Trends in 2017 Consumer Counseling

- ‘TV’, ‘homeschool materials’, and ‘suit laundry service’-related counseling cases increased, while cases involving ‘automobile insurance’, and ‘water purifier rental’ decreased -

□ (Number of counseling case) 795,883 counseling cases were reported to ‘1372 Consumer Counseling Center’ in 2017, a 2.1% increase(16,551 cases) compared to last year(779,332 cases)

○ (Method to report) ‘phone call(82.4%)’, ‘Internet(13.2%)’, ‘letter·fax(3.7%)’,  ‘visit(0.8%)’

□ (Category with a large number of counseling cases) The most frequent counseling cases involved ‘cell phone/smart phone(24,367 cases)’, ‘mobile phone service(21,873 cases)’, ‘health·fitness center(18,061 cases)’, ‘high-speed Internet(14,495 cases), ’overseas travel(14,237 cases)’, respectively.

□ (Category with a high increase and decrease in the rate of consumer counseling) Compared to last year, ‘TV(20.8%↑)’, ‘home-school materials(20.0%↑)’, and ‘suit laundry service(17.8%↑)’ showed the largest increase in the rate of consumer counseling, respectively.

     ○ On the other hand, ‘automobile insurance(-24.3%↓)’ ‘rental of water purifier(-23.7%↓)’, and ‘women’s underwear(-23.1%↓)’ recorded the largest decrease respectively in the rate of counseling compared to last year.

       ※ Selected categories showing the largest increase and decrease in the rate of consumer counseling compared to last year among the categories that consumer counseling cases accounted for more than 0.5% of the total.

□ (Method to sell) Counseling related to special sales recorded 243,250 cases, accounting for 30.6% of the total. The cases included ‘e-commerce transactions(157,174 cases)’, followed by ’door-to-door sale(31,926 cases)’, ‘telemarketing(19,134 cases)’, and ‘TV home shopping(17,006 cases).’

○ Compared to last year, counseling cases related to ‘e-commerce transactions(24.7%↑)’ increased, while counseling regarding ‘door-to-door sale(10.5%↓)’ decreased.

       * As for ‘e-commerce transactions’, ‘transportation service for flight passengers’, ‘overseas travel’, and ‘jumpers and jackets’-related counseling cases were reported the most. For ‘door-to-door sale’, the most common counseling cases involved ‘funeral service’, ‘water purifier rental’, and ‘home-school materials’, and for ‘telemarketing’, ‘high-speed Internet’, ‘mobile phone service’, and ‘cell phone/smart phone’-related counseling cases were the most. And as for ‘TV home shopping’, most counseling cases were related to ‘overseas travel’, ‘electric mats’, and ‘mats.’  

□ (Reason for counseling) The most common reasons for counseling were ‘quality(goods/service)(21.8%)’, ‘contract termination·cancellation/penalty (19.4%)’, ‘non-performance of contractual obligations(faulty performance of obligations)(12.5%)’, and ‘withdrawal of application for contract(8.6%)’, respectively.

○ Compared to last year, counseling cases regarding ‘labeling and advertising(19.7%↑)’, ‘non-performance of contractual obligations(faulty performance of obligations)(19.1%↑)’ ‘withdrawal of application for contract(8.8%↑), ’unfair debt collection(6.7%↑)’, ‘AS complaints(5.4%↑)’, ‘transaction practices(4.8%↑)’ increased.

         * As for ‘quality(goods/service)’, the most common counseling cases involved ‘cell phone/smart phone’, ‘medium-sized cars’, and ‘used car brokerage and sales’. For ‘contract termination·cancellation/penalty’, ‘health·fitness center’, ‘overseas travel’, and ‘high-speed Internet’ related counseling cases were reported the most, and for ‘non-performance of contractual obligations(faulty performance of obligations)’, ‘mobile phone service’, ‘delivery and freight service’, and ‘overseas travel’ related counseling cases were received the most.

□ (Age group) Among 733,943 counseling cases that ages of consumers could be identified, those in their ‘30s’ accounted for the most with 241,270 cases(32.9%), followed by those in their ‘40s’(192,468 cases or 26.2%), in their ‘50s’(128,953 cases or 17.6%), and in their ‘20s’(101,034 cases or 13.8%).

       * For those in their ‘30s and 40s’, ‘cell phone/smart phone’, ‘health·fitness center’, and ‘mobile phone service’ related counseling cases accounted for the most. And those in their ‘50s’ received counseling mostly about ‘cell phone/smart phone’, ‘mobile phone service’, and ‘funeral service, and those in their ’20s’ frequently received counseling regarding ‘Internet education service’, ‘cell phone/smart phone’ and ‘mobile phone service’.

□ (Region) With regard to the number of consumer counseling cases per 10,000 persons, ‘Seoul metropolitan city(192.2 cases)’ accounted for the most, followed by ‘Daejeon metropolitan city(175.7 cases)’, and ’Gyeonggi province(169.0 cases).’

□ (Redressed counseling cases) Among the counseling cases reported in 2017, 643,884 cases were resolved by providing information including regulations on consumer dispute resolution and related laws so that consumers could solve their problems for themselves, and the cases that could not be resolved by consumers themselves were addressed by consumer groups and local autonomous organizations(113,535 cases), and through the damage redress and dispute settlement of the Korea Consumer Agency(KCA)(38,444 cases).

       ※ Detailed information is available on ‘1372 consumer counseling center website’(www.1372.go.kr) - Go to ’Statistics’ - ’Consumer Counseling Trend Analysis.’