"This product is non-refundable" leads to 135-day business suspension... Fair Trade Commission cracks down on online clothing company

Online clothing retailer Tium Communication, which refused consumers' refund requests without justifiable reasons, has been ordered by the Fair Trade Commission to suspend operations for 135 days and fined 11 million KRW.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

According to the Fair Trade Commission, since October 2020, Tium Communication has sold clothing and other items through its cyber malls (Dangol Market and Pang Mall) and failed to comply with refund requests from 105 consumers for undelivered products.

Despite there being no exceptions for refunds, the company refused refunds citing product characteristics or guided consumers to receive refunds in the form of mileage points that can only be used within its own shopping mall.

Under the Electronic Commerce Act, a telecommunication sales business operator must refund the payment within three business days if a consumer withdraws their purchase for an undelivered product. Even after receiving the product, withdrawal is possible within seven days.

The Fair Trade Commission pointed out, "Tium Communication caused prolonged financial damage to many consumers and nullified the right of withdrawal guaranteed by law without reasonable grounds."

It added, "By imposing strong sanctions on malicious acts, we have increased the responsibility and vigilance of telecommunication sales business operators," emphasizing, "This will help prevent recurrence of similar cases and contribute to protecting consumers from harm."

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