China Consumers Association urges Coolqi Bike to refund deposits

A row of Coolqi Bikes deserted on a street in Beijing on November 17th, 2017.[File Photo: VCG]

China Consumers Association urged the now bankrupt Coolqi Bike in an open letter to return hundreds of millions of yuan in users' deposits on Tuesday.

The letter came following attempts to reach the company failed to get back the 298-yuan deposit. 

In the letter, China Consumers Association demands Coolqi Bike to contact the relevant departments or the association to clarify how the money had been used.

Since the founding of Coolqi Bike on November 18th, 2016, it has accumulated nearly 16 million users and launched over 1.4 million bikes into circulation. 

In August 2017, complaints about Coolqi Bike's failure to refund users' deposits attracted public attention. The company then was accused of closing down refunding channels and making up a false refunding site to mislead users. 

The open letter criticized the company's behavior as irresponsible that violated the country's Consumer Protection Law, the Contract Law and government Guidelines on Encouraging and Standardizing the Development of Internet Rental Bikes. The letter also accused Coolqi Bike of violating consumers' property rights, right to know, right of choice and right of fair trade.

In addition to demanding Coolqi Bike issue an explanation and refund the deposits, China Consumer Association also urged the company leaders to apologize to the public and bear any legal responsibility for its misbehavior.