Dereliction of Duty
Among domestic duty-free shops, the Lotte Duty-Free Shop came in first in terms of incurring consumer damages. A total of 81 consumer damaging events took place at four duty free shops from 2012 to 2014, according to a report on the application for compensation for consumer damages by duty-free shops, which the Korea Consumer Agency sent to Rep. Yoo Eui-dong of the Saenuri Party who is on the National Policy Committee of the National Assembly on Sept. 11.
Among them, Lotte Department Store placed first with 50 cases (61.7 percent), followed by Shilla Duty Free Shop with 24 cases (29.6 percent), Shinsegae Duty Free Shop with four cases (4.9 percent) and Donghwa Duty Free with three cases (3.7 percent). Overall, customer complaint cases jumped to 374 last year from 300 in 2012. The compensated cases more than doubled during the same span to 53 from 22. In terms of reasons for demanding compensation, quality and after-sale service-related damages were 95 cases (89.6 percent), accounting for the lion’s share. The others were related to contracts, unfair practices, safety matters, and more.