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chinatwin88
Joined: 31 Aug 2009
Posts: 379
Location: Peking
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 Posted: Sat Sep 19, 2009 1:12 am Post subject: |
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| It's ok, it should only set me back the 90 admin fee which I'll ask the school for. |
Thats crazy talk. "But". Hey more power to you if you can do it. I once sat in front of a safe, allowing no one to access the money inside, for two hours to get paid for out of pocket expenses refused.
On the onther hand you could consider the event in these terms.
Sometimes you just gotta say "sh_t happens" and move on. Much like any business, you will experience financial loss on some ventures. Logistical cost varies with the situation and events. This was a learning experience that cost, nothing more and nothing less. Next time you can adjust your expectations to match the realities of bureaucracy
Making a point in china or getting fair treatment is a costly endeavor and time consuming plus it will put you in the position where you have to send you girl friend for your pay due to the fear caused in the office by you illustrating your belief in your position.. |
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A'Moo
Joined: 21 Jan 2007
Posts: 1067
Location: a supermarket that sells cheese
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| Posted: Sat Sep 19, 2009 2:17 am Post subject: |
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| LarssonCrew wrote: |
| Viduk that KLM goes LHR->AMS->PEK-XIY. My flight would go LHR->PEK-XIY. It's ok, it should only set me back the 90 admin fee which I'll ask the school for. It's only 'fair and right' they reimburse me, but having read this forum money comes before that regime in China! |
How true...Nobody is criticizing you, most of us have been in your shoes in one way or another before...We are talking about a culture that, when at a supermarket, will keep their cars idled for half an hour waiting for a parking spot, blocking traffic, when another spot is ten feet away, only because it would absolutely devastate them to know someone had a parking spot closer than they... |
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The Ever-changing Cleric
Joined: 19 Feb 2009
Posts: 1523
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| Posted: Sat Sep 19, 2009 4:30 am Post subject: |
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| nickpellatt wrote: |
| Cleric - I was thinking the cost of a visa run 'might' be less than writing off the cost of an airline ticket from the UK, and taxi etcetc. Im pretty sure 90 day tourists visas are available from the UK ... and so when he is in China, he will have time to arrange the Z visa papers in-country, and the visa trip could possibly be part business / part pleasure? Just my initial thoughts. |
sorry nick, deleted my post before you posted. i saw a problem for larsson crew till he mentioned his ticket from london to beijing could be amended with a 90 pound fee, then as far as i can tell, the problem is solved. as for the non refundable ticket beijing to xi'an, those are a dime a dozen and cheap.
larsson crew, when is peak traveling season to/from the UK? tickets are normally expensive and hard to get in jun, july, august and maybe september (peak summer season in europe/north america). tickets should be easier to get in october and afterwards. i'll bet you could have waited out on that BA ticket a little longer. |
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killian
Joined: 10 Jan 2003
Posts: 937
Location: fairmont city, illinois, USA
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| Posted: Sat Sep 19, 2009 6:53 am Post subject: |
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| tell the school to book/pay for the ticket. |
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LarssonCrew
Joined: 06 Jun 2009
Posts: 1308
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| Posted: Sat Sep 19, 2009 12:24 pm Post subject: |
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Well guys, I'm glad it's gone from 'slating' to helping, haha.
Firstly, it's �90 + the difference in cost for the flight, I'm thinking it shouldn't be overly hard to get a flight, but looking now, the lowest price's seem to be about �750-800 return. Oh well.
And would you guys just wait and go to the ticket desk once I arrive at Beijing Airport for the flight to Xi'an? Or would you book ahead of time.
I guess from reading around here for a few months, that China was disorganised, I was just of the assumption that when I was told for definite that the documents would be here on such a date, that it would actually arrive then.
At least now I will head over overly suspicious and not be assured of anything until, for instance, my bank account card has arrived, my wages are in it, I open the front door to the flat and inspect everything etc.
Cheers guys. If anyone in Xi'an from the UK needs anything brought over, I've got some space in my suitcase for some treats [dairy milk anyone?:D] |
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doogs09
Joined: 21 Aug 2009
Posts: 23
Location: Zhongshan
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| Posted: Sat Sep 19, 2009 12:28 pm Post subject: |
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Right and fair where exactly? Not in China that's for sure. Your mistake, your money, your problem, would be the Chinese view. Chalk it up to experience, and use it to educate yourself about the culture your heading into. To be honest I doubt you'd have a case for reimbursment in the UK either. Unless you had a contract stating your documents would arrive by the day stated so it was okay to go ahead and book your tickets, you wouldn't have a leg to stand on in a UK court. China is very different to anything you will have experienced in the UK. If you bend in the wind you will have a great time, but if you hang on too hard to how things are back home, it'll break you.
| LarssonCrew wrote: |
| Viduk that KLM goes LHR->AMS->PEK-XIY. My flight would go LHR->PEK-XIY. It's ok, it should only set me back the 90 admin fee which I'll ask the school for. It's only 'fair and right' they reimburse me, but having read this forum money comes before that regime in China! |
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LarssonCrew
Joined: 06 Jun 2009
Posts: 1308
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| Posted: Sat Sep 19, 2009 12:34 pm Post subject: |
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Actually doogs, even in a verbal contract, in a civil case I'd have no problems claiming that the actions of the school (promise of required delivered documents at a certain date), had left me out of pocket.
Fortunately I've got a law degree and passed the bar, so I know for sure in the UK I'd have no problem claiming the money back. |
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LanGuTou
Joined: 23 Mar 2009
Posts: 621
Location: Shandong
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| Posted: Sat Sep 19, 2009 12:56 pm Post subject: |
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| LarssonCrew wrote: |
Actually doogs, even in a verbal contract, in a civil case I'd have no problems claiming that the actions of the school (promise of required delivered documents at a certain date), had left me out of pocket.
Fortunately I've got a law degree and passed the bar, so I know for sure in the UK I'd have no problem claiming the money back. |
I think you will find in China that there is only one way of coming out on top in circumstances like this. That is to have a Chinese "friend" who is more powerful and connected than their "friends"!
Their friends will all be party animals and will happily round on any "waiguoren" who aims a few threats in their direction.
It's that old chestnut called "guanxi".  |
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Dan The Chainsawman
Joined: 04 May 2005
Posts: 302
Location: Yinchuan
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| Posted: Sat Sep 19, 2009 4:37 pm Post subject: |
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| chinatwin88 wrote: |
| Quote: |
| It's ok, it should only set me back the 90 admin fee which I'll ask the school for. |
Thats crazy talk. "But". Hey more power to you if you can do it. I once sat in front of a safe, allowing no one to access the money inside, for two hours to get paid for out of pocket expenses refused.
On the onther hand you could consider the event in these terms.
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Seriously, do you have more stories like this? I laughed for a good 2 to 3 minutes after reading this. |
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The Ever-changing Cleric
Joined: 19 Feb 2009
Posts: 1523
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| Posted: Sat Sep 19, 2009 5:23 pm Post subject: |
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| LarssonCrew wrote: |
| And would you guys just wait and go to the ticket desk once I arrive at Beijing Airport for the flight to Xi'an? Or would you book ahead of time. |
domestic flights in china are plentiful and cheap. i'd arrive in beijing, relax for a couple of days there, and in the meantime book your flight to xi'an. or failing that book a train ticket. its only about 14 hours by train from beijing to xi'an as i remember. you can get the T75 leaving beijing at 1830 and arriving in xi'an at 7 the next morning. but a flight will cost you about the same as the train, and is obviously faster.
for the air ticket, book it on elong.com or ctrip.com. i think its cheaper than booking the flight at the airport, and they'll deliver to wherever you're staying in beijing. |
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YankeeDoodleDandy
Joined: 17 Aug 2004
Posts: 428
Location: Xi'an , Shaanxi China
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| Posted: Sun Sep 20, 2009 1:56 am Post subject: |
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| LarssonCrew, How about bringing over a few Cadbury Chocolate bars. I'll reimburse when you get here Pm me and let me know where you're working You can take a bus from the airport to near the Bell Tower that will put you in the heart of town.Keep an eye out for your luggage and valuables near the train station. Taxis will want to overcharge you when they see that you are a laowai. Make sure that they use the meter. If they do, it shouldn't cost you more than 30 to 40 RMB to get anywhere in Xi'an unless your school is out in the boondocks like Lin Tong, which is a 45 minute drive from Xi'an. Best of luck. YDD |
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chinatwin88
Joined: 31 Aug 2009
Posts: 379
Location: Peking
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| Posted: Sun Sep 20, 2009 2:47 am Post subject: |
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| Seriously, do you have more stories like this? I laughed for a good 2 to 3 minutes after reading this. |
If we had the time and a pint, I would be glad to relate a tale of my trip to IKEA to return an item which resulted in being surrounded by security unwilling to commit to the process of detaining a disgruntled shopper. Resulted in being banned from that shopper�s paradise. The argument started when the clerk accused me of taking the lamp back to the US and plugging it in to 110 voltage, a common household task for an item I had bought the day before and the absurd allegation of travel across the international date line to test the difference in current standards; well it took me over the edge. |
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Jordean
Joined: 12 Dec 2006
Posts: 238
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| Posted: Sun Sep 20, 2009 7:34 am Post subject: |
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| LarssonCrew wrote: |
Actually doogs, even in a verbal contract, in a civil case I'd have no problems claiming that the actions of the school (promise of required delivered documents at a certain date), had left me out of pocket.
Fortunately I've got a law degree and passed the bar, so I know for sure in the UK I'd have no problem claiming the money back. |
Don't count much on your legal education being worth a bucket of warm you-know-what over here. |
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LarssonCrew
Joined: 06 Jun 2009
Posts: 1308
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| Posted: Sun Sep 20, 2009 1:15 pm Post subject: |
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Oh dear Jordean. That post was in reply to someone saying that I wouldn't have been able to sue the school in the UK.
YankeeDoodle, do you have a preference for the type of chocolate bars, or just an array?[I'll spend a tenner in a shop, should get you about 30 bars of various, whatever you don't want I'll happily munch myself!] |
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Halapo
Joined: 05 Sep 2009
Posts: 140
Location: Jiangsu, China
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| Posted: Sun Sep 20, 2009 4:39 pm Post subject: |
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Now that you have a first hand idea about time management here in China, let me tell you my latest one.
I was speaking with one of my Chinese colleagues, and she asked me what i was going to do with my national holiday ( China is celebrating it's 60th anniversary as the PRC ).
I was under the impression that it would only be a few extra days added to a weekend, or something like that. It turns out that in 3 days my students are going to have their military training and I have 2 weeks off (with pay)!
I think the lack of organization comes equally from fear of being wrong, as well as being vindictive when they can. |
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