Representatives from the Shanghai Consumer Council and Canada Goose's China branch talk about the company's refund policy in Shanghai, China, December 1, 2021. (Photo: Shanghai Consumer Council)
A non-governmental consumer group in Shanghai requested high-end parka maker Canada Goose to explain its seemingly illegal no-refund policy in the Chinese mainland, after a local woman's experience with the company back in late October ignited online rage.
"After the talk, we found that representatives from Canada Goose didn't know the exact meaning of their own refund policy," the Shanghai Consumer Council said in a public WeChat post on Wednesday. "They didn't know if the company's policy in China is different from that in other countries."
The council requested the company to submit a document explaining the policy before Thursday noon, giving the staff only one day to prepare.
'Even the company logo was wrong'
The entire incident started after a local Shanghai woman bought a 9512M parka from a Canada Goose store in the city on October 27.
She paid 11,400 yuan (nearly $1,800) for the parka, only to find after going home that there's an extra red line on the front-side logo, according to a local media report.
Some parts of the inside of the parka were not properly sealed, with threads scattered around.
"After swiping my credit card, a staff member asked me to sign an 'exchange policy,'" the woman, surnamed Jia, told local newspaper Shanghai Morning Post. "Otherwise they wouldn't let me leave with the parka."
In a photo posted by the newspaper on Tuesday, the policy reads: "Unless otherwise provided by applicable laws, all products sold at Canada Goose's retail store in China mainland are strictly non-refundable."
