Yamato Holdings, part of the Yamato Group, admitted last week it overcharged corporate moving service clients by ¥1.7 billion (US$15.3 million) over the 24 months through June.
During the period the group handled 124,000 moves. Inappropriate charges were found for nearly 40% of the total, or about 48,000 cases, according to Yamato.
The company will return the overcharged money to the affected 2,640 companies as soon as possible, Yamato Holdings president Masaki Yamauchi said after he apologised for betraying client
confidence and causing them significant inconvenience, a report in the Japan Times said.
The report noted that Yamato collected fees based on initial estimates, without taking into account the amount of goods actually transported. In an extreme case, Yamato overcharged a single
client by ¥190,000. Such an issue, however, is very unlikely to happen in the group’s home-moving service, where fees and the amount of transported goods are closely checked, Yamauchi said.
Services are suspended until further notice
Yamato has set up a lawyer-led investigation committee. The team will identify the cause of the problem and examine preventive measures.
The results will be reported to the company shortly. The firm has meanwhile suspended its moving service for corporate clients until it implements preventive measures.
The Yamato Group operates seven main business segments: Delivery, BIZ-Logistics, Home Convenience, e-Business, Financial, Autoworks, and Other, and runs related service operations.
Yamato Transport is Japan's largest door-to-door delivery company with market share of 41%, competing closely with Sagawa Express and Nippon Express.
Nol van Fenema
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