A woman from the West Kazakhstan Region won her case against a holiday resort after a disappointing visit: her family spent only 10 minutes there, but the resort refused to refund the entrance fee. The website infohub.kz reports.

The regional Department of Trade and Consumer Protection received a complaint from the woman against the management of a holiday resort. According to her, on July 12 this year she decided to relax on the beach with her family. After paying 7,000 tenge for entry, they entered the territory and were disappointed: the sanitary condition of the toilets did not meet expectations, and there were no changing rooms.

The complainant decided to leave the beach and asked the staff to refund her money, but was refused. She then messaged the resort owner on WhatsApp: “We were there with our family for 10 minutes. There are no conditions for changing. The toilet is in terrible condition. The beach also leaves much to be desired. I ask you to refund the entrance fee of 7,000 tenge for 2 adults and 2 children.” The response was: “Sorry, no refund.” When she asked for clarification: “So now we have to pay 7,000 for 10 minutes at your resort?” the answer was: “Yes, of course. Even for a minute.”

On the same day, the consumer sent a claim to the email address of the business entity listed on its Instagram page. Two days later, a reminder was sent, but the service provider never responded to the claim.

Following the review of the complaint, the department initiated administrative proceedings and drew up a protocol under Article 190 of the Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan on Administrative Offenses for failure to fulfill obligations to provide a written response to a consumer claim. The business entity, disagreeing with the state body's decision, left the place where the protocol was drawn up, leaving a statement to refer the administrative case to court. As a result, the protocol was completed without the resort owner's participation and sent to court for consideration.

During the court hearing, the entrepreneur explained the lack of response to the claim by saying that the email address had been provided by the page developer, and at the time the claim was sent, the email was not working—access to the mailbox was unavailable.

Following the consideration of the administrative case, the court of first instance imposed a fine of 43,250 tenge on the business entity, which can still be appealed. In addition, the department will assist the complainant in recovering the 7,000 tenge.