Taobao vendor travels 860 km to beat up customer who filed complaint against him

Buyer, beware!

Last month, a woman arrived at a delivery center in Zhengzhou, hoping to finally pick up her long overdue package, only to instead be ambushed and assaulted by an irate Taobao vendor.

On December 23rd, the woman, given the pseudonym Xiao Li, had filed a complaint against the vendor, surnamed Zhang, claiming that her clothing order had not been shipped on time, the Beijing Times reported. Soon afterward she began receiving a series of threatening messages and phone calls from Zhang which even included death threats.

At the time, Xiao Li didn’t report the threats to the police. On December 27th, she received a message notifying her that her package had arrived at last, and she hurried over to a nearby pick-up station, unaware that she was walking straight into an ambush.

Surveillance footage from outside of the station shows the unsuspecting woman being abruptly assaulted on the street by the furious Taobao vendor. He slaps her a number of times in the face before kicking her in the knee, sending her stumbling to the ground. With his victim on the pavement, the man then flees the scene.

Xiao Li sustained some minor injuries from the assault and was diagnosed with a concussion. While she was in the hospital, she received yet another message from Zhang, informing her that he had traveled all night from Suzhou, some 860 kilometers away, just to beat her up.

Police are currently investigating the case.

This is just the latest instance showing how China’s highly-competitive world of e-commerce and deliveries drives some to not exactly treat their customers with care and respect.

Last September, a husband was nearly beaten to death in his home in Changsha by a group of thugs after his wife left a bad restaurant review online. Afterward, the restaurant owner explained to police that he was concerned the review would hurt his eatery’s fine reputation.

The following month, a delivery guy beat a woman bloody on the street in Hainan, worried that she would write a bad review about him after he failed to deliver her food on time.

[Images via Beijing Times]