The Consumers’ Foundation yesterday urged Line Corp, the Japanese developer and operator of popular messaging app Line, to improve its customer service in Taiwan, as increasing numbers of complaints are being made.
The app has become popular worldwide — with more than 400 million registered accounts as of June — and Taiwan has the third-highest number of accounts (17 million), behind Japan and Thailand, but claims the highest density of accounts, the foundation said.
However, the foundation said users of the app are often met with three main problems, including mistakenly deleted accounts, a lack of customer support and unfair terms of service.
Foundation chairman Alan Lu (陸雲) said the group often receives complaints from users about the app accidentally deleting their accounts, leading to the loss of their friends list, chat history, stamps and coins, without means to recover them.
Lu said users in Taiwan can only report the problem by leaving a message on the company’s online customer service system, and are then made to wait for the company to reply, as there is no customer service phone number or counter in Taiwan.
Foundation vice chairman Yu Kai-hsiung (游開雄) said Line’s terms of service state that the terms are subject to change without prior notice, adding that the company can terminate or delete an account if it considers the user to have violated terms and conditions without prior notice, and that the stamps and coins bought by the users cannot be restored if the account has been deleted.
The foundation urged the company to improve its service to users in Taiwan and related government authorities to protect consumers’ rights.
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