South Korea's Federal Trade Commission has ordered Google and Apple to revise their app refund policies to make it easier for consumers to get their money back.
Google and Apple may get away with dozens of unintentional app purchases from its digital stores but the tech giants are getting new orders from South Korea's Federal Trade Commission to revise unfair provisions, which includes the no-refund policy. The ruling will allow consumers to get refunds without hassles by following simple procedures on both Apple and Android app stores.
The implementation will help parents who worry their kids' app shopping spree may lead to hefty credit card bills. With consumer-friendly refund policies, mobile users are in full control of their app and in-app purchases. According to a report in The Korea Herald, Apple will apply the changes in its revised App Store policy while Google will let developers set their own refund terms.
FTC's actions follow a series of requests by the Citizens' Coalition for Economic Justice, a non-governmental organization, to rectify the unfair sales policies by the app stores. The new change in policy not only involves Google and Apple, but also some domestic companies such as KT, SK Planet, LG Electronics and LG Uplus, the report adds. The FTC hopes to see the revised policy be implemented in other countries, too.
''We expect the measure, aimed at protecting consumers, will have a ripple effect on similar cases throughout the world," the Korea Fair Trade Commission said in a press release, Monday.
While Google hasn't revealed any plans to apply the changes to other countries, Apple is expected bring the revised contract terms on a global level.
Few other tweaks to the app store policies require Apple to notify its customers every time there is a change in the App Store's terms of service. As for Google, the web giant automatically stops charging customers for a paid app at the end of a trial period, letting app users try out new apps.
