. After paying, you can view member-exclusive content on the platform.

It is such a common membership service that has brought a lot of income to Zhihu while also attracting many user complaints. "I saw the payment record of Zhihu membership on my Alipay bill this month and realized that my Zhihu membership has been automatically renewed for more than two years." Ms. Shao complained to the Yangcheng Evening News reporter that she found out after carefully looking at the bill that since she first opened a Zhihu Salt Selection membership in February 2022, her account has been automatically renewed, with a cumulative fee of more than 500 yuan. Ms. Shao said,She did not receive any reminders before the monthly renewal, and she did not receive any text messages from Zhihu about the deductions after the renewal."I feel that the quality of Zhihu's content has declined in recent years and there are too many advertisements, so I seldom read it," said Ms. Shao.

Another Zhihu user complained that when he checked his Alipay bill in July this year, he found that Zhihu had automatically deducted 19 yuan through Alipay every month since October 2020, for a total of 45 months, totaling 855 yuan.The user said that the Zhihu App had been uninstalled long ago, but automatic renewal was still continuing.He believes that such behavior is suspected of infringing on users' right to know and right to choose.

It is worth noting that many users said that they had not used Zhihu or enjoyed its membership services during the period of continuous deductions because they had "uninstalled it long ago." A search on the Black Cat Complaint Platform revealed more than 400 complaints about being deducted after uninstalling Zhihu.

Doubtful about whether the obligation to remind has been fulfilled

After discovering the deduction issue, Ms. Shao contacted Zhihu customer service. In response to Ms. Shao's question that "Zhihu does not remind users of monthly renewals," customer service responded that the site currently sends private messages 5 days in advance. You can view relevant private messages on the Zhihu App homepage - the bell in the upper right corner - messages - official account messages - Zhihu Yanxuan membership channel.

Ms. Shao believes that this reminder is not obvious. "The customer service said it was on the site, but you have to go to the member salt selection section to see it. It's in a corner, I didn't even know there was such a channel."

If you don't log in to your Zhihu account, how can you see the message reminders on the site? In response to Ms. Shao's question, the customer service said that "the usage records belong to the user's personal privacy and the housekeeper has no way to view them."

During the interview, Ms. Shao said bluntly: "I think Zhihu has not fulfilled its obligation to provide prominent reminders, and the management of non-physical online products for knowledge payment is not very good."

According to the screenshots of the conversation she provided, the reporter also saw that the customer service said,There is a standard subscription process for users to subscribe to Zhihu's paid services. For those who have activated continuous subscription, they need to turn off the continuous subscription function from the third-party payment account (or system), otherwise the subscription will remain valid and fees will continue to be deducted.

In response to the complaint from another user mentioned above, Zhihu customer service rejected the refund application on the grounds that the membership had been “activated for too long”.

The reporter’s investigation found that the only reminder method before the deduction of fees was “in-site message”, which caused dissatisfaction among some Zhihu users.

The reporter called Zhihu's customer service hotline as a user, and the customer service said:"Five days before the renewal of Yanxuan membership, a renewal notification will be sent through the official message on the site. Users can go to the official page in the App to view the reminder."

"If I don't log in or uninstall Zhihu, I won't see the message reminders on the site. Is there no other way to notify users? Or can't we send text messages to notify users?" the reporter asked. The customer service responded: "There is no such function at present. Users are reminded through the page on Zhihu."

"I left my phone number when I signed up. Why can't I get a text message reminder when the fee is deducted?" A user told the reporter that she is also a member of Baidu Netdisk platform. Before the automatic renewal every month, Baidu Netdisk platform will send reminders via text message. For example, the information she provided showed: "Your super membership is about to expire. We will automatically renew your membership through Alipay when it expires. The renewal amount is 25 yuan. If you have canceled the automatic membership renewal, please ignore this message."

Frequent complaints about automatic renewal

Some users said that they had carefully checked the process of subscribing to Zhihu and indeed found that when choosing a continuous monthly subscription, they must agree to the following small font: "I have read and agreed to the "Continuous Subscription Service Agreement" and "Membership Service Agreement" and "Zhihu Payment Agreement"."

That is to say, most users should have agreed to the relevant matters when they first activated the automatic renewal. So why do many users claim that they were continuously deducted without knowing it?

According to Mr. Chen, a Zhihu user, "It is cheaper to renew the subscription monthly than to renew it for one month. Many times, I want to watch some content but forget to turn off the automatic renewal. In addition, the reminder of Zhihu's deduction is not obvious. If there is no SMS reminder, it is easy to be deducted without knowing it."

Some users said that they had not used Zhihu or enjoyed any of Zhihu's membership services during the period of continuous deductions. Some users said that when they asked for a refund after discovering the problem, Zhihu customer service would reject the user's request on the grounds that "there was a private message notification in the App" or "the deduction was successful and refunds are not supported." In Zhihu's view, it has fulfilled its reminder obligation. Users believe that Zhihu has not complied with relevant legal provisions and has not fulfilled its obligation to notify in a prominent manner before automatic renewal.

In fact, this problem is not a new phenomenon. In 2022, many media exposed the problems of "Zhihu Yanxuan members have been automatically renewed without the knowledge of users for a long time, the automatic renewal mechanism in Zhihu App often fails, and Zhihu customer service attitude is poor".

Refunds for digital products are difficult

According to Zhihu's first quarter performance report for 2024, the user scale has declined, hitting the lowest record since the first quarter of 2021. In the face of this trend, Zhihu said that in the future it plans to focus more on core user experience rather than simply large-scale user growth.

However, several former Yanxuan members told reporters that the main reason they are not subscribing now is that "the quality of answers is much worse than before."

The reporter interviewed Zhihu's public relations department about the "automatic renewal reminder mechanism" and other issues. The department staff responded that there is a standard notification process for automatic membership deductions, and there is no situation where users are deducted without knowing it. He also said that if the membership service opens a continuous subscription, Zhihu will send a private message and push reminder 5 days before renewal. This is consistent with the statement made by Zhihu customer service that "users will be reminded through the site 5 days before renewal."

As for why Yanxuan membership is not supported for refunds? Zhihu's official explanation is that "Since Yanxuan membership is a digital product, based on the particularity of Internet services and relevant national management regulations, if consumers make mistakes in purchasing or are unable to enjoy membership benefits due to personal reasons, Zhihu does not support refunds for corresponding membership fees."

In response to user feedback about "insufficient reminders for deductions", will Zhihu add SMS reminders before deductions in the future? In this regard, Zhihu staff said that Zhihu has always paid great attention to the reach efficiency of user reminders and has launched SMS reminders before, but the reach and reception effects are not good, so it is temporarily offline. In the future, we will continue to explore better feedback methods to improve the reach efficiency of feedback.

In response to Zhihu, user Mr. Chen expressed his confusion: "SMS is a common and direct method of communication. Why does the platform think that its reach is poor?" He hopes that Zhihu can reconsider launching the SMS function to better protect users' right to know and ensure that users receive clear reminders before or when fees are deducted.

Lawyer's opinion

Automatic renewal should be reminded by SMS

In recent years, automatic renewal services have been widely used in apps. Regarding related issues, the reporter interviewed Liu Xinyuan, a lawyer at Shanghai Qinbing (Beijing) Law Firm.

Liu Xinyuan mentioned that both the "Law of the People's Republic of China on the Protection of Consumer Rights" and the "Regulations for the Implementation of the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Protection of Consumer Rights" have made clear requirements for operators, and automatic renewal must be clearly informed and agreed to by consumers. "If the merchant fails to fulfill the obligation to pay attention and remind, it is suspected of infringing on the rights of consumers, which is an infringement. In terms of administrative penalties, it may face warnings, confiscation of illegal gains, and in serious cases, suspension of business for rectification and revocation of business licenses." Liu Xinyuan explained.

Recently, the Shanghai Market Supervision Bureau announced a similar penalty case. A membership service sold by a Shanghai technology company had an automatic renewal function, but did not remind users in a prominent manner 5 days before renewal.The company was ordered to immediately correct its illegal behavior and was subject to administrative penalties in accordance with the law.

Regarding the question of whether Zhihu should send out deduction reminders via SMS, Liu Xinyuan said: "Automatic renewal is a consumer obligation and responsibility that has a significant impact on consumers, and Zhihu should fulfill its obligation to fully and completely inform. This full obligation should include SMS reminders to the registered mobile phone number, or even phone notifications. Zhihu's on-site reminders are only a form of notification. If the user uninstalls, there will be no way to remind them in a significant way. If consumers do not receive reminders, they can report their demands to the merchant or directly to the relevant market supervision and management department."

Regarding automatic renewal reminders, Liu Xinyuan suggested that detailed requirements should be listed for the performance of "drawing consumers' attention in a prominent manner" to prevent merchants from misinterpreting and arbitrarily interpreting "prominent manner" through their own behavior. This will help prevent merchants from evading legal obligations and ensure that consumers' right to know and right to choose are truly realized.

In addition, Liu Xingyuan also reminded consumers that when subscribing to any automatic renewal service, they should carefully read the relevant terms, save relevant evidence, and regularly check their accounts and payment records to detect abnormal situations in a timely manner and protect their own rights and interests.