People's Daily Online, February 7 - The incident of exorbitant overcharging of customers in Sanya, Hainan has not yet subsided, and Gulangyu Island in Xiamen, Fujian has once again exposed the "astronomical bill" incident. This undoubtedly adds much unpleasantness to holiday travel. It seems that how to enhance a city's soft power has become a difficult question for major tourist cities. The reporter reviewed the tourism incidents since 2012 in which Xiamen big food stalls issued "astronomical bills", vendors at the train station extorted tourists, and electronic scales were used to cheat on weight. The reporter calls for merchants to take this as a warning and operate with integrity.
In February 2012, a large food stall issued an "astronomical bill". A group of seven tourists from Suzhou ate a meal at a seafood stall on Nanlu Ring Island Road during the Spring Festival and spent 9560 yuan. Mr. Ding and others from Suzhou described their experience of being overcharged at the big food stall to the reporter. On the second day of the Chinese New Year, they ordered five dishes and one soup, among which there were only three kinds of seafood, and one was even "given by the store." In the end, when they settled the bill, they were charged an astronomical amount of 9560 yuan. Mr. Ding has already complained to the Xiamen Municipal Administration for Industry and Commerce hotline 12315. The shop refunded 3500 yuan in cash to Mr. Ding, and the store has now ceased operations for rectification.
In February 2012, electronic scales were found to be short-changing customers. An electronic scale had seven different settings, and the same weight of items would show different weights on different settings. The Jibei Industrial and Commercial Office, together with the quality supervision department, conducted a surprise inspection of measuring instruments at the Xia Wu market and discovered new methods by which merchants use electronic scales to short-change customers.
When a standard 1000-gram weight was placed on the electronic scale, it should have shown 1000 grams. However, after entering a password and pressing six other "setting" keys sequentially, the electronic scale showed 1005, 1050, 1100, 1150, 1200, 1250, and 1300 grams respectively. This means that if consumers buy 1 kilogram of goods, they may have to pay up to 30% more. During this surprise inspection, a total of 32 electronic scales were inspected, and 2 problematic scales were found. The industrial and commercial department reminds consumers to walk a few more steps and check the weight on nearby fair scales when shopping, so as to avoid significant losses.
In January 2012, vendors at the train station extorted tourists. A tourist posted online that he was stopped by several vendors who wouldn't let him leave because he refused to buy their candy twists. Originally, Mr. Wang and his wife passed by the train station and saw some colorful candy twists on a small stall, so they asked about the price. The vendor told them it was only 5 yuan.
Seeing that Mr. Wang intended to buy, the vendor casually cut off a piece with a knife without even weighing it and directly demanded 77 yuan. This price shocked Mr. Wang. It was too expensive! Siming patrol police officer Fan Zhigang arrived at the scene to mediate, and eventually, Mr. Wang paid 50 yuan for a small piece.