The Internet learning car platform "Pig and Strong" is in crisis.
2065438+Since April 2009, many students have found that the platform failed to learn to drive according to the contract performance arrangement. On July 27, many Shenzhen citizens reported to the media that it was difficult to refund the pig fee. Some consumers reported on the complaint platform of black cat consumers that Zhu Jianqiang delayed the registration refund of 4,480 yuan on the grounds of signing a refund agreement, and even deleted WeChat friends on the grounds of leaving the company.
On July 30th, according to the Securities Times, Zhu Jianqiang Shenzhen Branch moved out two days ago, and the scene was a mess. At the same time, the salesman of Zhu Jianqiang Shenzhen Branch revealed to the First Scene of Shenzhen Radio and Television that the company owed employees wages 100.
Behind many problems, public opinion will focus on the qualifications of pigs. At the end of last month, the Shenzhen Municipal Bureau of Transportation told the media that Zhu Jianqiang Shenzhen Branch was suspected of illegal operation, seriously disrupting the market order, damaging the legitimate rights and interests of consumers, and even causing many cases of suspected economic fraud.
However, on July 30th, when Wu Mian Finance and Economics researcher asked the official customer service in Zhu Jianqiang about the registration of the Shenzhen venue, the customer service still asked for specific information according to the process, and said that the salesman in Shenzhen would be contacted.
Deny illegal operation
"It is really a bit excessive to say that we are operating illegally!" Chen Zhilin, chairman of Zhu Jianqiang, said when asked by the researcher of Wu Mian Finance and Economics.
According to reports, the platform itself does not have driving training qualifications, but in recent years it has been holding or acquiring legal driving schools with driving training qualifications all over the country, and it is no longer a simple driving school intermediary.
Chen Zhilin admitted to Wu Mian Finance that Shenzhen Branch does not have the qualification of driving training at present, but this is because 60% of Shenzhen Carlson Industrial Co., Ltd. (business scope includes driver training) controlled by Zhu Jianqiang has an equity dispute with it and is currently in litigation. "I think, before the lawsuit, strictly speaking, Carlson driving school is still a subsidiary of Zhu Jianqiang. It cannot be simply said that Zhu Jianqiang has no driving training qualification in Shenzhen. " Chen Zhilin said.
In order to confirm Chen Zhilin's statement, Wu Mian Finance and Economics researcher found that Zhu Biqiang, as the absolute majority shareholder, owns seven driving schools in seven cities including Buddha, Hangzhou and Zhongshan. However, in the areas where Zhu Biqiang's branch is located, such as Wuhan and Ganzhou, no driving school has been found.
▲ Some driving schools acquired by Xiao Zhu and Qiang Qiang.
In response to the query raised by Wu Mian Finance and Economics researcher that "Shenzhen enterprises are still not qualified to enroll students", Chen Zhilin said that enrollment and training are two parts in the driving and training industry, and the enrollment part does not need qualifications. Students who use the Pig and Strong APP make an appointment with a cooperative driving school and personal trainer through the platform of Pig and Strong. In the case that both the driving school and the coach have training qualifications, it is not illegal to be a pig who is only responsible for enrollment.
In response to the evacuation of Shenzhen Branch, Chen Zhilin told Wu Mian Finance: "After the pressure, the core team of Shenzhen Branch began to fall apart in June. There are many cases in which employees are neither on-the-job nor have gone through resignation procedures. Now the team in Guangzhou has been organized. There are indeed on-the-job employees, and we will definitely distribute them according to work. "
The pattern behind "buy buy Buy" is hard.
As a rising star of Internet driving and training, why did Zhu fall into a dilemma?
In the early days, Zhu Jianqiang attracted a lot of capital attention under the banner of "Internet Student Car 1". As of April, 20 18, residential wall art * * * has received four rounds of financing, with a total amount exceeding 200 million yuan.
▲ Pig and strong financing process.
However, behind the title of "Internet learning car 1", a steady stream of capital blood transfusion is needed.
20 15, 1 June, Zhu Jianqiang officially entered the driving and training market, and then embarked on a series of capital investment trips from advertising to coaches, training venues and driving schools.
It has been reported by the media that in Guangzhou and Shenzhen, Piggy and Strong invested a total of 380 million yuan in brand marketing and promotion within two years. Wu Mian Finance and Economics 20 16 also issued a document saying that Zhu Jianqiang's acquisition of the coach's license plate made the license plate value rise. At the beginning of 20 15, the unit price of license plates purchased by Zhu Jianqiang was 80,000 yuan, which rose to 200,000 yuan in 20 16.
At that time, it seemed that the allocation of these huge funds was naturally meaningful. For example, in the driving school market, the car is an important production tool, and buying a license plate means obtaining the absolute right to use the coach car.
In addition to acquiring the coaching license, Zhu Jianqiang also aimed at the training ground. The logic of the strong pig is that the training license plate is a "production tool" and the training ground is a "production workshop". If both are achieved, the identity of the coach as a "producer" will be completely stripped off, and it is natural to recruit self-employed coaches.
However, at that time, Zhu Jianqiang wanted to use "buy buy Buy" to pry the tempting cake of driving and training industry, but hesitated in the active game between the third-party platform and qualified driving schools. This can be seen in this year's contract dispute lawsuit between Zhu Jianqiang Shenzhen Branch and Shenzhen Carlson Driving School. Chen Zhilin didn't disclose the details of the case to Wu Mian Finance, only that it was this dispute that froze more than 40 million yuan of pig Qiang Jian, which led to the financial shortage of Shenzhen Company.
The fact that Pig and Qiang Qiang can't control Carlson puts Shenzhen Branch in a passive position. Some practitioners told Wu Mian Finance that the names of all driving qualification examiners must be registered in legal driving schools certified by the State, that is to say, the final decision is in the hands of driving schools, whether through cooperation with driving schools or through coaches affiliated with driving schools.
The control of the coach car is not as smooth as expected. A local driver coach in Shenzhen once told the National Business Daily that "there are several directly operated venues in Zhu Jianqiang, Shenzhen, but they don't have their own coaches. They all use cars from other driving schools."
"There are many reasons for failing to deploy according to the previous heavy assets, most likely due to financial or policy restrictions." The above-mentioned people told Wu Mian Finance.
Insufficient control over driving schools and driving school coaches directly affects the quality of training courses for students with strong pig skills.
The above-mentioned practitioners said, "I lost the pig and Qiang who are highly bound to the driving school with driving training qualifications. I'm just an ordinary driving school agent, and I can't really be responsible for the students who want to take the driver's license. In this case, the priority of students who learn to drive through cooperation with the coach on the platform (let the students connect with the coach, and the coach will be divided into training with the affiliated driving school) is far lower than that of students who register directly with the coach and register in the regular driving school. "
In this way, although Pig Biqiang has always claimed to have eliminated the gray income of the traditional driving school model, and through overwhelming advertising, it was once "often able to kill the single quantity of traditional small and medium-sized driving schools for one month in one day", but the after-sales service that was hacked all the way kept killing Pig Biqiang's ability to get customers.
Will financial problems crush pigs and make them stronger?
"Whether pigs can survive this level is the key." An investor who asked not to be named said that the business models supported by capital, such as Zhu Jianqiang and YY Auto, have begun to lose the confidence of some investors, and the services have not kept up, resulting in poor reputation and quality. "
Most of the students who asked for a refund in Zhu Jianqiang Shenzhen Branch registered in March, and the platform promised that they could complete the exam within 2-3 months. Turns out they haven't got the serial number yet.
▲ Pigs and strong advertisements.
But this is not the first time a pig has said that he can't do it.
Zhu, who started with Internet thinking, is well versed in the rapid tactics of advertising bombing to occupy the market. Since 20 16, the advertising campaign of "pig and strong" has been on the rise. On billboards everywhere, such as subways and elevators, many students are attracted by propaganda such as "learning to get a license quickly in four months", "clearly marking the price", "biting the price" and "one person, one car".
However, compared with the previous publicity, the service experience of "Pig Zhuang" has not been recognized by the students. In the actual process of learning to drive, many students not only failed to honor the promise of obtaining the license for four months, but even did not arrange to practice driving for six months after registration.
Zhu Jianqiang promised to get the certificate within four months, but he let the students down many times, and he kept receiving complaints. According to media reports, from 2065438 to September 2006, Zhu was collectively complained by students that the pre-sale promise had not been fulfilled.
The instability of personnel flow has aggravated the complaint rate of students about "being a strong pig" At that time, a student who had registered on the "Pig Strong" platform told the Southern Metropolis Daily reporter that when he was dissatisfied with the service and asked for a refund, he was told that the salesman who had docked with him had left. It is not uncommon to find such a phenomenon when communicating with other refund students.
On October 20th, 2065438+0616/KLOC-0, Zhu Jianqiang was notified by Guangdong Consumer Council for allegedly making false propaganda and exaggerating propaganda. In addition, it is reported that Zhu Jianqiang has been fined 380,000 yuan by Tianhe Branch of Guangzhou Administration for Industry and Commerce.
Why is Qiang Jian Pig repeatedly complained?
In Chen Zhilin's view, the accidental component is the biggest. He said, "The problem of slow progress in student training this year does exist. On the one hand, March has always been the peak season for driving training. On the other hand, in the lawsuit with Shen Carlson, more than 40 million funds from Zhu Jianqiang were frozen, which led to Zhu Jianqiang's negligence on the issue of students. "
How serious is the financial problem of "Pig Strong"?
In fact, Qiang Jian, a pig that entered the market with heavy assets, only charged students a low registration fee. According to the Southern Metropolis Daily, a driving coach at Carlson Driving School simply calculated that the average cost of recruiting a student in driving school is about 4,200 yuan, and the cost of pigs is more than 5,600 yuan. The "profit" earned is more than 1000 yuan, and the fuel cost of the daily coach car is more than this, so the pricing is unreasonable. At that time, Zhu responded that he hoped to benefit from scale, which confirmed his speculation that it was unprofitable for the time being.
According to a person close to Zhu Jianqiang, Zhu Jianqiang is actually filling the previous financial loopholes with the expenses of new students, which is also a "circular method" that the whole driving and training industry knows well.
In this regard, Zhang Yi, CEO of Ai Media, believes that if enterprises do not make large-scale profits, they are highly dependent on capital, and the follow-up of capital has not kept up, and problems are inevitable. In fact, the latest round of financing in Zhu Jianqiang stayed in April last year.
Nowadays, it is not easy to be a strong pig. According to Chen Zhilin, Zhu Jianqiang, who was "caught without driving training qualification", has not registered any new students for several days.
At the same time, he said that other divisions in Zhu Jianqiang will mobilize funds to help the Shenzhen Division solve the problems as soon as possible, and will also strive to serve the accumulated students who fail to follow up in time. "This funding problem may not be solved as quickly as expected, but we have been working hard."