"Zhonggong Education repays debts in kind, and I can't wait for more than two years for the refund, and I can wait for what I want to get it cheap." "I owe me 14,700 yuan, from 2021 to 2024, since the Zhonggong Education Headquarters can move things at will to pay off debts, it is estimated that it is about to run away, today I look at the small program can be exchanged for deductions, ready to apply quickly"......
(Photo provided by the interviewee)
Recently, many netizens posted on social platforms with pictures that Zhonggong Education owes a large number of students unpaid refunds, ranging from thousands of yuan to 30,000 or 40,000 yuan, and some of them are even in arrears for as long as two or three years. In response to the problem of refund, at present, the "Zhonggong Yi Class" applet has opened the method of "refund in kind", including a four-piece set of classic wedding bed sheets that can be deducted from 800 yuan, Moutai Town sauce wine at 999 yuan, and a new Apple laptop with 95 percent at 14,800 yuan.
It is understood that the above students have applied for the "but refund" agreement class of Zhonggong Education, which promises that students will refund part or all of the tuition fees if they fail to pass the exam, which has been regarded as an industry innovation and is widely welcomed. However, now it has gone from "arrears of refunds" to "repayment of debts in kind", with frequent thunderstorms.
"Scoundrel" Zhonggong has changed his hexagram many times, "according to the latest policy, more than 10,000 will be refunded for three years"
At noon on August 7, a reporter from Zhengguan News contacted one of the netizens who posted - Ms. Li in Dalian, Liaoning. She told reporters that she applied for the agreement class of Zhonggong Education in August 2022, with a price of 20,800 yuan, and the regulations at that time were that if you did not take the exam, you could submit an application, and a full refund would be made after 45 working days.
(Photo provided by the interviewee)
In January 2023, Ms. Li submitted a refund application in accordance with the process, but did not receive the corresponding refund within the promised time. "At that time, the reply to me was that the money that should have arrived in a lump sum needed to be returned in 10 months, which was not acceptable at first, and then I found that the complaint was useless and I was ready to wait for the installment." Ms. Li told reporters that in fact, since that time, the refund crisis has begun to break out in Zhonggong.
From April to June, Ms. Li received a three-month refund on time, "and she never received the repayment again, and every time she went to urge, she had a new excuse and kept perfunctory for us." Ms. Li said.
In 2024, Zhonggong Education will issue a new policy, saying that it will refund 500 yuan every two months, "I still have more than 10,000 yuan left, and it will take three years to return it!" Ms. Li told reporters that although the plan was changed again, Zhonggong Education stopped refunding after two refunds, "It's a scoundrel, and every time I give a promise, I change my mind again." ”
Paying off debts with things, "a bunch of rags, computers are all 2018 money"
Zhonggong Education is deeply in the dilemma of difficulty in refunding fees, and the arrears have been delayed again and again, and the refund method has also been changed again and again.
"A few days ago, I was on the social platform, and I found that there were internal staff members of Zhonggong who said that they 'paid debts with things' in the public easy class in the mini program, and I opened it and found that there were really them, but they were all a bunch of rags, and there was no way to start, and there was nothing to change." Ms. Li said.
For example, the liquor with a price of 999 yuan, the name is Moutai Town, "When you see this name, you may default to Moutai, but it's really not the same thing." Ms. Li told reporters,I originally wanted to change a price of 3500 yuan Jimi projector,Sell a 2000 "back blood" on Xianyu","But I asked a Zhonggong teacher,He said that although the page is marked ninety-five percent new,But this projector often fails,Then I won't change it first,Otherwise, selling it to others is not a pit!" Ms. Li said.
In the eyes of Ms. Li and other students who were owed, the price of the items was inflated, such as a four-piece bed sheet set priced at 800 yuan, more than 200 yuan after a shopping software read the map, and a bag of rice for 200 yuan offline at the Beijing headquarters, which made people laugh and cry.
"Especially notebooks, iPads and other electronic products, although the target is new, but the introduction details do not even dare to write the model, and then we consulted with the internal personnel of Zhonggong, only to know that like these notebooks or something, they are all 2018, 2019 styles, supporting online classes are free to send no one to see." In the chat history provided by Ms. Li, there are screenshots showing that the detailed configuration of the device is indeed as early as 2018.
In addition, the reporter logged on to the consumer service platform "Black Cat Complaint" to search for "Zhonggong Education" and found that a total of 130,000 complaints had been filed, most of which were "refund" related complaints. A large number of students said that Zhonggong negotiated with them to refund the money in installments, but after a few refunds, they stopped paying again, and even many students said that they had not refunded a single cent in the past two years since applying for a refund.
However, the reporter noticed that although it was mired in the turmoil of "difficult refund", the agreement class of "can't pass the refund" of Zhonggong Education is still on sale. The official website of Zhonggong Education shows that there are many agreement classes on sale, such as the "Whole Process National and Provincial Customized Written Agreement Winning Class - Double Closure", which is priced at 13,800–23,800 yuan. The content of the full agreement shows that 12,000 yuan will be refunded if you fail the written test, and 12,000 yuan will be refunded if you do not pass the interview.
The fallen public examination "industry first brother"
How long does it take to slip from the top of the industry to the brink of delisting? The answer to public education is 4 years.
In 2019, Zhonggong Education was listed on the backdoor and became the first stock in the public examination. In the year of listing, Lu Zhongfang and Li Yongxin's mother and son became the new richest man in China's education field with 58.5 billion yuan.
The reason why Zhonggong Education can become the "first stock of public examination" has to mention its agreement class launched in 2010.
It is understood that in the huge market of public examination training courses, Zhonggong Education was the first to innovatively launch the agreement class model of "no but refund". According to this model, candidates sign an agreement with the training provider before training, and if they fail the exam, the training provider needs to refund the candidate's training fee.
With the help of the agreement class, although the competition in the public examination training industry is becoming more and more fierce, Zhonggong Education has still achieved substantial growth in performance and stock price.
In 2020, the share price and performance of Zhonggong Education reached its peak, and the company achieved revenue of 11.202 billion yuan and net profit attributable to the parent company of 2.304 billion yuan. The highest share price exceeded 43 yuan per share, and the market value once exceeded 260 billion yuan.
However, this seemingly "attractive" training model has also laid hidden dangers for the future performance of Zhonggong Education.
(Photo provided by the interviewee)
From 2021 to 2023, the company's revenue will decline year by year, with 6.912 billion yuan, 4.825 billion yuan, and 3.086 billion yuan respectively, and the net profit attributable to the parent company will exceed 3.5 billion yuan in three years. The most direct reason for the performance thunderstorm is the refund of students in the agreement class, which increased by 52.88% and 106.13% year-on-year compared with 2020 and 2019 respectively.
The pressure brought about by the refund has led to a direct "change of face" in the performance of Zhonggong Education. According to the financial report data, in 2021 and 2022, Zhonggong Education will achieve revenue of 6.912 billion and 4.823 billion respectively, with revenue growth rates of -38.3% and -30.19% respectively; The net profit was -2.37 billion and -1.101 billion respectively, and the net profit growth rate was -202.83% and 53.54% respectively.
To this day, Zhonggong Education is still "filling the hole" for the refund of the original agreement class. According to the latest financial report data, in the first quarter of this year, the liquidity liabilities of Zhonggong Education were as high as 5.304 billion, of which the contract liabilities alone were as high as 2.88 billion, and the asset-liability ratio reached 92.06%.
Some time ago, Li Yongxin, chairman of Zhonggong Education, also appeared in the live broadcast room of Zhonggong Yanxuan Douyin to respond to controversies such as refunds and stock prices. In the more than an hour of live broadcast, Li Yongxin spent nearly one-sixth of his time apologizing for the refund and kept saying that "he will definitely pay back".
However, while Zhonggong Education is trying to raise funds, investors have lost patience. As of today's close, the share price of Zhonggong Education was only 2.67 yuan, with a total market value of 16.467 billion yuan.
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