Clothes, accommodations invite more consumer complaints as people go out more

Consumer complaints about clothes and accommodations surged in April as outdoor activities increased sales of those products, the Korea Consumer Agency said Friday.

Complaints about fashion goods saw the steepest increase. Compared with the previous month, the total number of inquiries about women’s dresses increased by 46.1 percent and T-shirts by 31 percent.

Most complaints were about shipping fees when customers requested refunds for defective products.

Complaints about accommodations saw a similar upward trend, with some 36.9 percent of all inquiries related to reservations for hotels and other accommodations.

Inquiries related to financial products skyrocketed over the last month, with the total number of complaints increasing by 142.5 percent compared with April last year. Most were related to international transactions and smishing texts.

A total of 50,193 calls were made to the agency’s call center in April, down 4.4 percent from the previous month.

By Kang Jae-eun (kang.jaeeun@heraldcorp.com)