The CCTV "3.15" gala has mentioned the issue of home appliance maintenance for two consecutive years. The reporter found through sorting out relevant reports that this year's "3.15" evening party listed "fictitious faults in home appliance maintenance, major repairs for minor illnesses, and exorbitant prices" as key exposure issues in the field of public safety. In the opinion of the interviewed experts, home appliance maintenance may seem trivial, but it is related to many legitimate rights and interests of consumers, such as the right to know and fair trade. It is necessary to standardize professional behavior, clarify various costs such as parts and repairs, implement audit obligations, and smooth channels for safeguarding rights, so that small home appliances can be used with peace of mind and consumers can be repaired with peace of mind. Zeng Tieshan, a member of the Lawyer Expert Database of the Rule of Law Daily and director of the Executive Committee of Huashang Law Firm, told reporters that some unscrupulous businesses have violated the legitimate rights and interests of consumers by engaging in behaviors such as "minor repairs" and "exorbitant prices". Specifically, one is the infringement of consumers' rights to safety and fair trade. According to the Consumer Rights Protection Law, consumers have the right to personal and property safety not to be harmed when receiving services, as well as the right to fair trade. Consumers have the right to fair trade conditions such as quality assurance, reasonable prices, and correct measurement when receiving services, and have the right to refuse forced trading behavior from operators. ”Zeng Tieshan said that some unscrupulous merchants engage in improper behavior such as "minor repairs" to make consumers pay for unnecessary or even ineffective repair services, causing property losses to consumers; The quality of home appliance maintenance that cannot be guaranteed may pose a potential threat to the personal and property safety of consumers. The second is the infringement of consumers' right to information and independent choice. Maintenance personnel take advantage of information asymmetry, conceal the true charging standards, or add items without authorization during maintenance, forcing consumers to accept high priced services without obtaining real information about maintenance services, and unable to make genuine and independent choices based on knowledge. ”Zeng Tieshan further stated. In the opinion of the interviewed experts, household appliances, especially small appliances, have become "disposable items" that cannot be repaired due to situations such as "out of warranty and breaking", "difficult to repair when broken", and "replacement is better than repair", which will bring many negative impacts. Although the unit price of small household appliances is not high, repeated purchases caused by over warranty can result in consumers spending far more than the price of a durable product, leading to increased hidden costs. ”Professor Su Haopeng from the Law School of the University of International Business and Economics analyzed that sudden damage to commonly used and critical small household appliances can disrupt consumers' daily lives and have a negative impact on their user experience. Over time, this can reduce consumers' trust in manufacturers and brands, leading to a sense of distrust towards the brand and even the entire industry. In addition, frequent elimination of small household appliances can also result in resource waste. ”Zeng Tieshan added that in his opinion, the frequent occurrence of "out of warranty and out of warranty" phenomenon in some small household appliances reflects the short-sighted behavior of the current manufacturing industry. Some manufacturers intentionally reduce the durability of vulnerable parts in product design in pursuit of high turnover, and even set obstacles for maintenance through non removable designs. This not only deprives the product of its long-term use value, but also causes unnecessary loss of social wealth. From a legal logic perspective, this is actually a disguised deprivation of consumers' property rights to use the product. In the interview, Zeng Tieshan mentioned that small household appliances usually contain heavy metals and flame-retardant materials. If a large number of them become "disposable items" and the recycling system cannot keep up, a considerable amount of garbage will be formed, which goes against the current advocacy of green transformation and circular economy concepts. Why do household appliances have situations such as "minor problems requiring major repairs" and "minor problems requiring multiple repairs"? Su Haopeng believes that it is mainly caused by the following reasons. Firstly, consumers lack technical expertise in electrical appliance maintenance, while maintenance companies possess professional knowledge in this area, resulting in information asymmetry between the two; Secondly, some maintenance companies lack integrity and fail to truthfully inform consumers of the fault content, severity, best solution, and reasonable maintenance prices; Thirdly, there is a lack of unified certification for practitioners' qualifications, and the online and offline service providers are mixed; Fourthly, some electrical appliance manufacturers prioritize sales over service, resulting in a severe shrinkage of offline after-sales outlets. This has prompted consumers to turn to third-party repair companies, laying the groundwork for the emergence of problems. In fact, many regions have issued relevant regulations or carried out targeted actions to address issues such as minor repairs and high prices for home appliance maintenance. For example, in 2023, the Beijing Municipal Administration for Market Regulation issued the "Regulations on Clear Pricing of Home Appliance Maintenance Services in Beijing", which stipulates that home appliance maintenance service operators should truthfully introduce relevant price information of maintenance services, respect consumers' right to know and choose, and effectively keep relevant information on proactively informing consumers of on-site fees or special service fees before visiting or providing services. Price fraud shall not be carried out using false or misleading pricing content, pricing methods, or other pricing techniques. Operators who provide home appliance maintenance services through online channels should clearly label prices through text, images, and other means on their web pages. In 2024, the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Commerce, together with relevant departments in the city, studied and formulated the "Summer Breeze -2024 Summer Shanghai Home Appliance Maintenance Market Special Rectification Action Plan". From August 5 to 31 of the same year, it cracked down on problems such as "disease-free repairs" and "minor repairs" in home appliance maintenance services, traced the phone numbers in the community "small advertisements" involved in complaints, comprehensively sorted out the complaint forms of the 12345 citizen service hotline, and severely investigated and dealt with behaviors that violated consumer rights such as false advertising and price fraud. How can we make consumers feel at ease? Su Haopeng suggests that electrical manufacturers, maintenance companies, or third-party platforms can publicly disclose maintenance guidance prices, parts lists, and corresponding prices, and publicize the maximum price and maintenance labor cost standards for commonly used parts, making it easier for consumers to query the guidance prices for parts and maintenance labor costs; A traceable credit evaluation system for maintenance personnel can be established, which includes violations such as "false faults", "minor repairs", and "false reporting of high prices" in the evaluation system; Relevant platforms should fulfill their audit obligations and strictly review the maintenance qualifications of merchants who have joined; The industry can explore the establishment of third-party neutral testing and rapid mediation mechanisms to reduce the cost of consumer rights protection. It is also possible to clarify the need for home appliance design to be easy to disassemble and repair through regulations and other means. At the same time, promote universal and standardized accessories, prohibit enterprises from using accessory monopolies and other methods to hinder subsequent repairs, and solve the problem of 'difficult to repair when broken' from the source. At the same time, we will strengthen the producer's main responsibility and hold accountable products with quality defects such as' out of warranty, out of warranty '. ”Zeng Tieshan said. He further suggested that the convenient maintenance service system should be improved, brand owners should be encouraged to expand official after-sales coverage, support the development of community convenient maintenance points and legitimate chain maintenance institutions, and lower the maintenance threshold. To address issues such as inconvenience in shipping and repairing small household appliances, we will promote models such as freight insurance and nearby quick repairs to effectively reduce consumer repair costs. At the same time, we will leverage the role of industry associations, establish service standards and credit evaluation mechanisms, guide platforms to publicly disclose merchant service reputation, strengthen consumer legal education, enhance consumer identification and rights protection capabilities, and form a good industry ecology of multi-party governance. (New Society)