Original title: The first campus of Lerong Children’s Home was “disbanded”: more than 500 students are difficult to refund, and the relevant parties are coordinating
“This year’s Children’s Day starts with defending children’s rights.” At 5:00 a.m. on June 1, lawyer Xie Yanping sent this text message on a circle of friends, followed by a “sad” emoji.
Xie Yanping is also a young mother. In order to recover the early education fees for her two-year-old child, she stayed up all night at the police station with dozens of parents on May 31, communicated with investors and lawyers of early education institutions, and reached a stalemate until Children’s Day. 6:00 AM still no progress. The other side told the parents bluntly – no money.
Lerong Children’s Home Yizhuang Campus. Currently closed. Unless marked, the pictures in this article are provided by the respondents
The early education institution involved is the Yizhuang campus of “Lerong Children’s Home”, located on Ronghua Middle Road, Beijing Economic and Technological Development Zone. On the eve of Children’s Day on June 1, Beijing Tongyou Education Consulting Co., Ltd., which operates the campus, announced to its employees that it had dissolved the company due to financial difficulties and the campus had ceased operations.
After the closure of Lerong Children’s Home Yizhuang Campus, more than 30 employees were owed two months’ wages. What’s more troublesome is that more than 500 parents have difficulty in recovering the prepaid tuition fees for class hours – a total of more than 6 million yuan.
On June 6, the headquarters of Lerong Children’s Home informed the parents that it was preparing to take over the Yizhuang campus and had drafted relevant agreements, but it still needed to negotiate with the original investors of the campus. On the 9th, the surging news reporter called Feng Jiatong, an investor in the Yizhuang campus of Lerong Children’s Home, many times, but he did not answer the phone and did not reply to the message. The staff of Lerong Children’s Home headquarters said that the “Yizhuang Campus Processing Team” is dealing with relevant matters.
Employee: The investor announced the dissolution of the company in the WeChat group, and the salary has not been paid for two months
Wu Fang (pseudonym) is a teacher at Yizhuang Campus of Lerong Children’s Home and has been employed for more than a year. She told The Paper that the Yizhuang campus was officially opened in August 2020. There are more than 500 students this year. Except for two nursery classes, most of them participated in early education.
On April 24, 2022, due to the impact of the new crown epidemic, Lerong Children’s Home Yizhuang Campus closed classes after being notified. Wu Fang and more than 30 colleagues left the campus temporarily. They agreed to the salary package proposed by the boss: during the suspension of classes, according to the Beijing minimum wage standard, each person will be paid 2,320 yuan per month.
Wu Fang remembered that on May 10th, it was time to pay the salary for April. The boss Feng Jiatong asked everyone to wait. “She said that she had no money and was taking a loan from the bank.” On May 30th, the teachers reminded the school that the salary should be paid. , but did not get a response from Feng Jiatong.
“We called the boss’s cell phone and didn’t answer our calls.” Wu Fang felt that the situation was not right. On the afternoon of May 30, investor Feng Jiatong’s work group on WeChat suddenly issued a “Letter to All Colleagues”.
The letter is stamped with the seal of “Beijing Tongyou Education Consulting Co., Ltd.” The letter stated that due to the impact of the epidemic and other factors, the company had high debts and no funds to continue operating. “Now I can only reluctantly inform everyone that Beijing Tongyou Education Consulting Co., Ltd. was dissolved in advance and was forced to stop operating.”
“After seeing the notice of dissolution, we went to the school, the door was locked, and we couldn’t get in.” Wu Fang said that the company still owed 36 employees two months’ wages, plus two months’ social security payment. And housing provident fund, a total of more than 400,000 yuan.
According to multiple interviewed employees, 36 employees of Lerong Children’s Home Yizhuang Campus have submitted an arbitration application to the Beijing Economic and Technological Development Zone Labor Dispute Arbitration Committee.
Some employees revealed that after the school issued a “dissolution notice”, they asked everyone not to tell parents first, but some employees felt that they should inform parents to protect their rights together. As a result, the news of the closure of Lerong Children’s Home Yizhuang Campus quickly spread among parents.
Parents: Tuition fees for early education and childcare will not be refunded
The parent, Ms. Yan, remembers that in October 2021, she bought 60 early childhood lessons for her two-year-old son. At that time, she transferred 16,200 yuan to the company account of the investor of Lerong Children’s Home Yizhuang Campus, but the company (the school) did not issue an invoice.
After learning that the school was closed on May 30, Ms. Yan became anxious. About half of her son’s early education class was completed, and there should be more than 8,000 yuan left. Parents who received news one after another formed a WeChat group, and everyone decided to report the case to the police.
On May 31, many parents came to the Tianhua Road Police Station of the Daxing Branch of the Beijing Public Security Bureau to report to the police that “the boss ran away”.
Screenshot of the payment record of the parent, Mr. Yin.
The parent, Mr. Yin, also arrived at the police station that day. In June 2021, he bought 9,999 yuan for his son’s early education class, and now he has more than 4,000 yuan left; during the “Double Eleven” last year, he took advantage of the preferential activities to buy another year’s nursery class for his child, once She had sex with 72,000 yuan. She originally planned to send her child to childcare in May this year, but heard the news that the school was closed.
The two fee schedules stamped by Beijing Tongyou Education Consulting Co., Ltd. and signed by Feng Jiatong, the legal representative, show that after the parents prepaid tuition fees, the remaining amount (not attending classes) is currently 6,106,084.79 yuan, of which more than 1.69 million yuan is for childcare. Yuan, more than 4.41 million yuan for early education, involving a total of 503 children who have paid tuition fees.
After receiving reports from parents, on May 31, the police at Tianhua Road Police Station notified investor Feng Jiatong to explain the situation at the police station. Feng Jiatong and her attorney arrived at the police station that day.
“She has a lawyer, and we also have a lawyer.” Some parents hurriedly notified Xie Yanping to come over. Xie Yanping is a partner of a law firm in Beijing. In December 2021, he bought 8,600 yuan of early education classes for his children, and he only took two or three classes at the Yizhuang campus of Lerong Children’s Home.
On the evening of May 31, Xie Yanping, who had finished working overtime, rushed to the Tianhua Road police station.
Xie Yanping told The Paper that the police are currently coordinating.
That day, Xie Yanping and dozens of parents stayed up all night at the police station until the morning of Children’s Day. The face-to-face communication between the parents and Feng Jiatong and his lawyers did not make any substantial progress.
Major shareholder: the company was forced to stop operating because it could not make ends meet, with more than five million debts
Feng Jiatong, who has become the target of public criticism, is the major shareholder and legal representative of Beijing Tongyou Education Consulting Co., Ltd. According to industrial and commercial information, the company was established in May 2019 with a registered capital of 1 million yuan.
A letter from the investment direction of Lerong Children’s Home Yizhuang Campus announcing “dissolution” to employees.
After it was announced on May 30 that Lerong Children’s Home Yizhuang Campus would cease operations, the campus employees and parents could not contact Feng Jiatong, and the news of “the boss running away” began to spread.
On May 31, the police at Tianhua Road Police Station called Feng Jiatong in front of the parents after receiving the report: “If there is a crime, we will crack down on it according to the law. If it is just a business operation, it can be resolved through negotiation or litigation. “The police asked Feng Jiatong to come to the police station to explain the situation.
After arriving at the Tianhua Road police station that afternoon, Feng Jiatong was surrounded by a group of parents and asked her to give an explanation.
On May 31, the investors of Lerong Children’s Home Yizhuang Campus were questioned by parents.
A video taken by the parents showed Feng Jiatong wearing jeans, a black top, and a black mask, standing in the center of the police station; the surrounding parents kept a certain distance. “I learned just now that some parents directly transferred the money to the principal… I have to reconcile the account after I go back.” Feng Jiatong said.
In the face of parents’ questions about “what to do”, Feng Jiatong said “to communicate with the headquarters”. Is there any solution? In face-to-face communication with parents, Feng Jiatong did not give a solution.
What is the reason for the Lerong Children’s Home Yizhuang Campus, which has been open for less than two years, to stop operating?
In “A Letter to All Colleagues”, Feng Jiatong said that due to the repeated epidemics, the school “opened and stopped” in the past two years, and the company was unable to make ends meet. more than five million yuan. Today, “there are no borrowed funds for us to continue operating”.
In the letter announcing the school’s cessation of operations, Feng Jiatong did not mention how to pay the wages owed to employees or how to deal with the tuition prepaid by parents.
On June 9, in order to understand the situation, The Paper reporter called Feng Jiatong several times. Feng did not answer the phone or text messages.
In recent years, the phenomenon of “running away with money” and “difficulty in refunding” in off-campus training institutions has occurred from time to time. In order to prevent similar problems, in October 2021, six departments including the Ministry of Education, the National Development and Reform Commission, and the People’s Bank of China jointly issued the “Notice on Strengthening the Supervision of Off-Campus Training Institutions’ Advance Charges”, requiring that the advance charges of local training institutions be managed by banks. , and set up a prepaid risk deposit.
Is the pre-charge of Lerong Children’s Home Yizhuang Campus after October 2021 included in the supervision channel of bank custody? It is currently unknown.
Brand owner: The headquarters is preparing to take over the campus involved, but it is still being processed
Feng Jiatong, an investor and franchisee, was unable to operate Lerong Children’s Home Yizhuang Campus due to financial difficulties. As a brand owner, Beijing Lerong Education Consulting Co., Ltd., how to deal with this?
On June 2, the relevant situation statement made by the headquarters of Lerong Children’s Home.
Founded in 2015, Beijing Lerong Education Consulting Co., Ltd. is 100% owned by Chongqing Xuehui Enterprise Management Consulting Co., Ltd. “Lerong Children’s Home” is its brand, providing early education and other services for infants aged 0-6. According to its website, Lerong Children’s Home currently has nearly 50 centers across the country, covering more than 20 key cities across the country.
After the “Lerong Children’s Home” Yizhuang Campus stopped operating, on June 4, Beijing Lerong Education Consulting Co., Ltd. issued the “Information on the Lerong Children’s Home (Yizhuang Campus)” to parents. The “Information Note” stated that Lerong Children’s Home Yizhuang Campus is an “independently operated campus” organized by Beijing Tongyou Education Consulting Co., Ltd. At present, the headquarters of Lerong Children’s Home is communicating and negotiating with the investors of Yizhuang Campus.
“I think the legal relationship between them (Lerong Children’s Home Headquarters and Yizhuang Campus) is a franchise relationship.” Lawyer Xie Yanping, who is a parent, believes that according to the “Regulations on the Management of Commercial Franchise”, brand owners will Franchising to other enterprises for operation and use shall be filed with the competent commerce department and perform corresponding obligations, such as guidance and supervision on franchising.
Xie Yanping believes that Lerong Headquarters should bear the corresponding responsibility for the closure and subsequent disposal of Lerong Children’s Home Yizhuang Campus.
On June 4th, Beijing Lerong Education Consulting Co., Ltd. also issued the “Recent Progress Statement on Lerong Yizhuang Campus and Preliminary Opinions on Later Solutions” to parents, saying that the company headquarters has set up an emergency working group to deal with the Yizhuang campus incident; Through docking with the investors of Yizhuang Campus, a solution has been proposed – the headquarters will provide parents with continuous course services for the remaining class hours at the original venue, and some issues need further discussion.
The amount of tuition remaining (not attending classes) according to the school’s statistics.
On June 6, according to the parents interviewed, the headquarters of Lerong Children’s Home informed the parents of the “work progress”: the relevant agreement has been drafted and is awaiting feedback from the original investor of Yizhuang Campus; And supplementary recruitment and other work are also being carried out.
On the afternoon of June 9, The Paper reporter called the customer service phone of Lerong Children’s Home to inquire about the matter. The staff later called back and said that the “Yizhuang Campus Handling Team” was dealing with related matters on the Yizhuang Campus.