Several platforms have just been heavily fined for "ghost takeout", and "ghost orders" have appeared on the 58.com APP. Recently, some consumers discovered that when they placed an order to repair home appliances on 58.com, two technicians from different companies came to repair their home appliances. There was also an inexplicable extra order on the platform.
Such a terrifying plot actually appeared in real life. Consumer Ms. Shen told The Paper's public interactive platform "ServicePai" that at about 15:30 on the day of the incident, the first master came to the door and charged 839 yuan for repairs. At about 16:15, the second master wearing 58 city uniforms and a work badge came to the door. This master came from the "Bo Zhiheng" company where Ms. Shen placed the order. Later, she found another "ghost order" in the "Rights Protection Complaint Center" of 58.com APP, and the merchant was "Flash Repair Shanghai Main Store".
Consumers manually place orders for "Bozhiheng" on 58.com. Provided by interviewees
Why an extra order? Is the fee charged by a master who comes to your home for the first time reasonable? After Ms. Shen called the police and the case was filed, she complained to the 58 platform. The 58.com platform showed that her complaint was being processed.
Reporters from the Shadow Investigation Team discovered that after clicking "Repair Service" on the 58.com APP, they entered the "Get Quotation" link. Without placing an order, an order was automatically generated forcibly, with an order number and "Merchant has accepted the order" displayed.
A salesperson from 58.com said that merchants who purchase membership packages can enjoy the "order grab" service, and users can automatically generate orders after obtaining quotations.
During the investigation, the reporter also learned that on 58.com, there is a clothing company that specializes in "knitted textiles" and has transformed into a five-star ace repair business on the platform. After receiving orders on the platform, they dispatch them to masters in various places through WeChat and share the orders in proportion.
A salesperson in charge of merchants on the platform even said frankly that the platform will not review whether the maintenance masters have the corresponding maintenance skills. "The platform does not care whether they are competent or incompetent."
Different from "ghost takeaways" that have no stores, the "ghost orders" forcedly generated by 58.com are caused by loose management between some companies and the repairmen who dispatch the orders. There is a lack of maintenance technical standards, charging standards and financial systems. Users have repeatedly complained about being deceived and overcharged, but it is difficult to defend their rights.
In the "Rights Protection Complaint Center" on the platform, another order was found. Provided by interviewees
Placed an order to repair home appliances, but was intercepted by a "ghost order"
Ms. Shen told reporters that at around 2 p.m. on March 31, he placed an order on the 58.com APP to repair a range hood for his parents who lived in Minhang District. After "asking for a quote" on the platform, she placed an order. In her account "My Orders", the service merchant for this order is: Shanghai Bozhiheng Information Technology Co., Ltd., the testing fee is about 60 yuan, and the advance payment is 9.9 yuan.
The warranty document shows that the first-time repairman charged a total of 839 yuan. Provided by interviewees
After paying 9.9 yuan, Ms. Shen received three calls. She said that in the first call, the other party asked for the phone number of the maintenance contact to ensure that there was someone at home; in the second call, it was from another person with a different phone number than the first caller, confirming the address of the home repair; in the third call, the caller and number were different from the previous two calls. The other party claimed to be a maintenance master and would come to the home for repairs at around 4 p.m.
Ms. Shen told her parents that the master would come to the door later and asked them to wait at home. At about 3:30 p.m., a person who claimed to be a maintenance master came to the door. After inspecting the range hood, he said that the "capacitor plate" of the machine was damaged and parts needed to be replaced. The receipt showed that the other party charged 466 yuan for one part, 243 yuan for another part, 80 yuan for labor, and 50 yuan for door-to-door fees, for a total of 839 yuan.
Notification of filing an administrative case. Provided by interviewees
"It became normal after that, (but) my father was not around during the maintenance process." Ms. Shen said that her father paid 839 yuan in cash.
What's strange is that after the maintenance master left, at about 4:15 p.m., a maintenance master who called himself "Bo Zhiheng" from the 58.com platform came to the house. The master was wearing 58.com's clothing and had a work badge.
"My parents thought it was very strange, and there was no way to tell the authenticity from the fake." Ms. Shen said that after the maintenance technician checked, he found that the fault of the range hood had been repaired, but it was suspected that the parts had not been replaced. Subsequently, the maintenance master and Ms. Shen’s parents called the previous maintenance master and asked which company he belonged to, but the other party did not disclose the specific information.
The 58.com platform shows that her appeal is being processed. Provided by interviewees
Therefore, Ms. Shen reported the matter to the customer service of 58.com. She said that customer service advised her to first complain through the platform’s rights protection channel. She found the order dated March 31 in the platform's "Rights Protection Complaint Center" and found two orders, one of which was assigned to "Bozhiheng" and the other to "Shanghai Quick Repair Shanghai Main Store". The order details showed that the merchant of the store was "Shanghai Xinrongye Home Appliance Repair Co., Ltd."
What makes Ms. Shen feel strange is that unlike the "Rights Protection Complaint Center", in the "Order List Page" of "My" in the 58.com APP, on March 31, there was only one order for "Bozhiheng" and no order for "Flash Repair Shanghai Main Store".
Before the reporter placed an order manually, the order was automatically formed in the account. screenshot
Ms. Shen said that she had only placed an order for "Bo Zhiheng" and had never placed repeated orders. She believes the order information may have been leaked.
At around 5 pm on March 31, Ms. Shen called the police at the Xinguang Police Station of the Minhang Public Security Bureau. Ms. Shen said that she hopes to recover the 839 yuan she paid, and also hopes that relevant departments can verify whether there is a risk of information leakage when placing orders on 58.com and whether there are loopholes in the platform. At present, the police have opened an administrative case for investigation.
The reporter actually measured that after entering the quotation inquiry process, an order was automatically generated in the account. screenshot
On April 14, Ms. Shen said that she called the legal representative of Shanghai Xinrongye Home Appliance Repair Co., Ltd. In the call recording, the other party admitted that his company sent a master to repair the problem after receiving the order. However, regarding Ms. Shen’s request for a refund of the maintenance fee, the other party said, “I don’t have the money” and needed to negotiate with the master.
However, Ms. Shen called the maintenance technician many times but failed to get in touch with him.
The reporter from the Shadow Investigation Team subsequently called the person in charge of Xinrongye Home Appliance Repair Company several times. The person in charge of the company hung up the phone before the reporter could explain his purpose. On the same day, the reporter called the maintenance technician who came to Xinrongye. The other party said he did not know Ms. Shen and immediately hung up the phone.
Regarding the problems encountered by Ms. Shen, on the afternoon of April 15, a customer service staff from 58.com responded to reporters. There are two types of maintenance masters on 58.com, one is the "Yellow Pages Master", which is the merchant who has settled in, and the other is the "Selected Master", which is the merchant who has signed a contract with the platform. It depends on which kind of master is involved in Ms. Shen's order. When safeguarding her rights after the sale, the corresponding customer service will handle it.
On April 16, Ms. Shen told reporters that Shanghai Xinrongye Home Appliance Repair Co., Ltd. contacted her again and said it was willing to refund 500 yuan, but she did not accept this solution.
"Kunshan Feixu Clothing" repair shop on the platform. screenshot
Reporter's actual measurement: Just browse and inquire about quotations, and the platform will automatically generate orders forcibly
On the afternoon of April 14, the reporter clicked on "Maintenance Services" on the homepage of the 58.com APP, selected "Door and Window Repair", and then entered the "Get Quotation" page. After clicking "Get Quotation", the reporter entered deepseek's AI quotation link.
At this moment, the reporter received a call from someone claiming to be a staff member of "58 Customer Service", who asked the reporter if he wanted to repair the window.
The reporter questioned how the other party knew the reporter’s phone number, address and maintenance needs after only browsing the page and asking for a quote, but not placing an order. The customer service staff said that after the user browses the page and inquires about the quotation, the platform will automatically form an order, and the reporter's account already has the order number. The other party quoted the starting and ending numbers of the order number.
The reporter opened the 58.com APP again, clicked "My", clicked "My Order", and after entering "Local Service", he found that a numbered order had indeed been formed. The service merchant was "Shanghai Zaoji Housekeeping Service Co., Ltd." and "The merchant has accepted the order" was displayed. The order process was: order reservation - arrange personnel - door-to-door service - service completed. This reporter’s order is currently in the “door-to-door service” stage.
"We are all in the information age now." The customer service staff said that after the order is formed, they will call the user to confirm the address and needs, and then send the order to the nearest maintenance technician, who will contact the user to reconfirm the time of arrival.
When the reporter questioned which merchant received the order and whether it was reliable, the customer service officer said that "Shanghai Zaoji Housekeeping Service Co., Ltd." is a direct-operated store of 58 in the same city. After the master comes to the door, he will give a quotation, "We all have orders on the 58 platform, and we will not cheat you."
When the reporter asked the other party again, if he clicked on multiple links and asked for multiple quotes, would technicians from multiple maintenance companies contact the user? The other party said, "Yes, there may be other masters who will contact you. You should pay attention to your order number. Some are private merchants."
A few minutes after the reporter hung up on the customer service staff, a technician who claimed to be doing door-to-door repairs called and said that he had received an order from the company and wanted to confirm the address and time of the door-to-door repair. On the phone, the other party said again that if the user consults for a quotation on the platform, an order will be automatically formed, and then the customer service and master will communicate with the user on the phone about repair matters.
On the afternoon of April 14, Ms. Shen once again inquired about quotations on the 58.com APP. Like the reporter, her account also generated an order simultaneously. Then she also received a call from the platform’s customer service asking about maintenance matters.
Is it reasonable for the platform to automatically place an order just for asking for a quotation? The customer service staff of the aforementioned 58.com said that they would feed this issue back to the technical department.
The birth of the “Order-Grabbing Artifact”"Ghost order"?
On April 16, the reporter consulted the 58.com platform on the grounds that "there is a home appliance repair company that wants to enter the 58.com platform." A salesperson from the platform said that merchants on the platform are divided into direct-operated stores and yellow page merchants. There are high requirements and thresholds for becoming a directly-operated store. First, it depends on whether the company already has a direct-operated store in the area. If so, it will no longer be able to become a direct-operated store. If not, the platform will assess the company's number of employees, the size of the office space, and the registered capital. Becoming a Yellow Pages merchant is relatively simple, as long as you register on the platform.
The salesperson also said that to become a Yellow Pages merchant, you need to pay a deposit of 1,000 yuan to the platform. There are a variety of membership packages to choose from. The basic package is 5,999 yuan, which allows you to enjoy the platform’s traffic exposure, customer service, store construction and maintenance and other membership rights. Users can place orders directly in the store, or use the store link to call for consultation, and the two parties will negotiate prices and provide services offline. The platform will no longer charge commissions to Yellow Pages merchants. Although direct-operated stores do not require a deposit, they have higher commissions.
In the various package introduction forms sent by the salesperson, the basic package of 5,999 yuan includes: 5 "order grabbing points", 50 "refresh points", 20 "posts", 30 days of "order negotiation assistant", and 2 "video services".
In addition to the basic package, there are also packages of 7,999 yuan and 9,999 yuan, and even packages as high as 37,999 yuan and 69,999 yuan. The higher the price, the more services such as "order grabbing points" and "video services" will be available.
What is a "snatching order"? The form clearly states: The order-grabbing tool can receive clues from customers about investing in 58.com and proactively contact customers.
The salesperson further explained that once a merchant turns on the "Order-Grabbing Artifact" and the user clicks "Get Quotation" on the platform, the merchant can obtain the user's phone number, address and other information. "If you have membership rights, it (is) turned on. (It) is equivalent to a switch. This is a function. If it is not turned on, you cannot get the order." The "order grabbing point" in the package is for merchants to experience it first. After using it, merchants can purchase from the platform again. "An order costs a few dozen yuan. If the order is invalid, the tens of yuan can be refunded...that is, to buy (the user's) phone."
The clothing company transformed into a five-star acerepairMerchant
Regarding 58.com, its companies and maintenance masters, the reporter learned that there are roughly three ways for maintenance masters to join the platform: one is to join the platform as an independent individual and take orders independently; the other is to become a cooperative master of the company and receive orders from the company; the third is to apply to become a direct master of 58.com, with work uniforms and a work badge.
According to the aforementioned salesperson, if an individual master wants to settle in, he only needs to undergo real-name authentication and provide a mobile phone number. The reporter asked whether the platform would review the maintenance skills of the masters, and the other party said bluntly, "No, it doesn't matter. We only promote this job to you. Whether you are able to do it or not, the platform does not care."
The salesperson also admitted that if a company wants to become a Yellow Pages merchant on the platform, it only needs to submit a business license photo and contact information to the platform. After signing a contract with the platform and purchasing membership services, the platform can help merchants build stores and conduct online promotions.
In addition, there is also a direct-operated outlet model, which means you can apply to become an employee of 58.com. On April 20, Master Guo, who is located in the Minhang District branch of Shanghai, told reporters that he had previously applied to become a maintenance employee in the same city of 58. When applying, he reviewed maintenance technology and other aspects. After joining, he was assigned to Minhang District. There were three or four masters in the same area. The network masters like him all wear 58 city work uniforms and hold work licenses for door-to-door repairs. There are different charging standards for different home appliances and different maintenance projects. The charging is completed through the platform and no offline charges are collected. The fee is "50-50", with the platform sharing 50% and the master receiving 50%.
So, what is the relationship between Yellow Pages merchants and maintenance workers? On April 20, the reporter consulted a merchant "Kunshan Feixu Clothing" based in the same city of 58 on the grounds that his family wanted to be affiliated with the company. The staff of the merchant told the reporter that the company can take orders from across the country and allow the reporter's family to directly add the customer service staff's WeChat account. After the profit sharing is determined, if there are orders in the future, the orders will be dispatched on WeChat.
Information about "Kunshan Feixu Clothing" on 58.com shows that the merchant is mainly engaged in air conditioning repair, refrigerator repair, cold storage repair, etc., and currently has "accumulated thousands of services". The store is a five-star store, and 33,000 people have consulted the store. It is the platform's trump card merchant.
The company owned by this merchant is "Kunshan Feixu Clothing Co., Ltd.". As of now, it has been operating on 58.com for 2 years. Industrial and commercial information shows that Kunshan Feixu Clothing Co., Ltd. was established on May 20, 2016, and has three employees in 2023.
What is strange is that the company's registered main business includes "sales of knitted textiles, textile raw materials, clothing, shoes and hats" and no maintenance-related business.
Regarding the technical audit of maintenance workers, the staff of the business said that "there are no audit requirements" and this is "cooperation" between the company and the maintenance workers. At present, the company cooperates with masters in various regions. After receiving the order, it is dispatched to the master in the local area. The master comes to repair and charges for it. The company takes a commission according to the proportion. "Every order is an order."
After the reporter asked if there were stores or offices, the other party said, "We mainly do online business."