"I Also Fell Victim to Marriage Agencies"... Complaints Rising Everywhere

Consumer complaints regarding matchmaking and marriage information agencies are on the rise, with practices such as deducting meeting counts simply for providing a prospective partner's profile.

The Korea Consumer Agency announced the results of its analysis of 1,236 grievance cases related to marriage brokerage services received between 2023 and 2025 on July 24.

Among all the grievance cases, 56.1% were related to contract cancellations and penalty fees.

This was followed by contract breaches at 39.2% and quality dissatisfaction at 1.7% affidavits.

In cases regarding contract cancellations and penalties, agencies frequently deducted meeting counts upon mid-term termination just for providing profiles, or calculated refunds by subtracting the provided services from the total contracted services to reduce the refund amount.

A detailed investigation of 8 domestic marriage brokerage companies and 9 international marriage brokerage operators with high numbers of grievance cases revealed that 2 domestic companies had clauses allowing meeting counts to be deducted just for providing profiles.

Four companies made verbal promises for unlimited matchmakings or additional matchmakings beyond the basic count while omitting them from the contract, or restricted the contracted meeting counts in writing.

Among all 17 surveyed companies (7 domestic and 1 international), 8 companies had provisions for successful marriage fees, but the criteria for a "successful marriage" were unclear.

It was confirmed that some considered the date of the formal family meeting or the confirmation of the wedding date as a successful marriage rather than the actual wedding day, or failed to specify concrete criteria for success.

In particular, 7 international brokerage companies stipulated that if consumers unilaterally gave up or called off the marriage during the process, they were required to pay damages or penalty fees to the matchmaking partner.

However, they did not specify the basis for the costs claimed.

Out of 15 surveyed companies operating websites, only 8 posted their pricing so that anyone could easily check it.

The Korea Consumer Agency advised, "Consumers should thoroughly check the standards for meeting count deductions and refunds, and ensure that key information such as the number of meetings is explicitly stated in the contract."
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.