Compensation Up to 20 Times the Fee for Damage to Laundry at Self-Service Laundromats

On the 14th, prospective entrepreneurs visiting the IFS Franchise Startup Expo held at COEX in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, are consulting at an unmanned laundry business./Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Sejong=Reporter Dongwoo Lee] In the future, unmanned laundromat (self-service laundry) operators must refund the full fee and compensate for damages if customers' laundry is damaged due to negligence in managing washing machines and other equipment. Additionally, if customers do not pick up their laundry for more than two weeks, operators may dispose of it at their discretion.

The Fair Trade Commission announced on the 18th that it has established a standard contract for self-service laundromats containing these provisions.

If the operator neglects the management of equipment and facilities, causing problems with the laundry, the customer must be refunded the full usage fee paid and the laundry must be restored to its original condition or compensated for damages.

The compensation amount is calculated by multiplying the purchase price of the laundry by the compensation rate specified in the "Consumer Dispute Resolution Standards for Laundry Services." If the customer cannot prove information such as the purchase price or purchase date of the laundry, making it impossible to calculate the compensation amount, compensation will be negotiated. In this case, the compensation amount will be determined within a limit of 20 times the total fees paid for washing machines and dryers.

If the customer cannot immediately retrieve the laundry due to unavoidable circumstances, they may request the operator to store it. The storage period and storage fees will be determined through negotiation.

However, the operator may post a notice stating that if laundry not retrieved within a set period of 14 days or more without storage requests or negotiations, it may be disposed of at their discretion.

Furthermore, operators must post the terms and conditions, contact information, equipment usage instructions, and major precautions in a place easily accessible to everyone.

The unmanned laundromat market, also called coin laundries or coin laundromats, has rapidly grown due to the increase in single-person households and the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic.

The sales of the top six franchise headquarters with many franchise stores increased by 127%, from 49.8 billion KRW in 2016 to 113 billion KRW in 2020, and the number of franchise stores increased by 38%, from 3,086 to 4,252 during the same period. Consumer consultations related to laundry contamination/damage, payment/refund issues also increased by 211%, from 28 cases in 2016 to 87 cases in 2020.

The Fair Trade Commission prepared this standard contract after collecting opinions from the Korea Consumer Agency, consumer groups, and the contract review advisory committee, based on the standard contract draft requested by the Korea Laundry Association in October last year.

A Fair Trade Commission official said, "This will reduce disputes between consumers and operators over laundry damage or loss, and contribute to protecting consumer rights and establishing fair trade order in the unmanned laundromat market."

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