As the number of cases of consumer damages related to 'cancellation refusal' among home-school material businesses is rising continually, greater caution is required of consumers.

The Korea Consumer Agency (President: Young-Seen Kim, www.kca.go.kr) conducted an analysis of consumer damages related to home-school materials reported to the 1372 Consumer Counseling Center. According to the analysis, more than 6,000 consumer complaints have been reported each year, with 6,277 cases recorded in 2010 and 6,902 in 2011. The KCA mentioned that the total is expected to easily exceed 6,000 cases this year, as 3,384 cases were reported to the KCA in the first half of 2012 alone.

An analysis of those 3,384 cases has shown that "the revocation of offers or cancellation refusals" were the most frequent causes of complaint (2,053 cases, 60.7%), followed by "wrongful acts" (343 cases, 10.1%) and "excessive penalty requests" (300 cases, 8.9%).

According to 「Door-To-Door Sales, Etc. Act」, consumers may terminate a continuous transaction contract at any time. However, businesses tend to avoid contacting the consumer's cancellation request, and, even when a contract term specifically provides for the "revocation of an offer of contract", businesses unconditionally reject the consumer's request.

Furthermore, when consumers want to terminate a contract due to unavoidable circumstances, businesses tend to impose an excessive penalty despite the "Regulations on Consumer Dispute Resolution," and the fact that the "home-school materials standardized agreement" specifies refunding the subscription fee for the remaining period after deducting 10% of the amount charged for cancellation.

The KCA advises consumers on how to prevent further consumer damages as follows:

- Do not be misled by any discount-benefit for a long-term contract and make the contract as short as possible.

- Check and clarify any related clause of a written contract such as a clause involving free gifts.

- Submit requests concerning the revocation of an offer or cancellation refusals to the business in question in writing.