In September Patently Apple posted a report titled "Apple Scouting Top Locations for their First Flagship Store in Samsung's Back Yard, Seoul." In that report we noted that critics of Apple have been complaining since at least 2014 that Apple has been ignoring their market and continually insulting them by opening store after store in China while they have yet to open their first in South Korea. At the peek of iPhone 6 mania, Apple had hit close to 33% market share in that country and now sits around 20%. September's WSJ report claimed that Apple was seriously scouting for a prime location for it's first flagship store in Seoul. That positive move would definitely go a long way in squelching the never ending complaints logged against Apple every year – because some of them are justified.

Today a new Korean report surfaced titled "Apple faces growing complaints over customer support." The report notes that "Apple recently faced a fresh round of complaints over its customer support in South Korea, after belatedly providing a Korean announcement for replacing problematic iPhone batteries.

On Sunday, Apple posted an announcement in English only on its Korean website about how to replace batteries if the device unexpectedly shuts down. It took four days to finally get Apple to post their announcement in Korean. In contrast, Apple immediately posted a Chinese announcement after receiving complaints from Chinese consumers. It was immediate and respectfully in the country's native tongue. That's a legitimate complaint and was insulting because they were so sloppy at handling the matter in Korea.

Once again the critics pile on that Apple has yet to open a store in South Korea, that service is very poor compared to service from their local competitors Samsung and LG

One iPhone user, surnamed Kwon, said although her phone randomly turns off when its battery shows 10 percent remaining, she opts not go to a repair center.

"I don't want to go through the same hassle of being rejected (for repairs), waiting and paying again," said Kwon, who paid more than 250,000 won ($212) for a small scratch on the panel and waited weeks.

As complaints have grown among consumers who have said their problem phones were not able to get repaired without an explanation, the Korean Free Trade Commission began an investigation early this year.

In April, the Korean antitrust watchdog found that there were 20 unfair clauses in contracts between Apple Korea and repair stores. The unfair clauses include that Apple can cancel repair contracts without any prior notice and arbitrarily alter clauses.

And finally, the Korea Herald report noted that "Apple has been in the top 15 list for ignoring consumers' complaints for five years consecutively, according to the state-run Korea Consumer Agency."

While I'm sure there's solid reasoning for Apple's delay in opening a flagship store in South Korea, be it government regulations or high taxes, Apple should step into that market and reward their many fans with their exceptional service and management that'll ensure that any Apple announcement in the future will respectfully be presented in the Korean language and not arogantly in English only.

Let's hope that Apple's 2017 anniversary iPhone will be sold in a great new Korean Flagship store next year to reward their many local fans – especially those that are in their 20's that prefer the iPhone over local Samsung products.

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