Delivery Not Arriving and No Contact... Consumer Agency Issues Consumer Warning for Online Shopping Mall 'StyleV'

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeon Jinyoung] #A purchased a bundle of 20 ramen packs for 5,000 won on the online shopping mall ‘StyleV’ website last June. However, even after a month, the product was not delivered, and when contacting them to inquire about the delivery status, communication was cut off.

The Korea Consumer Agency announced on the 2nd that consumer complaints related to StyleV have been increasing recently, issuing a consumer damage advisory.

The company attracts consumers by advertising that it sells major daily necessities such as ramen at prices much cheaper than market prices, then delays delivery after the purchase. For example, the spicy Ottogi Jin Ramen 20-pack is sold for a product price of 3,000 won plus 2,500 won shipping fee, totaling 5,500 won. This is 72.4% cheaper than the same product’s price of 19,900 won on other sites.

In the past five months, a total of 987 consultations related to StyleV have been received at the 1372 Consumer Counseling Center, and 88 damage relief applications have been filed with the Consumer Agency during the same period. In particular, damage relief applications, which were 4 in May, increased steadily to 29 in June, 30 in July, and 25 as of the 17th of last month, all related to delivery and refund delays.

The Consumer Agency expects that the number of consumers who suffered damage is higher considering those who did not file consultations or damage relief applications due to the small transaction amounts.

They advised caution when using sites advertising drastic discounts ahead of the Chuseok holiday and recommended using credit cards rather than cash transactions whenever possible.

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