Refund Refusal and Excessive Penalty Charges on Contract Termination... Consumer Damage from Marriage Brokerage Firms Increasing Rapidly Every Year

Gyeongbuk Province Issues Recommendations for 11 Violations
"Be Sure to Check Unfair Clauses in Contracts"

Many domestic marriage brokerage companies refuse refunds or charge excessive penalties upon contract termination, requiring special caution from consumers in the Gyeongbuk region.

On the 16th, Gyeongbuk Province announced that, to reduce consumer damage related to marriage brokerage businesses in the Gyeongbuk area, it jointly conducted an on-site investigation with the Korea Consumer Agency on whether 20 local businesses comply with the standard terms and conditions, and recommended improvements to unfavorable terms for consumers.

Gyeongbuk Provincial Government Office

From 2021 to June 2024, a total of 1,188 damage relief applications related to domestic marriage brokerage businesses were received by the Korea Consumer Agency, with numbers increasing annually. In particular, as of 2023, the Gyeongbuk region saw a 45.4% increase compared to the previous year, which was 38.1% higher than the national average.

Analyzing nationwide damage relief application cases by age group, those in their 30s accounted for the largest number with 505 cases (42.5%), followed by those in their 40s with 328 cases (27.6%), and those in their 50s with 147 cases (12.4%). Although consumer damage among those in their 20s was not high at 26 cases in 2023, it increased significantly by 136.3% compared to 11 cases the previous year.

By contract amount, the most common was between 2 million and less than 4 million KRW with 539 cases (45.4%), followed by less than 2 million KRW with 358 cases (30.1%), and between 4 million and less than 6 million KRW with 169 cases (14.2%). The average contract amount per person increased by 22.7%, from 2,903,747 KRW in 2021 to 3,563,672 KRW in 2023.

By type of damage, cases related to ‘refusal of contract cancellation/termination and penalties’ were the most frequent with 813 cases (68.4%), followed by ‘contract non-fulfillment’ with 232 cases (19.5%), and ‘withdrawal of subscription’ with 46 cases (3.9%).

In the Gyeongbuk region as well, cases related to ‘refusal of contract cancellation/termination and penalties’ accounted for the largest share with 36 cases (75.0%).

Looking specifically at cases related to ‘refusal of contract cancellation/termination and penalties,’ most involved businesses refusing termination and refunds or charging excessive penalties based on their own terms when consumers requested early termination.

Gyeongbuk Province, together with the Daegu-Gyeongbuk branch of the Korea Consumer Agency, conducted on-site visits to 20 domestic marriage brokerage companies in the Gyeongbuk region to check the use of standard terms and conditions and promoted customized consulting on overall operations including contract preparation.

Through this on-site inspection, 11 businesses (55%) that included non-refundable clauses in their terms or were using the pre-revision standard terms (before October 1, 2021) were recommended to improve, and all these companies accepted the recommendations.

Additionally, campaigns to prevent damage related to marriage brokerage companies were conducted at local events such as the Gyeongbuk Provincial Sports Festival.

Meanwhile, from January to June this year, the number of consumer consultations related to domestic marriage brokerage businesses in the Gyeongbuk region decreased by 20.7% compared to the same period last year.

This is analyzed as a result of efforts to prevent consumer damage, such as increasing the usage rate of standard terms by marriage information companies in Gyeongbuk and expanding consumer information provision.

To prevent consumer damage related to marriage brokerage businesses, consumers were urged to verify business information before contracting, carefully check the transaction conditions in the contract (such as whether it is a fixed number of sessions or fixed period), and compare refund criteria with the standard terms to check for unfair refund clauses.

Choi Young-sook, Director of the Economic and Trade Bureau of Gyeongbuk Province, said, “We will continue to strive to reduce consumer damage related to domestic marriage brokerage businesses through monitoring the implementation of standard terms by businesses and consumer damage prevention campaigns.”