When shopping for surveillance cameras online, don’t be deceived by powerful features and discounts

The rapid development of the Internet and the rise of various shopping platforms have made online shopping more and more common. It can be said that online shopping has been integrated into people's daily lives. However, it can be said that the current online shopping has not yet reached the requirements of formalization, and there are still many things that are not done well in terms of protecting consumer rights and interests. For example, if a product is not delivered right when you buy it; if there is a problem with the product during the warranty period, who should you go to to solve it? If an e-commerce company is only responsible for sales and not after-sales, how should consumers protect their rights? Video security monitoring systems are quite popular nowadays. I personally experienced an online shopping trip and bought a "high-definition" surveillance camera to try it out.
Become a consumer and experience online shopping for a high-definition video surveillance camera
"Continue to challenge high definition. At this moment, our existence is only to protect your safety." Browsing an online store on Taobao, the reporter was attracted by this advertising slogan. Take a closer look at the online store that sells high-definition surveillance cameras with the brand name "***". "HD 1300-line infrared surveillance camera" "Cumulative sales have reached 300,000 units" "Using 1300-line high-definition brand new imported chip, and a million high-definition lenses and IR-CUT dual filters for perfect combination"...
Not only that, the store also lists the six major advantages of this video surveillance camera in a prominent position on the webpage: day and night mode, using light sensitivity imported from the United States. Due to insufficient light in the switch environment, the light sensitive switch can be turned on automatically; it also uses a new imported chip solution, which can reach 1300 lines at a proficient level; in addition, it also selects original imported high-power infrared lamps, with high picture brightness. The image is clearer; the protection level can reach IP66 level, it is made of new aluminum alloy material, waterproof, anti-fog and anti-vertigo, and can adapt to harsh indoor and outdoor environments; it adopts the built-in core first-generation IR-CUT, which has better monitoring effect without color cast and image distortion; it adopts original imported dot matrix high-power night vision infrared lamp, and the night vision effect is more than 8 times that of ordinary LED lamps. The price of 85 yuan per unit shown on the website made the reporter's heart flutter. It is rich in functions and affordable, so he immediately paid for one.
The test results show that the goods are not correct
After receiving the goods, the reporter opened the package and inspected it carefully and found that the video surveillance camera had six infrared array lights embedded around the lens. The body was printed with the words HD High Definition Series and Safe City Recommended Brand, and there were four icons indicating voltage, gain control, protection level, and day and night replacement. According to naked eye observation, the plastic-textured casing clearly did not match the aluminum alloy material advertised by the store, so the reporter took the high-definition surveillance camera to the surveillance camera factory and asked professional engineer Li Gong to conduct a test.
With the help of Li Gong, the reporter experienced the display effect of the video surveillance camera. It was not clear to see human faces at close range. Li Gong said, "This digital surveillance camera is just a traditional analog surveillance camera. It claims to have 1,300 lines on the body, but whether it can reach 1,300 lines still needs to be disassembled and tested. Judging from the data displayed on the lens of the surveillance camera, the chip of this surveillance camera is just a chip similar to SONY. Whether it is true still needs to be disassembled to check."
In order to explore the internal structure of the security surveillance camera, Li Gong carefully disassembled the surveillance camera. After careful inspection, Li Gong told reporters: The surveillance camera chip uses Korean 2041 and Panasonic 3292I chips. "In fact, it is a very low-end surveillance camera chip. Real surveillance camera factories no longer use this type of chip.""In addition, Li Gong also told reporters, "This lens is marked with F1.2, but in fact it does not reach F1.2, only F1.6. This value represents the aperture. The smaller the value, the larger the aperture, and the stronger the ability to adapt to different lighting environments. ”
As for the six infrared array lights on the lens, Li Gong said, “This infrared light is relatively low-end, only 28μ, and the night vision effect is not good. Nowadays, 42μ or 36μ infrared array lights are generally used, and the night vision effect will be better. "At the same time, Li Gong also showed through tests that the material of the security surveillance camera casing is not actually aluminum alloy, but a plastic casing. The plastic casing's securitysurveillance camera protection level cannot reach IP66, and if used outdoors, it will be easily damaged.
The seller’s rhetoric is full of loopholes
Upon learning of the test results, the reporter immediately contacted the customer service of the online store. When the reporter explained that this security surveillance camera could not reach 1,300 lines, the customer service responded, “The line number refers to the clarity of the security surveillance camera. The higher the line number, the clearer it is. But this is not the only criterion. Among different surveillance camera brands, the ones with lower line numbers may be clearer than those with higher lines of other brands. "It turns out that the seller has already thought of an explanation for the issue of line number. But whether this reason is tenable, Li Gong said that the line number of analog surveillance cameras and the pixels of video surveillance cameras have the same meaning. The higher the pixels, the clearer they are. There is no difference between brands.
When the reporter pointed out to the customer service that the security camera’s display screen was not clear, the customer service did not give any explanation. Instead, the reporter asked the reporter to read the reviews of other buyers and told the reporter, “If you are not satisfied, just return the product. Regarding the issue that the most conspicuous surveillance camera casing is not made of aluminum alloy, the customer service responded: "This video surveillance camera has a 3-year warranty. If it breaks, it can be repaired for free." When the reporter said that in addition to the instruction manual, there was no warranty card found in the video surveillance camera box. If the product is damaged during the warranty period, how do you contact us for repair? The customer service replied again, "If you are not satisfied, return it." Faced with this reply, the reporter asked to check the test report of the product, and the customer service sent the reporter a trademark registration certificate. The reporter once again explained in detail that what he wanted to check was the type inspection report of the Ministry of Public Security. The customer service staff replied: "This thing is approved by Taobao. Who is the Public Security Bureau? They are not professional." Finally, the reporter said that the security surveillance camera did not match the functions of the product advertised in the online store and requested a return. The customer service said that returns are possible, but buyers need to bear the return shipping costs.
Subsequently, the reporter contacted Taobao customer service personnel as a consumer and reported the situation truthfully. When faced with a reporter’s question about whether the Taobao platform will review whether the products sold by merchants are qualified or not, Taobao customer service did not respond directly. When the reporter identified himself and conducted further interviews about the incident, the Taobao customer service staff told the reporter the contact number of the customer service team that specializes in handling such issues. After the call was connected, the reporter explained the situation again. The customer service said that Taobao verification has a process and everything is done according to the process. Subsequently, the customer service asked the reporter about the name of the Taobao store and other information, and said that the matter would be dealt with seriously in the future.
Power-on detection of security surveillance cameras
The online shopping market is complex and experts suggest that you need to pay attention to evidence collection
In response to the phenomenon of online shopping products being out of stock, experts said that the main difficulty in online shopping disputes lies in the difficulty of obtaining evidence. The expert pointed out that consumers only understand product features through pictures and text, but after all, pictures are quite different from the actual products. Therefore, it is often insufficient to prove that the goods are incorrect using only web page pictures. Moreover, current sellers usually use the excuse that “there are many products and they are not displayed on the web page” to ask consumers to place an order to take a picture of the product. The web link is not the link to the product that they actually want to purchase and ship. This makes the ordered product already inconsistent with the actual product. When a dispute arises, consumers have no basis to rely on and are unable to defend themselves. Not only that, the cost of rights protection in other places is also very high. Originally, most online shopping disputes involve rights protection in other places. Moreover, if there is a quality dispute about the product, it is quite troublesome to confirm, return, package and transport the product. The risk of damage is great, liability is more difficult to confirm, and the cost of rights protection is high. Consumers are reminded to pay attention to the following points:
The first is to purchase from a well-known shopping website with complete after-sales service. It is best to purchase directly from the brand’s official flagship store to minimize the intermediate links. The second is to pay attention to whether the product has an "inspection certificate" that expresses the relevant quality, and to check the authenticity of the certificate by calling or going to the official website of the organization in person. Third, before placing an order, you must clarify with the seller whether you have "no reason to return or exchange" or the conditions and procedures for return and exchange, and keep the transaction webpage, chat history and other evidence of quality and service commitments. Fourth, we must carefully consider the risks of purchasing security products online. Security products are electronic products. If there are disputes about quality or wrong goods, the round-trip packaging and transportation will be more troublesome, and the cost of rights protection will be higher. Fifth, if you encounter a link to the ordering webpage that is not the actual shopping product, you should indicate the detailed information of the purchased product in the remarks column of the order to provide evidence for rights protection. Sixth, if the seller cannot be found for online shopping products, according to the new Consumer Law, online trading platforms that cannot provide true information about the seller should bear joint and several liability.
Lawyer Luo Yulun of Zhuojian Law Firm stated that the surveillance camera operator involved in this article is suspected of false propaganda and his behavior violates legal provisions. The industrial and commercial administration department or other administrative departments can impose a fine of not less than one time but not more than ten times of the illegal income on the operator; if the operator has no illegal income, he can be fined not more than 500,000 yuan. According to Article 25 of the Consumer Rights Protection Law, consumers can unconditionally return goods purchased online within seven days after receiving them. Even if the consumer unpacks the goods purchased online, it will not affect the consumer’s right to return the product, and the consumer does not need to explain any reason for the return. From the perspective of safeguarding the rights and interests of consumers, consumers need to keep evidence such as shopping invoices, chat records of shopping negotiations, photos promoted on the seller’s webpage, sales commitments, express delivery documents, etc. If necessary, evidence such as webpage promotions, chat records, etc. that are difficult to preserve can be notarized and preserved. From the perspective of reducing the cost of rights protection, if consumers find that the goods they purchased online are not correct after unpacking them, it is best to refuse to sign for them.