Customers seeking refunds during cooling-off period will need to pay admin fee

Hong Kong customers seeking refunds under a proposed seven-day cooling-off period for prepaid beauty and fitness contracts will be required to pay an administrative fee to curb potential abuse of the mechanism, the government has said.

Authorities last week launched a two-month public consultation on three major policy proposals aimed at strengthening consumer protection amid persistent complaints about unfair trade practices and high-pressure sales tactics.

“We’ve proposed in our suggestions that there will be an administrative fee in the refund,” Winsome Au Wai-sum, deputy secretary for commerce and economic development, told the legislature on Tuesday.

“We think that when customers apply to cancel a contract, they’d have to shoulder a percentage of the total sum.”

Au stopped short of revealing the exact figure.

She was responding to a question from lawmaker Tommy Chung Ki-fung, who asked whether a mechanism would be put in place to help businesses deal with customers who repeatedly sought refunds and whether there would be support channels for firms to prevent such situations.