(Yicai Global) Sept. 29 -- Tencent Holding Ltd.'s [HKG:0700] social media and lifestyle platform WeChat has opened up a settlement channel for bike sharer Coolqi Beijing Technology Co. to repay user deposits after the latter included the closure of such a channel among its excuses for not returning customers' money.

Coolqi said yesterday in an open letter that WeChat had closed the payment channel and frozen almost CNY40 million (USD6.06 million) of the bike sharer's funds.

The social media platform responded by saying it had received a number of complaints from users so delayed fund settlements, but never restricted the merchant from handing back deposits. It has now opened up a settlement channel so Coolqi can refund users' money, Ifeng reported.

The bike sharer has been trying to fix financial problems since WeChat postponed settlements in the middle of August, it claimed in the letter. It is currently seeking new investment and yesterday announced it had dismissed its chief executive, Gao Weiwei, over the issue.