A post on Ara and KaDaeJeon has revealed an ongoing lawsuit regarding the ramyeon vending machines located around the campus. It explained the refusal of the vending machine provider to take responsibility for repairing its products, which were found to be illegal and unsafe.

Since August 2018, KAIST students have enjoyed using the instant ramen vending machines located in many school dormitories. The vending machines were installed after many students expressed the need for an accessible meal source after midnight  or during the weekend, when most cafeterias and restaurants on campus are closed. Unfortunately, many of the machines have been plagued with malfunctions, including electricity cutoff, jamming, and shortage of products.

The post outlined the key points of the situation. The third-party manager responsible for purchasing and maintaining the vending machines had purchased them with the condition that all future repair services will be provided by the business. However, after only two instances of repairs in September 2018, the company did not comply with further requests for the repair of the numerous faults and defects of the appliances. Thus, the manager filed a lawsuit against the business in January.

Thus, the manager filed a lawsuit against the business in January. Afterwards, the manager discovered that the vending machines were in fact illegal products that had not been approved by the Korean Institute of Product Safety (KIPS). As of now, all the machines have been replaced with certified products. Meanwhile, the business in question has maintained that since there were records of sales throughout the operational period, there was no evidence of any malfunction, and thus it does not hold any legal responsibility.

To aid in the lawsuit, the post’s author asked for student witnesses and responses on the machines breaking down. The manager stated that in order to renew the contract with the school, they had to keep the machines in operation despite the defects, opting to put “out of operation” signs and stickers. They expressed woe that due to the lawsuit, they “suffered day and night” and that the current machines have been purchased through a loan. They asked students to “please give some time to help out with the situation”.