Why Did Luckin Coffee Refund the 5-Cup Card Orders?

Luckin Coffee's Tmall flagship store listed a 5-use card on June 28 at 13.77 yuan for any five of 15 classic drinks, and orders surged. In the early hours of June 29, many buyers found their paid orders cancelled and refunded by the system with the reason "no longer wanted," even though they had requested nothing. Some accounts showed "seller has shipped" but no vouchers arrived.

Luckin attributed the cancellations to a system configuration error and offered a 32-yuan drink voucher as compensation. Some buyers rejected it, calling the unilateral cancellation a breach of contract or fraud, and filed lawsuits seeking compensation. The case highlights performance and consumer-protection risks around electronic discount vouchers, a topic worth watching for anyone following coffee culture and retail.

A super-value 5-use card launched on Luckin's Tmall flagship store quickly sparked a buying frenzy, as it was priced as low as 13.77 yuan for any 5 cups chosen from 15 classic drinks. However, in the early hours of the next day, many consumers had their orders forcibly refunded by the platform on the grounds of "no longer wanted" without any refund request on their part, and some, although shown as shipped, did not receive their electronic vouchers. Luckin later explained that a system configuration error had triggered the automatic refund and offered a 32-yuan drink voucher as compensation. But some consumers were not appeased, believing that the brand's unilateral cancellation of the contract amounted to a breach of contract or even fraud, and have filed lawsuits demanding reasonable compensation. The incident exposes the performance risks in the sale of electronic discount vouchers and the issue of consumer rights protection.

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Recently, users on social platforms have been posting one after another, reporting that the "Classic Must-Drink 15 Choose 1 · 5-Use Card" they bought on Luckin's Tmall flagship store was unilaterally forcibly refunded by the platform the next morning after they woke up.

According to these refunded consumers, on the night of June 28, Luckin's Tmall flagship store launched a 5-use card priced at 13.77 yuan. The product page stated that buyers could choose any of 15 Luckin classic drinks, which worked out to drinking five cups for the price of just one coffee. As soon as the news came out, it immediately attracted a large number of Luckin users to place orders and snap it up.

But by the next day, some users who had already bought the card found when they opened the third-party platform that, although they had not initiated any refund request at all, their successfully paid "Luckin 5-Use Card" order had been forcibly canceled by the platform at around two in the morning on June 29, and the refund reason given by the system was "no longer wanted."

It should be noted that not every consumer who bought the Luckin 5-use card encountered a forced refund. Some posted screenshots of their accounts showing that shortly after placing their orders in the early hours of the 29th, the order status changed to "seller has shipped," but after logging into their Luckin accounts, they could not find any trace of the electronic discount vouchers.

This unexpected situation quickly left Luckin's fans confused and dissatisfied. Most people believe that situations such as insufficient resources due to an overly popular campaign or errors in issuing cards and vouchers are not uncommon, and similar accidents have happened before with some tea beverage brands.

However, what truly angered many Luckin fans was that this forced refund of the 5-use card was carried out by the platform under the pretext that "the customer no longer wanted it," without consulting consumers' wishes at all and without any action by the users themselves, catching off guard those who had originally intended to use the card vouchers.

As a result, many consumers whose orders had been inexplicably canceled contacted Luckin customer service one after another, demanding that the brand provide a reasonable explanation and response. Realizing that the "automatic system refund" had already sparked public controversy, Luckin successively issued two announcements through the third-party platform shortly after the incident.

In the announcements, Luckin explained that "due to system reasons such as product configuration errors and abnormal order volume, orders for the 'Classic Must-Drink 15 Choose 1 · 5-Use Card' became abnormal, triggering the system's automatic refund mechanism." For users who were refunded, the brand said they could complete information registration through the platform's online customer service, and after verification they would receive an official compensation voucher for a 32-yuan Luckin Coffee redemption coupon.

A 5-use card bought with real money turned into a 32-yuan drink voucher in the blink of an eye. Such a gap clearly made some consumers unable to accept the compensation plan offered by the brand, and after the announcement was issued, they complained about the situation to the 12315 platform.

In addition, according to a report by Jingchuang Live, a consumer who refused to accept Luckin's compensation measures pointed out that Luckin and the third-party platform's unilateral cancellation of orders was suspected of contract breach and fraud. According to the relevant provisions of the Civil Code and the Law on the Protection of Consumer Rights and Interests, a business operator's fraudulent conduct requires compensation of three times the product price, and if the compensation amount is less than 500 yuan, it is calculated as 500 yuan.

Based on the above reasons, the consumer has already filed a lawsuit through the Hangzhou Internet Court litigation platform, bringing Luckin and the third-party platform to court, demanding that both parties provide a reasonable explanation for this refund incident and pay financial compensation to the refunded consumers in accordance with the relevant provisions.

Image source: Internet

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The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.