Besides poor experience, it is also suspected of infringement. Nearly 90% of a high-speed railway station is a massage chair? Airports, cinemas, and hospitals are also occupied by consumers | tourists | massage chairs

Recently, the report that "about 90% of massage chairs at Tai'an High Speed Railway Station are too few ordinary seats, and tourists often sit on the ground" has attracted attention. According to the report, in the waiting hall of Tai'an High Speed Railway Station, only 60 of the nearly 500 seats are ordinary seats, and the rest are massage seats. Some passengers roast that although massage seats can be taken for free, they still occupy space behind their backs.

On site visits: Most passengers do not use the massage function

On the afternoon of the 12th, the reporter walked into the waiting hall of Tai'an High Speed Railway Station and found that there were over 400 rows of red massage chairs on the right-hand side and 10 rows of blue massage chairs on the left-hand side. The ordinary seats are concentrated against the wall, with a total of 4 rows and about 40 seats. Almost every seat has passengers waiting for the train, and some passengers without seats choose to sit on the ground. According to the guidance of the station staff, the reporter arrived at another waiting hall, which has about a few hundred seats. The ratio of massage chairs to regular seats is roughly 1:1, because it is slightly far from the entrance, and there are not many people waiting here, with a large number of empty seats.

Mr. Wang, who is sitting on the ground in the waiting room, is from Tai'an. He said that he has sat on the massage chair at the station before. If he does not use the massage function, the massage parts on the back of the chair will be too tight, so it is better to sit comfortably on the ground. He said that the proportion of 70% -80% of the total number of ordinary seats is reasonable.

Ms. Liu is a tourist from Shanghai who came to Tai'an for tourism. She said that if she waits for a long time to enter the station, she will pay to sit in a massage chair, and the massage chair also has a charging port, which can charge her phone during massage, which is relatively convenient.

In addition, during the visit, the reporter found that most passengers, although sitting in massage chairs, did not choose to use the massage function.

On the afternoon of the 12th, the reporter connected the duty phone number of Tai'an High speed Railway Station. Ms. Zou, who is on duty, told reporters that there are currently two waiting rooms at Tai'an High Speed Railway Station, the first and second, with a total of 1488 seats of various types, including 558 ordinary seats and 930 massage chairs, which is not a 1:9 ratio rumored online.

She said that Tai'an City is an important tourist city, currently in the peak summer tourism season, sending around 27000 passengers per day. The pressure on passenger flow is relatively high, so there may be situations where passengers cannot find seats in the waiting room during peak traffic.

According to reports, in response to the reporter's question about why shared massage chairs should be set up at the station, the staff stated that this was arranged uniformly by the Jinan Railway Bureau.

"The ears can't bear it, the waist can't bear it"

Shared massage chair questioned

In recent years, paid massage chairs have already taken over public places such as airports, train stations, cinemas, hospitals, hotels, and scenic spots. As a business cooperation model, entering these public places with shared massage chairs is a normal market behavior and in line with market development trends. However, from the perspective of consumer experience, shared massage chairs are increasingly being questioned.

Shared massage chairs pose safety hazards. Recently, a female passenger at Chongqing West Railway Station had her long hair caught in a massage chair, leaving her immobile. With the help of everyone, she was able to escape from the predicament. And there are more and more roast about "some massage chairs have simple modes and can't adjust the strength", "like spending money to experience a beating", "massage chairs are too dirty and no one disinfects and cleans them". Some shared massage chairs in certain places also have an "anti occupancy" function, constantly driving away "seat grabbers" through voice prompts and changing seat shapes.

The shared massage chair also has some infringements. Many consumers have expressed that since then, some cinemas have quietly replaced ordinary seats with shared massage chairs, and even placed them in golden viewing seats. Consumers often face the helplessness of either enjoying massage chairs in better viewing positions or sitting in ordinary seats on the edge, which to some extent squeezes the normal choice space for consumers.

Consumers can protect their rights through multiple channels in case of problems

In response to the situation where there are too few ordinary seats at high-speed railway stations and tourists often sit on the ground, lawyer Sun Tianfeng from Shandong Haode Law Firm stated that the waiting room of high-speed railway stations should reserve sufficient numbers of ordinary seats, otherwise it may infringe on consumers' right to choose independently and may also cause safety hazards. He believes that as a public good, high-speed rail station seats should prioritize consumer rights when being set up, and commercial massage chairs should be added on the premise of meeting the demand for ordinary seats for passengers.

Famous consumer rights expert Yin Xunyin said in an interview with reporters, "When there are not enough seats in the waiting hall of a high-speed railway station, and tourists can only sit on the ground, it is very difficult for consumers to protect their rights."

What are the difficulties in safeguarding rights? Yin Xunyin said that the country has not introduced relevant laws and regulations that require high-speed rail stations to install how many ordinary seats and how many massage chairs, and high-speed rail stations themselves also have profit requirements. As a consumer rights expert, he suggests that relevant laws and regulations should be introduced at the national level to stipulate that high-speed rail stations should reasonably place ordinary seats and massage chairs. At the very least, ordinary seats should have a larger proportion than massage chairs. Only in this way can the consumer rights of ordinary passengers be reasonably protected.

Chen Yinjiang, Deputy Secretary General of the Consumer Rights Protection Law Research Association of the China Law Society, stated that the producers, operators, and service providers of shared massage chairs all have corresponding responsibilities. If consumers encounter problems, they can seek multi-channel rights protection. "If they encounter situations such as inability to contact the service provider, inability to resolve the issue after contacting, refusal to resolve the issue by the merchant, or failure to cooperate in resolving the issue, consumers can file complaints and reports to the Consumer Association or relevant regulatory authorities."

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