Complaints surge against wedding halls, beauty salons for dubious sales practices

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The number of complaints related to wedding halls and other wedding-related businesses has risen by 32 percent during the first three months of this year, compared to the same period last year, the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission (ACRC) said Monday.

The state-run anti-corruption agency noted that it analyzed the recent trend of rising complaints against wedding-related companies amid the increasing burden on people preparing for marriage. The term “weddingflation,” a newly coined word combining the words “wedding” and “inflation,” demonstrates well the increased costs imposed on couples who plan to get married in the country.

The agency reported that out of the 1,010 complaints received, which were related to wedding businesses over a three-year period from April 2021 to March this year, more than half (50.9 percent) were against wedding halls.

This was followed by complaints about wedding planning services (14.3 percent), wedding photography services (14.2 percent), wedding dress or hanbok businesses (6.6 percent) and beauty salon services (2.2 percent).

According to the complaints filed with the ACRC, specific complaints most frequently arose during the process of contract cancellations or breaches.

One widely reported practice in the wedding industry is that wedding service companies put an external price tag of two to three times 토토 the actual market value, persuading customers they are receiving a discount when making contracts. Then, if the contract is canceled, the inflated price is used to impose an unfairly high penalty.

Even excluding cases related to cancellations or breaches, many complaints filed highlighted that the costs of wedding-related services were disproportionately high relative to their value.

“The prices requested by wedding companies are outrageous,” an anonymous complaint petitioner to the agency said. “When I ask why it’s so expensive, every company just says prices have gone up since the COVID-19 pandemic.”

The ACRC plans to submit the results of its complaint analysis to related agencies, such as the Fair Trade Commission and the Korea Consumer Agency, so that the findings can be used as a reference to promote the establishment of standardized terms and conditions for wedding planning services and the introduction of a pricing transparency system.

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