The fact that Weverse Shop was investigated could be considered the last straw after too many fans complained about the quality of the products and services of this shopping site.
Yesterday, it was reported that the city of Seoul was investigating the Weverse Shop, which exclusively sells Big Hit Entertainment artists’ goods. This news has attracted the special attention of the Kpop fan community. Accordingly, the Seoul Electronic Consumer Center revealed that there has been much dissatisfaction towards Weverse Shop. From defective goods to order cancellations and delayed shipping, there have been about 100 complaints from consumers.
Shortly thereafter, the Korean press published some more pictures of the poor quality of the Weverse Shop service, provided by the city of Seoul after receiving complaints from consumers. In April 2020, consumer A purchased BTS’s posters at the Weverse Shop. After receiving the goods, A discovered many scratches on the poster so he had requested for an exchange or refund. However, the sales representative had told him it was not considered a defect. The customer then asked for the standards of what can be considered a “defective good” eligible for return or exchange, only to be told that it cannot be disclosed. Therefore, Weverse Shop also did not take any measures to compensate that customer.
Many customers report that they have not received any goods for months after placing an order from the Weverse Shop. A consumer ‘B’ said that in April 2020, he purchased goods for fan club’s members, such as photo cards. But after 8 months, B’s order still only showed the status of “preparing to ship”.
B said: “No matter how many questions I left at the customer care center, I won’t get any answers. I am very worried that I might receive completely different products from what I ordered “
In fact, previously, fans of Big Hit’s artists, especially BTS fans, had a lot of dissatisfaction over the way Weverse Shop works. However, most of the fans have no choice but to continue using this shopping page as only Weverse Shop sells BTS’s exclusive goods. This created a vicious cycle as fans continued to place orders even though the risk was still very high and Weverse Shop still did not improve its service.
The actual images of the defective products that BTS fans received from the Weverse Shop continue to spark a wave of outrage aimed at Big Hit Entertainment. Korean netizens believe that Big Hit has been constantly destroying what BTS has built, and even affirmed that if they continue to work in this way, Big Hit will never be equal to the BIG3.
– “What the hell is BTS’s agency doing? The company should be responsible for keeping the artist’s image, they should manage things like this more carefully”
– “I used to buy goods on Weverse Shop because only they sold exclusive products, but before I bought, I didn’t know their customer service was this bad. Fans kept quiet because Big Hit refused to listen to our complaints and we gave up. Big Hit only responded when being investigated … They never listen to fans but always talk about “interaction” “
– “Big Hit is ruining itself when trying to sell cheap Chinese products at such a high price”
– “There must be a reason why BIG 3 is BIG 3”
– “Obviously, they only focus on making money. I have to wonder if they really care about the quality of their products”
– “Without BTS Big Hit would be nothing”
– “The products of Weverse Shop are really bad and Big Hit is not treating customers well. Big Hit is just destroying BTS’s image by itself and treating as if ARMY are idiots”
In response to this, BigHit Entertainment issued an apology through press outlets, stating “We apologize for any discomfort caused to consumers. After the launch of Weverse Shop in 2019, we have been continuously making efforts to improve our service for customers. We are cooperating actively with the city investigations and reports”. Currently, the city of Seoul has decided to investigate whether Weverse Shop has violated e-commerce laws based on consumer complaints then will consider legal measures including fines.
