"I Was a Sucker for Believing the Deep Bow Apology... 'Flower Crab Switch' Still Happening at Soraepogu"

"Only 2 Out of 6,000 Won Worth of Chinese Legs Are Fully Attached"

Claims have been raised that merchants at Incheon Sorae Port, who had previously made a deep bow to appeal to consumers to eradicate inconveniences and complaints such as 'mixed selling,' 'overcharging,' and 'hygiene issues,' are still continuing the 'bait-and-switch sales tactics.'

On the 24th, a post by Mr. A, who recently visited Sorae Port and purchased blue crabs, was uploaded on an online community. He traveled all the way from Yongin to Sorae Port to buy fresh shrimp roe, which is only available in June.

Photo by Online Community Capture

Mr. A said that after dining, his younger sibling bought blue crabs sold in front of a restaurant, so he followed suit. He stated, "The blue crabs shown at the store had all their legs intact and were full of roe. My sibling bought male blue crabs worth 50,000 won, and I bought 2 kg of female blue crabs for 60,000 won."

According to Mr. A, the merchant selling the blue crabs said, "These days, there’s a fuss in Sorae Port about 'blue crabs without legs,' but it has nothing to do with us," and added, "There’s no proof that the ones shown in the news were purchased from Sorae Port, so it’s unfair."

However, the items received were completely different from what the merchant said. When he checked the blue crabs at home, many were missing legs. Only two crabs had all their legs intact. Notably, one crab had only one leg attached. Mr. A regretted, saying, "I was a fool to believe the merchant’s representative who apologized with a deep bow and promised to change," and lamented, "My husband scolded me never to use Sorae Port again."

As consumer complaints about aggressive solicitation and overcharging at Sorae Port fish market surged, the merchants on the 14th carried placards with phrases such as 'Restoring Customer Trust,' 'Ironclad Safety Management,' and 'Compliance with Hygiene and Cleanliness,' appealing throughout the market for the need for change at Sorae Port Market.

At that time, Shin Young-chul, head of the Sorae Fishing Village Cooperative, promised, "Following the recent 'blue crab leg incident,' we held a self-purification meeting. We will strive to ensure no such unfortunate incidents happen again and will continue education," but the same incident repeated within ten days.

Professor Han Sang-rin of Hanyang University’s Department of Business Administration said in an interview with a media outlet, "Local governments crack down on price display systems whenever similar incidents recur, but they cannot control the greed of merchants," and added, "Nowadays, with the development of social media, promoting 'good stores' or 'honest merchants' is also a way to encourage ethical sales among merchants."

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