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Be careful about consumer damages from foreign language programs or 게시글 상세보기 - 등록일, 조회수, 첨부파일, 상세내용, 이전글, 다음글 제공

Be careful about consumer damages from foreign language programs or

Date

2009-01-21

Hit

2998

Be careful about consumer damages from foreign language programs or

overseas English language camps during the vacation season

In spite of the economic slowdown, Korean parents are so eager to send their children to other countries during the winter vacation season.

Consumer damages have continued to occur from cancellation refusals or excessive cancellation penalties for foreign language programs or overseas English language camps. These programs need to be checked with prudent attention.

Consumer Complaints of the Korea Consumer Agency

Classification	2007	(Till Nov. 2008)
No. of Claims	211	320

Consumer Claims involving overseas foreign language programs

(January 2007~November 2008)

Damage type	No. of Claims (%)
Cancellation refusals, excessive penalty requests	287 cases (58.3%)
Dissatisfaction with programs or home stay	106 cases (21.5%)
Visa or flight ticket issues	22 cases (4.5%)
Additional charge requests, lack of discount benefits, safety related accidents and etc.	77 cases (15.7%)

As of November 2008, consumer complaints involving foreign language programs have increased by 52% (320 cases), compared to the last year.

The most frequent damages are related to cancellation refusals and excessive penalty requests.

In case of cancellations, the remaining amounts were not refunded or penalties were deducted without prior notice.

The following cases are ‘ dissatisfaction with programs or home stay’, ‘visa or flight ticket issues’ and ‘additional charge requests, lack of discount benefits, and safety related accidents’.

Consumer claims

【Case 1】 Cancellation refusal

Consumer K paid KRW 2.5 million for the English camp for his child (5^th grade). One day after, he requested to cancel it because of his child’s maladjustment to the program, however, his cancellation request was refused.

【Case 2】Excessive penalty request

Consumer J paid KRW 1.2 million for the participation in international English camp. Later, he asked to cancel the registration due to personal reason, but he was asked to pay KRW 300,000 of penalty without any prior notice.

【Case 3】Poor programs

Consumer K paid KRW 5.62 million for the English training program in Ireland. However, he was not satisfied with the program because of frequent changes in instructors and poor preparation of educational materials. Therefore, he came back earlier and asked for a refund of his money, but his request was rejected.

【Case 4】Dissatisfaction with home stay

Consumer P paid KRW 20 million for 4 people (him & his 3 children) for an English camp in Australia. They had to change home stay families 4 times since the home stay family had not been fixed before their departure. He complained to the business operator, however, he received a response of “You were not lucky.”

【Case 5】 Mistakes in document process

Consumer J paid KRW 2.51 million for a language study program in the Philippines. However, he had to return eventually because he was refused entry into the country during his transit to Macau due to a short validity period of his passport. His agent didn’t confirm the passport validity when he sent his passport copy prior to his departure. He asked for damage redress, but his request was denied.

【Case 6】Safety related accident

Consumer Y fell down from the ladder of a two story bed and had a fracture in his right shoulder during the English camp period at the OO English Village. He asked for his injury compensation, however, the business operator avoided his responsibility of safety management.

Regulations on contract cancellations

(Standard regulations of the Korea Fair Trade Commission, No. 10055, 2007.12.7)

Article 10 (Contract cancellation and refund standards)

① Customer shall request a contract cancellation.

The refund standards for document handling charges are as follows;

1. Cancellation request after contract conclusion: Refund after deduction of 10% of handling charges

2. Cancellation request after document translation and completion of application form: Refund after deduction of 30% of handling charges

3. Cancellation request after sending the application form for language institute:

Refund after deduction of 50% of handling charges

4. Cancellation request after receiving admission:

Refund after deduction of 70% of handling charges

5. Cancellation request after visa issuance: Refund after deduction of 90% of handling charges

④ Cancellation during language program execution:

A refund of tuition fees and accommodation registration fee will be given according to language institute refund policy.

Consumer precautionary measures

Read carefully the terms and condition before contract conclusion.
Confirm the refund policy and mention the refund details in case of absence.
Go over carefully terms and condition including distinction between handling charges and tuition fee, handling charge details, time frame for document process and language program period.
Installment payments are desirable in accordance with school time frame.
For better result, it is advised of consumers to listen to other people’s advices and to collect information in advance rather than following business operators unconditionally.

Consumer counseling: Korea Consumer Agency

(www.kca.go.kr / ☏ 02-3460-3000 / Fax 02-3460-3180)

Please pay attention to parking lots of hyper markets

Korea Fair Trade Commission released the ‘Fundamental Plan for Consumer Policy for 2009~2011’

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