Compensation for Delay in Handling Unsubscription Request

Users of high-speed Internet service can receive monetary compensation when their service provider delays their requests for unsubscription. The Korea Communications Commission under the Information and Communication Ministry announced on Monday these revised regulations. There have been strong complaints from Internet users that it is easy to subscribe but very difficult to discontinue subscriptions.

Under the revised regulations, service providers must pay for three times the usual service charges (days of delay * service charge per day * 3) when they delay handling unsubscription requests.

LG Powercom and LG Dacom will apply the revised regulations next month while KT, Hanaro Telecom, and Onse Telecom will do so in June. Considering holidays and business days, service providers will not compensate for two or three days delay.

The Korea Communications Commission will also introduce a telephone reservation for unsubscription. If users leave their contact numbers at a call center, they will later receive a phone call from service providers so that they can request discontinuation of their subscription. After the reservation system is introduced, users will no longer have to complain that they waited so long simply to request or that they could not even get connected to request on the phone.

KT and LG Powercom will set up the "one-stop-internet-unsubscription system" in June while Hanaro Telecom will do so in August. The system does not require unsubscription requests via phone nor through written documents. The request will be served online.

System operators (SO) have to impose a penalty for breach of service contract based on revised rules. They need to calculate the amount of penalty for the period that users actually use the service. Before the new rules, users had to pay the penalty for three years instead of one year when they subscribe to the service under the contract of a 3-year obligatory period and discontinue it after one year.

In the meantime, the Korea Communications Commission announced that it would start looking into the case that service providers added services without the consent of subscribers or illegally encouraged users to subscribe.

Bae Jung-seop, the head of the consumer protection team, said, "The government will stay away from cracking down on illegal acts of individual telecommunication companies. However, the government will find a way to encourage them to improve their systems."

mikemoon@donga.com