"One didn’t pay attention, the shared power bank costs me 1,200 yuan a year." Recently, a consumer posted his annual expenditure bill and was surprised to find that the cost of shared power banks was unexpectedly high, which resonated with netizens.
Behind the individual case of spending 1,000 yuan a year, the rising price of shared power banks has become a common phenomenon in recent years. In 2017, the charging standard for shared power banks was still 1 yuan/hour, but now some brands have reached 6 yuan/hour, and the charges have doubled in 7 years.
Shared power banks that can be seen everywhere on the streets of Chengdu
In addition to the increasing price year by year, the service of "increasing the price without increasing the amount" of the shared power bank has also become the target of criticism from consumers. "The charging is extremely slow, and the shared power bank has only been charged by 30% when it is used up." "The power is still weak, and the charging speed cannot keep up with the speed of my electricity use." "It is difficult to return it, and I can’t find the machine to return it after walking a street."
From the original "emergency rescue star" to the current "wallet assassin", how should shared power banks regulate and balance the vitality of the development of the industry and the protection of consumers’ rights and interests? This topic has triggered heated discussions among deputies to the National People’s Congress.
Charging costs 1200 yuan a year.
Shared power bank becomes "wallet assassin" sparks heated debate
According to previous media reports, Wang Liang (a pseudonym) worked in an Internet company in Beijing. Due to the need to visit customers frequently at work, sharing power banks became a "rigid demand" for his life. When he calculated his annual consumption report near the end of the year, he found that he spent as much as 1200 yuan a year on sharing power banks.
According to the content released by Wang Liang Moments, the expenditure of 1200 yuan includes the charging cost of using Meituan, monster charging, street electricity, incoming calls and other platforms. Among them, Meituan power bank expenditure accounts for 70%, and because he forgot to return the power bank twice, he was deducted 99 yuan from the top grid.
The price of shared power banks has risen year by year, causing heated discussions
Also criticized are the service quality of some shared power banks that are "inversely proportional" to their prices. Ms. Zhao, who lives in Hefei, Anhui Province, introduced that when she and her girlfriend went shopping, they could only rent a certain brand of shared power bank because the mobile phone power was in a hurry. But during use, she found that on the one hand, the charging speed of the shared power bank is extremely slow, and only 30% of the electricity is charged in an hour at most.
On the other hand, returning it was also a hassle. That day, Ms. Zhao searched for 4 places and spent 2 hours before finally successfully returning the power bank. During the search process, the shared power bank kept charging, which made her feel very unreasonable.
"When I go out and my phone runs out of power, I often rent a shared power bank. Sometimes I get busy for a few hours and forget to return it and get deducted for more than 20 yuan. I really feel like I’ve been’stabbed ‘."
Wang Xiaomei, a deputy to the National People’s Congress and vice principal of Qingshen Middle School in Meishan City, Sichuan Province, told reporters that she has since bought a portable power bank and carried a charger at any time, so that she does not have to "sit up in a dream" because she forgot to return the shared power bank at night.
Wang Xiaomei, deputy to the National People’s Congress and vice principal of Qingshen Middle School, Meishan City, Sichuan Province
Meng Yuan, a deputy to the National People’s Congress and the head of the Lianxinqiao Co-production Party Member Service Team of Sichuan Electric Power (Guang’an) of the State Grid, also has a deep understanding. She has been distressed after encountering several "top grid deductions". She said that many people around her "were forced to buy several power banks."
High operating costs and equipment depreciation costs, business district entrance fees and end point business sharing… Although some shared power bank operators have publicly shared the operation of power banks and the pressure of cost increases, they are still not acceptable to the public.
On the Black Cat Complaint Platform, after searching for shared power banks, there were as many as 20,000 related complaints, and these complaints focused on the inability to contact customer service, which made it difficult to return, maliciously deducted fees, and still deducted fees after return.
Has the price of power banks risen year by year to form a "seller’s market"?
Suggestion:
Strengthen the supervision of price chaos
Additional charging ports and plugs in public places
Previously, "10 yuan an hour for shared power banks in scenic spots" was once a hot search topic on Weibo, and some netizens found that the charging standards of the same brand of power banks in adjacent stores were also different, and the pricing of shared power banks seemed to be very "arbitrary".
Graph source Fastdata
Fastdata pole data shows that opaque billing and high prices are one of the three major factors affecting user satisfaction with shared power banks.
According to Meng Yuan’s observation, when the shared power bank was first put into the market, the fee was very low, at 1 yuan per hour, and now it has generally risen to 4-6 yuan, and it may even be higher in some occasions such as bus stations, airports, and high-end hotels.
She believes that as mobile phones and other electronic products have been integrated into people’s lives, charging has become a rigid demand, even if the continued rise in prices has caused consumers to complain, they have to use them in emergencies, so shared power banks are generally in the seller’s market.
"At present, the pricing of shared power bank rental services is a market-adjusted price, and its operators generally adopt a scenario pricing model. Driven by specific scenarios and big data pricing strategies, the rental service pricing is carried out according to the city, regional location, consumption scenarios, competition situation, actual market demand and business operation conditions." Zhao Xiaoyan, a lawyer at Sichuan Shanjia Law Firm, believes that the above factors have caused the rising price of shared power banks, and the price in some regions or scenarios is even higher.
A brand shares three adjacent points of the power bank, and the charging standards are different.
She suggested that the market supervision department actively rectify the chaos of excessive pricing of shared power banks and still billing after return, strengthen the supervision of the price of shared power banks, clarify pricing rules, strictly implement clear pricing, and establish a good market price order.
"Resource allocation for public charging ports and plugs should be properly provided in public places such as stations and airports." Wang Xiaomei believes that this measure can reduce the "irreplaceability" of shared power banks and avoid the "monopoly" position of shared power banks from the source.
The charging speed is slow and the battery is still weak.
Suggestion:
Billing by electricity usage
Standardize the quality supervision mechanism of power banks
In July last year, some media randomly rented 5 common brands, different old and new, a total of 10 shared power banks, using the same model and the same power mobile phone to conduct a small-scale street experiment, and concluded that the average time for 10 shared power banks of 5 brands to be fully charged with 20% power consumption is about half an hour.
In the previous Shanxi Evening News survey of 1006 respondents on "how much is the charging efficiency of shared power banks reasonable", 44.4% of the respondents believed that 21% -40% of the half-hour charge was reasonable, and 36.7% of the respondents believed that more than 41% of the half-hour charge was reasonable.
In response to some netizens’ doubts that the operators of shared power banks "deliberately slow down the charging speed, thereby increasing the use time and charging users more fees", Zhao Xiaoyan said that the quality of shared power banks should first meet the national standard of "mobile power cycle life should not be less than 300 times". If it is used repeatedly for more than a certain number of times, it is likely that the phenomenon of slow charging reported by netizens will occur.
Zhao Xiaoyan, lawyer of Sichuan Shanjia Law Firm
She believes that if operators place a batch of shared power banks on the market without effective management, such as failure to count the duration of deployment, the number of cycles, the maximum capacity of the current battery, and the amount of electricity that can be effectively released, it is obviously unscientific and unreasonable to charge according to the price of the new product when renting obviously old and damaged power banks.
Therefore, corresponding norms should be formulated to improve the supervision responsibilities and supervision methods of shared power banks in the leasing process, so as to promote the sustainable and healthy development of the industry.
Meng Yuan, on the other hand, believes that shared power banks should innovate the form of charging, from the "hourly charging" charging rule to the "charging degree".
"For example, like charging new energy vehicles, the electricity bill and charging amount are billed at different times, and the price is clear. Users can also plan the charging amount and cost in advance."
Meng Yuan, deputy to the National People’s Congress and captain of the Sichuan Electric Power (Guang’an) Lianxin Bridge Co-production Party Member Service Team of the State Grid
Meng Yuan said that operators can consider adding a metering device and display screen to the shared power bank, allowing consumers to intuitively see how much power is being charged into the mobile phone, and synchronized price changes are also displayed.
On this basis, she believes that new features can be added, learning the way of self-service gas stations, so that consumers can preset charging costs on mobile phones or power banks, and automatically stop charging and billing when the time comes, thus forming a better user experience and more reasonable consumption form.
Power bank rental is easy to return
Suggestion:
Establish a convenient billing suspension mechanism
Reduce the unit price of billing in rural suburbs and difficult hours for night return
At night, you borrowed a shared power bank but couldn’t find a place to return it, or you found the return point but found that the cabinet was full and could not be returned. Have you ever encountered such a dilemma?
Previously, a Wuhan user sent a video complaining that he spent more than 100 yuan on oil to return the shared power bank. The user said that even if he wasted oil money, he did not want to spend 99 yuan to buy the power bank.
After the heated discussion, many netizens said that they have also encountered situations where the same brand of power bank is incompatible with different return point models; or when the return point is full near the return point, it takes many trips to return it.
"A convenient billing suspension mechanism should be established. Consumers who cannot return the power bank because the return point of the power bank is full should not continue to charge. Consumers buy the power of the power bank, not the time."
Wang Xiaomei believes that manufacturers should add functions to shared power banks, and once consumers stop charging, they should stop charging.
She reminded that under this rule, consumers who borrow shared power banks should remember to return them, and if they do not return them in time, they can also charge a reasonable late fee according to the time.
Previously, it was reported that the man forgot to return the power bank and saved more than 100 in 4 years
Zhao Xiaoyan believes that, in addition to consumers’ own forgetting to return, other reasons such as not finding a return point, operating a shared power bank too late, and closing down, etc., are mostly the problem of operators, and it is unreasonable for consumers to pay for all these problems.
She added that operators should be urged to optimize billing rules, such as: night is obviously a more difficult time to return, and there are also difficulties in returning equipment in suburban counties and other places. In these cases, failure to return can reduce the unit price of billing and reduce the burden on consumers.
Cover news reporter, Yang Ruiwen, photo provided by interviewee
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