Starbucks Swallowed Customer's Forgotten Recharge Money of '1.9 Billion'?..."No Legal Issues"
Starbucks Prepaid Balance Cannot Be Used After 5 Years
[Asia Economy Reporter Na Ye-eun] Starbucks Korea has reportedly attributed the unused Starbucks prepaid balance, which customers forgot or did not use after charging over the past five years, to its own profits.
According to the distribution industry on the 31st, Starbucks Korea earned approximately 1.9 billion KRW in incidental profits last year, some of which is estimated to be the balance of prepaid cards that customers did not use for five years after charging.
About 5-6% of the prepaid cards issued by Starbucks remain unused each year, and according to the company's terms and conditions, the balance is recognized as incidental profit from advance payments after five years. Unlike major fintech companies such as Toss or Naver Pay, Starbucks can freely use the advance payments charged by customers. They can repay debts or invest in stocks.
As the amount customers charge to Starbucks cards is expected to exceed 200 billion KRW this year, the incidental income Starbucks collects after five years is expected to grow to around 12 billion KRW.
Starbucks stated, "This is in accordance with the Fair Trade Commission's standard terms and conditions and is legally not problematic." However, there are criticisms that Starbucks is interpreting the terms favorably, as the application of the Fair Trade Commission's standard terms does not mean expiration after five years.
In the case of department store gift certificates, a representative monetary-type gift certificate, the issuance date is not specified so that it can be used at any time.
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Regarding this, a Starbucks official said, "According to the new type of gift certificate standard terms, when the validity period of the card charged by the customer exceeds five years, the amount is attributed to the company, but if the customer requests a refund, we have prepared a plan to issue a new card again to preserve the balance," adding, "We recently notified the related system to stores, but there seems to have been some confusion in some stores."
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