French luxury brand Dior told a customer who sent a limited-edition bag for repair that it would be repaired at the Paris headquarters, but it was revealed that the work was actually outsourced to a domestic repair company, leading to a legal dispute. The customer filed a complaint with police against the head of Dior Korea, store employees, and officials at the repair company, and also reported the case to the Korea Fair Trade Commission.
According to legal sources on the 20th, law firm Pyeongjeong, acting on behalf of customer A, filed a complaint with the Yongin Dongbu Police Station in Gyeonggi Province against the head of Christian Dior Couture Korea, staff at a Dior department store in Gangnam, Seoul, and officials at a domestic repair company on charges including property damage and fraud.
The complaint states that after receiving A's request in Dec. last year to repair a limited-edition luxury bag, the Dior store said the repair would be done at the Paris headquarters, but in reality outsourced the work to a domestic repair firm, deceiving the customer.
As for the repair company official, they were charged with damaging the product by arbitrarily repairing it—such as relocating and attaching beads, an exterior decoration of the bag—without the customer's consent during the repair process.
A bought the bag—known to be the only one brought into Korea in 2016—for about 7 million won and had been using it. After two to three beads fell off, A sent it to a Dior store for repair, but when the repair was delayed for more than a year rather than several months, A asked the store about the circumstances in Feb. The next day, the store said the repair was finished and returned the bag.
However, about a month later in Mar., A happened to see on a domestic repair company's social media a video showing the bag's repair process and raised the issue. A's side claims that, upon checking, the bag that had been said to be repaired at the Paris headquarters was actually repaired by a private company in Korea.
A's side plans to use the police investigation to confirm where and how the bag was stored and repaired during the one year and two months of repair time and to consider additional complaints if further illegalities are found.
Separately, Pyeongjeong reported Dior to the Korea Fair Trade Commission (FTC) for an alleged violation of the Act on Fair Labeling and Advertising.
Under Dior's after-sales service (A/S) terms, when a customer requests a repair, the company must conduct expert inspection and, after informing the customer of whether there is a defect, the scope of the warranty, whether repair is possible, and the expected expense and time frame, obtain the customer's consent.
However, A's side claims that a Dior store employee, without following such procedures, unilaterally said, "It will be repaired at the Paris headquarters."
If the Korea Fair Trade Commission (FTC) finds a violation of the Act on Fair Labeling and Advertising, Dior could face a penalty surcharge.
Law firm Pyeongjeong said it plans to continue follow-up actions, including sending a contents-certified letter to Dior's Paris headquarters to inform it of the case details, in addition to the police complaint and the report to the Korea Fair Trade Commission (FTC).