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Carrefour, You Let Us Down!
When I first heard the news that quite a few Carrefour (家乐福) stores in China cheated customers in various ways, my first reaction was that it might be a rumor created by its commercial competitors. After all, it is one of the most famous retail giants in the world.
We respect these international corporations and look up to their achievements. It is possible, or even common for some small local retailers to play some small tricks on us customers. However, we, at least most of us, used to believe it was all but impossible that an internationally famous company like Carrefour, should conduct such an ugly act.
In our minds, westerners are generally more legal-minded, which is one of the aspects we Chinese should learn from them. In Chinese we have a saying: By playing tricks, you might become a businessman, but never a true entrepreneur. How can a thief possibly be an entrepreneur? It’s just as simple as that.
Unfortunately, the news turned out to be true. Some Carrefour stores in China will be fined up to 500,000 yuan for cheating customers on price, the National Development and Reform Commission (DNRC), China’s economic planner and price regulator formally announced on Wednesday. Also penalized is Wal-Mart, another international retail giant.
Many people, who were once deceived, told their unpleasant purchase experiences on the Internet and indignantly condemned their cheap tricks, including faking the original prices during sales events, misleading customers with price figures typed in different sizes and charging a higher price at check-out.
Frankly, I was shocked when I finally got to know the truth. I simply cannot find any difference between these global retailers and those despicable cheaters you might meet on the street. Are these giant retailers the ones we used to respect? Thinking of their naked frauds, I was so angry that I was on the verge of cursing these swindlers. Those international cheaters don’t deserve our respect at all. And the fine imposed on them is far from enough; they should be fined to make them go broke! They not only lack the basic business ethics but the basic respect for other people!
As an individual, we are kind of powerless and impotent, but if we unite and take joint action, nobody will look down upon us. Let’s stand up for the rights that we are born with!
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Post comment Comment (7 replies)
- Reply rich
- wallacewu: another part, who is the management in china? French? let's think.....you have a good point here. we do need to think. some concrete work is done by chinese employees, but who employed them？what kind of training they got? where is the internal control of the management?
- Reply Jellco
- i agree with the above,the management is an important point, many things like sanlu milk power in China!!!
- Reply rich
- Jellco: i agree with the above,the management is an important point, many things like sanlu milk power in China!!!thank you for your interest. when i bought things, i always believed the price on the tag is the one i'll pay. who would think that i would be charged higher than the one on the tag. since the usual situation is that the cashier just asks you to pay the total amount of money for the goods you buy, so you may never find it out. the feel of being cheated is very bad.
- Reply wolf13
- I guess none of this kind of scandal exist in western countries evoked from the so-called giant retailer.It seems in their eyes ,we Chinese are generally considerred simple-minded ethnically low and easily dealt with.But they are deadly wrong!
- Reply wolf13
- I guess none of this kind of scandal exist in western countries evoked from the so-called giant retailer.It seems in their eyes ,we Chinese are generally considerred simple-minded ethnically low and easily dealt with.But they are deadly wrong!
- Reply rich
- wolf13: I guess none of this kind of scandal exist in western countries evoked from the so-called giant retailer.It seems in their eyes ,we Chinese are generawell said, my friend! i think it is probable that they think we're kind of simple-minded ethnically, as you mentioned. if that is the case, they've reduced themselves to swindlers rather than global retail giants. they don't have the spitit of entrepreneurship at all.
