More than 1,000 consumers in Changsha never expected that the gym under their noses actually "ran away". This is a fitness center located in a well-known real estate and operated by a professional organization for more than 4 years. Everything looks "reliable". But when they paid a membership fee of about 2 million yuan, the gym owner changed. The gym is still there, but their membership has expired. The boss who originally collected the money actually exposed the "showing off wealth" video and photos of driving a "Ferrari" sports car in the circle of friends.
New Yue fitness boss "Wang Zhongxin" friend circle screenshot The pictures in this article are all provided by the respondents.
The Paper learned from Changsha police that the police station where the gym is located has been involved in the investigation.
The next day, the gym closed.
Mr. Zhao is an owner of Hengda Jiangwan Community, Yuanda Road, Furong District, Changsha City. On April 18, 2019, he set up a membership card of 5,000 yuan in the "Newleap Swimming and Fitness Club" where the community is located (hereinafter referred to as "Newleap Fitness") to meet the needs of his own fitness and children’s learning to swim.
In 2019, Niuyue Fitness Swimming Club was located in Hengda Jiangwan Community, Furong District, Changsha City.
Since the handover of Evergrande Jiangwan in 2015, Niuyue Fitness has been operating in the original sales department of the community, and residents in the community are familiar with it.
According to the materials obtained by The Paper, in May 2015, Changsha Xinfu Real Estate Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Xinfu Real Estate), which is 100% controlled by Evergrande Real Estate Group, leased all its real estate (formerly the sales department of Evergrande Jiangwan) to Hunan Huaya Culture Communication Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Huaya Company) until July 31, 2023. The property has three floors in total, and the contract stipulates that it is not allowed to sublet. However, in May of the same year, Huaya Company transferred the first and second floors to Changsha Niuyue Fitness and Beauty Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Niuyue Company) for operation until May 31, 2023. Subsequently, on the original sales department of Evergrande Jiangwan, two huge iron-framed signboards "Huaya Art School" and "Niuyue Swimming Fitness Club" were erected.
Beginning in April 2019, residents in Evergrande Jiangwan and its surrounding areas found that Niuyue Fitness began to distribute advertising leaflets to recruit members, and news of "Niuyue Fitness" running a membership card appeared among the owners in the surrounding communities.
Many salesmen scattered within one kilometer around Evergrande Jiangwan distribute experience cards for residents to experience in the morning and evening. Subsequently, many residents spent money on cards after the experience. There are many kinds of membership cards, such as one-year, two-year and five-year cards, with personal trainer and without personal trainer. Among them, a four-year comprehensive card with 2200 yuan is the choice of many consumers.
Ms. Xiao got three cards in one breath. In addition to giving herself a five-year comprehensive fitness card, she also got two children swimming cards of 1,600 yuan and 1,800 yuan from Bao Xuehui, with a total consumption of more than 7,000 yuan. "I read the contract (between the gym and Evergrande Property) and said that the contract has been signed for more than four years, which proves that they are reliable and safe. You (the gym) are irresponsible, and Evergrande will also contain you. Evergrande will never run, I think so. " Ms. Xiao said.
Later, the card information obtained by members from the front desk of the gym showed that from April 11, 2019 to November 6, 2019, at least 1,229 consumers had applied for various types of membership cards, with a total amount of at least 1.93 million yuan. Among them, the peak of card processing is mainly before August. By September, the amount of membership card is getting smaller and smaller, and even a "challenge monthly card" of only 518 yuan appears.
Ms. Zhao, the owner of Evergrande Jiangwan, said that she had a 3,000-yuan swimming card in Niuyue Fitness. Under the advertisement, on September 23, 2019, she had a 518-yuan challenge card in Niuyue Fitness. The next day, she went swimming and found that the gym was closed, and "the boss ran away".
Many members introduced that at the end of September last year, Niuyue Fitness closed directly on the grounds of "fire inspection".
This is similar to many fitness service places that run on the road. After that, consumers called the police, called the mayor’s hotline, complained to 315, etc. Then, the gym opened for a short time, so in October and November, four people applied for cards. "Everyone really believes and hopes that this gym will continue." One member said.
However, during the "pretend" business hours, there was no coach in the gym, the swimming pool was not changed and heated, and the tiles at the bottom of the pool fell off, causing many members to be injured. By November, the whole gym was completely quiet.
The gym is still there, and the membership rights are gone.
Members still remember that in September 2019, after calling the police and waiting for the police to come, members surrounded Wang Zhongxin, the head of the gym. "He looks very rich with gold and jade on his hands and neck. But at that time, he kept saying that he had no money and owed the coach’s salary, so the gym could not operate. " Many members introduced.
In September 2019, Wang Zhongxin was surrounded by members to discuss.
The Paper combed the payment information of dozens of members and found that many members paid the money to Wang Zhongxin.
After the gym closed, some members who added Wang Zhongxin, the "boss" of the gym, found that in January 2020, after the running storm was silent, Wang Zhongxin, whose name on WeChat was "Survival of the fittest", "showed off wealth" in the circle of friends. In several videos, he is wearing a gold watch, driving a suspected Ferrari sports car and racing with passionate music.
New Yue Fitness Boss "Wang Zhongxin" friend circle screenshot
In July this year, this gym located in the comprehensive building of Evergrande Jiangwan opened again. It’s just that the signboard on the roof has changed two words, from "Newleap Swimming Fitness Club" to "Guoli Swimming Fitness Club". Previously, members’ cards in "Niuyue" were invalid, and they had to re-apply for cards in order to continue swimming in "National Power".
In 2020, after "running the road", the signboard of "National Fitness Swimming Club" was changed.
In late July, some members’ representatives were called to a meeting in the Jiangwan Community of Evergrande. The members of Evergrande Commercial Management, Guoli Sports and Huaya Company announced that Huaya Company had taken back the gym operated by Niuyue Company and now transferred it to Guoli Sports Company for operation. The original membership rights need to be changed, such as a four-year comprehensive card, which can only be used on September 1 this year, or it can be used voluntarily until December this year. The one-year cards, challenge cards, etc. that have expired before are all invalid. Now there are new charging standards for national strength swimming and fitness, such as 1,280 yuan for a half-year card and 1,888 yuan for an annual card.
On August 24th, The Paper contacted Huaya Company. Xiang Yanhua, the person in charge of the company, said that after renting the whole clubhouse from Evergrande in those years, he entrusted the swimming pools and gymnasiums on the first and second floors to Niuyue Company for operation in addition to education and training on the third floor because he was not qualified to operate the swimming pool. Evergrande knows and acquiesces in this. As of November last year, Niuyue Company had owed Huaya Company more than 600,000 yuan in entrusted management fees, utilities and gas fees. After Huaya Company sued Niuyue Company to Furong District Court, on June 30 this year, Furong Court ordered both parties to terminate the entrustment contract. Therefore, Huaya Company has now taken back the gym and entrusted Guoli Company to operate it.
As for the membership card with a total value of nearly 2 million yuan handled by more than 1,000 consumers in Niuyue Company, Xiang Yanhua said, "You can only go to Niuyue Company, which handled cards for members at that time."
So what is the responsibility of Huaya Company, which cooperates with Newleap? In this regard, I am evasive to Yanhua. However, in the interview, she revealed that Niuyue Swimming Gymnasium has been operating poorly since its establishment. To this end, Huaya Company spent more than 200,000 yuan to buy a boiler to heat the swimming pool; After the coach went on strike in September last year, Huaya also paid the coach a salary of more than 100 thousand yuan in arrears; When the gym was about to have an accident, Huaya found in the office that Wang Zhongxin had issued a new batch of leaflets, and they stopped it.
On August 27th, The Paper contacted Wei Mou, the head of Niuyue Company. Wei said that Niuyue Company had transferred the gym to Wang Zhongxin on April 7, 2019, so Niuyue Company was irresponsible for the rights and interests of its members.
However, when a member applies for a card, the official seal on the service contract and the receipt of payment is clearly stamped with the "Special Financial Seal for Newleap Swimming and Fitness". In this regard, Wei said, "That is Wang Zhongxin’s own radish chapter, which has nothing to do with Niu Yue."
Contract signed between members and NewYork Swimming and Fitness Club
Expert: It should not be an "IQ tax" for consumers to run away with money.
Liu Jiahui, a member of the 315 Lawyers Group of China Consumers Association and a lawyer of Beijing Derun Law Firm, told The Paper that it is easy to "run away" in prepaid consumption. After consumers’ rights and interests are infringed, it is mostly difficult to defend their rights, because it is difficult for individual consumers to spend time and energy on litigation for their losses of one or two thousand yuan, asking for help from 12315 and the Consumers Association, but only mediation is not mandatory, which creates an opportunity for businesses.
Liu Jiahui introduced that in many "running away" incidents, there are frauds. "Taking money away without providing services is a kind of contract fraud. One party to the contract has no intention to perform its obligations at all, or clearly knows that it cannot perform its contractual obligations, but it is a typical feature of contract fraud to defraud one party’s property by signing a contract and not performing or performing a small part of its contractual obligations. "
In addition, Liu Jiahui told The Paper that the consumer bought the fitness card of Niuyue Company and formed a contractual relationship with Niuyue Company. Niuyue Company’s rights and obligations under the contract must be agreed by the consumer. If it is transferred without the consent of the consumer, Niuyue Company will still bear all the responsibilities. If Niuyue Company fails to announce its transfer to consumers, regardless of whether Niuyue Company knows about Wang Zhongxin’s card application in his name, Niuyue will bear the responsibility. Because for consumers, Wang Zhongxin’s behavior is regarded as the behavior of Niuyue Company. Huaya Company, as the entrusting party entrusted by new york Company, takes full responsibility for the liabilities arising from the breach of contract by the entrusted party, Newleap Company.
The Paper noted that in December last year, Guangdong Maoming Intermediate People’s Court upheld the conviction of two gym shareholders for contract fraud. According to the judgment, from November 2017 to September 2018, Maoming Wellman Fitness Club had difficulties in operation and could not make ends meet. The company’s shareholders Zuo Moudong and Li Moufeng still sold their membership cards to the public at ultra-low prices in the name of the company, even though they knew that they would lead to business failure. Finally, more than 12,000 people applied for the cards, with an amount of 5.34 million yuan. However, the funds raised by the club are used for club operation or other expenses, which leads to the failure of members to get the promised return on fitness services, and the arrears of workers’ wages, rent, water and electricity are as high as 400,000 yuan, which has caused great adverse effects.
Many members also reported the behavior of Niuyue Gym and Wang Zhongxin to Ma Po Ling Police Station of Changsha Furong Public Security Bureau. On August 27th, The Paper learned that the Ma Po Ridge Police Station had accepted the case and intervened in the investigation. The relevant person in charge of the institute said that at present, Hunan is cracking down on "prepaid consumption", and the public security organs will actively crack down on such suspected criminal acts.
Ma Po Ling Police Station accepts reports from members.
Wu Wei, secretary general of Hunan Consumer Council, said that there are a lot of prepaid card disputes in the field of consumer services. In March this year, the Committee issued the Investigation Report on the Status of Prepaid Consumer Rights Protection in Hunan Province. 43.6% of the respondents have handled prepaid cards, and 14% of cardholders have experienced rights protection. Among all consumption problems, the proportion of operators "running the road" is as high as 48.2%.
To this end, the Hunan Provincial Market Supervision Bureau launched a special rectification campaign. By the end of July, a total of 41,289 market players were inspected, covering shopping malls, restaurants and other industries, and 9 cases were filed and 8 cases were banned according to law. Hunan will impose joint punishment and credit restraint on "blacklisted" enterprises, investors and senior executives who have closed their doors and "run away" residences, and strengthen the prudent review of market access to achieve "one place is untrustworthy and everywhere is limited". We will maintain a high-pressure situation on illegal prepaid consumption, and resolutely crack down on illegal activities such as hiding money, malicious infringement and fraud.
Liu Junhai, director of the Institute of Commercial Law of Renmin University of China and vice president of China Consumers Association, said that in view of the problems in prepaid card consumption, on the one hand, it is necessary to improve the system design, such as establishing prepaid card amount, filing and approval, third-party depository and other systems; on the other hand, market supervision departments and public security organs should work together to eliminate regulatory blind spots and regulatory vacuum and jointly rectify them.
Liu Junhai told The Paper that businesses running away should not be paid by consumers ‘ IQ tax ’ . The negative effect of running away from the road is great, because a mouse excrement has broken a pot of soup, which affects the construction of the integrity system of the whole market economy. "The level of integrity depends on the lowest board. At present, the market supervision department is out of order, but regulators should not fail. They should stand up and do justice for heaven and make good use of the powers entrusted by law."
