BEIJING: Gucci, the world famous Italian brand, is suddenly hit by the proverbial ton of bricks with the Chinese media narrating tales of how it dupes customers and harasses workers. The city government in the boom city of Shenzhen has launched a probe into allegations of harassing workers.
The cornered company has fired two of its managers on charges of abusing workers' rights and denied the allegations of customer duping but the uproar is yet to peter out. The Italian fashion goods maker has been accused in dozens of news reports and Internet postings of repairing old and returned goods and selling the repaired ones as new.
Giving credence to the uproar is the Shanghai Commission of Consumers' Rights and Interests Protection. This is significant because most consumer bodies in China are directly or indirectly connected to either the Communist Party or one of the different government agencies.
"If this allegation is true, Gucci's behavior should be recognized as fraud," the Commission's secretary general Zhao Jiaoli was quoted as saying in the Chinese media. "Gucci should apologize to customers, who could sue the company in any case," Zhao said.
One of the charges against the company relates to a woman, who obtained a refund from a Gucci store near Shanghai after complaining that the color on the handle of her bag had faded. Email communications, allegedly conducted by two different Gucci stores, contained a telling sentence: ""If you refund the customer, we'll book the component from Italy and repair the bag to be sold again."
Another media report quoted the owner of a repair shop, identified only by his family name, who claimed he did repair jobs for Gucci.
"We will never allow or tolerate such conduct in our stores," the local media quoted Ben Huang, director of marketing and communications of Gucci China, as saying. He said the allegations are "unacceptable" and that Gucci will hold an investigation.
"We'll look into this case and if any customer has found imperfect products as reported, they should contact us directly," the media quoted Huang as saying. He refused to comment on the leaked documents saying he has not seen them.
Last month, Gucci announced it had replaced two managers in southern China. It was also discussing with local authorities allegations of employee abuse contained in an open letter posted over by Internet by its former workers.
The open letter said employees at Gucci's Shenzhen store were forced to work extra hours without pay, had to ask permission to use the toilet or to get drinks of water and had to pay for items reported stolen from the shop, according to the letter.
The cornered company has fired two of its managers on charges of abusing workers' rights and denied the allegations of customer duping but the uproar is yet to peter out. The Italian fashion goods maker has been accused in dozens of news reports and Internet postings of repairing old and returned goods and selling the repaired ones as new.
Giving credence to the uproar is the Shanghai Commission of Consumers' Rights and Interests Protection. This is significant because most consumer bodies in China are directly or indirectly connected to either the Communist Party or one of the different government agencies.
"If this allegation is true, Gucci's behavior should be recognized as fraud," the Commission's secretary general Zhao Jiaoli was quoted as saying in the Chinese media. "Gucci should apologize to customers, who could sue the company in any case," Zhao said.
One of the charges against the company relates to a woman, who obtained a refund from a Gucci store near Shanghai after complaining that the color on the handle of her bag had faded. Email communications, allegedly conducted by two different Gucci stores, contained a telling sentence: ""If you refund the customer, we'll book the component from Italy and repair the bag to be sold again."
Another media report quoted the owner of a repair shop, identified only by his family name, who claimed he did repair jobs for Gucci.
"We will never allow or tolerate such conduct in our stores," the local media quoted Ben Huang, director of marketing and communications of Gucci China, as saying. He said the allegations are "unacceptable" and that Gucci will hold an investigation.
"We'll look into this case and if any customer has found imperfect products as reported, they should contact us directly," the media quoted Huang as saying. He refused to comment on the leaked documents saying he has not seen them.
Last month, Gucci announced it had replaced two managers in southern China. It was also discussing with local authorities allegations of employee abuse contained in an open letter posted over by Internet by its former workers.
The open letter said employees at Gucci's Shenzhen store were forced to work extra hours without pay, had to ask permission to use the toilet or to get drinks of water and had to pay for items reported stolen from the shop, according to the letter.
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