Fair Trade Commission: "Hangang Life delayed and unpaid 5.41 billion KRW in cancellation refunds... fined and reported to prosecution"

2.324 Billion Won Has Still Not Been Returned

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Joo Sang-don] The Fair Trade Commission has decided to sanction the funeral service company Hangang Life for delaying or completely failing to refund cancellation payments to consumers.

On the 10th, the Fair Trade Commission announced that it imposed an order on Hangang Life to pay cancellation refunds, a future prohibition order, and a fine of 8 million KRW, and decided to refer the corporation to the prosecution.

According to the Fair Trade Commission, Hangang Life delayed payments for 1,773 cases amounting to 3.086 billion KRW and failed to pay 1,364 cases amounting to 2.324 billion KRW out of 3,137 requests for cancellation of prepaid installment contracts between March 5 and July 22 of this year.

This constitutes a violation of the Installment Transactions Act, which requires funeral service companies to pay the statutory cancellation refund within three business days as stipulated in the Installment Transactions Act and the cancellation refund notice.

Additionally, although the CEO of Hangang Life was changed on February 22 of this year, the company reported the change to Daejeon City Hall after 15 days had passed, violating the obligation to report to the relevant city or provincial governor within 15 days.

Accordingly, the Fair Trade Commission imposed an order on Hangang Life to promptly pay the cancellation refunds and delay compensation, along with a future prohibition order and a fine of 2 million KRW. Furthermore, regarding the delayed report of the change notification, a future prohibition order and a fine of 6 million KRW were imposed. Considering the unpaid cancellation refunds exceeding 2.324 billion KRW and consumer damages, the corporation was also referred to the prosecution.

A Fair Trade Commission official stated, "This action is expected to raise awareness in the funeral service industry regarding the obligation to pay cancellation refunds and report registration details, and to help prevent recurrence of similar cases in the future." He added, "The Fair Trade Commission will continue to monitor funeral service companies for legal violations and strengthen market monitoring to strictly sanction any violations detected."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.