China news finance and economics, April 14 (reporter Wu Tao) “there is no refund after more than one third of the class hours”, “half the fee will be deducted even for the last class” and “the refund cycle is up to 12 months”. Have you ever encountered these situations in the offline training you signed up for?

Meijim was complained that it was difficult to refund and did not issue an invoice

Recently, Zhongxin finance and economics received a complaint. Mr. Wen, a consumer, applied for early education courses for children at meijim early education center in Jiangchen Tianjie, Wuhan. The registration fee cost 22588 yuan, a total of 96 class hours, plus some free class hours, a total of more than 100 class hours.

Drawings provided by the visited users.

“Because meijim didn’t arrange the audition, he had to pay a one-time fee before starting. As a result, our children didn’t adapt. They cried as soon as they went in. Later, they tried two or three times, but they still couldn’t do it at all. In total, they signed in for three classes. In fact, they didn’t attend a class.” Mr. Wen said.

Mr. Wen said, “finally, we decided to refund the course. The sales representative of meijim who received us filled in the refund form and said it would be completed within a month. As a result, after more than a month, there was no news. After contacting meijim’s store, we told us that we would either refund half of the fee or refund it in a year.”

Mr. Wen also said that meijim did not issue a charge invoice to them.

Meijim: the refund cycle is about 12 months and needs to be reviewed by the headquarters

In response to what Mr. Wen said above, the reporter dialed the number of meijim early education center in jiangchentian street, Wuhan provided by meijim’s official website, and no one answered.

Involved meijim store. Drawings provided by the visited users

“This situation has been recorded, will be reported, and will be fed back in time when there are results,” the 400 telephone customer service on meijim’s official website told Zhongxin finance As of press time, the reporter has not received any response.

The sales of meijim early education center in Jiangchen Tianjie, Wuhan, which is responsible for Mr. Wen’s registration, told Zhongxin finance and economics that because Mr. Wen’s family requires a full refund, they go through special channels and need to report to the headquarters. The refund cycle is about 12 months.

“If you don’t follow the contract, you can only follow the refund cycle for about four months, but if you don’t follow the normal refund cycle, Mr. Wen, you can only follow the normal refund cycle.” The above sales representatives.

As for why “the course is about 100 class hours, and the refund can only be refunded in half after signing in for 3 class hours”, the sales said, “the contract stipulates that as long as the class hours are less than one third, even the last class is refunded in half.” “As for the invoice, if the consumer needs it, it can be issued.”

Legal person: the liquidated damages are too high, and consumers have the right to ask for a reduction

Is it suspected of the overlord clause that “the refund of the last class can only be refunded by half”?

Zhao Zhanzhan, deputy director of Beijing Yunjia law firm and special researcher of the intellectual property research center of China University of political science and law, told Zhongxin finance and economics that this situation mainly depends on whether the training institution has breached the contract. If so, consumers can terminate the contract according to law and require immediate refund, which is not limited by the contract.

“If the training institution does not breach the contract, it is a unilateral breach of contract by the consumer. For example, the consumer does not want to attend class or feels inappropriate to ask for a refund. This situation belongs to the unilateral termination of the contract by the consumer, which lacks legal basis, unless the contract has previously agreed that the consumer can unilaterally terminate the contract.”

Zhao Zhanzhan also said that if the training institution stipulates in the contract that consumers can unilaterally refund, but at the same time, they should charge a certain fee, which is the limit of liquidated damages. In this case, if the liquidated damages exceed more than 30% of the losses caused by consumers to the training institution, it belongs to that the liquidated damages are too high, and consumers have the right to ask for its reduction.

“As for the refund period, if the consumer unilaterally requests a refund and the training institution agrees that if the refund period is not agreed by both parties, it should be refunded within a reasonable period.” Zhao said.

Meijim, who has frequent refund problems, is expected to lose more than 150 million yuan in 2021

Meijim is frequently complained by consumers. Source: screenshot of black cat complaint

There are many similar complaints about black cats. A consumer recently complained about a meijim in Beijing: on November 13, 2021, the daily reported that meijim had 111 class packages, with a total price of 21088 yuan. Due to the epidemic and course arrangement, so far, only 14 classes have been taken, and 97 classes have not been taken. Due to the repeated epidemic, now the children are too old to take classes, so they want to refund their classes, but the other party said they can only refund 50%.

Photo source: screenshot of meijim announcement

China News financial reporter noted that the performance of meijim has not been very good in recent years. The performance forecast shows that the revenue in 2021 is expected to be 300 million yuan to 350 million yuan, and the net profit loss attributable to the shareholders of the listed company is 150 million yuan to 195 million yuan.

The early education industry is in urgent need of standardization, and consumers should be cautious when buying courses

At present, for the training of preschool education, there are no relevant express provisions in terms of class hours, advance charges and refunds. Moreover, training institutions generally charge extra long class hours in advance, often exceeding 100 class hours. It is difficult for consumers to refund.

Earlier, according to media reports, industry insiders revealed that early education training institutions dissociated from the education management mechanism were mostly registered in the name of education consulting institutions, and carried out education and training in a disguised form after obtaining a business license, resulting in the dilemma of lack of supervision.

Zhao Zhanzhan said that how to prevent this kind of thing is mainly to prevent and solve it in advance. Consumers should understand the refund policy before purchasing training courses. In particular, when consumers want a unilateral refund, whether the training institutions agree, whether the refund is charged, and how much they charge.