Apple, Google ordered to revise "no refund" App Store policies in South Korea
South Korean parents can rest a little easier tonight knowing they will no longer be responsible for unauthorized purchases their children have made. The Korea Federal Trade Commission of South Korea has ordered Apple and Google to change their App Store refund policies to make it easier for consumers to get refunds from the tech giants.
Following a series of requests from a public organization called the Citizens' Coalition for Economic Justice, the FTC moved to correct what they viewed as unfair sales policies in the respective stores. In its press release the Korea Fair Trade Commission expressed its wishes to see the ruling spread around the globe. Hwang Won-chul, the KFTC's head of Adhesion Contract Division had this to say.
The FTC's corrective orders will become benchmark cases for other countries, which face growing customer complaints over unfair provisions in contracts of mobile webstore operators.
According to The Korea Herald, Apple is implementing the refund changes to the store itself, while Google will create a customer refund system built on the suggestions of developers. Apple will send a notice to users when it updates the terms in its contract.
On the heels of this victory, the Citizen's Coalition for Economic Justice has already set their sights on Apple once again. According to a statement by Yoon Chul-hwan of the CCEJ provided to the Korea Herald, the next target is repairs to customer phones.
Currently, users are not able to get their original phones back from repair shops after they have their phones repaired. We will file a complaint against it (Apple) to see if that is also an unfair sales practice.
Apple made a similar, limited offer, this past March to US App Store users. Sadly, that offer has expired.
