Staff's Shock Shared by Customers

More than 1,000 workers were left without jobs after retail giant Best Buy closed its six Shanghai stores Tuesday.

Several dozen staff gathered in front of the company's Xujiahui outlet Tuesday morning, demanding their jobs back or better compensation.

They said they only found out about the closures when they turned up for work.

At the store, staff in their blue uniforms held up placards saying: "Best Buy, I need work. Give my job back."

Best Buy will give jobs to some of the staff that had been laid off because of the closures, Liu Ting, a PR manager with the company, said.

Each employee is expected to get "N+5" months' payment as compensation where N is the number of contract years, according to the company.

Pang Chunyun, a Shanghai lawyer and labor law expert, said negotiations about compensation were a must for both employer and employees. "But it would have been better if the company had informed workers one month earlier," Pang said.

Liu said that about 70 percent of the employees had agreed to terminate their contracts while negotiations were continuing with the others. "We will also give out questionnaires to former employees to find people who still want to work for us," Liu said.

Along with the Shanghai stores in Xujiahui, Zhongshan Park, Super Brand Mall, the First Yaohan, Pudong's Lianyang Square and Xinzhuang, another three branches across the country also closed. But the Shanghai stores would be reopening for a month to deal with outstanding orders, complaints and refunds. Details have yet to be announced but the Xujiahui store is to reopen tomorrow.

The closures also took customers by surprise.

"Best Buy should have stopped sending promotional materials to our mailbox at least two month earlier," said a man surnamed Huang, who arrived with a brochure in his hand planning to buy a fridge at a promotional price.

A notice board at the Xujiahui store stated that although Best Buy stopped retail sales, its customer call center would remain open to answer questions and provide customer assistance.

The future of Best Buy's extended warranty scheme was a matter of concern for some customers.

Chen Haijian said he was worried about the Canon camera he had bought for 15,399 yuan (US$2,340).

"I paid a 4-year insurance fee for the camera as Best Buy is of good reputation and close to my home. If there is no shop here, it will be inconvenient for me to get timely customer service of good quality," Chen said.

Customers were also concerned about settling future disputes arising from any problems that might develop with products they bought from Best Buy.

The city's consumers' watchdog said people should ask Best Buy for refunds as soon as possible if they hadn't yet received their products.

The Shanghai Commission of Consumers' Rights and Interests Protection said they welcomed consumers' complaints if they had any disputes with Best Buy.

"We'll have a talk with the company, trying to reduce the influence on consumers to the minimum," said Zhao Jiaoli, secretary general of the consumers commission.

Zhao said if people encountered any quality problems with products bought at Best Buy, they could also complain to the product manufacturers.