A Chinese consumer complaints website was exposed Wednesday by China Central Television Station (CCTV) for taking money in return for keeping complaints off its website.
According to the program, the website (www.315ts.net) charges its "enterprise partners" an annual service fee of between 120,000 yuan ($17,843.87) and 180,000 yuan ($26,765.79), and in return conceals or shortens the time consumer complaints made against them stay online.
If companies opt for the VIP service called "Brand Direct Path," consumer complaints against them are kept off the website completely, according to the report.
The website can help cut the number of complaints about a "partner" by 60 to 70 percent, Cao Zhiwen, the website operation director, said in CCTV's secretly shot video clip.
According to Cao, the website is under the auspices of the China Electronic Chamber of Commerce, under the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.
The website is designed as a platform not only for consumers to lodge complaints, but also for enterprises to respond to the complaints to improve after-sales service, it said.
After the CCTV report, the website issued a statement on its homepage saying the program manipulated the facts.
"We hope CCTV can release all the video it took with Cao Zhiwen, instead of fabricating news that substitutes one thing for another," it said.
"The website's business operation and complaints management are separate and open. We welcome all kinds of supervision, but we will not tolerate any slander," the statement said.
Established in 2005, 315ts. net now deals with an average 1,500 online complaints every day, which are often used by dozens of Chinese media outlets as sources of news coverage, the website said.
The dispute came amid rising media exposure of fake products ahead of World Consumer Rights Day on March 15. CCTV has recently uncovered a range of counterfeit products from fake wine to "man-made" eggs.
According to the program, the website (www.315ts.net) charges its "enterprise partners" an annual service fee of between 120,000 yuan ($17,843.87) and 180,000 yuan ($26,765.79), and in return conceals or shortens the time consumer complaints made against them stay online.
If companies opt for the VIP service called "Brand Direct Path," consumer complaints against them are kept off the website completely, according to the report.
The website can help cut the number of complaints about a "partner" by 60 to 70 percent, Cao Zhiwen, the website operation director, said in CCTV's secretly shot video clip.
According to Cao, the website is under the auspices of the China Electronic Chamber of Commerce, under the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.
The website is designed as a platform not only for consumers to lodge complaints, but also for enterprises to respond to the complaints to improve after-sales service, it said.
After the CCTV report, the website issued a statement on its homepage saying the program manipulated the facts.
"We hope CCTV can release all the video it took with Cao Zhiwen, instead of fabricating news that substitutes one thing for another," it said.
"The website's business operation and complaints management are separate and open. We welcome all kinds of supervision, but we will not tolerate any slander," the statement said.
Established in 2005, 315ts. net now deals with an average 1,500 online complaints every day, which are often used by dozens of Chinese media outlets as sources of news coverage, the website said.
The dispute came amid rising media exposure of fake products ahead of World Consumer Rights Day on March 15. CCTV has recently uncovered a range of counterfeit products from fake wine to "man-made" eggs.
