Cheap tour: Buy a 100 million VND jade bracelet, real price is only 7 million VND

(Dan Tri) - While on a budget tour in Yunnan (China), Mr. Phan's family spent about 100 million VND on a few pieces of jewelry. When he left, he found out that the real value of the bracelet was only about 7 million VND.

Going on a cheap tour, customers are upset about being "overcharged"

Recently, a story about a tourist's experience traveling to China while buying a cheap tour has become the focus of public attention.

Mr. Phan from Jiangsu province said that at the end of March, he and his family booked a tour to Yunnan organized by an insurance company.

During the trip, under the guidance of a tour guide, he spent 28,000 yuan (102 million VND) to buy some jewelry products introduced as Hoang Long jade.

The jade bracelet was among four items the customer bought in Yunnan (Photo: QQ).

Specifically, the four jewelry items included a pendant and a bracelet. When paying, the customer was asked to sign several documents, including a "non-returnable sale agreement". At this point, because he was tired from shopping, the customer signed quickly without reading carefully. The store also did not return the original copy of the agreement to the customer.

"My whole family spent about 40,000 yuan - more than 141 million VND for the whole trip. Because the tour was cheap, we shopped more because we wanted to support the local economy ," said Mr. Phan.

According to this customer, the trip to Yunnan was organized by the insurance company under the name of "thanking long-time customers". The total duration was 5 days, each person only had to pay a few hundred yuan for the tour.

Everything seemed to be fine until he got home and asked his jade trading friends to help him look at the jewelry he had just bought. He was almost shocked when he learned that the total real value of the items was less than 2,000 yuan (more than 7 million VND).

Too frustrated, on March 22 he submitted a request to return the goods via the "Yunnan Travel" application.

Mr. Phan affirmed that in Yunnan, there is a policy of “30 days return without reason” if the customer no longer needs the product. The tour guide himself mentioned this policy many times, so he believes it will be handled.

However, after discussing, the jade store used the reason that the customer had signed a "no return" agreement to refuse.

Some shops selling jade to tourists in Yunnan province (Photo: News).

The agreement clearly states the store name, purchase time, total number of items, and cost price of 28,000 yuan. In addition, the agreement states that the customer is not allowed to disclose the transaction content in any form, and the customer is responsible for any consequences of disclosing the transaction. Goods sold at cost price will not be returned.

Complaints everywhere still deadlocked

Not accepting the legality of this agreement, Mr. Phan said that the agreement was not a contract, did not clearly state party A and party B, and he himself was not allowed to keep the original.

Since March, he has sent many requests to the insurance company, the travel agency, and the Yunnan province tourism hotline, but all have been in vain. The jade shop has refused to accept returns.

At the end of March, a representative of the center for monitoring the return of goods to tourists in Jinghong City (Yunnan Province) responded to this incident. According to the representative, the customer had signed an agreement with the business, so the behavior could not be handled. This agency also received evidence from the store recording the purchase process with audio and video recordings, and the original signed agreement.

Therefore, the authorities could not accept the complaint and send a photo of this agreement to the customer.

In early July, the Jinghong City Market Management Bureau No. 1 responded to the complaint, stating that "The goods had clear price tags, quality certificates, and no violations were detected. The customer signed an agreement not to return the goods and gave his address."

According to the instructions of the Yunnan Province Tourist Return Supervision Center in Section 4, Clause 8, "if the customer has signed a confirmation or been notified in writing that the goods cannot be returned, the enterprise has the right to refuse." Thus, the case is terminated for mediation.

Meanwhile, the representative of the jade store said that the old manager of the store has left. The jade store is currently liquidating its inventory and filing for bankruptcy. If customers want, they can take the case to court.

The case is currently receiving attention from Chinese public opinion. Regarding this issue, lawyer Truong Vinh Huy, a senior member of the Law Office in Zhejiang province, analyzed that this agreement is likely to be invalid because it violates the law.

According to Article 24 of the Chinese Consumer Rights and Interests Protection Law, if the goods are not of good quality, the buyer has the right to exchange, return or repair, even for discounted goods, unless the goods are clearly marked as “processed” or “defective” and the buyer has been clearly notified.

In this case, if the store did not declare the product as “defective” but only used the excuse of “selling at cost price” to ask for a non-return agreement, then this is an illegal disclaimer clause.

The terms “non-disclosure of transaction” or “non-refundable cost price” both increase the customer's liability, limit the right to complain, and should be considered “imposed terms” and void from the beginning.

In addition, the contract does not clearly state the seller's information, only the buyer's signature, violating the basic requirements of the contract. The seller also does not deliver the original to the customer, violating the consumer's right to know and right to retain evidence.

According to the lawyer, Yunnan province’s “30-day no-reason return” policy does have exceptions if the customer signs a confirmation that they will not return the item. However, this only applies when the store has provided full information and the contract is legal. If the contract is invalid, or the item shows signs of price fraud, the customer still has the right to return it.

The lawyer recommended that Mr. Phan could continue to complain to the return monitoring center, requesting to exclude the exception clause due to the store's lack of adequate notice, or file a lawsuit. If he can prove that the store's selling price is unreasonably high, he can request triple compensation.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/du-lich/di-tour-gia-re-mua-vong-ngoc-100-trieu-dong-gia-that-chi-7-trieu-dong-20250809120829211.htm