Korean Job Discussion Forums

blade · Joined: 30 Jun 2007

A fellow teacher just posted the following message on another website for new EPIC teachers and I thought I'd post it here to see if anyone else has had a similar experience and perhaps can offer some useful advise to the person.

Thanks,

Blade.

TheChickenLover · Joined: 17 Dec 2007 Location: The Chicken Coop

Ask for receipts of all purchases, refuse the quality fo the items & ask for the money again.

If they refuse, simply walk away.

Chicken

blade · Joined: 30 Jun 2007

TheChickenLover · Joined: 17 Dec 2007 Location: The Chicken Coop

Ok then, accept them lying to you. By accepting it you not only lower your standing in their eyes, but you become merely their English 'pet' they'll parade around & keep at your desk.

"Stay boy! Stay!"

That's a good boy!

Is that what you want? I have far more personal dignity than to accept that type of treatment.

Chicken

babtangee · Posted: Thu Mar 06, 2008 7:50 pm Post subject:

Tell him to contact GEPIK, or whichever group hooked him up with the school. Register a formal complaint. Should get the co-teacher to sweat a little, assuming it comes back to him.

bassexpander · Joined: 13 Sep 2007 Location: Someplace you'd rather be.

Those darned co techers! I really get upset at co techers sometimes! They just keep teching, and teching, and teching without teching anything worthwhile.

Ugh... I hate co techers!

Laughing

(sorry, I make typos too).

nomad-ish · Posted: Thu Mar 06, 2008 7:54 pm Post subject:

i would first confront them and try to get receipts/money back, but in the end i'd probably try to switch schools within EPIK or just leave.

when it all comes down to it, if you're getting screwed with the first couple months at your school, you're in for a rough year

Bibbitybop · Joined: 22 Feb 2006 Location: Seoul

Is the allowance in your contract? If so, your contract has been violated. Contact EPIC first, then contact the labor board.

TheChickenLover · Joined: 17 Dec 2007 Location: The Chicken Coop

When I signed an contract with that allowance, it was given to me with my first pay. That money is for YOU to help you buy things you think you will need to settle down. You should have it in your hands to do with it as you need, not have someone else buy things for you for 'exactly' 400k won & not provide anything that you may really need.

It's insulting to be honest. Someone openly steals from you but you do nothing about it. If you complain, they'll pull out the 'misunderstanding & culture' line.

If you do stay at the school, I would actually lose some respect for you. You need to have more self respect & dignity than to accept that type of behaviour.

Chicken

pandapanda · Joined: 22 Sep 2007

I was given the money by my POE the day I arrived in my province. Try and sort it out in your school but if it doesnt work talk to your recruiter or POE or someone like Ashley at EPIK.

blade · Joined: 30 Jun 2007

agoodmouse · Joined: 20 Dec 2007 Location: Anyang

I had a similar, but a bit different, experience with the settlement money upon my arrival. My married co-teacher, who has become an aunt/colleague/friend (we're both absolutely glad we met/work together), had spent the money wisely on home-life essentials and gave me an itemized Homever receipt with handwritten notations in English describing each purchased item. She even pitched in her own money. In the envelope she gave me was 7,000 won. Now, before I had seen what she bought, I was a bit taken aback that she'd taken the liberty to spend my settlement money, because I'd read about horror stories of co-teachers and beginning life here in Korea. However, she bought good quality items and there wasn't a thing she bought that I didn't find essential. The first day in Korea I had everything I needed to make coffee, breakfast, and rice; do laundry; watch tv; clean dishes; and vacuum the floor, etc.

Like last year, she sat beside me. This year she was promoted to chief of the liberal arts department, so things like running errands and making requests for items related to English education at my school are a cinch. They were a cinch last year, but now they're even more so. I've been quite fortunate in GEPIK.

twavelingteacher · Joined: 26 Jun 2007 Location: South Korea

The 300,000 won is for you. The school has extra money besides this to buy start up necessities for your apartment like laundy soap, dish soap, shampoo, etc. They pay this to get you started. It should not come out of your 300,000 won.

Sadebugo1 · Joined: 11 May 2003

Being an EPIK veteran myself, it seems that one's experience with EPIK is related to the honesty of the school you're assigned to. Another scam they used to try back in the 90s was to pressure you into living with a host family. Usually, this was the family of a student at your school. If you agreed, your key money would be 'held' by the principal while collecting interest. At the end of your tenure, it would be returned to the Korean government. Additionally, the host family was paying something to him for getting a live-in native speaker for their kids.

I felt so sorry for my Korean sponsor when I first arrived in Taegu. He had been given marching orders to pressure me into living with a host family. Having already been in Korea one year, I knew the score and insisted I would leave the country if my key money wasn't used to rent an apartment. After trying various guilt trips they finally gave in. My sponsor later admitted to me how he had been pressured and felt uncomfortable trying to get me to move in with the family. He was really a nice guy who had been put in a difficult situation.

If any current EPIK is reading this, stand your ground and threated to report any contract violations to the national authorities. They almost always back down when hearing this.

Sadebugo
Djibouti, Horn of Africa
http://travldawrld.blogspot.com/

CentralCali · Joined: 17 May 2007

The settling in allowance is a different fund than the furnishings allownace. Just showing up alive for your first contract with that province/metropolitan city is all that's required for you to get the settling in allowance. There is no need to provide a reciept.

The furnishings allowance, on the other hand, if done by the book, requires you to go scope out the items you wish to purchase, list them on the financial disbursement request form, submit said form to your school's finance officer and principal, get the school credit card, go purchase the very same items listed on the form, submit the original receipts (and return to the credit card) to the finance office, and then enjoy the nifty stuff the school now owns in the home they're paying for.

If the school thinks that the settling in allowance is to be used for furnishings, refer to my "chain of resolution" which I've posted here time after time.