Views from all parties: Is it reasonable to apply for service charges for holiday repairs?

Recently, the Shanghai Electronic Product Maintenance Service Industry Association has received more than 10 filing reports filed by large-scale appliance repair companies in Shanghai. It is hoped that in the future when home appliances are repaired on national statutory holidays, service fees of 50 to 80 yuan can be added. Maintenance companies believe that the home appliance service industry has to increase service costs in the current situation of rising costs and difficult business operations. During this year's Ching Ming Festival holiday, the reporter dialed the phone number of several maintenance companies that filed for price increases and found that these enterprises had not yet received this service designation fee.

In the face of the rising cost and intense competition in the home appliance market, production and sales companies have never dared to raise prices. However, today's maintenance companies have to raise their prices with great fanfare. How do all parties view it? Will this lead to a collective price increase in appliance repair costs? This reporter conducted a number of visits in this regard.

High maintenance costs are inevitable?

Reporter: There are appliance repair industry sources pointed out that "after 80" appliance repair workers have been very rare, "after 85" almost extinct, Shanghai appliance repair personnel holding rate of less than 20%. There are no successors of maintenance personnel. This is because of the high maintenance costs, low wages of maintenance workers, and high labor intensity. Is maintenance cost rising? Is it really a last resort?

Huang Jianping (Executive Secretary General of Shanghai Electronic Product Maintenance Service Association): In fact, the main purpose of price increases is to shift peak maintenance. Holiday maintenance business is very difficult to calculate, although maintenance companies will arrange for staff to work overtime during the holiday season, but some companies have arranged for overtime workers may not work, and some company arrangements are not enough staff. Price increases can play a role in the peak. Like this year's Spring Festival, all maintenance companies in Shanghai have arranged for overtime, but according to our statistics, one-third of the companies have no business at all, one-third have a small amount of business, and one-third of the companies are completely saturated. In addition, the rights of service personnel should also be protected. They also have the right to take holidays off the holidays. For example, there are no maintenance services during holidays in foreign countries. Moreover, the current high cost of employment, especially on holidays, companies have to give workers three times the usual wages, which is a great pressure for enterprises. The price increase of the company is for products that are not covered by the three-guarantee period of the statutory holidays and are charged with the specified service fees, that is, the fees that the consumers must designate for maintenance on holidays. As an association organization, we require companies to make prior announcements and clearly list prices before prices rise.

Then there is the low income and work hardships of front-line maintenance personnel. I calculate the account for you and know how low the maintenance worker's salary is: The maintenance cost during the warranty period is basically owned by the workers, and repairing a machine can get 25 yuan, and the maximum is 30 yuan; the door-to-door fee outside the warranty period. With the maintenance fees, workers and enterprises have to open forty-six years, and the workers for the replacement parts are not commissioned. On average, the workers run a trip and take up to tens of dollars. The salary composition of maintenance personnel is usually the basic salary, which is the minimum standard salary in Shanghai, plus the maintenance fee. With less money, workers are naturally unwilling to do so, which leads to the lack of successors in the maintenance industry in Shanghai.

Qi Yunshan (Director of Services, China Region, Haier Group): It seems reasonable to have cost pressures to increase prices, but in reality this is to pass the cost to consumers. For the products under the warranty period, we give the maintenance company an average service fee, and there will be rewards during major holidays. For example, every year from the day of the small year to the fifteenth of the first month, the maintenance company will be subsidized. We will invest 7 million yuan only for rewards. For products outside the warranty period, it is entirely possible to add value to each link through the design of the entire process value chain.

Mr. Lu (Beijing Consumer): If a maintenance company asks for additional fees, it can only accept it. After all, working days are impossible to take leave and others to come to the door for maintenance. In fact, it is said that the increase in costs and the hard life are caused by companies passing on part of the price increases to consumers.

Mr. Wang (Shanghai Consumer): I would like to see which brand's maintenance fees are rising. If I really want to charge this fee, then I will not buy this brand of household appliances.

Is there any legal basis for increasing charges?

Our reporter: Is the proposed price increase legal? If prices go up and go up, do companies have the final say? Still need to hold a hearing?

Huang Jianping: The enterprises themselves have pricing power. They come to the association and they only notify the association and file it. The association does not have the right to interfere with the pricing power of the company.

Wu Ziwei (counsellor of Tianjin Sifang Junhui Law Firm): According to the “Price Conduct Rules for Household Appliance Repairs in Shanghai” promulgated in 2002, maintenance companies can set their own prices according to their own company's different levels and conditions, and only need to report to the industry association for filing. Can be implemented. In other words, as long as the maintenance company decides to charge and files with the association, it will be able to charge the maintenance fee for the holiday of home appliances maintenance. In today's market economy, operators are subject to changes in the supply and demand of the market, and they can independently adjust commodity prices and service prices according to market changes. With the current laws of our country on the employment system and the "labor law", "contract law" and other legal provisions to increase the protection of the rights of laborers, the laborer overtime hours, labor compensation, etc. clearly defined, so that enterprises The rapid increase in costs during the process, coupled with factors such as the rise in domestic prices in recent years, has prevented the current cost structure of the maintenance industry from adapting to the current market economy structure, and has led many operators to make adjustments to the price of maintenance services. China's "Price Law" stipulates: "The formulation of prices should conform to the law of value, and the prices of most goods and services should be market-regulated (refer to the prices established by the operators themselves and through market competition). The principle of legality and honesty and credit.” The above provisions reflect the power of the operators to have the right to set their own prices according to market conditions. China has already changed from a planned economy system to a market economy system. In the rapidly rising labor market environment, most of the maintenance industries are in full market competition, except for individual monopoly industries. The autonomy pricing power of enterprises has been fully realized. legal protection. The operator may adjust the price of the maintenance service according to the changes in the market. However, if the price of the maintenance service is agreed in the form of a contract, the price cannot be increased. A legally established contract is legally binding on the parties concerned. The parties shall perform their obligations in accordance with the agreement, and shall not alter or rescind the contract without authorization.

Therefore, the maintenance price standard stipulated in the contract cannot be arbitrarily changed unless the counterparty agrees to the change of the contractual terms. If the operator arbitrarily increases the maintenance price, he will face a great risk of default. More importantly, many consumers will question the integrity of the operators.

Mr. Wang: I think the price increase is an enterprise's own business. As long as it does not involve huge profits, the law will not control. Although it is an ordinary consumer, I also understand this truth. However, many times compliance with the law does not necessarily conform to the laws of the market. The price increase depends not only on the law, but also on the laws of the market and the acceptance of consumers.

Will rising maintenance costs lead to a chain reaction?

Reporter: For Shanghai appliance repair companies to increase fees on holidays, many people still have a concern, that is, the butterfly effect. Will the price of appliance repairs in Shanghai raise the price of the entire industry?

Huang Jianping: No. The cost of repairs is related to the manufacturer. Different manufacturers have different policies for maintenance companies, so they will not trigger simultaneous price increases.

Qi Yunshan: This issue depends on who is from the perspective of starting from the user's point of view should not increase prices. We have no plans to increase prices for the time being.

Gome related person in charge: holiday is the peak season for the sales of home appliances, service volume must be increased more than usual. Compared with the past, labor costs and on-site service transportation costs have also doubled, so the cost of maintenance services is definitely higher than before. However, at present, the increase in service costs due to the increase in labor and transportation costs is still within the scope of Gome. For the rise of uncontrollable cost of the outside world, Gome will not pass it to consumers, but will offset this cost by optimizing the efficiency of internal and industrial chain operations. At present, Gome does not plan to consider charging fees for appliance repair services during the holiday period.

The price increase is not as good as raising the service level to cope with the increase in service cost. The price increase is certainly the easiest way. However, for the maintenance companies, is there really only one way out? If it is only price increases and service quality has not kept pace, can a simple increase in prices save the “do not make money” appliance repair industry? In this regard, representatives of various parties also expressed their views.

Mr. Lu, a consumer in Beijing: It is better to regulate the whole appliance repair market by discussing the designation fees for holidays and holidays. This time the holiday designated fee is added, it can be seen as a "disguised price increase" in the maintenance industry. At present, the cottage appliance maintenance is rampant, the problems of unreasonable charges, poor service attitudes, etc. are prominent. The holiday-designated fee is charged to the consumer, and the expensive maintenance fee is added. It is really unacceptable that only the price increases and the service level does not increase.

Qi Yunshan, Director of Services of the China Region of Haier Group: In fact, there is a lot of room for value-added maintenance, and you can increase the value-added of after-sales services through products and services, and thus profit. First, for spare parts, the spare parts that we give to repairmen are all cost-prices, and they will be sold at a price when they are repaired. As a manufacturer's business, there are profit margins for maintenance companies. Secondly, as a repairer, we should also look for value-added products and services. For example, many outdoor air conditioners for home air conditioners are rusted, and some of them have accidental outdoor unit falls. We have now introduced a new type of aluminum plating. Galvanized shelf, does not rust. Service companies can fully promote this product, so replacing old shelves is also a profitable opportunity. Third, when it comes to repairing home appliances, it can help consumers detect electricity safety conditions and help them improve, which is also profitable. Fourth, improve work efficiency. Previously installed electric water heaters were nailed with 4 nails. We have improved and currently have 2 nails. This will reduce the 20-minute time required to install a water heater. A maintenance worker can install several water filters a day and the installation fee is naturally high. Now. Fifth, we can design extended warranty services for consumers and find value-added services. The key is to think from the consumer's point of view in order to make a good service and gain profits.

Gome related person in charge: From the point of view of the United States, the door-to-door service is not a pure cost-consuming business behavior, but the United States and the United States zero-distance contact with users, collecting real consumer demand contacts, which is the country's many consumer demand collection contacts It is an important one.

Holiday service fees are not the main source of profit for the stores. Gome’s earnings are mainly derived from commodity operations and customer operations. We believe that any business operation of a company is not unilaterally decided by the company. Ultimately, it depends on whether consumers can accept it and whether it can provide consumers with unique value. Under the current environmental background, due to rising oil prices and rising labor costs, some business operations such as after-sales service costs will inevitably rise. This is an objective fact, but companies cannot transfer costs to users. . Therefore, companies must carry out internal innovations. First, how to make better use of on-site service opportunities to communicate with consumers and obtain useful consumption information. The second is how to open up internal and external processes, collaborate with suppliers, improve the operating efficiency of the company itself and the entire industrial chain, and reduce the cost of the industrial chain, so as to effectively offset the cost increase brought about by the environment, and continuously provide consumers with high quality. Cheap products and services.

Wu Ziwei, lawyer of Tianjin Sifang Junhui Law Firm: In today's consumer market, there are many channels for consumers to choose maintenance services. The homogeneity of the market is more serious. Consumers need low-cost and high-quality service providers. . If operators ignore the law of the market, they do not touch the laws and regulations, but blindly raising service prices will cause companies to lose market opportunities.

The reporter’s notes do not dare to try to increase prices, and companies are happy to see them from the perspective of increasing profits. However, in the home appliance industry, no one dares to raise the price rashly. Once prices have not been accepted by consumers, those who take the initiative to raise prices will face the situation abandoned by consumers. Of course, being abandoned by consumers means that they are eliminated by the market. Therefore, even if appliance manufacturers are facing cost pressures, they are often sneaking up and taking advantage of new products. Now in the home appliance industry, the maintenance companies have directly called out the slogan “I want to increase prices”. This seems to many people in the industry, its symbolic significance is far greater than the actual significance.

According to relevant reports, several maintenance companies in Shanghai may begin to implement price increase plans during the Ching Ming Festival this year. However, before the Ching Ming Dynasty, the reporter asked several companies involved in the registration of price increases. As a result, none of them incurred any fees during the Qingming holiday. Of course, the increase in the price of the record, and when the rise is the company's own business, but from the price does not rise during the Ching Ming Festival, maintenance companies want to increase prices is not an easy thing.

There is no doubt that competition in the household appliance manufacturing industry is fierce. It is also true that we dare not rashly say that prices are increasing. Finally, we are arguing that price increases and ultimately forced market pressure to give up are also certain. However, for a special contractor, because it is specified, consumers must repair their home appliances and obtain reliable original accessories. They can only find special contractors, so the competition in this market does not seem to be fierce. Even if the price rises, consumers will have to accept it because they have no choice.

It seems that price increases for appliance repairs are feasible, but in fact it is not so simple. Because there is a manufacturer behind the contractor, the manufacturer will affect the sales of the product because of concern about the increase in the price of its after-sales service, which will affect the price increase strategy of the special maintenance company. Just as consumers have said that there are so many home appliance brands, whoever wants to increase the price of after-sales service fees will not buy any of their products. Therefore, after-sales service price increases also increase the cost of product use.

In the interview, local home appliance manufacturers and sellers all expressed their unwillingness and unwillingness to service holiday holidays. Manufacturers would rather give up their own profits will not let go of price increases. The recent increase in tariffs on LCD panels has increased the cost of TV makers. However, in the face of cost pressures, manufacturers have expressed their own costs and never passed on to consumers. It can be imagined that if the contractor insists on the price hike, the manufacturer will inevitably give it up because the manufacturer has to pay the maintenance cost. The interests of the two companies are very close, and it is not easy for the contractor to increase the price.

In an interview, the reporter found that there is such a company in the list of records - Hualian Jiawei Service Technology Co., Ltd., which is currently one of the largest home appliance repair companies in the country, with special maintenance stations for internationally renowned brands and more than 100 homes. Service outlets, repair brands include Toshiba, Sony, Panasonic, Sharp and so on. It is not difficult to see that this price increase is mainly related to foreign brands. Foreign brands always strive to create high-end images. Do you want to extend the high-end image to after-sales service?

The cost pressure is well-known, but the price increase is something that companies do not dare to try. In the fiercely competitive market, the likes and dislikes of consumers are the compasses. In the face of the thoughtful service of local companies, foreign brands have originally made a difference. If the service prices are further raised, consumers' likes and dislikes do not have to say much.