How to Complain in Shanghai and Actually Get Results (12345)

To make a complaint in Shanghai, call 12345, the city's citizen service hotline. It runs 24 hours a day in Chinese, English and 17 other languages, handles almost any non-emergency problem, from a landlord who will not return a deposit to a construction site drilling at midnight, and gives you a case number to track. For a shop, product or refund dispute, use 12315, the consumer hotline. Both are free, and neither cares whether you hold a Chinese ID.

The thing nobody tells you when you arrive is that Shanghai has a working complaints system, and that as an expat you are fully entitled to use it. Most of us assume that without fluent Chinese and a local network, a bad landlord or a shop that shrugs at a broken phone is just tough luck. It is not. You have a phone number, a right, and, it turns out, an English-speaking operator on the other end.

Which number do I actually call in Shanghai?

Shanghai runs several hotlines, and picking the right one saves a transfer. 12345 is the catch-all citizen line for anything involving daily life or a government matter; 12315 is the consumer line for anything you bought. As of 2026 the two run in parallel and can transfer a call between them, so if you dial the wrong one you will still get where you need to go. Here is the working map.

How does calling 12345 actually work?

12345 is Shanghai's citizen service hotline, and it is the single most useful number an expat can save. You dial 021-12345 (or just 12345 from a local phone), ask for English, and describe the problem: the noise, the landlord, the refund a company keeps dodging. The operator logs it as a work order (工单) with a case number, then routes it to whichever bureau owns the issue, which then has to respond.

The published service standard is real: the hotline aims to acknowledge within 24 hours, resolve straightforward issues within about 5 working days, and complex ones within roughly 15. It will not fix everything, and a genuinely legal fight still needs a lawyer, but it puts your problem on an official record that someone is measured against. Three habits make the call land:

• Lead with the facts, not the feelings. Address, date, what happened, what you want to happen. A clear 30-second summary beats a long story.
• Ask for the case number and write it down. That 工单号 is how you follow up, and following up is what gets things moving.
• Use the app if the call feels hard. The Suishenban super-app carries a 12345 channel where you can submit in writing and attach photos; our Suishenban guide shows where it lives.

What do I do when a shop refuses a refund?

When the problem is something you paid for, a phone that died in a week, a course that never delivered, a shop that waves you away, the number is 12315, the consumer hotline run by the market regulator. You call 021-12315, or, more practically for non-Chinese speakers, file through the national 12315 service (全国12315平台), which lives as a WeChat mini program and a website where you can type your complaint and upload the receipt and photos. The regulator then contacts the seller to mediate.

Chinese consumer law is genuinely on your side here. Under the Consumer Rights Protection Law, most goods bought online carry a seven-day no-reason return right (七天无理由退货), with sensible exceptions for things like fresh food and custom-made items. Faulty goods are covered regardless of where you bought them. The lever that works is documentation: keep the order screenshot, the chat log and the receipt, because a 12315 case with evidence gets a very different response from a vague phone call. For the full walk-through of standing your ground in the shop itself, see our guide to getting a refund when a shop says no.

When does the system work, and when does it not?

Honesty matters here, because the wrong expectation is what makes people give up. 12345 and 12315 are excellent at the middle ground: a landlord stalling on a deposit, a noisy renovation, a service that will not refund, a company ignoring your messages. An official call or work order often unsticks these fast, because the other side would rather settle than carry a logged complaint.

They are weaker at two ends. A true emergency (a crime, a safety threat) belongs with 110, not a hotline. And a serious legal dispute, an unfair dismissal, a large sum, a contract fight, needs the proper channel: labour arbitration for work cases (our guide to severance and being laid off covers that), or a lawyer for the rest, which our piece on whether you need a lawyer prices out. Think of the hotlines as the first, free, surprisingly effective move, not the last word. If a deposit is the fight, our renting guide shows how to build the paper trail before you ever dial.

Sun Tzu wrote 知己知彼，百战不殆, know yourself and know the other side, and you will not be endangered. Complaints go the same way: know your facts and know your rights, and most of the fight is already won before you dial.

Words, maps and research by the Choice Shanghai team. Please credit us and tag our 公众号 if you share.