More Than 7,200 People Involved in the Merge Point Incident
On the 10th, the Korea Consumer Agency announced that the final number of applicants participating in the group dispute mediation after failing to receive refunds for travel, accommodation, and airline tickets from TMON and WEMAKEPRICE reached 9,028.
This figure surpasses the approximately 7,200 participants in the 2021 Merge Point incident group mediation and the 5,804 participants in the MapleStory probability manipulation case group mediation held in April this year.
The Consumer Agency accepted applications for group mediation participation from victims related to TMON and WEMAKEPRICE travel products on its website from the 1st to the 9th of this month, and there will be a three-day period from the 13th to the 15th for applicants to modify their submissions. However, no additional applications will be accepted during the modification period.
The parties involved in this group dispute mediation include both the travel product sellers and the intermediary platforms TMON and WEMAKEPRICE.
Accordingly, the mediation proposal will include measures on how travel agencies, as well as TMON and WEMAKEPRICE?which have no refund funds?will compensate consumer damages.
Currently, electronic payment gateway (PG) companies and card companies are processing refunds for general products purchased from TMON and WEMAKEPRICE that were not delivered, but refunds for travel-related products are on hold amid disputes over responsibility.
PG companies maintain that if the sales process is complete and the trip is confirmed, the travel agency should issue the refund, while the travel industry insists that the PG and card companies, as the payment entities for travel products, should promptly cancel and refund.
The Consumer Agency’s group dispute mediation requires several months, and acceptance of the mediation proposal is not mandatory.
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