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Recently, the prepaid model has drawn widespread public concerns because more and more business owners failed to carry out their promises, people are questioning the business model and concerning about consumer rights protections, also call for proper regulation. As an expert on consumer rights protection, JAVY’s executive director Ge Youshan Esq. commented on the above issues when interviewed by Beijing Radio Station.

Mr. Ge mentioned that the prepaid model becomes popular due to its convenience and its active role in spurring the economy, however, due to the lack of related regulation, when the business owner fails to provide promised service, it will be very hard for the consumers to protect their rights, even with the intervention of market regulatory administration, the result is not satisfactory for lots of consumers.

As Mr. Ge pointed out, the legislation needs to step up and release laws to regulate the prepaid business model, so the law enforcement agencies will have legal basis for their regulatory actions. Only specific legislation targeting the violations of consumer rights by abusing the prepaid model, can solve the problem once and for all.

However, as for now, how do consumers avoid the risks before proper regulations are in place? As Mr. Ge suggested, the consumers may conduct some basic investigations on the business owner before purchasing the prepaid cards, such as:

l  Whether their business reputation is flawed;

l  Whether there were complaints against them to the local authority;

l  Whether they are on the list of dishonest judgment debtors, etc.

It is also strongly advised that the consumers should carefully examine the details in the pre-pay contract and keep an eye for unfair terms, keep the invoices, as well as transaction records, those may serve as evidence if a litigation is to be filed.

Mr. Ge also suggested that the authority require mandatory registration for business owners which adopt the pre-paid model, and their transactions should be monitored by 3rd party financial institutions, the market supervision and management bureau should also take actions to force the business owners to pay if they have failed to provide promised services to the consumers, so as to maintain proper order in the industry and protect the legal rights of consumers.