[
THE INVESTOR] Korea’s antitrust watchdog said on April 24 that it had local units of foreign cars and dealerships revise their unfair policies on refund and maintenance services.
The Fair Trade Commission said it has looked into provisions and clauses of 13 businesses and discovered unfair terms that restrict the cancellation of contracts, refunds and the use of maintenance service coupons.
Five companies including Mercedes-Benz Korea, Jaguar Land Rover Korea, and Nissan Korea had provisions that kept clients from scrapping their purchase contracts and getting a refund.
Three firms, including Audi Volkswagen Korea, did not return money to customers who had free maintenance coupons that had already expired, while four businesses prohibited clients from selling their coupons.
The watchdog said all related companies have revised the terms to let Korean customers cancel the contract and get a refund if they want.
By Alex Lee and newswires (
alexlee@heraldcorp.com)