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Da Vinci refuses to pay penalty, war of words ensues (2)

2011-12-30 14:11    Ecns.cn     Web Editor: Zang Kejia
In the spot light, the general manager Panzhuang Xiuhua shed tears while speaking of difficulties in business development. She avoided answering sharp questions by media.

In the spot light, the general manager Panzhuang Xiuhua shed tears while speaking of difficulties in business development. She avoided answering sharp questions by media.

War of words staged on microblog

Since the SCIB imposed its administrative penalty on Da Vinci on December 23, a war of words has ensued online via each side's official microblog. The confrontation is focused on two points of the penalty: product quality and Chinese labelling.

According to the judgment, unqualified goods make up some of Da Vinci's furniture and will be confiscated; furthermore its product labeling is irregular and requires Chinese language components.

Da Vinci denied the accusations made by the Shanghai authority, arguing it supplies furniture that meets the national standard; secondly, it admits to the lack of Chinese labeling, but denies this is equivalent to selling disguised and unqualified products.

On the SCIB side, it argued that the penalty was determined based on an authorized investigation by an appropriate institute, and Da Vinci can't simply deny the findings. Besides, it is compulsory for imported furniture to carry Chinese labels for the Chinese market, and therefore Da Vinci is in violation of the regulations.

Regarding the coming lawsuit from Da Vinci, the SCIB intends to appear in court and believes the court will make a just ruling.

Compensation, true or not?

"Since the coverage by CCTV, we have established a special group to cope with consumer demand, including refunds on return of goods," said Huang Zhixin, Chairman of the Board of Da Vinci during an interview by Dongfang Daily on December 26. Huang emphasized the company already made compensation payments of 120 million yuan, and ninety percent of consumer complaints were well handled.

Zhao Jiaoli, the chairman of Shanghai Consumer Protection Association, confirmed with Dongfang Daily on the same day, that Da Vinci did submit a compensation report to the association.

Zhao says the document's information on consumers is incomplete, providing the surname, but no given name, address or telephone number, making it impossible to verify their claims with this report alone.