Consultation and quote figures misrepresented as actual customer counts; quality awards cited without key details

Two moving companies have been sanctioned by the Korea Fair Trade Commission for advertising their services as the cheapest in the industry without objective basis and for inflating consultation and quote inquiry figures to make them appear to represent actual customers.

The companies were also found to have promoted service quality awards without disclosing the awarding organizations or evaluation criteria.

Examples of false and exaggerated price advertising by Chakhan Isa [Korea Fair Trade Commission]
Examples of false and exaggerated price advertising by Chakhan Isa [Korea Fair Trade Commission]

The Fair Trade Commission said Tuesday it had issued corrective orders and public disclosure orders against Chakhan Isa and Rosen Isa for violations of the Act on Fair Labeling and Advertising, and imposed a combined fine of 219 million won ($161,000).

Of the total, Chakhan Isa was fined 132 million won and Rosen Isa 87 million won.

Chakhan Isa used phrases such as "lowest price nationwide," "minimum-price discounts on all types of moves," and "Chakhan Isa, where you can move at the lowest cost" on its website and blog from February 2021 through April this year. The commission determined the company had falsely advertised its moving service prices as the cheapest in the industry without any objective basis.

Rosen Isa used expressions including "Korea's No. 1 moving brand" and "No. 1 in Korean quality satisfaction" on its website and search platform advertisements from January 2021 through May this year.

Those phrases were the names of awards the company had received from a specific organization, but the advertisements did not disclose the awarding body, evaluation criteria or selection process. The commission found that consumers could be misled into believing Rosen Isa's moving services had been objectively recognized as superior in quality within the industry.

Both companies were also found to have inflated their user figures in advertising. Chakhan Isa described its cumulative consultation count in search platform ads from October 2024 through April this year using phrases such as "used by [X] million people nationwide" and "cumulative customers in 2026: [X] million."

Rosen Isa similarly displayed its quote inquiry count on its website from January 2021 through May this year with expressions such as "[X] customers' happy choice." The commission concluded that both companies had grossly misrepresented consultation or quote inquiry figures as the number of customers who had actually used their moving services.

The probe came amid a steady rise in consumer complaints and damage claims related to moving services. Complaints filed with the Korea Consumer Agency seeking relief over moving service disputes grew from 603 in 2023 to 785 in 2024 and 961 last year. In response, the commission launched an ex officio investigation into deceptive advertising by moving companies in March, identified the violations by the two firms, and ordered the offending advertisements removed or corrected.

The moving services market is characterized by low barriers to entry and a high proportion of small operators. As of the end of 2023, there were 3,475 registered moving freight forwarding businesses, and 67 percent of them had capital or asset valuations of 100 million won or less.

A commission official said the agency would "continue to monitor deceptive advertising practices closely tied to people's everyday consumer lives and impose strict sanctions when violations are found."


y2k@heraldcorp.com