Class action lawsuit filed against distributor of “Korea King” frying pans

[rooster59]

Class action lawsuit filed against distributor of “Korea King” frying pans

 

A 1.65-billion-baht class action lawsuit was on Friday (June 30) lodged with the Civil Court against Wizard Solution Company, distributor of Korea King frying pans in Thailand, by the Consumers Foundation and 74 customers of the frying pans from South Korea.

 

The court set the first hearing of the case on September 25.

 

Noting that the case amounts to a gross violation of consumers’ right, Consumers Foundation secretary-general Ms Saree Aongsomwang said that the class action suit was intended to set a precedent for the protection of consumers against over-exaggeration of the quality of the frying pan.

 

She said that the 74 co-plaintiffs were part of 167 frying pan buyers who had lodged complaints with the foundation against the distributor.

However, she estimated there were as many as half a million buyers of the frying pans as the distributor, Wizard Solution Co., reportedly imported at least 1.3 million Korea King frying pans into the country and spent 1.6 billion baht in advertising of the product last year.

 

Ms Saree explained that the 74 co-plaintiffs were divided into two groups–one group bought the Diamond series at 3,900 baht each and the other bought the Gold series at 3,300 baht each.

 

Full story: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/class-action-lawsuit-filed-distributor-korea-king-frying-pans/

 

 

-- © Copyright Thai PBS 2017-07-01

[trogers]

Out of the frying pan, and into the fire...

[ba ba]

I think the thai, had  better have  a closer look a themselfs first

[petermik]

Oh how I miss "woody,s" smiling face from the now banned ads on TV telling everyone what an amazing pan it was

[manhood]

However, good some people force consumers rights: something very rare in this country as the consumers have mostly no rights and their rights are not enforced !!!!

Too bad thai consumers are not going forward and enforce consumer rights and also the parliament has to enforce that much more!

Too much of ripp off's by buying in Thailand!!!!!!!!!

[YetAnother]

classic definition of 'frivolous lawsuit'

[PETERTHEEATER]

My wife has two, our daughter when holidaying here last year bought two and took them back with her to UK. We are satisfied with the pans but it now seems that they are not actually constructed in the manner advertised and were/are over-priced. I shall watch this with interest.

[thhMan]

So we can file class action lawsuits over crap we buy in Thailand

Does that cover services and everything else?

 

[jethro69]

1 hour ago, thhMan said:

So we can file class action lawsuits over crap we buy in Thailand

Does that cover services and everything else?

 

Only if the crap comes from outside Thailand, but that's only my guess.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

8 hours ago, petermik said:

Oh how I miss "woody,s" smiling face from the now banned ads on TV telling everyone what an amazing pan it was

Ya, I was going to say, the company behind this had some pretty prominent celebrities pitching this apparently shoddy cookware.

 

I didn't know it, and had no reason to know it back then. But looking at the product and the way it was marketed and sold here, I kind of figured back then it was likely to be some kind of a scam.

 

Another area where Thailand has certainly earned its reputation as a HUB.

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

4 hours ago, manhood said:

However, good some people force consumers rights: something very rare in this country as the consumers have mostly no rights and their rights are not enforced !!!!

I believe the legal ability for consumers in Thailand to pursue a class action civil lawsuit is a relatively recent development. I don't think such an action was legally possible until relatively recently.

 

Obviously, it much better and easier on the misbehaving companies if each ripped off or otherwise abused consumer has to fight for recompense/resolution on their own -- as opposed to being able to gang up, as it were, via a class action case.

 

It does even the playing field just a bit in favor of the consumer, but the desk is still vastly stacked here in favor of the business entity because of criminal defamation laws and other issues.

 

Edited July 1, 2017 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

I've read several news reports about this issue/case over time, and in typical Thailand fashion, what none of the news reports actually explain is just what happened/what went wrong when people bought these pans and took them home to use them.

 

Obviously, something bad enough to make a lot of Thais angry enough to pursue matters leading to a class action case.

 

I'd kind of like to hear from someone who has experience with them just what's wrong with the pans?  Since the articles don't seem to want to explain that.

 

[mike324]

On 7/1/2017 at 9:45 PM, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

I've read several news reports about this issue/case over time, and in typical Thailand fashion, what none of the news reports actually explain is just what happened/what went wrong when people bought these pans and took them home to use them.

 

Obviously, something bad enough to make a lot of Thais angry enough to pursue matters leading to a class action case.

 

I'd kind of like to hear from someone who has experience with them just what's wrong with the pans?  Since the articles don't seem to want to explain that.

 

 

People are only complaining because the price is not as cheap as they thought, they thought they were getting a bargain, but in reality its not. So yes shady advertising on the sellers part. There is nothing wrong with the performance of the pan - but I have read people complain, but with any pans there are bound to be complainers.

 

The issue blew up because someone found pans to be cheaper in Singapore and posted her rant on thai forum.

 

The Office of Consumer Protection Board said the company  "cannot advertise the product on three issues: the frying pan prices; the eight layers of enamel and the slipperiness of the pans."

I find that stupid, unless the specs are not there which is not true, they would have been sued even worse in Korea by now. Koreas consumer protection board is even more strict.

 

 

 

[pon2007]

What about True Visions class action on Fongdi website? Over 1300 people signed up 

https://www.fongdi.com/cases/1

Still no news.

True was fined, than nothing.

Surely True has deep pockets to pay off regulators and investigators and never refund platinum/gold members who were ripped off.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

1 hour ago, mike324 said:

The Office of Consumer Protection Board said the company  "cannot advertise the product on three issues: the frying pan prices; the eight layers of enamel and the slipperiness of the pans."

 

 

On one of the prior reports on this, I saw a photo where someone had taken one of the pans and literally cut out a section in the middle, so you could see the depth/layering of the pan. There was no explanation/cutline explaining the photo, but I'm presuming it had something to do with making the case that the construction/layering wasn't what it had been claimed to be.

 

Also, since the Thai consumer board is prohibiting the company from advertising the pan based on its "slipperiness," that would kind of lead one to  believe that its non-stick properties in real life weren't quite what the advertising claimed.  Those two issues together would kind of suggest the overall case is about more than just the selling price of the pans.

 

[mike324]

11 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

On one of the prior reports on this, I saw a photo where someone had taken one of the pans and literally cut out a section in the middle, so you could see the depth/layering of the pan. There was no explanation/cutline explaining the photo, but I'm presuming it had something to do with making the case that the construction/layering wasn't what it had been claimed to be.

 

Also, since the Thai consumer board is prohibiting the company from advertising the pan based on its "slipperiness," that would kind of lead one to  believe that its non-stick properties in real life weren't quite what the advertising claimed.  Those two issues together would kind of suggest the overall case is about more than just the selling price of the pans.

 

I think layering of the pan is hard to tell with a naked eye, majority of the layers are simply coatings on the metal which is not visible with the eye. The website even says its coating, not other layers of metal which many consumers are not understanding. Not trying to protect the company or their products, it could very well be an inferior product.

 

There is one post thats been circulating around which is a picture of a burnt pan. But to be honest, Korea Kings pan is really nothing special from other teflon / ceramic pans on the market. They are just using more terms / jargon for marketing purpose.

 

But I guess they over market and some people don't feel like its superior to other non stick pans out there.

 

[tolsti]

On 7/1/2017 at 9:38 PM, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

I believe the legal ability for consumers in Thailand to pursue a class action civil lawsuit is a relatively recent development. I don't think such an action was legally possible until relatively recently.

 

Obviously, it much better and easier on the misbehaving companies if each ripped off or otherwise abused consumer has to fight for recompense/resolution on their own -- as opposed to being able to gang up, as it were, via a class action case.

 

It does even the playing field just a bit in favor of the consumer, but the desk is still vastly stacked here in favor of the business entity because of criminal defamation laws and other issues.

 

You are correct... class actions have only been possible here since December 2015