In an official statement, Shanghai Disney Resort announced that from April 13, visitors can apply to replace a lost or stolen season pass free of charge, according to Shine.
The alteration of the regulation may be a result of pressure from both consumers and netizens.
Earlier this month, Ren accidentally lost her daughter’s seasonal pass when visiting the resort with her child. Nevertheless, she was told she had to pay a processing fee of RMB300 for a replacement. “The price is nearly half the cost of my original pass (RMB645),” Ren complained to The Paper. In a short amount of time, Ren’s encounter went viral and triggered a heated discussion on the Internet.
Image via Hotonline
Another visitor surnamed Huang, who came across the same situation as Ren, sued Shanghai Disney for infringement of consumers’ rights. “The resort violates the principle of fair trade since they fail to clarify clearly about the processing fee in advance. We hope, through the lawsuit, they can drop the unreasonable clause.” Yang, Huang's attorney, told Eastday.
Later, Shanghai Consumer Council (SCC) talked with representatives from Shanghai Disney about the issue and Shanghai Disney explained that the process was initially free. They implemented a charge when it became evident that some were exploiting this loophole in the system, which caused inconvenience to both visitors and the resort.
SCC pointed out that despite the success in prevention of fraud, the processing fee inevitably added a burden to visitors. Therefore, they advised Shanghai Disney to remove the fee to ensure a fairer market.
Image via Shanghai Disney
Last Friday, Shanghai Disney released their latest seasonal pass terms and conditions. From now on, to request a replacement seasonal pass, visitors can take their ID card and the original receipt of purchase to the service center and fill out the application form. The applications will be processed within three days and a new pass issued, free of charge.
[Title Image via Sohu]
