[Anchor]

Brides- and grooms-to-be preparing for a wedding, the biggest event of their lives, ought to be happier than anyone.
Yet many are said to be suffering in silence because, despite paying enormous sums, the service they receive after signing is the opposite of what was promised beforehand.
Reports of abusive treatment by vendors are pouring into online communities for engaged couples, so caution appears warranted.
Reporter Yang Mi-jeong reports.


[Reporter]
With the easing of COVID-19 quarantine rules, the wedding industry is showing signs of recovery.

But chronic abuses such as excessive billing continue, and caution is required.

Vendors that touted all sorts of perks before the contract turned around after signing and demanded excessive deposits, piling surcharge upon surcharge.

Cases in which a vendor unilaterally cancels the contract and then refuses to return the deposit are also countless.

Engaged couples say the vendors' heavy-handed pressure, far beyond anything acceptable, is only adding to their burden.

[Interview (by phone): Official at Wedding Hall A]
- "The terms now are different from what they were when you signed. Meals are 10,000 won per person. The venue fee was free back then, but with the remodeling it will probably go up by about 1 million won. A full refund is obviously difficult. Honestly, it's the same everywhere else. Let's just go ahead on good terms."

As such cases mount, victims have begun sharing information among themselves through online cafes.

Beyond unilaterally canceling contracts and pressuring customers to write positive reviews, there were even cases of vendors threatening customers who left critical reviews.

There were also a considerable number of cases in which vendors harassed customers by taking legal action for defamation and the like.

Engaged couples lamented that wedding preparations, which should be the happiest of times, had become a nightmare they would rather forget.

Some vendors have set out to restore trust on their own.

This year, however, with weddings postponed by the pandemic now crowding the calendar, consumer harm in the wedding industry is expected to grow further.

[Interview (by phone): Shin Dong-woo / Attorney]
- "It is not easy for a wedding vendor to take issue with a consumer's legitimate review unless the elements of criminal defamation are met. Where a wedding vendor unfairly breaks a contract, the customer can claim not only reimbursement of the deposit but, depending on the circumstances, compensation for emotional distress as well. The Fair Trade Commission needs to periodically revise the consumer dispute resolution standards and standard terms and conditions for the wedding industry, and ongoing supervision is needed to ensure wedding vendors comply with them."




Because consumers cannot accumulate enough experience in the wedding market, they find themselves in an environment where rational spending is difficult.

Critics say that for a wedding, which should be celebrated amid blessings and happiness, not to be remembered as a nightmare, the industry and regulators alike must show careful consideration.