On November 22, the China Consumers Association released the 2023 "Double 11" Consumer Rights Protection Public Opinion Analysis Report, which mainly analyzed the online big data public opinion on consumer rights protection from October 20 to November 16. Apple was publicly named for violating its promise to reduce prices.
The specific situation is that Apple's iPhone 15 series violated its "promise" at the official Tmall flagship store and began reducing the price by an additional 200 yuan on the basis of the original discount starting at 10pm on the 11th. Among them, the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max were reduced by 300 yuan. The consecutive price reductions have caused many users who have already purchased mobile phones during the Double 11 event to feel that they have been stabbed in the back.
After the incident, it immediately sparked a heated discussion among netizens. Many netizens believed that Apple should refund the price difference to users who bought expensive products. There is also another view that raising or lowering the price of products is a normal market behavior, after all, Apple will not require consumers to pay the price difference when raising the price of mobile phones.
But Xiaolei believes that on the premise that the store has already participated in e-commerce platform activities, it should fulfill its commitments and protect the reasonable rights and interests of consumers. No matter what reason Apple chooses to lower prices again after the event, corresponding compensation and explanation should be made. E-commerce platforms should also do a good job of supervision. Otherwise, "backstabbing" behavior may appear to harm the interests of consumers, but in reality, it is also a huge damage to the credibility of e-commerce platforms, When the biggest selling point of a promotional activity is destroyed, it must be a great blow to the accumulated user confidence.
In fact, "back stabbing" is already common. While major e-commerce promotion festivals ignite consumer enthusiasm, businesses are also making small plans on how to expand their own interests. There are more and more diverse gameplay methods such as full discounts, pre-sale discounts, and various red envelopes. Many consumers have expressed that in the past few years, they would still be meticulous in their calculations and make shopping strategies, but now they are lying flat because it is too complex.
Especially for every platform and even every merchant, the rules are not the same. To compare prices across the entire network and accurately calculate which one is the most favorable, it is unknown how many brain cells need to be killed. The "backstabbing" behavior is based on the premise that consumers do not understand the market situation of the product. We see that only a few consumers initiate rights protection, and the real majority of consumers who are "backstabbed" do not even know that they have been recruited.
Regarding this incident of Apple's "backstabbing", some netizens have expressed that the relevant customer service has informed them that they can refund the price difference according to the corresponding order. If there are similar customers who have encountered the same situation, please remember to actively protect their reasonable rights and interests. They also hope that the platform and merchants can face the impact of such incidents and make consumers lose trust for the sake of temporary benefits, which is not worth the loss.
