PCC Locates “Defect” in Grab Compliance of Refund Orders

The Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) plans to impose a fine on Grab Holdings Inc. because of their failure to release the full refund amount to end users.

PCC Mergers and Acquisition Office Officer-in-Charge Director, Ivy Medina has mentioned that “The Commission is now considering whether or not the circumstances for which those refunds were not fully paid to the consumers would merit another fine to be imposed,”

Medina mentioned that there was a noted “defect” in the app compliance, specifically that the full amount was not fully refunded to the customers.

PCC Chairman Michael G. Aguinaldo mentioned that there are refund portions that Grab is unable to adhere to. He also says that the app has given its reasons for its incapacity to refund the total amounts.

According to Aguinaldo, the Commission’s decision can center on Grab’s inability to refund the total amounts.

A reason stated by Grab is the lack of e-wallets for their users.

The PCC chief states that the reimbursed amount to users can be small and can “actually cost more to find a way to refund it than the actual amount of the refund.”

In March 2022, Grab was ordered to release ₱19.30 million in refunds to users after discovering the low disbursement of refunds Grab coming from their last fines.

Aguinaldo stated that the Grab app had disclosed that over 70% of the total amount had already been released while 30% or “about P5 or P6 million” have yet to be distributed.

Source: Business Mirror