Original title: price is opaque, price increases are frequent, authorized stores are difficult to distinguish true from false, and many consumers fall into the trap of mobile phone maintenance - (quotation)

Why is the industry standard of mobile phone maintenance "cold"? Subject

Worker's Daily - Gao Yazhang, reporter of China Industrial Network

"The mobile phone was not repaired and had to pay for dismantling" "At the beginning, the merchants quoted a low price, but they frequently increased the price during the maintenance process" "The more the phone was repaired, the more problems it had, and in the end it was almost scrapped" "The mobile phone was broken again after less than a month of repair, and the shop owner made it clear that there was no warranty"

For a long time, the routine of mobile phone maintenance has been criticized by consumers. Previously, the consumer associations in many places also exposed that mobile phone maintenance is tricky, "no disease, minor disease overhaul", the charging standard is not clear, and problems such as inferior maintenance materials have become common problems in the industry.

How should consumers protect their rights when encountering "price assassins"? How to standardize and improve the mobile phone maintenance industry? The reporter learned that although relevant service specifications have been issued for mobile phone maintenance, most stores have not complied with the standards, and the implementation of industry standards needs further strengthening.

Frequent price increases during maintenance

"At first, the merchants said 380 yuan, but finally they asked 730 yuan." Recalling the experience of repairing mobile phones, Ms. Cheng, a consumer in Hangzhou, was very angry. Due to the damage of the mobile phone screen, Ms. Cheng sent her mobile phone to a mobile phone repair shop on the street for repair.

After checking whether it can be started, the merchant said it can be repaired. "After starting the maintenance, the maintenance technician said a lot of technical terms that I didn't understand at three times the speed of speaking. Finally, she said that the main board of the mobile phone was short circuited, and the maintenance cost was 380 yuan." Ms. Cheng thought the price was acceptable. Then the maintenance technician said that the mobile phone screen was damaged, which cost 350 yuan. "His speed of speaking is too fast. I thought the merchant offered a discount of 30 yuan. Unexpectedly, the final price is 380 plus 350, and it will cost 730 yuan." Ms. Cheng said.

Mr. Yu from Hebei has a similar experience. "At first, the maintenance technician said that the mainboard was damaged and needed 680 yuan for repair, then said that if there was a problem with the cable arrangement, 280 yuan would be added, and then said that the mainboard was too damaged and needed to be replaced at 960 yuan." Mr. Yu did not understand, "Why are there so many ways to repair a mobile phone?"

A practitioner revealed to the reporter that the price of mobile phone maintenance is generally not completely transparent, and different maintenance vendors may have different quotations for the same maintenance project. However, consumers often do not understand the maintenance parts and technology, and it is difficult to judge the rationality of the price. At the same time, some businesses will exaggerate the severity of the mobile phone problem and induce consumers to spend more money.

The economist Pan Helin believes that the many mobile phone maintenance routines are largely caused by the asymmetric information between the trading parties. Maintenance businesses have information advantages, while consumers lack this knowledge. Businesses are in an advantageous position in terms of quotations. Mobile phone maintenance is often a rigid demand, and consumers lack the ability to negotiate prices.

Who is the real official after-sales service?

"I wanted to go to the official after-sales service to repair the mobile phone battery, but I was robbed by a fake shop for more than 1800 yuan." Ms. Hong from Guangzhou told reporters that in February this year, she searched the website for an official mobile phone repair network of a brand, chose the top ranked shop and made an appointment for offline repair. "This store has a customer service reception, the web page is packed like an official after-sales service, the brand logo is clearly visible, the contact number starts at '400', and there is a message prompt for a successful appointment." All signs convince Ms. Hong.

The reporter saw that the appointment message Ms. Hong received not only included the appointment number, appointment time, but also the address, bus route and other information. After Ms. Hong arrived at the store, the merchant said that she needed to disassemble the machine for inspection. After disassembling the machine, she told her that the running chassis was damaged and it would cost 1868 yuan to replace it. "The dealer said that if the chassis was not replaced, it would have to be returned to the factory for repair, which would cost more." Reluctantly, Ms. Hong paid the money. However, she later found that the store was not an official after-sales service.

At the beginning of April, the incident of a woman in Wuhan who was "7000 yuan worth of mobile phone maintenance cost was 14000 yuan" hit the hot search. The woman was also cheated by the fake official after-sales service. Why do fake shops run rampant in the mobile phone maintenance market?

Lu Yun, director of the Consumer Rights Legal Professional Committee of the Beijing Lawyers Association, said that fake official after-sales services attract consumers offline by means of online drainage, which makes their business behavior and services out of platform supervision, and gray transactions, induced consumption and other behaviors may occur. At the same time, if the transaction evidence is not retained, the difficulty of rights protection will increase.

During the visit, the reporter also found that some brands of mobile phones had logos on the signboard of a mobile phone repair shop and claimed to be "xx mobile phone repair center", but the information of the shop could not be found on the official website. In this regard, Lu Yun believes that if the store does not get the brand authorization in the name of the brand's official after-sales service, it can be regarded as a violation.

The implementation of industry standards still needs to be strengthened

According to the reporter's inquiry, as early as 2015, relevant departments issued and implemented the After sales Service Specification for Mobile Communication Terminals (hereinafter referred to as the Service Specification), which clearly stipulates the service quality requirements that mobile communication terminal manufacturers and maintenance organizations should follow when providing after-sales services to consumers.

The Service Specification requires that the maintenance agency shall publicize the authorized maintenance certificate, service quality commitment, source and price list of main accessories, skill qualification certificate of service personnel and other contents in the business place. However, through interviews by journalists and feedback from consumers, most mobile phone repair shops did not publicize the above information.

At the same time, the Service Specification is a recommended industry standard rather than a mandatory standard. "With the rapid development of the mobile phone industry and diversified products, it is difficult to use one standard to regulate all categories of mobile phone maintenance services, which requires that relevant standards should also be updated and revised in a timely manner." Pan Helin said.

"Standards are divided into enterprise standards, local standards, industry standards, national standards, etc. The standard formulation is not a department that can complete. It needs the joint participation of enterprises, standardization institutions, etc. to establish and then promote. This is a systematic process that needs to be gradually improved," said Lu Yun.

Lu Yun suggested that in order to standardize the mobile phone maintenance market, we should first standardize the mobile phone maintenance industry from the source. Mobile phone maintenance shops should let consumers clearly distinguish whether they are officially authorized by the brand or a third party. Secondly, in the process of maintenance, businesses should clearly inform consumers of the price, maintenance content, required accessories, etc. to avoid misunderstanding.

"At the same time, mobile phone repair agreements are often issued by the operator unilaterally, and some of the terms may be unfair, so the content of the agreement should be standardized and reasonable. Consumers should ask more about and understand more before repair, pay attention to retaining evidence when delivering products, and report problems to the business in a timely manner," Lu Yun said.

Pan Helin suggested that consumers should choose a reputable repair shop, preferably the brand side's own after-sales service. In case of disputes, consumers can call the consumer complaint hotline and keep the evidence for further rights protection.