The Consumer Dispute Mediation Committee (Commission) acknowledged the refund responsibilities of TMON and WeMakePrice for the balances of prepaid electronic payment methods, namely TMON Cash and WeMakePrice Points, issued by them.
The Korea Consumer Agency's Consumer Dispute Mediation Committee noted on the 30th that it made this decision after reviewing related group mediation applications.
The committee judged that, according to the Electronic Financial Transactions Act and the standard terms and conditions for new types of gift certificates, the final responsibility for refunds of prepaid electronic payment methods and gift certificates lies with each issuer, thus requiring issuers to reimburse the balances of each prepaid electronic payment method and gift certificates held by the applicants.
The committee decided that TMON should confirm the balance of TMON Cash held by the applicants as a rehabilitation claim to be reflected in the rehabilitation plan, while WeMakePrice should pay the balance of WeMakePrice Points held by the applicants through a payment guarantee deposit with Woori Bank.
This measure considers that both companies are currently undergoing corporate rehabilitation proceedings and that individual repayment of the rehabilitation claims is not possible under the Debtors Rehabilitation and Bankruptcy Act, among other circumstances, such as the confirmation that repayment of claims is possible through a payment guarantee deposit for WeMakePrice Points.
However, if the issuers and sellers cannot implement the aforementioned measures for business reasons, the committee decided that they must refund up to 70% of each gift certificate's face value or purchase amount.
The committee decided that the Happy Money gift certificate and Happy Cash balances should also be confirmed as rehabilitation claims and reflected in the rehabilitation plan, considering that the issuer, Happy Money, is under court receivership.
The number of applicants for group mediation related to TMON and WeMakePrice is 2,748, while the number of applicants related to Happy Money is 10,511. These individuals applied for group mediation to the consumer agency after the large-scale payment settlement issue at TMON and WeMakePrice in July last year, which rendered them unable to use the cash and point balances on the respective platforms and the third-party gift certificates sold by them.
The parties involved in this case must inform the committee of their acceptance within 15 days from the date they receive notice of the mediation decision. Acceptance of the decision will establish the mediation and grant it the legal effect of a binding judgment.