Maotai Town Liquor ＂Free Collection＂ Scam： Charging a high ＂delivery fee＂ is actually a payment for goods.
The Beijing News (Reporter Guo Tie) Recently, Mr. Liao, a consumer, saw an advertisement on his mobile phone to send "Moutai" for free. A few days after telling the address, the courier company did deliver the wine to the door, but asked for a "delivery fee" of 198 yuan. "Liquor is free and delivery is very expensive. Is this 198 yuan a drink or a courier?" Mr. Liao can’t help asking questions. In the end, he made a return treatment under the persuasion of his family.
The phenomenon of "free wine delivery" has existed on the Internet for a long time. In order to understand the actual situation, the Beijing News reporter recently received a box of "Chicheng Mingjiang 1983" 53-degree white wine produced by Guizhou Huairen National Liquor Co., Ltd. for free, and was also charged a "delivery fee" of 198 yuan.
The staff of the activists claimed that the quality of their products was not inferior to that of Kweichow Moutai, and the original price of a box was several thousand yuan. At present, it is promoted through "free delivery". However, the national wine industry confirmed to the Beijing News reporter that this product is a low-end product of the company, and the official price is 198 yuan/box. It has also been confirmed that the so-called "delivery fee" is actually the payment collected by the courier company for the activists, and "free wine delivery" is not free. Lawyers pointed out that the above-mentioned "free delivery" behavior has been suspected of fraud.
The courier fee of 198 yuan is actually payment collection
"Warmly celebrate the anniversary celebration of Guizhou national wine industry. In order to quickly occupy market share, all drinkers who see the announcement today can receive a box of white wine for free. Each person is limited to one box, only one day today. " Recently, an advertisement for "receiving 53-degree liquor for free" in Maotai Town popped up on the page browsed by the Beijing News reporter.
The content of the advertisement after clicking shows that the liquor that can be "collected for free" is called "Chicheng Famous Sauce 1983", which is produced in "Maotai Town, the wine capital of 28 degrees north latitude". "Each bottle is made of core puree mixed with wine, and it is made by blending seven rounds of aged aged aged cellar wine with different flavors and ages with three-year base wine, without adding any substance, which is a typical pure grain solid-state fermentation original wine blending."
"Free collection" announcement. Figure/webpage screenshot
At the beginning, middle and end of this advertising page, there is a filling form for receiving wine information. If you want to apply, consumers need to input personal information such as name, phone number and address. And in the middle of the form below, there is a line of "postage and logistics insurance costs themselves" text tips, but did not indicate the specific costs.
"You ordered a wine from our Chicheng famous sauce through your mobile phone. Let me confirm the delivery address with you." The day after the order was placed, the Beijing News reporter received a phone call from Zunyi, Guizhou. When confirming whether the drinks are delivered for free, the other party said, "The drinks are delivered for free, and the logistics charges 198 yuan." The Beijing News reporter immediately questioned the high logistics cost. The other party explained that "this liquor is fragile and valuable, so you will be charged a certain fee."
The staff also said that "Chicheng Famous Sauce is not worse than Maotai (Guizhou), and it can be found on the Internet". "The original price of a bottle is 598 yuan, and a box (6 bottles) is 5,600 yuan (editor’s note: it should be 3,600 yuan). Now is the off-season of drinks, free of charge, to make a publicity. "
A few days later, the courier company sent a box of "Chicheng famous sauce" to the designated place. When the Beijing News reporter asked for a freight invoice of 198 yuan, the courier said that there was no invoice. "The money was my first receipt, and the shipper directly deducted it from the system. We just earned a delivery fee, and your courier fee could not be 198 yuan." The Beijing News reporter noticed that the words "collection amount of 198" were also written on the courier attached to the wine packaging box.
Express delivery of "free collar" liquor. Beijing News reporter Guo Tie photo
The lawyer said that the business behavior was suspected of fraud.
According to the product packaging information, the producer of "Chicheng Famous Sauce 1983" (53 degrees, 500ml) is nominally renhuai city Ethnic Liquor Co., Ltd. (referred to as "Ethnic Liquor"). According to the inquiry of Tianyan, the company and Guizhou National Liquor (Group) Sales Co., Ltd. are brother companies, and the controlling shareholder is Guizhou National Liquor (Group) Co., Ltd. (referred to as "National Liquor Group").
The products displayed by official website, a national liquor group, include Tanzi, Chicheng, Lotus, Nian, Guoyun and Maotai. Among them, "Chicheng" series is divided into "pure grain sealed storage", "private storage", "1983" and other products.
National liquor group. Figure/official website screenshot
Is the price of "Chicheng Famous Sauce 1983" really as high as several thousand yuan a box as mentioned by the staff? On July 17th, the Beijing News reporter learned from the national wine industry as a merchant that "Chicheng Famous Sauce 1983" belongs to the company’s low-end products, and the current official price is 198 yuan/box, which is sold in both first-class and second-class e-commerce. Sales channels include both e-commerce platforms and other marketing methods. The meaning of "1983" has nothing to do with the year of "original wine" and "base wine", but only represents the establishment time of national wine industry. According to the staff of the National Liquor Industry Office, there is indeed a free wine delivery activity in "Chicheng Famous Sauce 1983".
Qiu Baochang, director of Beijing Huijia Law Firm, believes that the above-mentioned free wine delivery behavior of ethnic liquor industry belongs to "selling dog meat by hanging sheep’s head" and is suspected of cooperating with express delivery companies to deceive consumers. In this case, consumers can refuse to pay the so-called courier fee and ask the seller to deliver wine for free. If the seller fails to fulfill his promise, he will be suspected of fraud.
On July 17, the above-mentioned courier company responded to the Beijing News reporter that the commodity fee collection service is relatively normal in the courier industry. If the sender is involved in online fraud, the site courier is generally afraid to participate, and there is little possibility of knowing in advance.
The relevant person in charge of the national wine industry responded to the Beijing News reporter that the "free wine gift" was not a group act. "After preliminary investigation, an agent of the national wine industry took a batch of goods and said it was for promotion. The filing materials in the company were’ logistics fee, insurance fee, labor fee and packaging material fee’. We have to investigate whether the salesman’s expression is not rigorous, or whether the agent deliberately said so (editor’s note: it means that 198 yuan is a logistics fee). "
Was sued by Maotai Group for advertising infringement.
According to the information of official website, the national liquor industry was formerly a national distillery established in 1984. At present, it has 6 brewing bases, more than 600 pits in the core production area of Maotai Town, with a base liquor storage capacity of 60,000 tons and an annual output of 15,000 tons of Maotai-flavor liquor. It has been a OEM for a large state-owned liquor group in China for 13 years and is a strategic partner of Guizhou Commercial Bank in the liquor industry.
It is worth noting that "Maotai Series" liquor of national liquor industry is divided into "Hongmao" and "Jinmao" products, among which "Jinmao" packaging uses a picture of flying ladies which is similar to Feitian Maotai owned by Kweichow Moutai. The prominent position of the official flagship store of national liquor industry in JD.COM reads "Make the second bottle of good wine in Maotai Town", and the meaning of taking advantage of Kweichow Moutai is self-evident.
The "Jinmao" wine of national wine industry. Figure/official website screenshot
In fact, the national liquor industry is not unrelated to Guizhou, China Maotai Distillery (Group) Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Maotai Group"). According to the confirmation of national liquor industry, a large state-owned liquor enterprise that official website called as OEM for 13 years is Maotai Group. Moreover, there is a certain relationship between national liquor industry and Maotai Group. According to Tianyancha, the national liquor industry holds 5% of the shares of Kweichow Moutai Group Health Industry Co., Ltd., and Yang Shunyong, the legal representative, executive director and general manager of the national liquor industry, also serves as a director. Kweichow Moutai Group Health Industry Co., Ltd. is 51% owned by Kweichow Moutai Winery (Group) Health Wine Co., Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Maotai Group.
Atlas of related enterprises. Figure/eye check
However, there are also disputes between the two sides. According to the referee document network, in the past two years, Maotai Group has sued the National Liquor Group for three times on the grounds of intellectual property ownership, infringement and trademark infringement. Although the court ruled that Maotai Group lost the case in the first instance, the "fancy marketing" method of national wine industry also surfaced.
In August, 2017, Maotai Group found that the national liquor industry broadcasted a TV shopping advertisement of "Maotai Town puree wine" on a provincial TV station, and the preferential price given was "6 bottles/box, the original price was 2,388 yuan/box, and the current price was 199 yuan/box". Maotai Group claimed that the national liquor industry used the word "Maotai" prominently in the "Maotai Town puree wine" it produced and sold, and also played the Maotai Wine Bottle by physical advertising of Maotai Group in the video, so it believed that the national liquor industry constituted trademark infringement. However, the court’s first-instance judgment held that the above-mentioned behavior of the national wine industry was only a fair use when introducing the origin of the product, so it did not constitute infringement.
In addition, in January 2019, Jiugui Liquor Co., Ltd. brought Maotai Town Tiandi Renhe Brewing Co., Ltd. (withdrawn in July 2019), which previously held 33% of the shares of National Liquor Group, to court on the grounds of unfair competition disputes.
Beijing News reporter Guo Tie Photography Guo Tie
Image source enterprise official website, Tianyancha screenshot
Editor Li Yan proofreads Liu Baoqing.