The Korean Consumer Agency (KCA) has published a consumer alert for Macau’s K-pop fans when purchasing their favourite stars’ merchandise, to lodge any complaints with the Consumer Council (CC) for case referral, a CC statement said yesterday.
According to the statement, to safeguard consumers’ rights when purchasing Korean products online, the KCA has published a consumer alert for Macau consumers. The statement said that the Korean entertainment industry and its merchandise are widely popular among foreign consumers and cross-border consumer disputes can occur. The statement pointed out that the KCA has received many complaints from foreign consumers since January 2020 regarding the purchase of K-pop merchandise from a certain Korean website. The statement noted that there have been ordering issues such as deliveries, order cancellations, refunds, product exchanges, inability to fulfil transaction contracts, and product defects. The statement stressed that with the assistance of the KCA, all foreign consumers are able to have their complaints resolved.
The statement noted that the Macau Consumer Council and the KCA have been working together since 2019 to set up a system for complaint referrals. The statement said that the KCA urged its local counterpart to publish a consumer alert telling local consumers how to handle their difficulties when facing any problems or issues when making cross-border purchases of K-pop goods. The consumer alert aims to raise Macau consumers’ awareness to protect their consumer rights and assist them in resolving their disputes.
However, the council said that it had not yet received any cross-border online shopping cases related to K-pop merchandise. If anyone wants to lodge a complaint with the council, it will refer the case to the KCA at the earliest possible time, and consumers may also file the case directly with the KCA by e-mail at crossborder@kca.go.kr. The KCA will try its best to assist Macau consumers, and the mediation results will be announced directly by the KCA, or passed on by the local council.
The statement stressed that if the purchased products are not delivered on time, they should contact the seller about the situation. For cross-border transactions, if the consumer receives the wrong product or the product is defective, the consumer should collect evidence (such as photos or short videos) to prove that the defect is caused by the seller. The statement added that the affected consumer should also try to use every channel possible such as emails, to ask the seller for solutions and seek assistance from the council or the KCA if the dispute cannot be resolved.
According to the statement, the wide range of valuable shopping tips and useful information on the KCA’s Cross-Border Transaction Consumer Portal https://crossborder.kca.go.kr are available for consumers in traditional and simplified Chinese, English, and about a dozen languages.
This poster shows how complaints can be transferred from the Macau Consumer Council to the Korean Consumer Agency (KCA). Photo: Consumer Council
