In August this year, Mr. Zhang got a haircut in a beauty salon. At the end of August, the shop suddenly closed. There is still a balance of about 1400 yuan in the membership card that Mr. Zhang only spent once. When he wanted to refund the balance in the card, he was rejected by the store. In this regard, the lawyer said that if a merchant needs to close the store due to business problems, it should inform its members in advance to go through the cancellation procedures, and return the remaining amount in the card to all members before the store is completely closed. Members should not refuse on the pretext that they cannot provide receipts.
● Nanfang Daily reporter Jin Zuzhen Intern Qi Yeqing
The store of 1 suddenly closed, so members can't get a refund.
On August 7, Mr. Zhang, who lives in Longkou West Road, applied for a membership card at Yongqi Beauty Salon near his home. Considering that the store has been operating there for more than a year, he was relieved to recharge his membership card by 2000 yuan. After spending once on the day of the card application, Mr. Zhang came to the store for a haircut again on September 17, only to find that the store had been "transformed" and the membership card he had previously applied for could not be used here.
Upon inquiry, Mr. Zhang learned that the former Yongqi Beauty Salon was closed at the end of August. In desperation, he came to Yongqi Beauty Salon's branch on Sports West Road.
At Sports West Road Sub-branch, the staff admitted that Mr. Zhang's membership card was still valid and the balance in the card could be used here. "I started that card because it was close to home and it was convenient to get a haircut." Considering that the branch is far from my home, Mr. Zhang put forward the idea of returning the card.
The staff immediately provided the contact information of the person in charge of the former Longkou West Road Sub-branch, allowing him to negotiate on his own.
Mr. Zhang contacted the person in charge of Yongqi Beauty Salon Longkou West Road Branch. The other party said that at the end of August, before the branch of Longkou West Road was withdrawn, a notice was posted at the door, and now we can only go to other branches for consumption. When Mr. Zhang asked for a refund of the card balance of about 1400 yuan, the other party claimed that only 50% of the amount could be refunded according to company regulations.
"How can an announcement be a notice? When you registered as a member, you obviously left your phone number. Why don't you call us? " Mr. Zhang is very dissatisfied with this reply.
After several negotiations, Yongqi Store said that a new beauty salon named "Jushang Skin Care Modeling" was recently opened in Longkou West Road, which is their franchise store. Mr Zhang Can spends money here with his membership card. However, Mr. Zhang said that now only the solution of returning the balance in the card is accepted.
Ask for a refund on the grounds that there is no card receipt.
Coincidentally, Miss Qu, who lives near Guangzhou No.47 Middle School, also encountered a similar situation. In 20 13, Miss Qu got two swimming cards in the name of her son in Guangzhou Pusheng Sports Club. Miss District said that at that time, Pusheng Sports Club reached a cooperation agreement with the swimming pool of No.47 Middle School, and she could swim in the swimming pool of No.47 Middle School with a card.
However, shortly after Miss Qu got the card, on September 2, 20 13, the club stopped its cooperation with the school, and the swimming pool in No.47 Middle School was no longer open to the members of Scholar Sports Club, which means that the membership card that Miss Qu just got was "scrapped" before it was used much.
"At that time, the doorman of No.47 Middle School told me that the swimming pool was being renovated and it was expected to reopen on 20 14." Miss District said that until this year, she failed to enter the school swimming pool with these two membership cards.
In September this year, the member who handled the card with Miss District told her that they had refunded the balance of the swimming card at the Asian Badminton Training Center of Pusheng Corporation, No.24 Yu Yan Road, Ersha Island. After learning the news, Miss Qu immediately went to Pusheng Head Office to ask for a refund, but the front desk staff refused the refund on the grounds that "there was no card receipt of that year".
"I did the card a few years ago, and the receipt has long been lost. Isn't my card a voucher? " Miss District is puzzled by this request.
Manager Guo, the head of Pusheng Sports Club, responded: "The company's finance clearly requires that both the swimming card and the receipt must be provided, and no refund can be made without the receipt."
On September 29th, Miss District reported the swimming card situation to Guangzhou Consumer Council, and agreed that the Consumer Council would take the lead in consulting the club after the National Day holiday. There is no negotiation result yet.
■ Lawyer's statement
Merchants are obliged to refund their members.
In this regard, Zou Jiawang, a lawyer of Guangdong He Xiong Law Firm, said that in any case, if the store is closed due to business problems, the main body of the card-issuing enterprise is obliged to refund the money for its members. Legally speaking, there is no saying that "no refund can be made without a receipt". The two sides have formed a contractual relationship. Consumers can apply for a refund as long as they can provide relevant evidence to prove their membership status, whether it is a membership card or a small ticket.
Lawyer Yan of Guangdong Fanglve Law Firm believes that merchants have the obligation to inform members who have already applied for membership cards if they want to close their stores or suspend business. "Merchants should notify members in advance to cancel their membership cards and return the balance in the cards." As for the situation that the chain store can continue to use the card in another store, Yan said that both parties can negotiate, and consumers are unwilling to accept it for convenience, and merchants should refund it.
In view of this prepaid consumption pattern, Guangdong Consumer Council has pointed out its risks many times before. In order to improve the guarantee factor of prepayment consumption, Yan reminded consumers to rationally choose the recharge amount, try to choose a card with a small amount and a short term, and do not advocate that the one-time recharge amount is too large, so that even if there is a problem, the loss is relatively small.
Zou Jiawang reminded that consumers often do not sign contracts with merchants when they apply for cards, which makes it difficult for consumers to defend their rights after disputes. Therefore, consumers must first make clear their rights and interests before handling the card, and promise to abide by all verbal promises provided by the merchants.