Abstract:
It can be solved for 5 yuan, but it actually costs 260 yuan. Woodpecker Home Repair, which was once named at the CCTV March 15th Gala, publicly apologized and promised comprehensive rectification, is now once again involved in the "minor repairs" controversy. On November 10, a secret interview video exposed by Henan Radio and Television Station's "Xiaoli Helps" attracted attention. The reporter replaced the battery, turned off the main valve, and found five maintenance masters to come to "repair" the gas stove. Two of the masters were serious and responsible and only charged 30 yuan for the door-to-door fee. The other three masters operated all at once and quoted prices randomly.
Among them, in response to the problem of dead batteries, the Woodpecker platform master came to the door and claimed that the circuit was faulty and the switch assembly was damaged. He quoted a price of 316 yuan and said that there was a discount for old customers, so he would charge 260 yuan.
However, while the reporter was leaving the kitchen, Master Woodpecker secretly changed the battery and revealed to his apprentice that it was just "out of power."
So the reporter went undercover to work as a maintenance apprentice at Woodpecker, and discovered that Woodpecker had set up a set of supervision procedures during publicity, requiring engineers to quote quotations before repairs. There were recordings of the entire process on the platform, but the master told the reporter that as long as he didn't talk nonsense, there would be no big problem.
What is even more surprising is that the maintenance master also taught the apprentice how to falsely report a fault. For example, if the valve did not open, he would say that the pulse was broken. "You know in your heart that there is a problem, so don't have to say it."
While visiting with the old master, the reporter also found that simple problems such as the gas stove battery being dead and the water heater gas valve not being opened were also said to be core component failures, with prices quoted at 258 yuan and 311 yuan respectively.
In this regard, the person in charge of the Woodpecker Home Maintenance outlet directly said, "To be honest, maintenance is a non-standard industry, and the price is not standard. It's up to you..." The person in charge also said frankly, "Actually, it's all the same, and I feel a bit cheated."
Woodpecker has apologized and made corrections many times
On March 14, 2024, Hubei Economic Television's "3·15 We Are in Action" special program exposed the problems of Woodpecker home maintenance such as opaque charging, inflated prices, and major repairs for minor illnesses. According to Jiupai News at the time, a maintenance staff charged a socket that cost about 10 yuan for 268 yuan. After the show was exposed, Woodpecker publicly apologized and said it had dealt with the engineers and outlets involved.
The maintenance technician who just took a reporter (apprentice) to repair the toilet of a housewife said that this customer could repair the toilet at Woodpecker for more than 3,000 yuan a month, and he regretted that he only charged her 260 yuan for this order. Screenshot of Hubei Economic Television’s 2024 report
But just one year later, the 2025 CCTV March 15th Party once again pushed the woodpecker into the spotlight.
CCTV’s undercover investigation found that a maintenance staff claimed that the water inlet valve was faulty because the user did not turn on the faucet, causing the washing machine to fail, and charged more than 100 yuan. Some maintenance personnel claimed that they would charge more than 250 yuan to replace the igniter, but the cost of the accessories mentioned was only about 20 yuan.
What is even more concerning is the training and charging mechanism. After a CCTV reporter entered the platform as a job seeker, he found that the training content covered how to increase maintenance fees and how to deal with consumers' doubts about prices.
Screenshot of CCTV’s 2025 March 15 report
This time, Woodpecker apologized again, acknowledged the responsibility of the platform, and promised to refund disputed orders, strengthen the management of maintenance personnel, and continue to make public rectification and progress.
In August 2025, Woodpecker claimed to have completed rectifications under regulatory guidance. However, according to a survey by Popular News·Dongfeng Finance in March 2026, the number of complaints related to the Black Cat Complaint Platform at that time had reached 13,000, involving issues such as inflated prices, poor maintenance quality, and difficulties in after-sales processing. Some of the previously promised rectification announcements are no longer viewable.
The master said that the platform’s order dispatch is linked to the customer unit price
It is worth noting that Woodpecker’s previously disclosed prospectus shows that platform service order-related revenue accounts for approximately 40% of total order transactions. Whether the high commission ratio is a disguised incentive for maintenance personnel to raise fees has also become a matter of concern to the outside world.
However, this speculation has been very clear in @小丽help’s report. The maintenance master revealed to the "apprentice" that the Woodpecker platform assesses the door-to-door rate and customer unit price. If the standards are not met every day, he will need to go to the branch for business training after get off work. The higher the customer price, the more customers the platform will prioritize.
If minor and major repairs are prohibited on the surface, but in fact the unit price of maintenance personnel is linked to the opportunity to dispatch orders, then the problem points to the assessment mechanism of the platform, which creates an incentive for maintenance personnel to raise their quotations.
So, from 2024 to 2026, from media exposure to public apology and commitment to rectification, to continued exposure, continued apology and commitment to rectification, similar chaos has continued to reappear, and Woodpecker itself should be very clear about the reasons behind it.
What consumers need is honest and reliable repair services with clearly marked prices. But when apologies become a routine and rectification becomes a slogan, then eventually the woodpeckers will be educated by the market.
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