Zhang Yang

    nicolezyyy@163.com

    THE city’s consumer council hosted a joint meeting with deputies from industrial associations, entrepreneurs and government officials at the Civic Center in Futian District yesterday — International Day for Protecting Consumers’ Rights — as a step to solicit governmental and social participation against unfair business practices.

    A report released by the council during the meeting revealed the top 10 unfair merchant practices faced by consumers. The list was created by public vote on the top 15 practices most complained against by consumers.

    According to the report, the leaking of personal information topped the list. It was followed by fake discounts, unused pre-paid services and misleading online advertising. Unfair practices in restaurants, the loss or damage of express parcels, substandard beauty products and sudden cancellation of flights were also on the list.

    “Despite our different occupations or social roles, everyone of us is a consumer and we should bear the responsibility of defending consumers’ rights together,” said Chen Biao, vice mayor of Shenzhen.

    Guo Xiangyang, spokesperson for the city’s public security bureau, said the bureau dealt with 1,279 cases in 2015 involving counterfeit products and arrested 2,225 people, with the amount of money involved amounting to 400 million yuan (US$63 million). He added that the bureau settled 346 food safety cases last year, an increase of 61 percent over the previous year.

    The city’s culture, sports and tourism administration said it received 2,463 complaints from tourists last year and managed to recover up to 2.2 million yuan. The administration works closely with tourist authorities in Hong Kong and Macao to deal with complaints against cross-border package tours.

    It’s the second year that the city’s consumer council hosted the joint meeting March 15. Officials from 29 government departments, deputies from 12 industrial associations and representatives from 11 enterprises attended the joint meeting yesterday.

    In one typical case named by the council, a car dealership, Dasheng, was fined 420,000 yuan for overcharging car purchasers a total of 100,000 yuan, who placed orders before 6 p.m. Dec. 29, 2014, when the city government surprised residents by announcing a new car restriction policy that took effect immediately. Under the policy, residents are only permitted to acquire a new vehicle either by lottery or auction. It was the first penalty that the city imposed against unruly car dealers after the policy took effect.

    In another case, two gangs involving 35 suspects were busted in Longgang District last summer for producing and selling fake smartphones with an estimated market value of more than 40 million yuan.

    In August 2014, a consumer filed a complaint with Shenzhen’s quality watchdog, claiming his newly purchased Mercedes Benz G500, which cost him more than 1.6 million yuan, had steering issues. A following investigation found that across China there were more than 700 faulty G500 cars. The German automaker recalled the cars valued at 1.128 billion yuan.

    Nearly 1.3 million complaints were lodged with China’s consumer rights watchdogs in 2015, up 11.1 percent year on year, according to the State Administration for Industry and Commerce.