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UPDATED: March 19, 2010 NO. 12 MARCH 25, 2010
Buyers' Rights
Authorities and consumers grow stronger in fighting for consumer rights
By YIN PUMIN
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LEARNING SELFPROTECTION: Personnel with local industrial and commercial department imparts the methods to identify the genuine products to local citizens in an activity on the International Consumer Rights Day in Juye County, east China's Shandong Province, on March 15 (XINHUA) 

An annual evening program, broadcast live by China Central Television (CCTV) on March 15, showed examples of typical business misconduct occurring during the past year.

March 15 is the International Consumer Rights Day. Every year, CCTV holds 315 Evening Gala to help consumers fight for their rights. This year's program is the 20th since it began in1991.

On the show, therapeutic beds, Hewlett-Packard (HP) laptops, disposable chopsticks, trucks, alkaline water and flat-panel TVs, have been chosen as typical examples of business misconduct.

HP event

HP, the U.S. computer giant, was accused by hundreds of consumers in China because of faulty graphics chips and display screens in its laptops.

On March 5, more than 170 consumers filed a group complaint to the country's product quality control watchdog, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (GAQSIQ). Within five days more than 200 consumers had officially joined the protest group.

By March 10, more than 1,400 consumers had expressed their willingness to take part in the group complaint against HP and more than 80 lawyers offered to help in the case.

The quality watchdog was asked to launch an investigation into the laptops, order the company to return faulty goods or replace them with new ones, and provide compensation. It was also suggested that government issue orders to launch a recall of all faulty computers.

Wang Yufeng, a lawyer at the Yingke Law Firm in Beijing, said the problems with HP's product were down to faulty graphics cards produced by Nvidia, a chipmaker which supplies several PC producers.

In July 2008, Nvidia publicly acknowledged quality problems with graphics cards and announced it was paying PC makers to deal with resulting problems.

"HP has recalled many products in foreign markets since 2003 but it never had in China," Wang said, and he considered that discrimination against Chinese consumers. The lawsuit against HP was also a way of attracting attention from the government and the public because China has yet to have any regulations on computer recalls.

On March 14, GAQSIQ launched an investigation into faulty HP laptops soon after receiving complaints from customers.

The next day, the IT firm, one of the largest in the world, delivered an apology for any inconvenience caused to its consumers due to the quality of its products and services, and pledged to extend the warranty period for certain types of laptops.

"We will listen to what our clients have to say and take immediate action. We will provide them with the best service," Zhang Yongli, Vice President of HP China, said.

HP China has launched an additional customer care plan for its consumers in China who own faulty laptops, with a two-year extension in the warranty period.

"We've made great progress, as Chinese consumers traditionally do not complain. Now by using this joint effort approach, more consumers are aware of their rights," Wang said.

Magic beds and water

Therapeutic beds made by some Chinese companies were also put under the spotlight on CCTV's 315 program.

The companies were accused of swindling the public, especially the elderly, who had back or neck problems.

They provided free trials of their therapeutic vibrating beds and held lectures proclaiming their products were a must-have to cure more than 80 kinds of illnesses.

But those who bought the beds, priced at about 15,000 yuan ($2,197) each, found their pains had become worse.

The beds could cure a range of illnesses but they were "not that magic," medical experts said. Until today, there is no scientific evidence showing therapeutic beds could cure so many kinds of illnesses.

"Their advertising has gone far beyond the actual function of the therapeutic beds. Their activities are a medley of violations of China's consumer rights regulations," CCTV reported.

Another magic product exposed by the program was alkaline water.

The water was boasted by sellers as 100 percent calcium water and having magic effects on reducing blood pressure, getting rid of acne--and even preserving youthfulness by changing people's acidity of constitutions.

Wang Tao, Director of the Department of Nephrology of the Third Hospital of Peking University, said that there was no "acidic constitution" in medical science...and even if some acidic wastes were deposited in the body because of chronic diseases, kidneys and lungs could clean them out and expel them in a short time.

Further, TV manufacturers, including LG and Sony, were accused of offering a two-year warranty period for their products in violation of Chinese regulations stipulating a mandatory three-year period.

The regulations say sellers must obey the rule of Three-Guarantees, namely guarantee of refund, guarantee of product replacement, and guarantee of repair.

A report published by the State Administration for Industry and Commerce on March 15 said that China's industry and commerce departments dealt with 726,626 consumer complaints last year, down 7.3 percent year-on-year, and saved 824 million yuan ($120.64 million) for consumers.

It was the first decrease in five years, the report said, and attributed it to stricter inspections by local quality supervisors and law-enforcement bodies of illegal business practices.



 
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