[Anchor]

Unfair contract practices in the wedding industry show little sign of improvement. Businesses are exploiting the consumer mindset that a wedding is a once-in-a-lifetime event. One company, which had demanded a penalty fee more than double the standard rate, changed its position after we received a tip and began our investigation.

Reporter Im Jihyeon has the story.

[Reporter]

In April, a person identified as A was preparing for a wedding but had to call it off for personal reasons.

When A contacted the wedding venue to cancel the contract, the company's demand was absurd.

They demanded a total of 7 million won, which included the 2 million won deposit and an additional 5 million won penalty—amounting to 30 percent of the total wedding cost of 16.5 million won.

A separate fee of 300,000 won was also requested for the cancellation consultation.

This totaled 44 percent of the entire cost, more than double the 20 percent limit recommended by the Fair Trade Commission.

[A: It feels like they are just tacking on costs because it is a once-in-a-lifetime event. It is not just me who signed this contract; everyone else is doing it, too.]

Consumer complaints regarding wedding services rose from 905 cases the year before last to 1,076 last year, an increase of nearly 20 percent. The vast majority, 82.4 percent, were related to contract terminations and penalty fee disputes.

The opaque contract structure, which fails to clearly state penalty standards, refund conditions, and additional costs, is cited as a primary cause.

[Jung Jun-hyun/Lawyer: The wedding venue's demands could be seen as excessive under the Act on the Regulation of Terms and Conditions or the Framework Act on Consumers.]

When asked by our reporting team about the facts and their position regarding A's case, the wedding company initially refused to comment and indicated they would resolve the matter legally.

[Representative of the wedding venue: We are only going to proceed through litigation, so we have nothing else to say. Do we really have to say anything?]

However, two days after SBS began its investigation, the company sent an email to A stating that, in accordance with Fair Trade Commission guidelines, A would only need to pay a penalty of approximately 1.1 million won, excluding the 2 million won deposit.

(Video reporting: Kang Si-woo | Video editing: Ahn Yeo-jin | Graphics: Park Tae-young)