Korean Job Discussion Forums

[igotthisguitar]

>. Dude ...

My sense is you TOTALLY got scammed. I smell some real stinky kimchi here brother.

The amount you quoted is well over TEN TIMES as much as most ppl usually pay.

Crooks

[rawiri]

yeah it doesnt seem to add up, i have a ps2, tv, and the heater, im kinda stuped as to how that can accumulate 310 grand in a month, but then again it was pretty cold and the heaters we have are a high kilowatt type. but her boss and my boss both agreed to put our oil back on so we now have hot water and heat in our rooms, this was after i spat the dummy and returned the heater they gave me after finding out what my share of the bill was.

anyway they have said to us that we wont have anymore crazy bills like this as they are going to charge us a set rate for oil, so i figured wtf, ill pay half of this bill and let that be the end of it but it looks like its gonna cost me a lot more than 310 000.

i really hope she's reading this topic and if she is i hope she wakes the *beep* up and gets a grip.

[tsgarp]

Turn the biatch in. You'll be doing someone somewhere a favor, if not now then later.

[osangrl]

I know..............there is something fishy going on.

I keep my heat on constantly and my bill has never been over 100, 000 won.

consult efl law or something, there is no way, absolutely no way this could be true unless u were heating the entire building!

[Shincheon_Blues]

These are electric heaters, correct? If they are, then the bills are probably correct. Electricity is billed exponentially...and a heater uses far more electricity that an airconditioner.

Example....

0 to 100 KW/hrs are billed at say....100 won each

As soon as you go over 100 KW/hrs, say the charge per hour is 200 won

An so on...penalization for usage....

Mine is a simplified explanation, but you see the point? Get rid of the electric heater. You aren't the first foreigner to get...excuse the pun...a shocking electric bill.

Just in case you have doubts as to your meter, turn of all your breakers and make sure that your meter isn't turning. I've seen a few interesting wiring jobs where a tennant was paying for the owner's electricity....

[Juggertha]

Just so you all know, I KNOW for a fact that each area has different gas and electricity contracts. My gas is about 20k a month while someone 2 blocks aways is 150k on average. That being said.. I think that the bill is possible however you'd really have to push it to make it that high.

Other than that, I htink I know where your roomies coming from. Shes not too bright you said, well maybe she's lived there for a little bit. Thinks "things were this much before this young man got here" and now thinks thats its your fault that its so high. How else could she explain sticking you with the bill?

Reguardless, She IS sticking you somehow. Stand up for yourself in someway.

I'm curious, how do you KNOW that she is a fake?

[captain kirk]

Your boss should be mediating and talking to his sister who talks to the older, Canadian lady you're disputing the bill with. Bother your boss about bothering the Canadian lady. I wouldn't turn her in, no way! She just needs her boss to give her a talking to about getting along and spoiling the roomate experience which rocks the boat at work. So set that up!

[Cthulhu]

Let's see...remaining on good terms with a foreigner whom I don't know well, I probably don't care much about and whom I'll certainly never meet again after my job is finished...

versus

...not having to shell out more than half a million won to cover for her not giving a damn about the situation even after the bill was proven correct.

No use building up good karma with this one--life is too short. Make the easy
choice.

p.s.--but the amount does sound awfully high. Better make sure no one is stealing your oil

[Gord]

[Squid]

How much?

Baking powder?

[sparkx]

Its a little too easy for everyone to jump all over this voiceless, faceless woman who has been depicted here as the devil. The fact that the OP has capitulated so easily and agreed to foot the whole bill raised some red flags.

You say that you have a tv, ps2, standing heaters, etc...Maybe you are the one utilizing the most gas/electricity and she feels that she isn't obligated to pay. Regardless, there is another side to this story that isn't being addressed and its too damn easy and irresponsible to tell the OP to send a linch mob after this older, and what it sounds like, lonley lady. "Outing" her is the most spineless thing you could do.

[justagirl]

I also can't believe the cost of the bill. That is more than:

our entire hakwon's electricity bill (one full floor of a building)

PLUS

our apartment's bill (13 pyong)

PLUS

the other teacher's bill (12 pyong)

Plus an additional 200,000 won!

Someone is screwing you. Go check your meter now! You should find it near the front door of your apartment. Write down the numbers every day and compare it to the numbers on your bill when it comes.

Also another note, the more you use, the more it costs. So if you are using 50 units of electricity it will cost 700 won/unit, but if you used 100 units, it will cost 900/won for the 50 units after the first 50. (just an example, as I forgot the actual cost per unit, but I do know for sure that it is figured this way as we called the power company.)

I hope you figure it out--no advice on the room mate, except you cannot suck up her cost! That would be enabling her to continue a bad behavior that affects you personally.

Good luck
justagirl

[justagirl]

[Ilsanman]

Maybe those electric heaters are 10% as efficient as ondol. I have ondol, and I am pretty sure it uses gas.

Quite often, I have my ondol on for 12 hours a day, sometimes more if I don't shut it off when I go to bed. My total utilities has never been more than 100,000, and that's including my internet.

That's brutal.

[kelly]

Thats insane, I have my heating on 24-7 and usually the hot water too and my bill is usually never over 40,000 except last month when I wasnt even there and my Korean friend was using my house it was 56,000 but all in all its pretty cheap, somethings wrong there!!