Consumer inquiries about fruit freshness surged after shoppers bought more fruit during the Lunar New Year holiday in February.
On the 27th, the Korea Consumer Agency and the Korea Consumer Organization Council published their February \"Consumer Counseling Big Data Trends\" report, showing that the 1372 Consumer Counseling Center handled 45,801 consultations last month. That total is a 24.8% drop from the previous month (60,912) and a 9.4% decrease from the same month last year (50,575).
By category, inquiries about fruits and processed fruit products jumped 68.9% month-on-month—the largest increase. Analysts attribute the surge mainly to quality complaints about gift fruit purchased for the holiday that had spoiled or deteriorated.
Demand tied to moving before the new school term also pushed up consultations: building cleaning services rose 41.5%, and packing/moving transport services increased 23.8%. Other food items (13.9%) and other lodging facilities (9.2%) followed.
Compared with the same month a year earlier, building cleaning services showed the biggest jump at 87.7%, followed by delivery food (71.3%) and fruits and processed fruit products (57.2%).
By total consultation count, air passenger transport services topped the list with 1,201 cases, representing 2.6% of all inquiries. Many complaints involved penalty fees or delayed refunds after consumers purchased and then canceled airline tickets through travel booking platforms.
Broken down by age group, people in their 20s filed the most complaints about gyms; those in their 30s and 40s most often reported issues with air passenger transport services; and consumers aged 50 and over most frequently raised concerns about various health supplements.
