The Consumer Dispute Resolution Commission (hereinafter referred to as the Resolution Committee) has decided to refund payments related to collective dispute resolution applications for travel, accommodation, and airline services arising from the large-scale unsettled and unrefunded situation of TMON and WeMakePrice (hereinafter referred to as T-Money) which amounts to 1.5 trillion won. T-Money, along with the sellers and payment gateway (PG) companies, will collectively refund the payments to the affected consumers, but the refund percentage will be limited according to the liability distribution ratio.
According to the Resolution Committee on the 18th, T-Money must refund 100% of the payment amount. Although the e-commerce platform T-Money has an obligation to pass the payments made by consumers to the sellers, it failed to do so, resulting in sellers' debt defaults.
A total of 106 sellers will collectively refund up to 90% of the payment amount, while 14 PG companies have decided to refund up to 30% of the payment amount. In this regard, sellers acknowledged their refund responsibility as parties to the contracts for travel, accommodation, and airline products under e-commerce law, including withdrawal of purchase applications. The 14 PG companies deemed it appropriate to share part of the losses as participants in the e-commerce market, which is why the refund was set at a maximum of 30% instead of the full payment amount.
As of early August this year, a total of 9,004 consumers have applied for collective dispute resolution. However, excluding those who have already received refunds during the resolution process or those whose applications were withdrawn for not meeting the requirements for collective dispute resolution, 8,054 consumers are eligible for refunds under this resolution decision. The unrefunded amount totals approximately 13.5 billion won.
The Resolution Committee plans to allow individual applicants to verify the resolution decision contents through the Korea Consumer Agency website. The parties involved may notify the Resolution Committee of their acceptance or rejection of the resolution decision within 15 days from the date they are notified of the decision. If the parties accept the resolution decision, the resolution will be established, and it will have the same judicial effect as a final judgment.
An official from the Resolution Committee noted, "We hope this resolution decision will somewhat help recover consumers' losses and feelings," but also pointed out that there is a need for prompt legislative and institutional measures to protect consumer rights in e-commerce transactions.
Meanwhile, Naver Financial, Kakao Pay, Toss Pay, and Galaxy A Money Tree, which provide mobile payment services, are refunding consumers who submit certain evidence that they did not receive the contracted service. They are refunding all transactions except for unfair transactions like self-dealing, regardless of the items purchased by the consumers.