How much money did the person who charged VVIP for The Singer spend?
Text | Zinc Scale Meng Huiyuan
Editor | Li Jinlin
Due to the sudden explosion of the content of the first live broadcast of Singer 2024, in order to get the first-hand news, some "fun people" borrowed from relatives and friends to get a membership account, some searched all kinds of free broadcast channels, and some paid a huge annual subscription fee for sneak peek …
In the splash caused by Mango Taiwan, various members of the video platform "routines" are presented to consumers again: "You are a VIP—SVIP—-full-screen member, why don’t you have a SVIP again, forcing me to watch pirated apps?" "VIP can’t upgrade SVIP, full-screen has no SVIP rights, and SVIP can’t be used on TV." "Svip doesn’t have a coupon for 28 yuan for one month, so what is my membership with one year left?
According to the zinc scale, not only the video members of "Mango Taiwan" are criticized by users, but also there are "VVIP problems" including fitness, making friends, audio and other apps. Even the office software WPS has recently attracted a lot of attention because of the "doll-style" charging, which can not help but make people sigh. "The leek is not as fast as the’ routine’ of membership charging."
The program is on fire, but the membership rights are full of routines.
I recall the last time I watched the variety show "I am a singer", when Yue Lin was still in college. Yue Lin still remembers what a novel viewing experience the TV set in the dormitory was less than 20 inches at that time. "You don’t know how shocked everyone was when G.E.M. sang" Bubble ".As soon as this’ unknown’ singer opened his mouth, the sisters in the whole dormitory were quiet."
And once again pay attention to this program, Yue Lin is already a senior worker of an Internet company. Yue Lin’s mind was constantly filled with all kinds of tricks on the Internet when she brushed the relevant information on the short video platform, from "Fifty-year-old Taishouguo" to "Adventures of Eiko" to "Singer 2024", which made Lei Jun win the first place in the UC users’ list, all of which made her regain her interest in the program.
After brushing a lot of CUT videos and thinking that she had finished the homework of the first live broadcast, Yue Lin turned on the projector in her small rental house on Friday night, ready to watch the much-anticipated "World War II" in an immersive way, but what she didn’t expect was that the first step of watching the program stumped her. "You have to be a full-screen member to watch the full version, but my account only has VIP."
Because she usually shares her account with her family, Yue Lin has almost never paid attention to the charging of related services before. "Besides, I seldom watch TV dramas on video websites, and most of them are short videos and free videos in bilibili.". Lin Yue only knew when she asked, the current video VIP service is so crazy. "What a breakup can watch, what a TV can watch, and what a screen can watch is all-round money. Then I might as well wait to watch those free CUT and live videos. Anyway, this time "Singer 2024" is not out of the circle because of how beautiful the song stage itself is. "
In fact, in order to watch the follow-up, netizens collectively dispatched and found many channels for free live broadcast resources. In Little Red Book, some bloggers posted strategies, such as "You can see if the points on the apps operated by various communication companies are enough to redeem Mango VIP", "Central Video APP and Learning Power APP can watch Hunan Satellite TV live broadcast for free" and "Anyone who doesn’t have Mango members can give me YouTube, with music single exclusive version and live version (with advertisements) free of charge" and so on.
And all this, it is difficult to separate it from the changes in the membership rights of Mango TV. Previously, with the launch of Mango TV’s SVIP service, there were many complaints from the voice of users: "Why do you still have to open SVIP?" "Is your full-screen member not worthy to be SVIP?" "My full-screen members can’t watch SVIP, and now one more function than ordinary VIP is TV playing, which is still the most expensive" …
It is worth noting that some users who want to go to the scene to "eat melons" found that the registration interface of the movie-watching activities of Singer 2024 also graded the members: the offline interactive rights and interests of Mango TV members include "register immediately (V1+)" and "SVIP registration", and stated that the latter is "more likely". In this regard, some netizens have commented, "Of course, we must find ways to make money. This kind of heat is not something you want."
The coverage of "VVIP" is wider than expected.
In fact, just recently, the well-known office software WPS also caused a lot of users’ dissatisfaction because of the "doll-style" charging problem.
According to China Voice "News Horizon" of China Central Radio and Television General Station, members, svip, svip Pro, AI members, big members … Many netizens reported that WPS, the Jinshan office software, had some problems such as arbitrarily modifying the membership level and "doll-like" fees, and some users said that the WPS membership structure was complex, and its members’ "routines" were suspected of infringing consumers’ right to know and choose.
Zinc Scale understands that the cause of this incident is the AI function launched by WPS, which limits the use of this function by the svip Pro that I purchased before. If I want to continue to use this new function, I must pay separately to become an AI member or a big member.
In response to the user’s question that "it is necessary to charge separately for launching a function", the relevant person in charge of WPS said: "It is a kind of welfare for member users to use AI function before, and now the welfare period has arrived. In March 2024, WPS AI began to be commercialized, with a relatively large investment. As a brand-new membership service, WPAI members are still in the gray scale test and belong to the paid upgrade option. Users can choose by themselves. If they choose not to upgrade, the original membership rights will not be affected. "
In addition, the market is full of more services that consumers have identified as "doll-style" charges. After searching for black cat complaints, zinc scale found that there are "VVIP problems" in many industry categories, such as fitness, making friends and audio.
For example, a consumer who complained about the dating APP "Love of Ivy League" said, "After opening a member, you have to rush gold coins again to send a small note, and members can only send one a day"; A user who complained about the fitness APP "Tough Guy Fitness" wrote, "I originally wanted to buy a personal customization plan. As a result, I had to pay 168 yuan before logging in. I also marked 7 yuan every month, and it was a very small month in 168/24. I thought that this was personal customization. After I paid it, I found that it was a member’s money, and I had to pay for personal customization." Another consumer who complained about the audio APP "Himalaya" said, "In the past, members could listen to it, but now they have to pay separately for members and children members, so they can’t be universal" …
After combing, consumers’ dissatisfaction with the "doll-style" charging model is mainly concentrated in the following four aspects:
One is that the charging system is too complicated. Some softwares provide a wide range of membership types with different functions and validity periods, which makes it difficult for consumers to understand and choose the membership service that suits them. This complexity increases the difficulty of consumers’ decision-making, and sometimes they even make wrong consumption decisions because they don’t know the specific service content.
Secondly, the functions are duplicated and crossed. There are overlapping functions between different levels of membership services, which makes it difficult for consumers to judge which member is most suitable for them, and may also lead to waste of resources;
Third, there will be additional costs. When consumers want to get a specific function, the platform may ask them to pay extra fees, which is regarded as a "doll" charging model, which makes consumers feel cheated;
The fourth is the change of membership level and rights and interests. Some platform parties may change the membership level and rights at will, especially cancel the promised functions and ask consumers to pay again, which undermines consumers’ trust in the platform.
To put it more bluntly, what makes consumers dissatisfied is not the membership service purchased for the convenience of using software functions, but the fact that they don’t want to be bypassed by all kinds of fancy and endless membership types and functions, and spend more money.
Clear rules, lightning protection consumption "trap" from the source
With the WPS "doll-style" charging incident being exposed in a large number during this period, rectifying similar consumption "traps" has also attracted widespread attention and attention inside and outside the industry.
Chen Yinjiang, Deputy Secretary-General of china law society Consumer Protection Law Research Association, said: "Once consumers buy, they can’t arbitrarily change the membership fees, reduce the service quality or reduce the service items. I think these behaviors are all breach of contract. It should really attract the attention of relevant enterprises. We must remind consumers of some information in the charging standards that is of great interest to consumers in a significant way, so that consumers can fully know the content and charging standards of membership services and protect consumers’ right to know and choose. "
In fact, there are many legal systems in China that provide protection for consumers’ right to fair trade and independent choice. For example, according to the Consumer Protection Law, operators "may not use standard terms and use technical means to force transactions". The price law clearly points out that operators "shall not use false or misleading price means to trick consumers or other operators into trading with them".
It is noteworthy that the State Administration of Radio and Television recently announced the complaint channels for controlling the charging and complicated operation of TV "Taowa". That is to say, the State Administration of Radio and Television has carried out special rectification, in order to standardize the "pay TV" system and strengthen the regulatory review according to law for the legal compliance of opening members and collecting fees.
The announcement mentioned that "with the strong support of the broad masses of the people and relevant departments, the State Administration of Radio and Television has actively solved the problems of’ watching TV is difficult and annoying’ and has made progress in stages. In order to better listen to the opinions and suggestions of the people, and further consolidate and improve the results of the work of managing TV’ Taowa’ fees and complicated operations, the State Administration of Radio and Television announced the complaint channels for users of’ double governance’. "
Of course, the "VVIP problem" not only depends on the strong supervision of laws and regulations, but also belongs to the platform itself that provides member charging services. Although the "doll-style" charging can bring a lot of benefits to the platform in the short term, "harvesting" consumers in this way is more likely to damage the reputation and credibility of the platform in the long run, and will also reduce the trust and satisfaction of users, which will eventually lead consumers to vote with their feet and choose to abandon. For the platform side, it should take action to balance short-term interests and long-term development.
As far as the result is concerned, although the platform party has the right to set its own price, what they should at least do is to ensure that all charging items are open and transparent, and consumers can clearly know which services they are paying for; Ensure that the services provided match the fees charged, and avoid overcharging or hidden fees; Provide users with detailed information about services to help them understand the value and necessity of various services; Set reasonable charging standards to avoid frequent changes, so as to avoid confusion or dissatisfaction among consumers; Actively listen to users’ opinions and suggestions, and adjust the charging strategy in time to meet users’ needs.
After all, only by delineating the boundaries of services first can the charges become fairer and more transparent.