Lack of supervision led to deceptive pricing: Survey

SHANGHAI  - More than half of Chinese respondents to an online poll said authorities' failure to supervise should be blamed for retailers' deceptive pricing practices.

The survey was taken last week after Carrefour's China stores were caught cheating on prices.

Some 53.3 percent of those polled said a lack of market supervision led retailers to "dare" to engage in deceptive pricing.

The survey, initiated by Sina.com, a major Chinese web portal, had collected nearly 10,000 votes as of midnight Saturday.

Eleven of Carrefour's China stores were caught cheating customers on prices of products including cotton underwear and tea.

The company has apologized and offered to refund customers five times the difference between the price charged and the one on the label.

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Three Carrefour stores in Shanghai and two in southwest China's Yunnan province were each fined 500,000 yuan ($75,988) on Saturday for overcharging customers.

The deceptive pricing shows "there is room for improvement in law enforcement," said Zou Rong, a law professor at East China University of Political Science and Law.

Law enforcement departments should launch investigations, stop such wrongdoing and mete out severe punishment if consumers and media complain about deceptive pricing, he said.

Zou suggested authorities mobilize the public to conduct price supervision.

Some Chinese netizens said Carrefour's deceptive pricing practices had taken advantage of customers' trust in the reputation of the retail giant.

"Customers should look closely at the quality of goods instead of the brand of the retailer. The deceptive pricing by Carrefour teaches us a lesson," netizen "kgboly" wrote at a Baidu.com forum.