A woman bamboozled out of 2,000 yuan (315 U.S. dollars) for blackhead removal at a salon has prompted an outcry for better supervision over illegal market activities.
The woman, surnamed Yang, was given a bill charging 20 yuan for each blackhead removed at a beauty parlor in Hangzhou, capital of Zhejiang Province, according to media reports.
The owner of the salon claimed to have removed 100. The bill prompted Yang to file a consumer complaint against the salon, citing a vague advertisement that reads "blackhead removal as cheap as 180 yuan." A beauty session that includes blackhead removal averages 480 yuan in central Beijing, Xinhua reporters found.
Yuan Fabing, an official with the supervising body, said the pricing is too vague and that it violated market rules. "Market pricing must be reasonable, legal and clear, or else there will be many disputes," Yuan said.
An investigation by local supervisors shows that the salon has been operating without a license since Oct. 1. Yuan said the salon has now been ordered to shut down. Miss Yang also got 1,000 yuan back from the salon owner, he said.
The story sent shockwaves through a market already tainted by similar scandals, with many joking about the expensive session online.
"I should be thankful my hairdressers never charged me for the number of hairs they cut from me," said user "ZhongxialidemengLA" on microblog Sina Weibo. "It would be troublesome if I had to buy rice grain by grain in the future," said another Weibo user "qgtwfng".
A spasm of consumer fraud cases have made headlines in China recently. Last week, a restaurant and local officials in the eastern Chinese city of Qingdao were given tough punishments following a pricey prawn scam. According to authorities, a diner ordered a prawn dish marked as 38 yuan on the menu at a seafood restaurant in Qingdao. He was then given a bill for 1,520 yuan because the price was per prawn, a fact stated in small print on the menu.
LOOSE SUPERVISION
Experts say the frequent emergence of such scandals have highlighted loose market supervision in China. A government official in Hangzhou, requesting anonymity, said government officials and law enforcement officers often pass the buck when dealing with disputes in order to to save themselves the trouble.
"Similar market disputes usually involve several government bodies like the administrations for commodity prices and the industrial and commercial bureaus, making handling such disputes very complicated," he said.
Hangzhou's law expert Cheng Xuelin said the process of handling market disputes is usually quite long. Without media attention, the incidents usually go unnoticed. In reaction to the frequent scandals, authorities have issued a spate of measures to regulate illegal market activities, with the China Consumers' Association telling local regulators to deal with consumer complaints properly and blacklist businesses that break the rules.
Authorities in Qingdao also said they would clarify their responsibilities in dealing with similar incidents in the future. While government bodies should increase supervision, credit systems being built across China should be further promoted, according to Wang Xukun, a government official on the rights and interests of consumers in the northeastern city of Harbin. "Only with the introduction of a credit system will businesses truly abide by the law," Wang said.
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