Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Slep]

My boss forgot to pay my utilities the last 3 months (no money was taken out of my paycheck, only a note that it would be done so in the future) and earlier today, I had my internet, telephone and cable turned off. I haven't been home yet but i'm hoping my heat is still good.
Anyone have any experience with this? I imagine there's a fine/interest for unpaid services. Anyone have any idea how much?

Morons.

[kprrok]

Don't be so hard on yourself. You're not necessarily a moron. Why didn't you think to ask about them? And why aren't you responsible for them anyway?

Sorry to say, but they are your utilities...why don't you take care of them yourself? At home, would you have your mommy and daddy pay your bills and then you will give them money? Of course not!

OK, so maybe your are a bit of a moron.

KPRROK

[Slep]

Again, I did ask about them and was told they were being taken care of
It states rather clearly in my contract that my employer is responsible for this.
When i mentioned this to my boss (other employers were in ear shot), she told them after that i'd said i don't watch tv or use my phone and wanted them cut.

[plokiju]

I had something similar happen. During my first contract, the arrangement was that I would hand my utilities and the money to the secretary and she would pay the bills. Not that smart in retrospect but nothing happened there. I got internet installed and the bills never came to me so I assumed my boss was paying them since he'd arranged the whole thing. He thought I'd been paying them myself. I guess there were no bills being sent to either of us so I had my internet cut off and my cable since it was part of the same company. Misunderstanding.

At my last job, I lost my first gas bill and was told I would have to pay a minimal late penalty when I got my next bill. They said it was so small that it was better to just pay the penalty rather than contact the company. I guess they hadn't paid it after the previous teacher pulled a runner or during the month it was unoccupied. My gas was shut off. I went to the bank and paid what I owed (I'd since gotten the next bill but waited a few days to go to the bank) and they turned it back on later that day. No big deal, I don't think I had to pay to have it re-connected (I could be wrong but it was not much if they did).

My gas bill was the only one that ever came to me. The others went directly to my boss (he owned the building). They forgot to pay my phone bill for months on end. I only used it to take calls so it wasn't that big a deal that I couldn't make them after the phone company took away those privileges. Then my sneaky bosses tried to charge for the last teacher's phone bills. 80,000 won when I'd made a total of one phone call on a calling card just after arriving. I just included that bit to provide a full account of my bill history in Korea and to point out to kprrok that not every teacher receives all of their own bills. I thought calling you a moron was a bit uncalled for. You arrive in a foreign country and trust what your boss tells you about your bills not realizing that sometimes they are dishonest or just tell you whatever will be the least amount of work for you. At least you'll have utilities for the next 3 months.

Get confirmation of the amount they deduct from your next month's pay.

[bnrockin]

I'm glad plok included that little end bit. If in fact your boss is deducting the money from your pay, ask for a copy of the bills and a record of everything he deducts from it per month-tax, pension, bills, medical, etc. I'm not saying that all bosses steal by any means, but money in peoples hands puts crazy ideas into their heads.


That actually brings up a question I had: Is it common for people coming here to pay the security deposit on the apartment or should you insist that your job pays for it?

[Voyeur]

Not sure anyone here is a moron.

These mistakes happen - seen this one happen a million times ( be it with phones, utilities, etc...). I wouldn't sweat it.

[Voyeur]

[oneofthesarahs]

Call me a moron if you want, but my boss pays my utilities. I have no doubt that I could do it myself now, but it was certainly a big help the first month that I was here and had no idea how to do...anything, really.

All of the bills come to my place and I hand them over to her, but I always check out the balance first. She's very good about itemizing all deductions on my pay, and I haven't had any problems with her as of yet.

Quite frankly, it's one less thing that I have to think about, so I'm more than happy to let her take care of them.

[OiGirl]

I hate being an incompetent adult, but I hate being infantilized even more.

[gsxr750r]

My first boss promised to cancel my cable... and didn't! My father, who watches my mastercard back home, never noticed anything suspicious. He just figured I transferred my cable TV to the next apartment. The cable company kept charging me (and the new teacher just enjoyed the free cable). I found out 8 months later when I happened to look over a bill my father had a question on. Stupid me for not checking more closely (I rarely use my Mastercard). I learned two lessons:

1. Check my Mastercard bills more often, even if I don't use it.
2. Don't count on anyone else to cancel anything here.

Also, a few years later, Sky Digital said (3 times) that my account was cancelled, but they kept charging me! I ended up canceling the bank account just to keep from being charged.

[babtangee]

[wylies99]

kprrok- Lighten up, Francis. (Sgt Hulka in "Stripes")

It happens. Some of these hogwan owners are crooks. Keep your pay stubs and contract in a safe place. You may have to go to Labor.

[princess]

Just suck it up and go to the bank once a month and pay them yourself. At least, you will know it's getting done. Even if your boss does take the money from your pay, he could forget, in your case 3 months, then you will have 3 months worth of bills taken from 1 pay. Do it yourself, it gets done. Depend on some shmuck, it won't get done. If you can't depend on yourself, you sure as heck can't trust or depend on anyone else. People suck!

[princess]