Nowadays, fast services such as online ticket purchase and mobile payment have become the choice of more and more people. However, behind the convenient ticket purchase service, some businesses have made crooked ideas and used technical means to play a variety of "default tie-in" for ticket purchase, and consumption traps emerge one after another. I sorted out why the ticket price is so expensive. I hope I can help you.
Why is the ticket price so expensive
At the same time of ticket purchase, an insurance package is purchased by default. After clicking to change the package type, the traffic insurance offered by the third-party ticket purchase software is 20 yuan, 10 yuan and 5 yuan respectively, and the corresponding "ticket priority value" is marked below the package, while the words "ticket issuing is slow and sometimes queuing" are marked below the "do not buy package".
"Not only 'bundling sales', these fees cannot be refunded when the ticket is refunded." In September this year, Mr. Dong used the third-party ticketing software to buy train tickets from Zhengzhou to Chengdu. The platform charged the fee for "tie-in" services, but when returning the ticket, he found that the fee for these "tie-in" services could not be refunded. "Although it was only a few dozen yuan, it was really wronged." Mr. Dong said in his complaint.
"Such 'bundling and tying' behavior violates consumers' right to know and independent choice." Zhang Honglei, a public welfare lawyer of Yunnan Consumer Association, said that according to the relevant provisions of the law of the people's Republic of China on the protection of consumers' rights and interests, consumers have the right to know the true situation of the goods they buy and use or the services they receive, as well as the right to choose goods or services independently. When using standard terms in business activities, business operators shall draw the attention of consumers in a prominent way. They shall not use standard terms and force transactions with the help of technical means.
In recent years, the media has repeatedly exposed the "default check" and "bundling" behaviors of online tourism enterprises in booking tickets, and repeatedly called for strengthening supervision and safeguarding the legitimate rights and interests of consumers. The China Consumer Association also openly interviewed online tourism enterprises and asked relevant enterprises to make rectification. Among the top ten public opinion hotspots on Consumer Rights Protection released by China Consumer Association this year, the online tourism platform has become the hardest hit area of consumer complaints due to the problem of "bundling and tying".
For some time, through consumer complaints and industry rectification, the services of some third-party ticket purchase platforms have been adjusted and improved accordingly. For example, a few platforms list the so-called "preferential services" for consumers to choose. However, some platforms still seize the forbearance of consumers and carry out "bundle sales".
"It's also a waste of time to complain, especially troublesome." Mr. Gan believes that for the "tie-in" service, the ticket purchase platform should set clear prompts and provide the option to cancel the default check. "Some people may not need these services, order directly without paying attention, spend more money inexplicably, and sometimes they can't find where to cancel these bundled consumption."
The reporter logged in to Tongcheng Yilong and other third-party ticket purchase platforms to try to buy tickets, and found that Mr. Gan encountered the same situation of "bundle tie-in" and "default check-out" of train tickets. For these service fees, most platforms do not have obvious consumption tips.
The reporter then called the customer service telephone of one of the platforms. A customer service said that consumers who purchased services such as "extremely fast ticket issuing" and "high-speed ticket issuing" can only cancel the service by calling the customer service hotline and informing the order number.
Is the acceleration package, friend assistance and VIP useful?
Whether it is better to use acceleration package and upgrade VIP to grab tickets is a kind of "metaphysics". Technically speaking, it is actually to add more nodes and provide faster network speed for you, but if the official moves a little, the software has to take a break. Moreover, the so-called adding nodes can't be seen or touched. How do we know?
Moreover, the network situation is very complex. Even if the acceleration package is used, the result is not guaranteed.
However, when we use these acceleration packages, it is equivalent to jumping in front of the next low-level users. By analogy, users who do not use the acceleration package are squeezed out by users who use the acceleration package, and the fair free competition opportunity becomes available only after the price increase in RMB. With everyone's selfishness and connivance, the merchant acceleration package has become a "software scalper".
Of course, 12306 is constantly improving the platform in order to prevent scalpers. The so-called Tao is as high as a foot, and the devil is as high as a foot. I believe that the official platform should not be used by scalpers. We must buy tickets from formal channels!