“I haven’t received the ticket price for the plane for a year”… Booking damage doubled due to Corona

Incheon International Airport Arrival Hall on the 23rd of last month. [뉴스1]

#Last January, Mr. Lee purchased a travel product from an overseas travel agency, including airline tickets and lodging fees, for 7 million won at an online shopping mall. When Mr. Lee requested to cancel the contract due to the spread of the new coronavirus infection (Corona 19), the travel agency replied that it would deduct the fee and refund it. Lee later sent a letter to the shopping mall and travel agency through the Korea Consumer Agency for damage relief, but it was returned and has not been refunded until now, more than a year later.

On the 24th, as a result of an analysis of 6,9452 online transactions damage relief applications received by the Consumer Agency for the last five years, the number of damage relief applications last year was 12,974, up 7% from the previous year. In particular, air passenger transportation service consumer damage was the highest with 5898 cases, followed by investment advisory (consulting) 3274 cases, and overseas travel 2094 cases.

In the aviation sector, as more frequent cancellations of flight tickets reserved before the spread of Corona 19 increased, consumer damage was 2187 cases (17%), more than doubled from the previous year (784 cases). On the other hand, the number of cases related to investment advisory (consulting), which was the number one item for consumer damage in 2019, decreased slightly from 1250 in 2019 to 911 cases last year. By type of damage, it was confirmed that most (41,189 cases) were contract-related damages such as contract failure, contract cancellation, and termination. Quality/AS-related (3544 cases) and safety-related (2499 cases) were followed.

Last year, the number of consultations regarding ticket refunds and penalties. Graphic = Kim Eun-kyo [email protected]

In the last five years, there were a total of 10,947 (16%) disputes related to nine major online platform operators (11st Street, Naver, Auction, WeMef, Interpark, Gmarket, Coupang, Kakao, Timon). Among them, 4464 cases (41%) were not processed for compensation to consumers due to insufficient data, unknown seller identification, or loss of contact with the seller. Consumer Agency emphasized that the percentage of non-consensus for damage relief was higher in online transactions compared to other fields such as stock investment services (17%) and clothing goods (21%).

As for the number of requests for damage relief related to hazardous goods transactions, a total of 1074 cases have been received over the past five years, but 52% have not received compensation for damage. The number of applications for damage relief related to overseas business operators was also 1500, but 48% were not compensated.

Consumer Agency said, “It is necessary to improve the system to support this, along with the active efforts of platform operators to provide identity information on store sellers and mediation between store sellers and consumers.” It is necessary to introduce a system that allows a domestic agent to actively respond to consumer disputes.”

Reporter Lee Byung-jun [email protected]