Recently in Hanzhong, Shaanxi, Xiaoqiang (pseudonym) was informed at the site of a housing purchase that by paying a certain amount, he could enjoy a discount on the property. Under the urging of the salesperson, Xiaoqiang made a total payment of 41,600 yuan through the POS machine in multiple installments. However, the recipient of the payment was multiple out-of-town companies, rather than the direct real estate developer or the pre-sale fund supervision account. What’s going on?
Xiaoqiang encountered a series of puzzling payment issues when purchasing a property at “Yaju Le · Chunjiangyu” in Hanzhong. According to a report by Huashang Newspaper Dafeng News on May 8, Xiaoqiang purchased a property in late February this year in Hantai District, Hanzhong City, with the developer being Hanzhong Longteng Yaju Real Estate Development Co., Ltd.
On February 17th at the housing purchase site, the salesperson promised that by paying a specific down payment amount, Xiaoqiang could enjoy a discount on the property and urged him to make the payment quickly to seize the offer. Subsequently, he made four separate payments totaling 76,161 yuan through the POS machine at the sales department.
However, Xiaoqiang discovered that the payments he made were directed to multiple different companies. The receipts showed that 12,500 yuan was paid to Zhengzhou Yongzhu Home Furnishing Co., Ltd, and another two payments totaling 29,100 yuan were made to Shanghai Wawas Digital Technology Co., Ltd., with only 35,561 yuan entering Yajule’s bank account as part of the down payment. The total payment of 41,600 yuan from the first three installments did not enter the supervision account for the pre-sale funds of commercial housing.
What puzzled Xiaoqiang even more was that although he paid the down payment, the receipts displayed the phrase “renovation deposit.”
After making the payment, Xiaoqiang requested receipts from the sales department and found out that the 12,500 yuan receipt paid to the Henan company was labeled as a renovation deposit, and he was required to sign a renovation contract. He raised objections at the time, but the salesperson claimed that all property buyers needed to pay this fee and sign the contract. As for the 29,100 yuan paid to the Shanghai company, the nature of the payment was not specified.
Afterward, Xiaoqiang transferred another 200,000 yuan to the developer, in addition to the previous 20,000 yuan housing deposit and 35,561 yuan, making his total down payment amount 255,561 yuan.
Confronted with these various receipts, Xiaoqiang negotiated with the developer several times, but the salesperson insisted that the over 40,000 yuan was a renovation deposit, and if they did not choose their renovation service, it would not be refunded.
Xiaoqiang stated that if the sales had clearly informed him that this payment was an advanced renovation fee to enjoy the discount, he might not have purchased the property. Moreover, the 29,100 yuan payment had no explanation provided.
He has reported this matter to the local 12345 hotline. The developer responded that the 41,600 yuan was collected by other companies, not Yajule. Xiaoqiang mentioned that the entire payment process was conducted at the sales department, guided and demanded by the salesperson, and at that time, he only needed to enter his password through the POS machine without clearly seeing the recipient until the receipt was printed, but by then it was too late.
Reportedly, on May 7th, the salesperson of “Yajule · Chunjiangyu” responded to the issue by stating that the 41,600 yuan Xiaoqiang paid was for the renovation fee, and the company had already given a response. When asked why Xiaoqiang claimed he was not informed in advance, the staff member hung up citing being busy.
An employee of the Hanzhong Real Estate Transaction Management Office on May 7th said they had received the related complaint, which has been reported to the Municipal Housing and Construction Bureau for investigation, and homeowners will be provided with a response after studying the situation.