Chapter 412: Arriving Here Is Just Like Coming Home

Fitness gyms, beauty salons, and hair salons are known as the establishments with the highest probability of running away.

But in fact, as long as it involves prepaid fees, it is prone to running away; this is not something that can be determined by how airtight your contract is.

Now, seeing from the Property Management that the other party has already run away, some people are starting to get cold feet, while others are shouting to force the door open and divide up the things inside among themselves.

Others are suggesting going to other branches, everyone pulling banners together or something, to make it impossible for them to continue doing business.

To be honest, this method sounds a bit satisfying, but Zhou Yi does not intend to do that.

To put it bluntly, this is a method of last resort; if the other party calls the police later, they will truly lose their standing even if they were in the right.

Is it fair? Of course it isn't fair; others can break the law unscrupulously without anyone bothering them, yet we are in the wrong the moment we do something.

Ultimately, it is a question of the cost of breaking the law.

But he cannot persuade these people right now, nor does he want to; everyone has their own ideas, and who is he, Zhou Yi, to tell them what to do?

So he can only call over a few neighbors who look like they can be persuaded, such as this Shizi next to him.

"Brother Zhou, you mean we should go to the police first, then go to the Market Supervision Department, right? But is that useful?" Shizi asked with a look of doubt on his face.

Seeing that Zhou Yi did not quite understand, Shizi rubbed his bald head, looked at the world outside, and then said: "To tell you the truth, brother, this fitness gym is the fifth one I've experienced that has run away..."

What the hell? Hearing this man's words, Zhou Yi was stunned.

The fifth one... I knew it, this damn running away definitely has nothing to do with me!

But what on earth has this man experienced...

"I've been working out for many years, and honestly, I've never seen a fitness gym that can last long. And I find it very strange; every time I think I've vetted it well enough and can buy an annual membership, it runs away."

Shizi said this with a look of melancholy on his face.

Zhou Yi suddenly realized; no wonder this man didn't even need to look when he saw the door locked to know the gym had run away—it was a case of long-term illness making one a good doctor.

Out of curiosity, Zhou Yi asked: "Then how did you all protect your rights in the past?"

Shizi shook his bald head: "How else? Everyone says they want to do this or that, but in the end, they just want to wait for someone else to step up, and so no one ends up organizing anything."

"We called the police, and they said it was an economic dispute and refused to file a case. Then we went to the Market Supervision Department, and they said they couldn't enforce it either and suggested we take legal action. Calling the citizen hotline just meant waiting, and after waiting for two years..."

"At the time, before they ran away, they all held promotions, and annual memberships were dirt cheap, just over a thousand yuan. People weren't willing to file a lawsuit over that, and we couldn't find the boss, so in the end, it just fizzled out."

Zhou Yi nodded; this was indeed understandable. In a situation where the person cannot be found, the service of process becomes a Notice of Service by Public Announcement, and the already long litigation period becomes even longer.

Because a Notice of Service by Public Announcement requires sixty days.

Moreover, if you can't find the person, you face the problem of difficulty in execution. The fitness gym itself owes money, so what assets could there be to execute?

"If the boss is the legal representative, wouldn't he be subject to Limited High Consumption? And, if there is a real Compulsory Execution, even if you can't find the person, you can go after his assets, right? Could it be that because of the money prepaid to the fitness gym, the boss is prepared to abandon everything and become a deadbeat?"

Shizi said: "It's hard, really hard. I also filed a lawsuit when the fourth fitness gym boss ran away, and then we found out that the gym had changed its legal representative half a year earlier."

"We never saw the person who replaced them, but since they were willing to take over and be the scapegoat, it meant they had already prepared for this. So in the end, with no executable assets, the Court stopped the execution."

Ah, this... they can play it this cleverly? Zhou Yi knew what "stopped the execution" meant; it was the Termination of Execution Procedure because no executable assets were found for the time being.

It's just that this group of people is playing too well, right? Why does it feel like they are exploiting loopholes?

They collect the prepaid money, then take the money through some methods, handle a change of legal representative—that is, change the boss—and no longer participate in the operation of the fitness gym themselves.

As for the fitness gym itself, the rent is usually paid for a year anyway, and there's no need to worry about water and electricity; the only things are wages and equipment.

They secretly move the equipment away or transfer it to another fitness gym. As for wages, they are usually paid, but a few fitness gyms will directly default on wages.

"Then after a period of time, when the heat dies down, they open another fitness gym and play the same game, or open a beauty salon or something; anyway, they always make people buy memberships first..." Shizi couldn't help but shake his head when he said this.

In this day and age, shrewd people are everywhere.

Zhou Yi is truly shocked now. He doesn't pay much attention to these things in his daily life, but now he finds that it feels like these people treat fitness gyms as an industry for collecting money!

If you go the legal route, calling the police is useless; as soon as you mention it, it's an economic dispute.

"This brother, we haven't investigated this yet, so for the time being, it shouldn't have reached that level. So my suggestion is that we should take some measures first."

Zhou Yi thought for a moment and said.

People shouldn't scare themselves; just because Shizi encountered such a situation before doesn't mean this time is the same.

"How about this, I'll find someone to ask first."

Fang Dazhuang is the best choice, but after calling several times, Fang Dazhuang was on another call, so he could only find someone else first.

With one phone call, Zhou Yi dialed Huo Pengfei.

"Oh, President Zhou, what's wrong? Is there something you need?" Huo Pengfei's voice rang out.

"It's like this, Pengfei, I signed up for a fitness gym before, yes, yes, the one I signed up for with Chu Lan. Hey, don't interrupt, now the boss of this fitness gym might have run away..."

After explaining the general situation, Huo Pengfei's voice rang out.

"I already know, President Zhou, but the situation is not very clear right now, so I can't give any particularly good advice. However, for this kind of case, you still have to take measures as early as possible. I suggest you can go to the police first."

"Listen to me, President Zhou, whether calling the police is useful or not, you definitely have to go through this procedure first. Just wait until the Public Security Bureau issues you a Notice of Non-filing."

"Then you go to the Market Supervision Department. You said before that they couldn't force a refund either, and that is indeed the case. If the other party knows a little bit about the law, it's definitely hard to find problems in the procedure."

"But I suggest that you get more people to report the situation, and by the way, check if that Qiji Fitness has undergone a change of legal representative. If not, then everything is fine; with so many of you reporting the problem, the Market Supervision Department will contact the other party to conduct Mediation."

"And if the other party cannot be contacted, the Market Supervision Department can list them on the List of Abnormal Operations. With this, at the very least, this fitness gym cannot be deregistered for the time being."

"This is the ideal situation, where the boss is still the same boss. But if the other party is indeed as you said, and has already changed the legal representative, and that person can be contacted, then find that person first!"

"I can help you apply for Property Preservation first..."

Huo Pengfei is still Huo Pengfei; his level is praised by Fang Dazhuang. With only partial information, he has already given appropriate advice.

And they are all actionable.

Zhou Yi nodded; for the time being, this is all they can do.

He told everyone the information he had consulted, and then the first step was to go to the police.

Guangming Peak Residential Quarter belongs to the jurisdiction of the Guangming Road Police Station, so they must go to the Guangming Road Police Station.

There is no other way; although it only takes ten minutes to drive from the Small Residential District to the Company, they indeed belong to different jurisdictions.

The Yuefu Residential Quarter, which is further away from the Company, is in the same jurisdiction as the Company, which is quite magical...

It was one thing to go to Property Management to check, as everyone was still willing to go, but once they ran over to the Police Station, many people dropped out of the group.

Therefore, when they arrived at the Guangming Road Police Station, there were only seven or eight people left.

The membership of this gym was certainly not just this many; most other people either simply didn't know about the situation, or they knew but didn't want to go.

This is not strange at all; you, yes you, you only went once after getting a gym membership, didn't you?

"It's not worth it for such a small amount of money," this is a very direct thought.

Zhou Yi would not judge this kind of thinking; for him, being persistent is his freedom, and if others are not persistent, that is also their freedom.

The Civil Code only stipulates that we have such and such rights.

However, it is fine if you are not persistent, just don't hold others back or make sarcastic remarks when they are being persistent.

Inside the Guangming Road Police Station, the police officer Chen Li had just finished mediating for someone, and she was sweating profusely.

A minor issue, borrowing money and not paying it back, coming to the Police Station and asking them to go arrest the person; Chen Li was between laughter and tears, and could only try her best to help contact the other party to conduct Mediation.

There are no small matters in mass work; if you really just say "this is an economic dispute and is not under our jurisdiction," it is procedurally correct, but that is not how the work should be done.

Having just taken a sip of water, she saw seven or eight people walk in like that.

She hurriedly put down her water cup and stepped forward, saying: "Hey, you comrades, wait, what's the matter?"

Mainly because the Shizi in the front did not look like a good person.

Although we all shouldn't judge a book by its cover, people with this kind of appearance are the ones who get their ID cards checked the most when out and about...

"Comrade, we are here, here to report a crime!" Zhou Yi said directly.

In this kind of situation, it was still Zhou Mouren who stepped forward to communicate; they had already discussed it on the way here.

The Shizi, who looked burly and rough, and was a tough guy who didn't hesitate to get physical with that Song Ji outside, said directly that whoever was good at communicating should go; anyway, he could wave the flag and shout support, but going up to communicate was a no-go.

He said that upon entering that place, he felt his calves cramping a bit...

Looking at the others, they all had the same thought, saying that if people thought you were the one leading the trouble, it would be over, and they didn't know what kind of impact that would have.

So Zhou Mouren could only reluctantly agree.

Although it was not the same Police Station, he was familiar with the roads and the procedures; they were all about the same.

Then the neighbors of Shizi saw that this little brother entered the Police Station as if he were arriving home; he was just that casual...

It was only that he didn't look like it, otherwise, everyone would think this guy had been in and out of jail several times.

Chen Li looked at the people behind and then said: "Ah, what is the situation?"

"It's like this, Comrade, we live in the Guangming Peak Residential Quarter, and there is a Qiji Fitness nearby..."

It was the same as before, stating the general situation; according to Huo Pengfei's words, if it could be directly classified as Contract Fraud, Fundraising Fraud, or Illegal Absorption of Public Deposits, then it would be simple.

Can't find the person?

The Public Security Bureau "finding someone" is two different things from other units finding someone; you need to be clear about this point.

This is what Lawyer Fang mentioned before: when encountering some troublesome problems, remember to "transform" them; transform a civil dispute into a Criminal Case, and then it will be settled.

This is also proof that Huo Pengfei is working hard to learn from Lawyer Fang.

However, it is a pity that even he himself does not think this will be classified as a situation like Contract Fraud.

The core of fraud is deception; it must be for the purpose of illegal possession and involve the implementation of a scam.

But now, the other party's gym is operating normally, and their card processing is also proceeding normally; according to Huo Pengfei's experience, unless it is the kind that never intended to open a gym and ran away after letting people get cards, that might involve Contract Fraud.

Criminal Law is, after all, the bottom line; it will not be invoked easily!

Huo Pengfei has only ever seen Lawyer Fang in his life who can play with the Criminal Law so skillfully.

After listening, Chen Li also shook her head; she didn't even need to say much, as she could judge from her experience that this probably did not involve a crime.

Because there are too many cases of reporting to the police due to gyms running away.

There are also those who have conflicts with gym staff; even so, they can only go to maintain order.

It can be said that as long as they don't start fighting, the police officer standing there is just a mascot; the law stipulates that they simply cannot intervene, and there is no way around it; it doesn't work procedurally.

After discussing with the others, Chen Li quickly said: "Regarding your situation... how should I put it, there have been many cases of gyms running away in recent years; we can only say we will help you contact them to see if we can mediate a refund..."

"If we really can't contact the other party, or if there is no way, I can only suggest that everyone go..."

Chen Li still wanted to be more tactful, because there are many cases where a simple and direct work style triggers conflicts, and many people have complaints about the Public Security Bureau, feeling that they don't manage this or that.

These people looked like they had bad tempers...

But as a result, before Chen Li finished speaking, Zhou Yi in front of her said directly: "Comrade, I understand this; it's an economic dispute, so we will go through legal channels."

"You just need to tell me if a Case Filing is possible; if not, just give us a notice of non-filing, it doesn't matter."

Chen Li was stunned for three seconds; she was like a mage whose spellcasting was interrupted just as she was about to cast an ultimate.

Why does it feel like this young man is more familiar with the procedures and language of the Police Station than she is... what does he do?

The second update, the minimum update is completed; starting to pay back the owed updates, first paying back the two updates owed from last month's monthly tickets!

(End of chapter)