Prepaid card firm under investigation
Print Edition
A LOCAL company that produces prepaid shopping cards is being investigated by the central bank after consumers complained that their cards had been rejected by stores.
The Shanghai Consumer Rights Protection Commission said that in recent weeks it has received a large number of complaints about Shanghai Chang-Go Service Co, which issues the “Chang-Go” prepaid card — and has forwarded them to the People’s Bank of China, which supervises the sector.
The Shanghai branch of the central bank said yesterday it has investigated the company before and found “serious irregularities.”
A new investigation into accusations of misappropriated funds is under way, according to the central bank branch.
According to Chang-Go’s website, the prepaid cards can be used in more than 20,000 outlets across Shanghai — including Century Mart, Family Mart, Tesco — and in the provinces of Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shandong and Anhui.
Not valid
Customers, however, reported a different story.
“My mother and I were told that our card wasn’t valid when we tried to use it to pay for things at a supermarket,” local woman Van Wang told Shanghai Daily yesterday.
“We were told the company’s computer system was being upgraded,” she said.
Wang said she accepted the excuse at first, but later became disillusioned when the card was rejected at several other stores.
“I’ve had the card for about two years and still had 10,000 yuan (US$1,600) left on it,” she said. “I want a refund.”
She said that now she can use her cards only at a handful of small convenience stores.
Calls to Shanghai Chang-Go went unanswered yesterday.
A notice on its website, released on December 19, said the company was repairing a system failure, and that the acceptance of cards would resume gradually from December 22.
Several disgruntled customers have tried to get answers from the company’s offices in Hongkou District. Staff there recorded people’s complaints but declined to elaborate on the issue.
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