An Increase in Consumer Counseling on Air Conditioners, Air Purifier and Air Service with Changes on Consumption Environment in 2016

□ (Counseling cases) 779,335 cases have been reported to `1372 consumer counseling center’ in 2016, a 4.5% decline(36,866 cases) compared to last year (816,201 cases)

    ○ (Methods to report) ‘Phone call’(83.8%), ‘Internet’(11.5%), ‘Letter·Fax’(3.9%), ‘Visit’(0.8%)

    * `1372 consumer counseling center’ is the only nation-wide integrated consumer counseling center, run by KTFC. With the press of number 1372 ,unnecessary of local code number, consumer complaints and redress are addressed on real time with the participation of consumer protection agencies and KCA and local autonomous governments.

□ (Categories with a high volume of inquiry) Most inquired categories include `cell phones/smart phones’(28,112 cases),` mobile phone service’ (22,492 cases), ‘health· fitness center’ (17,803 cases), ` rental of water purifiers (15,018 cases),` high-speed internet’ (13,745 cases) in order.

□ (Categories with an increase in counseling cases)

Compared to last year, the largest increase in counseling cases occurs in `air conditioners’ (2,587 cases↑), ` air purifiers’ (1,857 cases↑), `transportation service for flight customers’ (1,655 cases↑),` large-size cars’(1,611 cases↑) in order.

    * As for ‘air conditioner’, largest complaints are related to quality defect(defects on cool and heat· water leakage · gas leakage. For ` air purifiers’(finding in OIT-contained filters) and ` toothpaste’(content of CMIT/MIT), safety related counseling has increase

    ○ On the contrary, compared to last year, categories with a high decline in counseling include ` Cynanchum bungei Decne’ (19,720 cases ↓), ` Cell phone/Smart phone(2,588 cases↓), ` Delivery and Freight service’ (2,373 cases ↓), ` Funeral service’ (2,307 cases ↓) in order.

□ (Special sale) Counseling related to special sale recorded 215,451 cases, accounting for 24.6% of the total. Cases include `e-commerce transaction’, which is the largest (126,065 cases), followed by ‘door to door sale’ (35,677 cases), ‘telemarketing’(20,407 cases), ‘TV home shopping’ (14,427 cases).

    ○ Compared to last year, counseling related to ‘e-commerce transaction’(11.1%↑) has increased, while counseling related to ‘TV home shopping’(50.1%↓), `telemarketing’(10.8%↓), ` door to door sale’(5.9% ↓) declined.

    * As for `e-commerce transaction’, `casual clothes’·‘shoes’·`transportation service for liner’-related cases and for TV home shopping’, `air conditioning·refrigerator devices’·‘cooking devices’·`kitchen equipments’-related cases and for ‘telemarketing’, `cosmetics’ · `mobile communication’ · ‘Internet service-related cases and for ` door to door sales’. `membership’· ` kitchen equipment’ · ‘door to door · communications education service –related cases were reported the most. 

□ (Reasons for counseling) ‘quality(goods/service)’(21.9%), ‘Contract termination·cancellation/penalty’(19.0%),‘ non-performance of contracts(faulty performance of obligation)’(10.8%), ‘withdrawal of application for contracts’(8.0%) are reported in order.

    ○ Compared to last year ‘contracts with ineligible party’(34.1%↑), ‘terms’(17.9%↑), ‘safety(products/facilities)’(13.3%↑), ‘AS complaints'(3.7%↑), ‘Signs·Advertisements’(2.0%↑) related counseling has increased.

    * As for`contract with ineligible party’, ‘door to door · communications education service’ · ‘learning material’· `information use service(mobile game service)’, and for ‘terms’, ‘private insurance’·`membership’·`mobile communication’ and for ‘safety(goods/facilities)’, ‘kitchen equipment’·`air conditioning and refrigerator devices’ ·` food service’-related counseling has been recorded the most.

□ (Age-based) Among 424,092 cases, easy to identify ages of consumers, those in their 30s accounted for the most with 141,711 cases( 33.4%), followed by in their 40s (108,291 cases, 25.5%), by in their 50s (71,419 cases, 16.8%) and by in their 20s(63,185 cases, 14.9%).

    * For those in their `30s’, ` membership’·`communication devices’, ‘casual clothes’ and for in their `40s’,` communication devices’ ·`mobile communication’·` kitchen equipment’, for in their `50s’, ‘mobile communication’·`clinic and hospital services’·`communication devices’, and for in their `20s’, `membership’·`casual clothes’·`communication device’-related counseling accounted for the most.

□ (Regions) The number of counseling related to consumer complaints per a million population, `Seoul metropolitan city’ accounted for the most (206.5 cases), followed by `Dae Jeon metropolitan city’(170.9 cases), ‘Gyeonggi province’(160.3 cases)

□ (Process of counseling) In 2016, 642,495 cases( 82.4%) were addressed on the basis of the consumer redress resolution standards and relevant regulations, providing information for consumer-based resolution but if it is not the case, complaints should be addressed through consumer protection agencies and local governments (99,556 cases, 12.8%) and consumer complaint redress and dispute settlement department of KCA (37,206 cases, 4.8%)

※ Further information is available on `1372 consumer counseling center homepage’ (www.1372.go.kr)- ` statistics’- ` consumer counseling trends’.