Thousands of purchasers will get refund after lobbying business

A video game center in Sanlitun that promoted its business by offering a special discount on a group purchase website has suddenly closed and the website it worked with has promised to return money collected from more than 13,000 netizens.

The center, which closed on Aug 29, had offered game cards for sale through the website nuomi.com on June 25.

As part of the deal, 13,333 netizens paid 43 yuan each for cards that could each be changed into game coins worth 333 yuan.

But, on Aug 29, the Sanlitun center, named Game Park, closed, prompting hundreds of netizens to gather outside to ask for their money back.

Nuomi.com released a statement on Monday saying netizens could make their accounts available to the website before Dec 1 to get money paid back into their online accounts within 24 hours.

However, some netizens said they wanted more than a refund because of the time they had spent on the issue.

"I cannot accept just a refund," said Jing Yuechen, a female Beijing college student. "Can't they compensate my time and the energy I have wasted on this?"

Jing said she had gone to the center several times to check on developments.

She also said the cards initially were supposed to have an open-ended lifespan but that they were subsequently changed to a limited period.

Chen Ying, another woman who was part of the group purchase, said she would be happy with a full refund.

Chen said she contacted customer service staff at nuomi.com on Monday and was promised that her account would be refunded. However, the refunded money can only be spent with the website, she added.

She said she heard the center in Sanlitun was about to close through an e-mail from nuomi.com on Aug 27. It told netizens they would need to use their game cards before Aug 31 or they would have to negotiate with the center's owner.

Zhao Tanbing, senior public relations manager with China Inter Active Corp, the parent company of nuomi.com, said they noticed the game shop had posted a notice on Aug 23 saying it would close on Sept 1.

The notice also said it would reopen after two months, but Zhao said her colleague found out that the lease on the space was set to expire at the end of August and that the premises would be turned into a KTV.

Zhao said the center had received more than 300,000 yuan in payments from nuomi.com but that the website could no longer find its owner.

"We are also an injured party in this affair and we would like to see the group purchase industry have some regulation to protect netizens and our rights," Zhao told METRO.

Qiu Baochang, director of the Consumer Rights Protection Committee within the Beijing Lawyers Association, praised nuomi.com for its attitude but said the website should also bear some responsibility for the way netizens have been treated.

Qiu said netizens did not give money to the center in Sanlitun directly and could therefore ask for a refund and compensation from the website because it accepted their payment.

Qiu said that the group purchase industry is a burgeoning sector in China and warned that websites should find qualified vendors to cooperate with.

"It is necessary for websites to check their cooperators' reliability to protect their rights and the rights of netizens," Qiu said.

China Daily

(China Daily 09/01/2010)