Korea Consumer Agency logs 281 complaints in September

Consumers charged fees even for refunds they filed themselves

[Image generated with AI]
[Image generated with AI]

Imagine filing your own taxes through the National Tax Service, receiving your refund — and then getting a bill from a tax-filing platform for a service you never used. Consumer complaints against tax-refund platforms are surging, with reports of excessive fees and charges levied even on refunds that consumers processed entirely on their own.

The Korea Consumer Agency and the Korea Consumer Organizations Council said Friday that 281 consumer consultations related to tax-filing services were logged at the 1372 Consumer Counseling Center in September, according to Yonhap. That figure was up 116.2 percent from the previous month's 130 cases and represented a 726.5 percent increase from the 34 cases recorded in the same month last year.

The spike was attributed to unexpected and excessive fees charged to consumers who had used tax-filing platforms only to check their potential refund amounts or to sign up for filing assistance during the comprehensive income tax reporting period.

One consumer said that after checking an estimated refund amount through a tax-filing platform app in June, the consumer filed directly through the National Tax Service and received the refund — only to have the platform operator claim credit for the outcome and demand a fee.

The consumer paid the fee but later concluded that no actual tax-filing service had been rendered and requested a refund of the fee. The operator refused.

Overall consumer consultations in September totaled 48,893, down 4.8 percent from 51,358 the previous month and 16.6 percent from 58,628 in the same month last year.

Among categories with the sharpest month-on-month increases after tax-filing services, plastic surgery clinics came second at 35.2 percent, followed by fruit and fruit-processed products at 34.0 percent, wedding services at 33.3 percent, and parcel delivery services at 17.5 percent.

Complaints about plastic surgery clinics centered on contract cancellations and demands for deposit refunds. In one case, a hospital billed a consumer for a cancellation penalty and examination fees after the consumer called off a procedure on the day of surgery; the consumer sought a refund, saying the penalty terms had never been disclosed in advance.

Fruit and fruit-processed product complaints were dominated by reports of rotting or poor-quality fruit purchased as chuseok holiday gifts. Wedding service complaints mainly involved deposit refunds and penalty charges following contract cancellations, while parcel delivery complaints focused on delayed or lost shipments.

Air passenger transport services drew the highest overall volume of consultations at 1,242 cases, followed by fitness centers at 1,121 and health supplements at 834.

By age group, fitness center complaints were most common among consumers in their 20s, while those in their 30s and 40s most frequently raised concerns about air travel, and consumers 50 and older lodged the most complaints about health supplements.


arete@heraldcorp.com