"Refunds and Extensions Not Allowed"... Mobile Gift Card Complaints Surge

"I received a department store mobile gift card as a Chuseok bonus from my company, but they said the validity period cannot be extended."

Amid the mobile gift card market growing more than threefold in the past five years, complaints have surged sharply.

According to the Civil Complaint Information Analysis System of the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission on the 11th, from January 2019 to August this year, mobile gift card complaints totaled 1,085 cases. By type, usage inconvenience (55.9%), secondhand transaction damage (43.3%), and other suggestions (0.8%) were reported. Among usage inconvenience complaints, 71.3% were related to refunds and extensions.

The Commission plans to deliver the results of this complaint analysis to related agencies such as the Fair Trade Commission to request improvements in the blind spots of standard terms and conditions for new types of gift cards.

An official from the Commission said, "Despite the efforts of related agencies to establish and revise standard terms and conditions, consumer rights violations due to blind spots continue," adding, "We hope that the voices of the public reflected in this complaint analysis will lead to policy improvements and resolve unfairness in daily life."

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