An investor wanted to open a hardware store, so he searched the Internet for related hardware information and was quickly attracted by the advertisement of a hardware company.
Hardware Company claims to be a high-tech enterprise focusing on the research and development of new products, industrial upgrading and transformation, and integrated marketing in the hardware and electrical industry. "XXX Hardware" brand has become the most representative brand of hardware stores in China with the concepts of "selecting hundreds of world-famous brand products", "one-stop service system, low cost and high profit", "hundreds of brands and thousands of products", "factory direct supply, no intermediate links, quality assurance" and "international frontier concept". Intelligent franchise chain system, ISO quality system certification+EU environmental protection certification, a number of utility model patents, independent production of cutting-edge quality and international standard production lines and many other product advantages can provide franchisees with nanny-like full-time support, intensive advertising promotion, all-weather after-sales service and other cooperative advantages.
More importantly, the hardware company also promised investors that "the purchase price is 40% of the market price", "goods with a value of more than100000 yuan can be obtained by prepaying tens of thousands of yuan", "according to the prepayment amount, the headquarters will give goods equivalent to 20%-30% of the prepayment amount", "the headquarters will give away shelves and cash registers" and "enjoy the rent and decoration subsidies of the headquarters".
At the invitation of the hardware company, the post-investors visited the exhibition hall of their business premises in Baiyun District, Guangzhou.
Since the supply price promised by the hardware company is far lower than the market price, and there is a rebate of 10% for the later goods, the hardware company promises to give away shelves and cash register systems, rent and decoration subsidies, provide free services such as site selection, decoration design and promotion planning, and support franchisees to open stores all the time. The cooperation conditions are very generous. On the day of the inspection, the investor signed a cooperation agreement with the hardware company and paid an advance payment of X million yuan to the hardware company.
After the inspection, investors quickly rented the facade, renovated and managed the shop, and planned to do a big job.
At this point, a gourd ladle and a gourd ladle of cold water came on us.
The first is the freight and the gift of goods.
Before signing the contract, the company promised that there would be freight subsidies and the first batch of goods would be free of freight. When investors receive the goods presented by the company, they find that.
The donated items are all worthless things (the price tag is as high as 1.5 million, and the actual value may only be more than 2,000), and the freight is extra (the freight for things worth more than 2,000 is as high as 1.000). Investors look for the company theory, and the company says that the freight needs to be paid by the investor first, and then the company will reimburse it with the documents, and the process will be approved (this is another routine, and the investor has not received the reimbursed freight).
Secondly, the payment for goods becomes the advance payment for investment.
Before signing the contract, the company said that the advance payment is the payment for goods, and the goods can be deducted directly in the future. When investors order goods from the online shopping mall platform provided by the company and ask the company to deliver them, the company said that if they want to buy goods, they must pay first. What was paid before was the investment advance payment (the money to obtain the sales qualification of brand products, similar to the franchise fee), not the payment for goods. When the investor excitedly took out the contract and planned to have a good theory with the company, he was dumbfounded. The contract does say "investment advance payment".
Third, it is the issue of purchase discount and price.
Before signing the contract, the company made it clear that the purchase price was 60% off the company's pricing. Investors want to buy goods, not only the advance payment can not be deducted, but also the payment according to the company's pricing, even higher than the retail price of Taobao. wait for
When the investor intends to come up with a contract and have a good theory with the company, he can't find any agreement on the purchase discount in the contract.
Finally, the issue of contract termination and liability for breach of contract.
After the above routine attacks, investors finally woke up and found that they had been cheated, so they contacted the company and asked for a refund. At this time, the company didn't even want the last fig leaf, saying directly: the contract is not a franchise contract, but a distribution contract; The contract does not stipulate a 40% discount on the goods; The advance payment not stipulated in the contract can be paid directly, but it is clearly stipulated that the advance payment is an investment advance payment, which is the consideration for selling brand products, and will be returned in batches according to the investor's purchase amount later. It is a breach of contract for investors to cancel the contract now, and they need to pay 50% of the liquidated damages.
To sum up, after the whole scam was implemented, investors lost all their money. If it is really agreed in the contract that the investor must get the goods from the company at a price higher than the retail price, and the amount of goods obtained is 10 times of the investment advance payment, then it is possible to get back the investment advance payment paid in advance in batches. The more goods they take, the more they lose, and the deeper they fall into.
Investors found Gu Dongling's team of lawyers after many unsuccessful communications with the company. After accepting the entrustment of investors, Gu Dongling's team of lawyers collected a large number of illegal acts of companies and brands and evidence of suspected contract fraud, filed a civil lawsuit with the court and applied to the court to transfer the case to the public security for investigation. At present, the case is still being processed.
If you encounter a similar joining scam or routine, be sure to keep all the evidence materials (including contracts, receipts, payment records, WeChat chat records, brand manuals, telephone recordings, etc.). ) and contact professionals as soon as possible to claim rights protection.
This case is very similar to another customized home joining case handled by Gu Dongling's team of lawyers. In the early stage, investors were attracted by gimmicks such as low price, low discount, high rebate and many gifts. Investors signed a contract to pay, only to find that they were cheated when they wanted to get the goods. The customized household joining case has been successfully applied to the court for transfer to the public security organ. The legal representative, shareholders and other personnel of the company have been criminally detained by the public security organs on suspicion of contract fraud, and the procuratorial organs have also agreed to arrest them. At present, the criminal case is still under trial in the first instance.