ofo says refund process 'normal,' despite P2P reports

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Chinese bike-sharing company ofo has insisted that its deposit refund system is working normally, despite multiple users reporting that they were directed towards an online loan platform when they requested the return of their money.

The troubled company, which earlier this month denied reports of bankruptcy or that it was being forced to sell, said Tuesday that the refund system was now fully functional, although processing times had slowed after the company recently moved address.

The move to another office saw its servers relocated, “resulting in a temporary extension of the deposit refund period,” according to thepaper.cn.

A People's Daily editorial published earlier this year described ofo as "immature and unreasonable." /VCG Photo

However, the time needed to refund deposits of between 99 and 199 yuan (14 and 29 U.S. dollars) has increased more and more in recent weeks, sparking concerns that all is not well with ofo's finances.

The company initially promised users it could refund deposits within three days. That period then increased to 10 days, and now 15 days. However, many users have waited much longer than 15 days without receiving their money.

Ofo raised its deposits from 99 yuan to 199 yuan last year. Last Friday, local media began citing numerous users who were struggling to get their 99 yuan deposits returned to them.

According to posts on social media, the affected users said they were told to either increase their deposits to 199 yuan, or put them in a peer-to-peer (P2P) lending platform operated by PPMoney.

They were told that their 99 yuan would be kept locked in the P2P fund for 30 days, and then it would be returned to them with interest. Anyone who agreed to the P2P option would have also needed to submit their personal ID information to PPMoney.

However, ofo has denied that users were being forced to take part in the P2P scheme, saying that it was merely an option that they could decline.

The company's account on Sina Weibo has been inundated with messages regarding unreturned deposits. The top rated comment by @dingbanxian simply says “return my deposit,” while @huerheiyoID says “return my deposit and remaining balance!! And why can't your customer service even take my calls???”

Ofo has declined requests to state how many users have requested their deposits.

At the time of writing, I, the writer of this piece, have been waiting since September 5 for the return of my deposit. Ofo's mobile app simply informs me it is “in the process of returning” the money, with no progress made in almost three months.

A screenshot from the writer's ofo account. The deposit is still "in the process of being returned," after first being requested on September 5. /CGTN Photo

Attempts on Tuesday to contact customer service regarding the deposit went without response.

Ofo's troubles come after huge global expansion and billions of dollars' worth of venture capital in 2017, when the company established a presence in cities around the world.

However, just this year the company has retreated from Germany, Australia, Israel, South Korea, Japan and India, as well as greatly reducing its operations in the U.S. and the UK.

Last month, bike suppliers Shanghai Phoenix Bicycles and Tianjin Flying Pigeon Cycle Manufacturing confirmed they were suing ofo over unpaid bills, with Shanghai Phoenix Bicycles alone saying it was owed 10 million U.S. dollars.