Many people, who had previously worked with LeEco, have accused the flamboyant Chinese technology conglomerate of cheating. According to the complainants, including users and social media influencers, LeEco has vanished from India without paying their dues for months.
Since Tuesday morning, a Twitter hashtag #LeEcoCheatingIndians is trending on the microblogging website with tweets pouring into slam LeEco over non-payment of dues. Many of those disgruntled people were contracted employees who worked for LeEco's social media campaigns when the company first entered the Indian market with its smartphones and television sets.
@LeEcoIndia please release my payment for previous social campaigns urgently. It's been months of chasing now #LeEcocheatingIndians
— Divya? (@divyamisra2) July 4, 2017
#leecocheatingindians this just 1 product out of many its better we have some respect for our self and country and avoid all china product
— Amitabh Anand (@AmitabhAnand5) July 4, 2017
Have taken full furnished office from Me in Raipur and have ran way without paying 3months rent.. That's reality of #LeEcocheatingIndians
— Lal nabhjeet singh (@NabhSingh) July 4, 2017
Some even urged Flipkart to stop selling LeEco products saying that the company is not clearing payments.
@Flipkart apls dont sell @LeEcoIndia products. They are not clearing payments. #LeEcocheatingIndians pic.twitter.com/BmVb7PclD9
— Aditi (@dil_13_te_80_ve) July 4, 2017
#LeEcocheatingIndians Why is @Flipkart still selling @LeEcoIndia products? Boycott them for not clearing vendor dues in India @jiayueting pic.twitter.com/U42OL8IlZ5
— Nidhi C (@nidc13) July 4, 2017
This is not the first time when LeEco faced such allegations. In January, a Chinese vendor called Zhejiang Haosheng Electronic Technology sued the company for unpaid bills worth 51.74 million yuan (about $5 million or Rs 32.3 crore).
Meanwhile, a Shanghai court has also ordered to freeze the personal assets of Jia Yueting, the billionaire co-founder of LeEco, over debt. The court ruling to block assets worth 1.24 billion yuan ($182 million or Rs. 1,180.3 crore) came after the company failed to pay interest due on bank loans taken to fund its smartphone business.
China Merchants Bank Co. reportedly offered loan to LeEco to support its smartphone subsidiary called Leview Mobile, which later ignored requests from the lender for interest payments. The bank then went to the Shanghai court, which eventually ordered to seize assets, belonging to Jia, his wife and three LeEco affiliates, Xinhua reported.
LeEco reportedly said in an emailed statement that the company is currently negotiating with its creditor and has enough cash to pay its debts.
LeEco, which was once known as the Netflix of China, is now dealing with severe cash crunch after expensive forays into cars and smartphones, forcing it to slash costs and cut jobs.
In May, LeEco laid off 325 employees in San Diego postponing the company's plans to expand in the US market. The company also sold its land property in Silicon Valley, which was purchased with the intention of setting up LeEco headquarters in the country.
In March, LeEco had reportedly fired 85 percent of its India headcount, leading many to believe that the company was preparing for an eventual departure from the Indian market.
