Suzhou will put into effect on May 1, 2020 an unconditional refund policy, which provides at least seven-day unconditional refund guarantee for off-line shopping in the city.
As an unprecedented service across the nation, the new policy allows the consumer to get a refund first from a special fund, which has been set up by Suzhou Municipal Government, before the claim for refund is processed by the seller. Suzhou is currently the only city in China to be providing government credit like this.
The unconditional refund policy is applicable to all types of products except the ones that have been included in the negative list as follows.
★ The seven types of products on the negative list:
1. Food and drink made and sold on site and pastry, bread, grain and oil;
2. Bulk food;
3. Gold jewelry and luxuries;
4. Made-to-order products that have no quality problems;
5. Prepackaged food, drink and tobacco products that are close to the sell-by date;
6. Books, newspapers, audio and video products, electronic and digital publications;
7. Traditional Chinese medicine, Western medicine, medicine for animals, medical articles and devices.
★To claim for unconditional refund, the consumer has three options specified below:
1. Take the goods back to the store and negotiate with the seller for a refund;
2. Submit an application via “Suzhou Smart 315 – Online Unconditional Refund Platform”; the platform will review the application and discuss with the seller on how to make payment or use the government fund to do it first;
3. Take or send the goods by post to the service centers or depositories to have the procedure handled by the staff.
The retailer shall return the money to the consumer within 24 hours after receiving the goods and confirming the eligibility.
The off-line unconditional refund policy has gone into effect at all the retailers inside the “Gusu 8:30p.m.” electronic fences in Gusu District on a trial basis and will be gradually spread all over the city.
