Up fourfold! Many people in Hangzhou are paying bills: Are you like this? Netizen: This scene is even more heartwarming

Last summer, the "Ice Cream Assassin" was highly discussed by the public, and few people noticed that this summer, the shared power bank, which many people regarded as a "life-saving straw" when their phones ran out of power, is becoming the new "price assassin".These two days, Ms

Last summer, the "Ice Cream Assassin" was highly discussed by the public, and few people noticed that this summer, the shared power bank, which many people regarded as a "life-saving straw" when their phones ran out of power, is becoming the new "price assassin".

These two days, Ms. Gao, a Hangzhou citizen, unexpectedly found that she had rented a shared power pack in the urban area last month and charged 8 yuan for charging for more than one hour and 30 minutes. In April, she used the shared power pack with the monster charging brand twice in a row, and the total deduction for the two times was as high as 50 yuan. What's more, she was puzzled was that she had not rented it for a long time, and why the cost was so high. By comparing the prices over the years, she found that, The price of shared power banks has increased rapidly.

So, what is the current charging situation for shared power banks on the Hangzhou market? In recent days, Chao News reporters have visited multiple usage scenarios of shared power banks in the main urban area of Hangzhou, including commercial districts, street convenience stores, hospitals, and popular scenic spots, and investigated the prices of shared power banks from 12 different brands.

Main urban area:

Most shared power banks start at 4 yuan per hour

This survey involves five brands of power banks, including Monster Charging, Xiaodian, Street Electric (including Soudian), Meituan, and Diandian. After investigation, the reporter was surprised to find that the rental fees for these 12 shared power banks generally start at 4 yuan per hour, with capped prices ranging from 20 yuan to 50 yuan per 24 hours.

The reporter scanned the QR code on site at the National Metropolitan Plaza in the main urban area and found that the distribution of shared power banks here is relatively dense, mainly concentrated at the entrance of channels and store entrances. The main brand is Xiaodian, and occasionally several Meituan brand shared power banks can be seen.

The rental price of the small electric power bank here is 4 yuan per hour, while the shared power bank of Meituan brand in the National University Drum Rice Noodle Store displays a price of 2 yuan per 30 minutes, so the rental price is all 4 yuan per hour. Merchants at National University told reporters that this price has been around for some time.

In the investigation, the reporter found that some power bank merchants do not write the starting price for 1 hour, but instead label it for 0.5 or 30 minutes, often giving users a false impression of "not piercing". At a convenience store's monster charging station on Xinhua Road, the rental price is displayed as 2.5 yuan per 30 minutes, with a maximum of 50 yuan per 24 hours. Some users who come to rent power banks say that this price is indeed a bit expensive, At first glance, it looks like it's 2.5 yuan per hour, but I'm just trying to make an emergency. "You can only rent it if it's expensive," he said

Popular Scenic Spots:

The cap fee varies every 24 hours

Will there be any changes in the rental prices of shared power banks in popular scenic spots in Hangzhou?

Subsequently, the reporter came to the store at the entrance of Su Di on Nanshan Road and found that there is also a shared charging station here, which belongs to the Street Electric (Soudian) brand. The rental price here is 3 yuan per 0.5 hour, and if it is less than 0.5 hours, it will be calculated as 0.5. Borrowing a power bank here for one hour will cost 6 yuan.

And there is also a shared charging station of the same street electric brand on the electric car less than a hundred meters away from the store. The price here has increased to 4 yuan per hour for 0.5 hours, which is 8 yuan per hour. That is to say, the rental prices of the same brand of power banks in the same area will not be the same.

According to the reporter's observation, the shared power bank here not only has a higher rental unit price, with a maximum price every 24 hours, but also is extremely expensive. The reporter's visit found that the top price of the shared power bank at the above two locations is as high as 70 yuan per 24 hours, with a total top price of 99 yuan, making it the highest shared power bank in the region with a 24-hour top price. Secondly, the monster charging at the entrance of the nearby public restroom (Lanxin Public Restroom) is capped at 40 yuan every 24 hours, while the charging bank for incoming calls at the Sudi Xiaoli is cheaper, with a 24-hour capped fee of 30 yuan.

Ms. Chen, a tourist, also complained to the reporter about the bad things she had encountered when renting a rechargeable bank here before. According to Ms. Chen, she had rented a rechargeable bank before and didn't pay attention to the 24-hour capping fee at that time. As a result, at the return point near her home, Ms. Chen didn't find the shared charging station of this brand. "It didn't pay back at that time, but when she got up the next day, she was fined 70 yuan. It was enough to buy a new one."

Service cannot keep up with the speed of price increases

The sudden rise in the value of shared power banks has also happened in the past two years. After reviewing the usage records of shared power banks over the years, it is evident that from 1 yuan and 1.5 yuan per hour in 2021 to starting at 4 yuan now, the price of shared power banks has increased by three to four times, indeed exceeding many people's psychological expectations.

The price is high, has the service kept up?

According to a survey conducted by the Hangzhou Consumer Protection Commission, 84.7% of respondents feel that the charging prices of power banks have increased significantly in recent years, while 56.0% of respondents said they have encountered problems with different charging standards in different scenarios. 26.7% of respondents stated that there is an issue of excessive collection and transmission of personal information on shared power banks without explicit or consent.

The issue of "cost-effectiveness" of power banks has always been controversial, and Ms. Zhou, a citizen, expressed dissatisfaction with the inexplicable charging speed of shared power banks. These shared power banks are different from the ones I bought. I always feel that the charging speed is very slow, and after charging for a long time, I only charge a little bit. If I don't pay back, it means that the user is spending more and more money. If I pay back, I feel like I haven't charged much at all

Ms. Yang, a citizen, also believes that she has used up all the power of her power bank, resulting in only 30% of the battery being charged to her phone. If large applications such as video and map navigation are turned on, the charging speed may not be able to keep up with the speed of power failure. Once I rented a power bank in a restaurant, but I only charged 10% of it after finishing my meal. I left the restaurant door and even lost the power of the taxi, which was like throwing away a lot of money

Why can shared power banks be so expensive as to be "stinging"?

Randomly deducting fees, I scanned the code in Lingshan Village, Shuangpu Town and borrowed a shared power bank. After borrowing it, I found that the power bank could not be charged. It took 4 minutes to return it, but it showed that it had not been returned. The order deducted a deposit of 99 yuan

I paid it back and said I haven't paid it back. I was fined the total amount, but it took me a month to discover this deduction. As a result, customer service said that I won't accept it for more than 30 days

The map on the app showed that there were areas that were returned, but when I arrived at the East Station, I couldn't find them. The customer service couldn't contact me and I ended up being charged for 4 hours

On the Black Cat complaint platform, the reporter saw that there were over 100000 complaints about the power bank. Looking around, it is not difficult to find that "price" has become a high-frequency buzzword in the discussion.

An industry insider told reporters that due to the involvement of direct sales and agent locations, there is actually no unified price for shared power banks. As early as 2017, there has been a large number of practices in the industry that provide merchants with sharing or admission fees.

In order to occupy the market, we have to give a share to merchants. It is revealed that currently, for small merchants, power bank enterprises mostly adopt a sharing model. Under competition, increasing the final price of sales to users is also the most direct means.

Netizen comments

This phenomenon

Many users have expressed:

I can't afford it anymore

Netizen comments

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