# Overcharged in Beijing: How to Complain and Actually Get Your Money Back

> Overcharged, mis-sold or taken for a ride in Beijing? The four complaint channels that really answer — 12345, the 12315 platform, 12328 and 12326 — plus the evidence that turns a complaint into a refund.

_Category: first-time · Reading time: 12 min read_

Almost every foreign visitor to Beijing gets quietly overcharged for something at least once. A taxi that never switches the meter on. A tea ceremony that turns out to cost ¥600. A restaurant where the bill does not match the prices you were shown. The reflex is to shrug and write it off as the cost of travel — and that is usually the wrong call. Beijing has a complaint system that genuinely works: it is free, it runs 24 hours, and it answers in English. What it needs from you is not a lawyer. It needs a receipt, a timestamp and the right phone number. This is the post-incident playbook: which channel handles which problem, what evidence to grab in the two minutes while you are still standing there, and what a realistic refund actually looks like.

## First question: is this a police matter or a complaint?

Spend ten seconds deciding this before you dial, because the two systems work completely differently. Police handle people and public order. Hotlines handle money and how a business behaved. Getting it wrong does not mean nobody helps you — it means you queue twice.

- **Someone is threatening, detaining or following you** — Call 110. That is a public-order matter, not a consumer one — see our Beijing emergency numbers guide.
- **You got the goods or the service, but paid too much** — Consumer complaint: 12345 in Beijing, or the national 12315 platform online.
- **A taxi refused the meter, took a detour or dumped you short** — Transport hotline 12328; for a ride-hailing car, appeal inside the app first.
- **Your flight or train went wrong and nobody replies** — Airline or 12306 first, then escalate to 12326 for anything aviation.
- **You were sold a fake, or a sight charged an unpublished price** — Beijing's 12345 covers both market supervision and tourism complaints.

## 12345: the number to save before you land

12345 is Beijing's all-purpose government service hotline, staffed 24 hours a day. In 2020 it absorbed 52 separate hotlines across 16 districts and 36 departments — including the old 12315 market supervision line — which is why consumer complaints in Beijing go to 12345 rather than 12315. The part that matters most to foreign visitors: according to a Beijing municipal press briefing in October 2025, 12345 takes calls in eight languages around the clock, with an English desk always on and other languages bridged to a volunteer multilingual service centre through a three-way call. Beyond the phone there is the 12345 Online platform, a 12345online section on the city's international portal, and a message board on the Beijing Service WeChat account — and when you cannot easily spell an address over a phone line, writing it down is genuinely faster.

- **Dial 12345** — Free from a Chinese number, 24/7. Say 'English, please' and you will be put through to an English agent.
- **Beijing Service WeChat account** — Has a message board aimed at foreign visitors in the city — good when a call is awkward.
- **12345 Online** — Submit in writing and track the ticket. Far easier than spelling out a shop address over the phone.
- **Write down the ticket number** — It is how you chase the case. Without it, every follow-up call starts from zero.

## The 12315 platform: where consumer disputes actually get mediated

The national 12315 platform (www.12315.cn, with an app, a mini-program and a WeChat account) handles consumer disputes: shops, restaurants, markets, counterfeit goods, misleading prices, prepaid cards, hotel stays and online orders. Its timeline is set out in the measures governing market supervision complaints: the authority decides whether to accept your complaint within 7 working days of receiving it and tells you either way, and mediation is normally concluded within 60 days of acceptance — if no agreement is reached, mediation ends and you are still free to sue or arbitrate. Filing is real-name, a passport is fine, and you must supply the business name, its address and a specific demand. Copy the name off the receipt or the shop sign rather than writing what you thought the place was called.

- **What it covers** — Shops, restaurants, markets, fakes, misleading prices, prepaid cards, accommodation disputes, online orders.
- **What to file** — Business name and address copied from the fapiao or shop front, what you paid, what was agreed, and what you want back.
- **The timeline** — A decision on acceptance within 7 working days; mediation within 60 days of acceptance.
- **Identity** — Real-name filing — your passport works. Expect a call back from the district market supervision office.

## Taxis and ride-hailing: 12328

12328 is the national transport services supervision hotline: 24 hours, handled locally, reachable by phone, WeChat mini-program, WeChat account, app and website. Refusing a passenger, negotiating a flat fare instead of using the meter, taking a long detour, dropping you short, and unlicensed or mis-dispatched ride-hailing cars all fall under it. The single most valuable piece of evidence is the printed fare invoice, which every Beijing taxi must issue and which carries the plate number and the taxi company — exactly what the regulator needs. For app-booked cars, the in-app complaint is usually faster: both Didi and Amap have a complaint entry on the trip page, and 12328 is the escalation when that goes nowhere. General transport complaints are commonly answered within about 7 working days, with complex cases extended and the caller told so; local published commitments vary, so treat the deadline you are given at intake as the real one.

- **Record it before the car pulls away** — Plate number, driver name if the app shows one, pick-up and drop-off points, a photo of the meter or a screenshot of the trip page.
- **Ask for the fare invoice** — Every Beijing taxi must issue one. The plate number and company on it are all the regulator needs to act.
- **Appeal inside the app first** — Didi and Amap both have a complaint button on the trip page — faster than the hotline. 12328 is the escalation.
- **For a cab hailed on the street** — Call 12328, or call 12345 — Beijing routes transport complaints through to the transport authority.

## Flights and trains: 12326 and 12306

For aviation the order matters. Complain to the airline or the airport first; if you get no reply, or you disagree with the stated reason for a delay or cancellation, escalate to 12326, the civil aviation service quality supervision hotline. It opened in March 2019, and since September 2021 there has also been a supervision platform at www.12326.cn where you can file a written complaint against an airline, an airport or an OTA and follow the case. Rail goes through 12306 — ticketing, refunds and changes, and on-board service are all handled on its phone line, app and website. But if you are still standing in the terminal, the fastest route is never a hotline: go to the service desk and ask for the duty station manager.

- **Airline first, 12326 second** — 12326 supervises airlines and airports — it exists for when your complaint to them produced no answer.
- **The 12326 platform** — www.12326.cn takes written complaints against airlines, airports and OTA platforms, with progress tracking.
- **Rail: 12306** — Ticket purchase, refunds and changes, and on-board service all run through 12306 on phone, app and web.
- **Still at the station?** — Go to the service desk and ask for the duty station manager. An on-the-spot resolution beats any phone call.

## Sights, tours and hotels: all of it goes to 12345

At the end of 2021 the national tourism information hotline 12301 was folded into the local 12345 government service hotlines and stopped taking tourism complaints on its own. So tour operators, guides, A-rated attractions, star-rated hotels and rated guesthouses are all a 12345 call in Beijing. Separately, most major sights have a visitor service centre or a complaint desk near the entrance, and a complaint filed while you are still on site is far harder to ignore than one made from your hotel that evening. Bring the booking: order number, the tour contract or itinerary, and the payment record, with the operator's name spelled exactly.

- **12301 no longer exists on its own** — The national tourism hotline was merged into 12345 at the end of 2021 — dial 12345 for any tourism complaint.
- **What counts as a tourism complaint** — Travel agencies and guides, A-rated sights, star-rated hotels and rated guesthouses.
- **Also complain on site** — Most sights run a visitor service centre near the gate. Filing while you are still there carries much more weight.
- **Bring the paperwork** — Order number, the tour contract or itinerary, and the payment record. The operator's name must be exact.

## The two-minute evidence kit

Whether a complaint succeeds is decided about ninety percent here, and every one of these six things is obtainable in the two minutes while you are still at the counter — and close to unobtainable afterwards.

- **The fapiao or the receipt** — Ask every time, not just for big amounts. It carries the business name, tax ID and amount — the first thing any regulator asks for.
- **The payment screenshot** — WeChat Pay and Alipay show the merchant name and order number. Screenshot it before the record scrolls out of reach.
- **Where and when** — The exact address or a photo of the shop front, plus the date and roughly the time.
- **Quoted price versus paid price** — A photo of that page of the price list or menu is the single most useful item in an overcharge case.
- **Who you dealt with** — Plate number, driver name, guide's name, or a staff name and badge number if one is worn.
- **The goods themselves** — Photograph the item and its packaging before you open or use it.

## When the shop refuses to issue a fapiao

Your right to ask for an invoice does not depend on the amount or on how you paid, and 'it was discounted', 'it was a group-buy deal' or 'the month has rolled over' are not legal grounds for refusing. Refusing to issue one, or issuing a fake, breaches the invoice management rules; you can report it on the tax service hotline 12366 or through the tax authority's online tax-violation reporting channel. If you suspect an invoice is not genuine, check the invoice code and number against the national VAT invoice verification portal at inv-veri.chinatax.gov.cn. The most practical move, though, is simply to ask before you pay — one question at the start changes how the rest of the conversation goes.

- **No minimum, no exceptions by payment type** — There is no legal floor below which a business need not issue one, and discounts and group deals are not excuses.
- **Tax hotline 12366** — Refusal to issue an invoice, or a fake one, can go to 12366 — a separate lever from the consumer hotlines.
- **Check an invoice** — Verify a suspicious one on the national VAT invoice portal at inv-veri.chinatax.gov.cn.
- **Ask before paying, not after** — Asking at the point of order is effortless; asking once the machine has been run is a negotiation.

## What a realistic outcome looks like

Set your expectations correctly: administrative mediation is not a court judgment. The market supervision office brings you and the business to the table, and by far the most common win is a full or partial refund, often arranged by one phone call from the district office. An on-the-spot fine or an arrest does not happen — enforcement against the business runs on a separate, slower track from your refund. And if mediation ends without agreement, your options are not exhausted: you can still sue or arbitrate under any agreement you have, and the 60-day mediation window is not a limitation period. One counter-intuitive rule to finish on: claim the amount you were overcharged, not a punishment. Precise, documented claims get resolved; inflated ones tend to be set aside.

- **The likely win** — A full or partial refund, brokered by the district market supervision office contacting the business.
- **The unlikely one** — An immediate fine or arrest. Penalising the business is a separate track and does not move at the speed of your refund.
- **If mediation fails** — You can still go to court or to arbitration. The 60-day mediation period is not your deadline for doing so.
- **Do not inflate the ask** — Claim the overcharge itself. Documented, exact claims move quickly; demands for punitive multiples usually do not.

## Prevention beats any complaint

Every channel above costs you at least an hour of your trip. Each of these takes ten seconds and makes the channel unnecessary.

- **Pay inside an app** — Didi, Meituan, Dianping and attraction mini-programs all create a record and come with a built-in refund path.
- **Photograph the price list** — Ten seconds before ordering removes the 'that was the tourist price' defence completely.
- **Insist on the meter** — In a Beijing taxi the word is 打表. If the driver refuses, take the next cab or book a ride-hailing car.
- **Avoid cash with street sellers** — Cash leaves no merchant name and no order number, which means no route back to your money.
- **Book sights through official real-name channels** — Official channels publish their prices. Anyone selling you 'skip the queue' at a markup is not official.

## The routine, start to finish

- **Before you walk away** — Fapiao or payment screenshot, shop front photo, price list photo, plate number or guide's name.
- **Same day** — If you paid in an app, complain there first. Otherwise dial 12345 (English desk, 24 hours) or file on 12345 Online.
- **Keep the ticket number** — It is the only way to chase the case without repeating the whole story.
- **Answer the unknown number** — The district market supervision office will call you — an unfamiliar Beijing number over the next few days is usually them.
- **If someone's safety is at stake** — Threats, detention and theft are police matters: 110. See our Beijing emergency numbers guide.

## Where to stay

**KOULING Ruiyue Hotel** — 5m from Guogongzhuang Metro Station · 9.6/10 · US$26  
View hotel: https://12001.net/hotels/ruiyue/

An overcharge stings far less when the rest of your bills are boring. KOULING Ruiyue sits 5 metres from Guogongzhuang Station (Line 9 / Fangshan Line): rates are published on the booking platforms you already use, the front desk issues a proper fapiao on request, and they will write your next destination in Chinese so the next taxi starts with the meter running.

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Source: https://12001.net/guides/beijing-overcharged-how-to-complain/  
© KOULING Hotels