Kansai Consumer's Support Organization and Fortress Japan Reach an Agreement

Last August, I wrote about the lawsuit brought against Fortress Japan, which operates the eikaiwa Global Trinity, for the slimy manner in which they sold lesson packages to its customers. Their methods were straight out of the old NOVA playbook with pressure sales and deception being common practices.

The Yomiuri Shimbun reports that the Osaka District Court has ruled in favor of the Osaka-based NPO, Kansai Consumer's Support Organization. In the agreement, Fortress Japan has admitted to its underhanded sales practices and promised to pay KCSO a penalty of ¥500,000 for each fraudulently obtained contract in the event their sales practices are found to violate the Consumer Contract Law in the future. KCSO will use the money to fund its operations.

The KCSO website has more information about the penalty in their press release for the media [PDF].

A short-and-to-the-point flyer [PDF] illustrates the 7 things Fortress Japan promises not to do:

1. Prevent customers from leaving during solicitations
2. Misinform customers ("You can take lessons any time")
3. Make claims that benefit the company only ("We're cheaper than other schools")
4. Engage in pressure sales or long sales pitches
5. Make comments critical of the customer's character
6. Take advantage of a customer's inability to decide
7. Take into consideration customers with little money, such as students

If Global Trinity is found to have signed up students using items 1-3 in the list, it will cancel the contract upon request and provide a full refund. If it uses items 4-7 to obtain contracts, it promises to cancel the contract upon request and handle any other requests in good faith.

The KCSO filed the lawsuit last August after the school was caught lying to university students at job fairs telling them that they could take lessons any time without any restrictions and that they were cheaper than other English conversation schools. Over the past 3 years, KSCO has received about 400 complaints about the school.

Comment: The promise and list of things they pledge not to do doesn't inspire confidence. Any company operating in good faith simply does not engage in this kind of behavior to begin with. Score one for justice I suppose, but I wonder how effective these promises will be. The best thing teachers and students can do is to spread the word and avoid shady schools like Global Trinity.

Original article

消費者団体訴訟で初の和解、英会話不当勧誘で…大阪地裁

大阪や東京などで開校する英会話学校「グローバルトリニティー」が虚偽の説明で受講生を勧誘したなどとして、ＮＰＯ法人「消費者支援機構関西」（大阪市）が、運営会社「フォートレスジャパン」（東京都）を相手に不当勧誘の差し止めを求めた訴訟は４日、大阪地裁（山田知司裁判長）で和解した。同社が不当勧誘を認め、消費者契約法違反にあたる行為を今後続けた場合は違約金を支払うことなどが条件。消費者団体が原告になって提訴できる消費者団体訴訟は、２００７年６月の開始から５件起きているが、和解は初めて。

同団体訴訟は請求内容として不当行為の差し止めしか認められず、同法人は「違約金の支払いを盛り込んでおり、勝訴判決を超えた和解」と評価している。

同法人によると、同社が和解で認めた不当行為は▽勧誘した相手を帰さない▽開講日時がコース別に決まっているのに「いつでも好きなときに受講できる」と告知した▽しつよう執拗()に電話で勧誘した▽「この場で決断しなさい」と迫ったり、人格を非難するような言葉を使ったりした――など。

　同社は今後これらの行為をしないと約束。このうち消費者契約法違反にあたる勧誘行為が今後あれば、同社は代金返還に応じるほか、勧誘相手１人あたり５０万円の違約金を同法人に支払う。同法人は違約金を活動資金に充てるという。

同法人は、同校が就職説明会などで大学生らに「好きなときに無制限で受講できる。他の英会話教室より受講料が安い」と虚偽の説明をして勧誘したなどとして、昨年８月に提訴。同法人によると、全国の消費生活センターには昨年１月までの３年間に、同校に関する相談が約４００件寄せられていたという。

（2009年3月5日 読売新聞）