(Yicai Global) Aug. 10 -- A Beijing consumer rights group has asked Missfresh, the struggling online grocery startup backed by Tencent Holdings and Tiger Global, to devise a plan to refund customers after a slew of complaints.

The government-backed Beijing Consumer Association summoned representatives of Missfresh to a meeting on Aug. 4 and required the Beijing-based firm to report back within three working days with a refund plan, according to a statement posted on the group’s website yesterday.

Some 269 complaints about Missfresh were lodged on Sina’s complaints platform Black Cat over the past 30 days. Disgruntled shoppers said the e-grocer had failed to deliver items, and they could not get their money back after canceling orders and were unable to get through to the company’s customer service department.

The BCA also told Missfresh that it should improve communication with local authorities, actively work with the consumer group, and safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of consumers.

In New York yesterday, the company’s shares [NASDAQ: MF] closed down 8.5 percent at 16 US cents, giving Missfresh a market capitalization of just USD37.8 million. The stock, which started trading in June last year, has sunk nearly 99 percent from its issue price of USD13.

Rumors about Missfresh letting go staff without compensation started doing the rounds online on July 28, tanking the firm’s stock price by almost 43 percent. The day after, a source at the company told Yicai Global that it had not gone out of business and that the reported job losses were part and parcel of business and organizational changes.

Missfresh has also defaulted on payments to suppliers. More than 100 jointly had pressed the firm to pay nearly CNY66 million (USD9.8 million) owed as of July 29, Yicai Global learned.

Missfresh’s net loss widened 58 percent to CNY973.7 million (USD144.4 million) in the third quarter of 2021 from a year earlier on a 47 percent jump in revenue to CNY2.1 billion (USD311.3 million). Since then, it has not released any quarterly earnings reports.

Editors: Dou Shicong, Futura Costaglione