Recently, a restaurant in Zhengzhou has received likes from netizens for actively refunding customers' advance payments after closing, which is in sharp contrast to the previous situation where some unscrupulous merchants "ran away" once the restaurant closed. However, in order to prevent consumers' prepayments from being wasted after merchants close their stores, relying solely on the merchants' self-awareness may not be enough. "Hard measures" need to be taken to prevent consumers from having difficulty collecting payments. In recent days, in the evening, a long queue has formed at the entrance of a restaurant in Guancheng Hui District, Zhengzhou City. Customers are not waiting for their meals, but waiting for the restaurant's servers to refund the pre deposited "meal fees" one by one. It is reported that after the restaurant closed on October 9th, the owner did not choose to leave, but posted a notice to fully refund the customer's deposit. So far, nearly 500000 yuan has been refunded. This move has been recognized and praised by many customers. Someone took a video of the refund and uploaded it online. For a moment, netizens praised this move one after another. It is the duty of honest management for merchants to quickly refund consumers after closing their stores. However, in real life, some unscrupulous merchants often "run away" once they close their stores, making refunds difficult and slow. Some consumers suffer economic losses and often have lingering fears about recharging prepaid cards. On the afternoon of October 12th, at around 5 pm, Lou Xuelong, the manager of a restaurant in the Hui ethnic district of Guancheng, Zhengzhou, had already moved tables and chairs and sat at the door, counting the cash again when no one was around. As the end of work time approaches, customers who come to refund gradually arrive. After the staff verifies, Lou Xuelong will refund the customers one by one with both cash and cash. This store has been open for 10 years, and it was my first store opened in partnership with a friend. Due to various reasons, it has recently suffered losses, so I had no choice but to close it Lou Xuelong introduced that before the official closure of the store, considering that many customers held membership cards, temporary cards, and had unfinished money in the cards, they posted notices at the entrance of the store asking customers to come and refund their money. If the business can't continue, that's my problem. I can't afford to lose customers Lou Xuelong said that the refund was not a temporary idea. As early as the beginning of the store opening, shareholders signed a contract stipulating the refund method for customers' prepaid fees after the store was closed. This store is a chain store. In addition to this store, he closed two other stores a few years ago. Although the economy was relatively difficult at that time, he refunded the customers' deposit fees in full. The notice stipulates that refunds will be made after 5 pm in the afternoon to facilitate customers to come back for refunds after work, without affecting their normal life. It's okay if some customers are out of town and can't come for a while. We have made our contact information public, and even if they find me many years later, they will still receive refunds Lou Xuelong said. In recent years, prepaid consumption has become a popular way of consumption as it is easy to apply for a card but difficult to refund. As a new consumption model, prepaid consumption has been widely applied and rapidly developed in many industries such as beauty and hairdressing, fitness, catering, entertainment, home decoration, education and training, and commercial retail. But the accompanying consumer disputes continue to increase, becoming a high-risk area for consumer complaints. In January of this year, I recharged my 1000 yuan membership card at a certain hair salon and only had my hair cut once. On the second visit, the barber shop was empty without any prior notice Mr. Wang, a resident of Zhengzhou, stated that there were approximately 50-60 customers like him who eventually recovered most of the amount through collective complaints to relevant departments and multiple contacts with shop owners. A gym employee in Zhengzhou, who declined to be named, said that their affiliated chain gym also had a refund dispute with consumers recently. After the store in the Erqi District closed due to poor management, many people wanted to transfer their member customers to another store, but due to the long distance, many people disagreed. The company was under a lot of pressure to operate, and there were no relevant refund regulations or precedents before, so negotiations took more than 5 months, but consumers have not been refunded yet. According to industry insiders, the main problems with complaints about prepaid consumption currently include: the closure, change, or absconding of card issuers, resulting in consumers having no way to protect their rights; The operator falsely promotes, induces consumers to apply for cards, and fails to fulfill their promises after applying for cards; It is easy to apply for a card but difficult to return it. Operators may not return the balance in the card or delay processing; Some operators, after several changes of ownership, refuse to fulfill their obligations for prepaid cards that were processed before the transfer; Card issuers set unfair format terms, which infringe upon consumer rights. Experts have pointed out that taking "hard measures" to avoid "difficult debt collection" is a complex problem for prepaid merchants to run away and protect their rights, involving multiple factors such as non-standard institutional management, inadequate supervision, and insufficient consumer risk awareness. After closing the store and leaving, there are many merchants like this. "" Membership cards were originally issued based on the principle of mutual benefit, but it was the consumers who were injured after the incident. "Faced with some refund difficulties, consumers find it difficult to provide evidence, mediate, and protect their rights. The cost of protecting their rights is high, and some consumers feel helpless. We can only find the relevant responsible person based on the business entity information provided by consumers. If the information is fed back to the jurisdiction and the responsible person cannot be found due to the cancellation of the business entity, it will be difficult to carry out subsequent processing Zhengzhou 12315 Consumer Complaint Hotline stated that if the complaint cannot find the operating entity, consumers can only seek legal recourse to protect their rights. There is already an information asymmetry between consumers and businesses. The main problem with such incidents at present is the difficulty and high cost of safeguarding rights, and solving this problem cannot rely solely on the conscious efforts of the operating entities Lawyer Zhang Xiong from Hunan Jinhou Law Firm stated that in response to the situation where some merchants have been evading or refusing to handle the matter, consumers can choose to file a lawsuit to protect their rights, but they may also face issues such as multiple procedures, long processing times, and high investment costs. Some consumers are also concerned that once the court intervenes, the assets sold by the bankrupt party will be prioritized for return to employees and suppliers, and even if consumers win the lawsuit, they will still not receive the money. In this regard, the Zhengzhou Consumer Association reminds consumers to be cautious when applying for high prepaid consumption cards, to have a clear prediction of their consumption habits, and to avoid long-term non consumption after card application, which may lead to card refund disputes. Before applying for a fitness prepaid consumption card, one should first experience the facilities and service level of the venue on site, comprehensively consider the qualifications of the operator, the skills and service level of the employees, and try not to apply for the card during the period when the store is not yet open for decoration, in order to avoid consumption risks. Zhang Xiong suggested that relevant management departments should strengthen daily supervision and refine the responsibilities of business entities such as enterprises and merchants. When registering for market access, relevant contingency plans should be made and "hard measures" should be taken to prevent the occurrence of difficult debt collection in the later stage and protect the legitimate rights and interests of consumers. For example, promoting a unified model contract text and improving the supervision system for prepaid funds. (New Society)