Easou Faces 100 Clients' Refund Requests
Southern Metropolitan News, 10/17/12
At 9:00 on the morning of October 16, nearly 100 people surrounded #55 United Plaza in Shenzhen to claim that they had been defrauded by mobile search service provider Easou, and to demand refunds for their purchases of Easou's "Mobile Preview" product. According to Easou promotional materials, Mobile Preview uses the company's search technology to display companies' advertising slogans and product images in Easou mobile search results. Search keywords for the service are priced at RMB 1,000 to 10,000 per year, depending on keyword popularity.
The dissatisfied customers claim that Easou held annual promotional events for the product in cities around the country, chiefly targeting the small and medium enterprises and individual entrepreneurs who make up the mainstay of Mobile Preview customers. "The event organizers kept saying that the longer we invested in the service, the bigger the return would be, so they required us to sign five- or ten-year contracts," one customer said. "The next day I had second thoughts and I went to ask for a refund, but they said it was impossible. It's been a year since then, and I haven't seen a single penny of ROI." Agent rights for Mobile Preview are reportedly outsourced to regional agencies in provinces and municipalities around the country, most of them technology and internet companies. Some of the agents disappeared after signing contracts with clients.
"We have never guaranteed any annual ROI," said Li Zhitong, an Easou regional director of development channels, adding that Easou has never permitted agents to sell Easou products based on claims of return on investment. There are currently 20,000 to 30,000 Mobile Preview clients. Easou began selling the service in 2008, since when it has seen sales volumes of at least RMB 100 mln per year. Liu Qiong, a spokeswoman for Easou PR, said that a restitution plan was under discussion for the customers demanding refunds, and should be announced in the near future.
Keywords: mobile advertising wireless mobile search Easou scandal
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