Chapter 351: On the Role of the Consumer Association

Zhou Yi has already sought out customer service about twice; of course, he knows his name, contact information, and the like have already been recorded by them.

After all, this is an era of data; there are differences between people, and this is something no one can deny!

Because no matter how hard the "small-town test-takers" work, in the eyes of others, it counts for nothing at all—what does it matter if you have a master's degree!

And he, Zhou Mouren, having been so persistent so many times, is already famous in the internet industry; Fang Dazhuang said before that they had likely already blacklisted his name long ago.

Once you start being persistent, they will definitely just try to coax you.

So, Zhou Yi only left his surname and a different mobile number here.

He said the surname was enough; knowing whether you are male or female and being able to address you is fine.

Why do this? Because he does not want these internet enterprises to treat him differently just because Zhou Yi is a persistent internet celebrity.

Ultimately, this is a problem, and problems must be solved.

"Hello, welcome to Oupian Phone consultation. I am very happy to serve you. Your complete satisfaction is the motivation for our attentive service!"

Zhou Yi looked at the pop-up online customer service reply with an expressionless face, then immediately began sending messages.

"My phone model is... I already sought out your customer service on the third of last month. I don't know if you reported it last time, but why hasn't there been a reply yet, given that it was promised within fifteen working days?"

"How exactly can this Slow Application be stopped?"

As a veteran Keyboard Warrior, Zhou Mouren's typing speed is still top-tier; he sent messages at an extremely fast speed right then, and then he saw a reply from the customer service on the other side.

"Little friend, please don't be anxious. Customer service will do its best to help you."

"May I ask what problem you are encountering while using it, little friend?"

Uh... Zhou Yi used to think this was a normal situation—fast typing on one side, slow typing on the other—but later, after dealing with customer service more often, he realized they all have a set of specialized scripts.

That is to say, no matter how anxious you are or what you have said, they must finish saying the things they are supposed to say, step by step.

So, Zhou Yi directly copied and pasted the words above and sent them over again.

"We are very sorry for the poor experience we have brought you."

"In order to help you more conveniently, please provide your product model."

Zhou Yi was silent for a moment. Ever since he got the system, he has dealt with the customer service of who knows how many companies, but no matter which company's customer service he seeks out, he has the same feeling.

It is as if they simply cannot understand what you are saying, especially when you say you have already provided feedback before; they never know, and they must always go through this process first upon starting.

"Look at what I said above."

"Please, little friend, go to Settings - Application Management... search for Slow Application, enter the application management details page, check the version number, and send the version number over."

It is just that Zhou Yi feels he has sublimated now, which is why he isn't particularly angry; otherwise, he would really feel the fire rising straight up.

I am asking how to uninstall this thing and why you said you would give me a reply before but didn't!

But since it has already started, then let's go through the process one more time.

Finally, after exerting a great deal of effort, the other side sent over a solution.

"We are very sorry for the inconvenience caused to you. In order to help you solve the problem more quickly and effectively, and to provide you with better service, we can arrange for a specialist to reply to you within fifteen working days. May I ask if it is convenient for you to leave your name and contact information?"

Zhou Yi was silent again for a moment, then sent over the screenshot he had already prepared from when he communicated with customer service last time.

The exact same words, not even a single character or punctuation mark had changed...

I'm telling you, I can even guess what your next sentence is going to be now, okay!

Then, the customer service, which had been replying very quickly, suddenly fell silent.

It seemed they had not expected that there was a handsome guy here who had actually screenshotted the entire previous communication record, and had it all ready to send over instantly this time.

After three seconds of silence, the other side sent a sentence.

"We are very sorry for the inconvenience caused to you."

After waiting a moment, the customer service said again: "Little friend, click the version number five times consecutively, and 'Close Slow Application Service' will appear. Click agree, and you can close it."

Zhou Yi still didn't speak, but just sent another screenshot over.

This was also the reply the other party gave last time when he provided feedback to customer service saying it couldn't be uninstalled.

The customer service... the customer service was directly rendered speechless.

Oh no, she still sent one sentence: "We are very sorry for the inconvenience caused to you," but after that, she didn't know what to say.

"I already performed a similar process according to what you said before; it did close at the time, but in later updates, this Slow Application of yours inexplicably started updating itself, and then it started popping up windows again. What I want to know is, how can I completely uninstall it!"

The customer service replied: "After you close it like this, it won't automatically jump again..."

Zhou Yi made a threat: if you can't solve this, I will go find someone who can; I will go complain to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology!

Fifteen minutes later, a call came in from an out-of-town number.

"Hello, may I ask if you are Mr. Zhou? I am a senior customer service representative from Oupian Phone. Regarding the problem you reported, we are now giving you an answer: our Slow Application does not need to be installed, occupies very little memory, and has many advantages..."

"I don't want to know about your advantages or whatever; I just want to know how I can completely uninstall this thing of yours. Did you hear clearly? It is 'completely uninstall,' understand? Not some 'close application service,' I need to uninstall it!" Zhou Yi felt he was almost starting to roar.

If this piece of trash software of yours has so many advantages, why does it need to be forcibly installed by you? And why can't it be uninstalled?

"Mr. Zhou, our Slow Application occupies almost no memory; you only need to close the service..."

"So, can it be uninstalled or not? You only need to tell me yes or no. If not, then forget it."

In the suburbs of the Imperial Capital, inside a customer service center, Chen Jing, who was on the phone, began to rub her face. After being silent for a while, she said: "Mr. Zhou, this belongs to our system software; you don't need it, you can close the service."

"Understood, so it means it can't be uninstalled, right?"

"Mr. Zhou, please calm down. How about I report this to our engineers, and then I'll give you a result later, how about that?"

Zhou Yi laughed coldly: "Another fifteen working days, right? I have already provided feedback several times; every time you say you will give a result, and every time there is no result. Forget it, just wait, this matter isn't over!"

After saying that, Zhou Yi hung up the phone.

On the other side, Chen Jing listened to the busy signal on the phone, speechless. She had encountered another inexplicable customer; she had already told him it would be fine if he just closed it, but he insisted on asking how to uninstall it!

However, the other party had finally made some threatening remarks, so according to procedure, it had to be reported.

Soon, the corresponding content was reported to Supervisor Liu; he was the supervisor of the customer service center.

Looking at those chat records, Supervisor Liu also had a headache. To put it bluntly, this thing was created by the higher-ups to compete with Small Programs and to seize market share from Small Programs, so naturally, the way they went about it was a bit ugly—it was forced.

If users are dissatisfied now and want to uninstall, they certainly can't, and all their Customer Service Department can do is drag things out.

At most, the other party will go to various departments to file complaints, but that doesn't matter; since it was able to be launched on the market, it means it has already passed inspection, and most complaints will likely have no result.

Supervisor Liu thought for a moment and then filed it away; such complaints happen every day, and every day someone threatens to go to the Market Supervision Department or the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology to complain, but there is nothing they can do about it.

Zhou Yi was silent; his life was already fast-paced enough, but encountering something like this still made him a bit irritable, especially in this kind of situation, which was not as blatant as Big Data Price Discrimination.

The matter is very small, so small that in the eyes of most people, it doesn't count as a matter at all.

After all, no matter what, it is only taking up your memory.

Just like many pre-installed apps on mobile phones, do you think mobile phone Manufacturers only rely on selling phones?

That is wrong; pre-installed software on mobile phones is a huge profit project. Your app can be directly pre-installed on the phone, and every person who gets a phone will see it, but if it doesn't pay, it can't do this—would you say this advantage is big or not!

And this belongs to the exclusive advertising of mobile phone Manufacturers!

Now it is not just internet platforms being unscrupulous; mobile phone Manufacturers can also be reckless for the sake of profit.

Still the same saying: according to legal provisions, we have many civil rights, but in daily life, the boundaries of these rights are constantly being infringed upon.

It is just because these rights are, in many cases, of no consequence to us, so we don't really want to be pedantic about them.

So this leads to them being inherently arrogant; they know everything you say, and they are also clear that they shouldn't actually do this, but since there is no lawsuit, there is no judgment, and no one cares, then naturally they can do whatever they want.

After thinking for a while, Zhou Yi dialed Lawyer Fang's phone, explained the problem he had encountered, and finally asked: "How can one find a way to file a Lawsuit for this?"

Lawyer Fang on the other end laughed: "Zhou Yi, everyone says I am a regular at the Court, but I think you are the one; now you think of filing a Lawsuit whenever you encounter anything. Your mindset is a bit off."

"Is it off? Lawyer Fang, you said that when we encounter problems, we can go directly to the Court to file a Lawsuit," Zhou Yi said, a bit puzzled.

Lawyer Fang explained: "I say your mindset is off because for this kind of case, first of all, it is very difficult to prove a Tort, especially difficult. Does occupying memory count as a Tort? Do pop-up windows count as a Tort? How do you calculate the losses caused by the Tort?"

Lawyer Fang's three consecutive questions calmed Zhou Mouren's restless heart.

It seemed so; even if he went to file a Lawsuit, how much money could he make the other party pay? The chances of winning were slim, and basically, it wouldn't make the other party take it seriously.

Referring to previous cases, that is how it is when an individual sues a big Company, except that he previously paid for everyone to sue the other party together.

But this time, it's hard to handle because the mobile phones everyone uses are diverse, and whether a Slow Application really cannot be uninstalled also depends on the situation; just thinking about it feels troublesome.

"Then is there no way? They casually pre-install these things on phones that are completely useless to us, and we don't have any way to deal with it, Lawyer Fang?" Zhou Yi asked curiously.

"Of course not. Actually, for this kind of situation, the best path is not for an individual to file a Lawsuit, but for an organization stipulated by law to initiate a Public Interest Litigation. Yes, I am talking about the Consumer Association!"

When it comes to the consumer field, there are too many problems, especially in recent years, where many collective incidents infringing on consumer rights have appeared.

For incidents involving small amounts of consumer disputes, a considerable number of consumers, after weighing the costs of Legal Aid, are unwilling to seek Legal Aid for various reasons.

In collective consumer incidents such as certain milk powders or problematic capsules, consumers are often weak, have difficulty providing evidence, and consumer Legal Aid often falls into an awkward predicament.

So at this time, a specific organization stipulated by law must stand up and initiate a corresponding Public Interest Litigation!

Zhou Yi's constant frustration has been that individual Lawsuits are really useless against many companies; they don't pay you any mind. Unless it triggers a media storm, it is fundamentally impossible to solve this problem from a high level.

You can sue all you want, through First Instance and Second Instance, and when it's over, they pay you a little money, and that's the end of it.

After that, others continue as usual, doing whatever they should do; they just gamble that not everyone will file a Lawsuit!

The state has regulations for this kind of predicament, which is Public Interest Litigation, but... things have their priorities, right? Only a Consumer Association at or above the provincial level can initiate a Public Interest Litigation, and the Consumer Association is busy too...

"If you go directly to the Consumer Association to apply, then I can tell you that this matter will basically not succeed."

Lawyer Fang's pair of eyes had long since seen through everything.

"Our country's Consumer Association has funding sources from fiscal appropriations and funding support from local Market Supervision Departments. Of course, there are also individual associations that have neither fiscal appropriations nor funding support, relying on social sponsorship and striving for project funding to solve their funding problems."

"And the Consumer Association, of course, has to handle some more urgent matters."

Lawyer Fang introduced it very thoroughly; whether the Consumer Association can handle things depends on the region and the situation.

In some places, the Consumer Association is very effective, with various Public Interest Litigations being filed constantly throughout the year, but because the publicity is not in place, many people don't really know about it.

But in some places... well, let's not talk about that.

Zhou Yi vaguely felt he understood Lawyer Fang's intention: "You mean, let me collect the evidence?"

"Correct, I believe you can understand!"

Zhou Yi understood; just like the things he did before, many times when going to report to the police, the feedback is often very slow, and sometimes there is no result. There is no way around this; police resources are insufficient, and they must prioritize.

So whenever Zhou Yi goes to report to the police, he will find Lawyer Fang to get all the evidence that can be collected ready.

Similarly, the Consumer Association can be handled this way.

I will find all the evidence for you, and then you act as a tool to file the Lawsuit; wouldn't that work?

We don't need anything else, just to make use of your social organization.

It sounds like a loss, after all, this is not something Zhou Yi should be doing.

But Zhou Yi was very satisfied; this is the effect he wanted!

Hanging up the phone, Zhou Yi started thinking about how to do it, and soon he had an idea.

It was still the problem of a single sample from before; that's easy to handle, there are so many people in the Company, but Zhou Yi was hesitating because the system grandson didn't trigger a mission.

Relying solely on his own strength, he could indeed do it, but he couldn't quite sustain it because this matter is burning money.

With this hesitation, three days passed.

To tell the truth, time is truly the mortal enemy of being pedantic; even a District Bully like Zhou Yi felt that his inner anger had dissipated after three days.

On the contrary, the option that often appears has already begun to gain the upper hand: it's nothing more than taking up a bit of memory; current mobile phones are so advanced, updates are so fast, there's no problem, not worth being pedantic about.

Then Zhou Yi planned to go surfing on the internet and habitually opened Zhihu. Recently he liked it here; the brothers here speak very nicely, and that sarcastic tone is comfortable to listen to.

Of course, there are still some high-value replies here, but compared to the past, it's like panning for gold in excrement now.

Then, while flipping through, he discovered a problem: Is a Slow Application a rogue software? Why can't it be deleted?

Opening it, an answer quickly caught his eye; it was an answer from someone claiming to be an architecture engineer, called "Zhong'ai Yisheng".

"The new user ecosystem of Slow Application, no need to download or install, use it as you click, is the current new type of..."

The whole piece was talking about how good and convenient this thing is; anyway, Zhou Yi couldn't keep reading.

Opening the comment section to look again, many people said that it really takes up a lot of memory and is inconvenient, but they were all retorted by the author.

After thinking for a moment, Zhou Yi replied: "You say it doesn't take up memory, but it clearly takes up quite a lot on my phone, and this isn't a question of whether it takes up memory or not, it's a question of our rights being infringed!"

Just as he was engaging in a reasonable Debate, Zhou Yi had just finished watching a video of a young lady cooking, and when he turned back, he saw the other party had replied to him.

"Oh, here comes another one talking to me about Tort. Since you value rights so much, why don't you go file a Lawsuit? The doors of the Court are open. You claim people are taking up memory for no reason; how many phones have you even used?"

"I'm truly speechless. If you love talking about the law so much, then go talk to the phone Manufacturer, why tell me? And 'Tort'—according to you, there are too many Torts in this world. Always going on about 'domestic, domestic'—is the moon rounder abroad? That Four Star over there pre-installs so much software, and a lot of it can't even be deleted; is that a Tort too? Go sue them all!"

"Look at your pathetic follower count; I really can't be bothered to explain it to you."

Zhou Yi looked at these replies, and just at this moment, three choices appeared before him!

Holy crap, it seems I should use alt accounts to provoke these people online more often in the future; so Grandpa System can't stand being slighted either!

A five-thousand-word long chapter, there is one more chapter, I will post it after the tips.

(End of this chapter)