Zhang Qian

zhqcindy@163.com

THE industry of non-degree training has been developing rapidly in Shenzhen over the past few years, however, whether the quality of the training centers is as reputable as they promote remains doubtful.

According to a document released by the Shenzhen Consumer Council (SCC) yesterday, it received 1,586 complaints against non-degree training centers in the first half of 2017. The figure rose by 39.77 percent compared to the same period last year.

The document summarized that among all of the complaints received by the council, the most represented issues concerned refunds, training quality, propaganda and the qualifications of the training centers.

In particular, over 60 percent of the consumers that filed complaints found negotiating with the training centers for the termination of their contracts and to get refunds difficult and annoying. Some consumers complained that many training centers did not possess the qualified certificates for opening courses and only provided substandard services.

Among all of the training centers that were complained about in the first six months of this year, an online training institution named Sunlands.com received the most complaints. As many as 130 complaints were filed against this training center, and over 100 were related to refund issues.

According to the institution’s portal, it provides non-degree training for various kinds of vocational skills and qualifications, such as qualifications to work as teachers, accountants and human resource managers.

One of the consumers that made complaints against Sunlands.com was a woman surnamed Quan. She registered and paid for an online course May 16, but found that the content of the course was not satisfying and did not meet her expectations.

Quan applied for a refund June 2 but was told that she could not get a full refund because her application had been made more than seven days after she began her course. Nonetheless, the contract with the training institution does not specify a deadline for getting a full refund.

Apart from complaints made against non-degree training institutions, the most-complained-about issues in the first half of 2017 also concerned prepaid consumption, online shopping and financial services.

The SCC has, in total, received 39,648 complaints from consumers over the past six months, an increase of 22.23 percent year on year.