A fee was charged for cleaning the short coat as if it were a long one.
Release Time:
2011-04-20 20:35
Source:
China Consumer News
Recent investigations by reporters in Beijing found that due to the lack of industry standards, some laundries set their own standards to distinguish clothing styles and charge accordingly without informing consumers in advance, leading to many consumers raising doubts.
"I sent one trench coat of the same material for each of us to the laundry. His trench coat is much longer than mine. Mine was charged as a long style, but his was charged as a medium style. This is somewhat unreasonable and confusing," a Beijing resident told reporters recently.
At the beginning of spring season change, people are sending their heavy winter clothes to laundries for cleaning. Recent investigations by reporters in Beijing found that due to the lack of industry standards, some laundries set their own standards to distinguish clothing styles and charge accordingly without informing consumers in advance, leading to many consumers raising doubts.
Consumer Doubts
How is a short coat counted as a long style?
"It was just a short coat slightly past the waist, but the laundry charged me as if it were a long coat after cleaning. If I hadn’t checked the receipt at payment, I would still be in the dark." On March 14, Ms. Fu, a Beijing resident, told reporters about her recent experience at a franchise of Funait Laundry.
Ms. Fu said she has been using this laundry for two years. Because she usually washes many clothes and previously paid with a prepaid laundry card issued by the store, she did not pay attention to the charges. "This time I only washed two pieces, so I checked the receipt." According to the price list posted in the store, dry cleaning a short coat costs 28 yuan, a long coat costs 32 yuan, but her short coat was charged 32 yuan. When Ms. Fu asked the store what standard was used to determine the style of the clothes, the store said there was no standard and it depended on the situation.
In fact, Ms. Fu’s situation is not isolated. Recently, Ms. Wu, a consumer in Beijing, also told reporters that she sent one trench coat of the same material for herself and her husband to the laundry, but the result made her both laugh and cry. "My husband’s trench coat is 20 centimeters longer than mine, but mine was charged 30 yuan as a long style, while my husband’s was charged 20 yuan as a medium style. This is really unreasonable."
In recent days, reporters randomly interviewed some consumers in Beijing who had used laundry services. Many consumers said they had encountered similar situations but did not argue with the stores because the amounts involved were small.
Phenomenon Investigation
Most laundries determine styles by visual inspection
Recently, reporters visited many laundries in Beijing and found that winter clothes such as leather jackets, trench coats, jackets, coats, and down jackets are charged differently based on short, medium, and long styles. Additionally, different materials such as wool, cashmere, felt, and leather have different charging standards. Generally, for the same material, the washing fee for short, medium, and long styles differs by about 3 to 10 yuan per piece.
How do laundries determine clothing styles? Reporters investigated this over several days. "We judge the style of clothes by visual inspection. The classification mainly depends on which part of the body the length of the clothes reaches. If the length exceeds the knees, it is long style; if it does not exceed the knees, it is medium style," said Gu Ronghui, owner of a laundry in Fuchengmen, on March 17. The price list in the store shows that trench coats, cashmere coats, wool coats, and down jackets are charged according to short, medium, and long styles. For trench coats, prices range from 20 to 30 yuan from short to long styles; cashmere coats range from 25 to 45 yuan; wool coats from 25 to 40 yuan; and down jackets from 30 to 40 yuan. The store owner said that currently, there is no national standard for charging based on clothing style or material in the garment washing and dyeing industry, and visual inspection is a common practice in the industry.
Reporters also visited laundries such as Prand Laundry Cuiwei Road store, Rongchang Laundry Shuangjing store, Andingmen Dushi Le Laundry, Fucheng Road Yilvwang Dry Cleaning, and Liangxiang Feilong Laundry Center. Most owners said they determine clothing styles by visual inspection, mainly referencing the waist, hips, and knees of the human body. Clothes not exceeding the waist are short style; those not exceeding the hips or knees are medium style; those exceeding the hips or knees are long style.
The investigation also found that a few laundries distinguish clothing styles by measuring the length of the clothes. The owner of Saipulong Dry Cleaning on Cuiwei Road in Beijing said their store defines clothes shorter than 1 meter as short style, between 1 meter and 1.2 meters as medium style, and longer than 1.2 meters as long style. The owner believes that using length to distinguish clothing styles is fairer. "If the style is determined by the part of the body the clothes reach, shorter customers often pay more for laundry." Staff at Funait Laundry Zengguang Jiayuan store told reporters that according to their standards, clothes shorter than 0.7 meters are short style, between 0.7 and 1 meter are medium style, and over 1 meter are long style.
"Our clothing styles are only divided into long and short, distinguished by the distance from the sleeve cuff to the hem. Over 15 centimeters is long style, less than 15 centimeters is short style. Possibly for convenience in actual operation, some stores have set their own distinguishing standards," said Wang Guohua, Operations Manager of Beijing Funait Laundry Service Co., Ltd., on March 18.
Association's Voice
Will introduce basic reference standards for styles
Reporters learned that currently there is no specific cleaning classification standard for styles and materials in China’s washing and dyeing industry. The GB/T1335-1997 "Clothing Size" standard revised and implemented in 1997 only forms clothing sizes based on human height, chest or waist width, and chest-to-waist drop ratio in the clothing design and production field, without the concept of short, medium, or long styles. The clothing sold on the market is mainly classified by large, medium, and small sizes.
"We have noticed that some laundries have inconsistent standards in determining clothing styles, which has led to some charging disputes. Currently, we are conducting research on this and preparing to introduce a basic reference standard for washing clothing styles within the industry during the 'Twelfth Five-Year Plan' period, to guide the standardization of methods for defining clothing styles." On March 28, Pan Wei, Secretary-General of the Laundry Professional Committee of the China General Chamber of Commerce, told reporters, "If it is difficult to implement the basic reference standard nationwide, we will strive to promote it in some chain franchise enterprises to reduce such consumer disputes."
In addition, Pan Wei stated that the development speed of China's garment industry is currently quite fast. The upstream industry focuses more on fashion pursuit in designing and producing garments, which causes difficulties for related downstream industries in defining clothing styles. "We will also coordinate and communicate with the upstream garment industry, hoping that relevant enterprises will consider the cleaning and maintenance of clothing after sales during garment design and production, which is also an important reflection of protecting consumer rights."
Lawyer's Opinion
Self-Determined Charging Standards Should Be Informed in Advance
During the interview, reporters noticed that most laundries do not inform consumers of self-determined charging standards before cleaning clothes, only explaining when consumers inquire.
"Since there is currently no unified standard for distinguishing clothing styles in the laundry industry, laundries setting their own standards is not illegal, but the premise is that consumers must be fully informed in advance, and the corresponding fees can only be charged with mutual agreement; otherwise, it may infringe on consumers' right to know," said Wang Yajun, a lawyer at Beijing Beiyuan Law Firm, on March 28.
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