Japan's Casio firm has agreed to apologize to Chinese consumers for the "miscalculating" calculator products selling on the Chinese market, but refused demands for a recall and compensation.
Casio signed a mediation deal with representatives of Chinese consumers early Saturday morning, after 12 hours of negotiations.
Under the deal, Casio has agreed to apologize to consumers using the faulty calculators in the form of an announcement, and to stop selling the product before the users' manual is revised, said Wang Yongmu, secretary of the Consumers' Association of Zhejiang Province.
The two sides held vehement debates on the returning of sold products and the compensation of products sold after 1996, but they failed to reach an agreement.
They agreed to hold further discussions.
Wang noted that the event has not ended, and that the association will keep negotiating with the firm to protect the dignity of the law and interests of consumers.
He urged the company to show the deepest sincerity and take a realistic approach towards the matter, so as to give consumers a satisfactory answer as soon as possible.
The event arose in April this year, when two teachers from the Taizhou Medical School, Lin Shoufa and Chen Hua, lodged a complaint to the Consumers' Association of Zhejiang Province and the local industry and commerce authority against Casio's fx-3600pv and fx-3900pv calculators produced in 1998.
The two teachers said they had found calculation mistakes by the calculators and informed the firm in 1996, but four years later the products were still being sold in the Chinese market.
(Xinhua 05/22/2001)
