萬國法律事務所

Taiwan’s Consumer Foundation released a report on meal coupons sold on 16 different websites finding that 10 of the meal coupons did not indicate that they are secured by any performance guaranty.

Buying meal tickets with substantial discounts on the Internet has become increasingly more appealing to consumers. A news report described one incident where the company terminated its business after selling meal coupons. Consumers were forced to turn to the internet service provider for compensation.

According to the Regulation on Required and Prohibited Matters in Standard Contracts for Service Coupons in the Restaurant Industry, meal coupons must provide a performance guaranty in one of five permitted ways. The Consumer Foundation, therefore, conducted an investigation in March wherein it reviewed 16 websites that sold meal coupons, including PChome, Yahoo!, ezHungry, GOMAJI, Groupon, dotzing, Lashou, and 17life, and found that 10 of the meal coupons sold did not indicate that the tickets are insured by a performance guaranty.

Among those 6 meal coupons that did have a guaranty, only two provided a qualified performance guaranty. The other four did not indicate the identity of the trustees or the banks that provided the guaranty. In addition, there are other descriptions on the coupons that did not confirm to the relevant Regulations. In order to better protect consumers’ interests, the Foundation urged the Department of Health to examine the coupons and to encourage the issuers to comply with the Regulations.