Be Alert to the Prepaid Membership Card « My Shanghai That’s Shanghai

Be Alert to the Prepaid Membership Card

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You might have experienced something like this in Shanghai. When you go to a gym, hair salon, spa etc, the staff will always recommend you to apply for the membership card because it offers large discount on the original price.

But it is a prepaid membership card, unlike paying membership fee, it requires the customers to pay a certain amount of cash to be stored for future use.

For example, if you pay 2000RMB at a hair salon, the 2000RMB is stored under your name. Then every time, after your hair cut, the cost will be deducted from the total 2000RMB.

Everything seems OK. It is like a deposit, the return is the discount they offer.

However, what if the gym, hair salon, spa etc is closed for good? How can you get your remaining cash back?

Local news has reported a few cases about this. One of my colleagues has just been one of the unluckies. After joining a gym for a year, she renewed her membership by paying another 2000RMB for a year last month. But she found the gym was closed last week due to the bad economy. She asked the staff how she can get her money back. The staff replied: no idea, they are still looking for the boss for their salaries. They reported to the police, but the possibility to find him is very small.

So how to avoid this? I guess first of all, try not to apply for those pre-paid card. If you really need to join, check the company first before do so, choose the well-known, international company in good credit. Unlike the small local companies, the company has nowhere to hide if there is anything bad happen and it has to go through all the legal process even if they go bankruptcy.

For example, my father used to be the member of Bertelsmann on line (BOL China), which is a German media group. After BOL closed its bookstore nationwide, it refunded all the pre-paid membership fee. My father received about 60RMB left in his account. He always said he feels sorry for Bertelsmann as he still thinks they provide good services.

I don’t know how many companies in China do so when they get in trouble. I really hope companies don’t abuse those pre-paid membership, don’t make it as a trap, or try to bind the customers by asking them to pay in advance instead of providing good services and products.