Zhang Qian

zhqcindy@163.com

THE Shenzhen Consumer Council said yesterday that it was in the process of filing a lawsuit against a Qianhai-based parallel imported car dealership that closed down without fulfilling contracts it had signed with consumers.

It will be the first time that the council takes legal actions on behalf of consumers who suffered huge economic losses.

“Previously we supported consumers in filing lawsuits against encroaching companies by helping them hire lawyers, compose documents or provide evidence, but this time we will have a presence in the court, as a proxy, and sue the company,” said Jin Lijuan, the council’s deputy secretary general, at a media conference yesterday.

The council has submitted records of the company’s dishonesty to the city’s online credit system.

As many as 92 complaints were made against the car dealership, Mudelong, as the buyers hadn’t received their cars after paying down payments or full payments to the company last year. Other car buyers didn’t receive import certificates or purchase invoices for their cars, which are required to obtain a license plate for a new car.

The complaints involved different car brands, such as Audi and BMW, with a total value of the involved transactions amounting to 40 million yuan (US$5.8 million). The company shut its doors out of the blue Oct. 24 after getting involved in debt disputes with several other companies.

The company’s legal representative, Cai Zheng, signed a letter of commitment last year at the council’s office, promising that the company would return down payments to car buyers by Jan. 27 and refund full payments by March 15 this year. However, the company never fulfilled its commitment, so the council decided to take legal action against it as the proxy of the victims.

“We will also submit the records of Mudelong’s dishonesty, along with four other enterprises that encroached on consumers’ rights, to the city’s online credit system so that they will be restricted from any commercial activities including bidding for government projects and getting loans from banks,” said Pan Jianshan, another deputy secretary general of the council.

Two e-commerce shops in Longgang District were accused of organizing Ponzi schemes as they suddenly stopped sending out goods that had been purchased by consumers, instead they promised commissions to consumers for inviting new customers to shop on their platforms.

A Shenzhen-based company that failed to return its users’ deposits for rental strollers as it had promised was another blacklisted companies. A gym named Zunshang, shut down overnight and still recruited new members on the day it was deleted from the city’s business registration system.