Korean Job Discussion Forums

[crazytealeaf]

This past weekend I had the misfortune of getting my bag taken from a broken locker (at slang club in Beomgye, if any friends happened upon a good steal) Problem was that I'd just gone to the bank to transfer money home earlier that day so inside the bag I had my Passport, my bank book and all my details, my purse - which had my credit card and ARC aswell as money inside. Not to mention a load of other material things like ipod, make-up, book, scarf, etc. It was a big bag! Anyway, my biggest trouble from this is the no phone issue, but Ive been told by LG that I cant get a new phone without my ARC, and Ive been told by immigration that I cant get an ARC without a passport, and was told by the Irish Embassy that a new passport would take 4-6 weeks. Problem. This would mean I could be phoneless for 6-8 weeks.
Just wondering if anyone else had any experience with problems like this? Or also if anyone knows if you have to get a new visa issued if you lose your passport containing your original visa?
Originally, thinking highly of Korean morals and of the foreigners who come to Korea, I doubted my sobriety on the night in question and thought maybe I had left my bag somewhere and forgotten, but unfortunatly my credit card was used 3 times before I got to cancel it and my phone has also been making calls from around the beomgye/indeogwan area. Guess we're not all that great.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[Globutron]

Are you sure you can't fast track it? costs more and May be conditions that prevent you doing so, but it's worth a try to find out about it. In some conditions you can get it done within next day (if you go in to the office yourself, which obviously you can't), or next week like I did.

If you can get that done it would shave off 4+ weeks including the delivery of it to SK...

If is any consolation, I am in an almost permanent state of losing important things.

[crazytealeaf]

thanks, will look into it.
Yup, this will also be my 3rd phone in 6 months. I'd even bought one of those chains for the last one I was so scared of losing it.
Oh well...

[lifeinkorea]

[Globutron]

The biggest kick in the teeth is when the thief gives you your wallet back after extracting all the money, as happened to me once.

It was in a crowded front row of a rock festival so he simply yelled and threw it back in my general direction, then crowd surfed outta there. I was stuck between a thousand sweaty people... *sigh* serves me right for taking it into a festival crowd in the first place.

[brento1138]

I am sure someone out there must have a spare phone... I once had two phones, a pay as you go which I stopped using, and a plan phone. Unfortunately, I can't help ya now... in Canada, plus, only have one phone... but I know life in Korea (or in general) can be outright tough without a phone!

Will one friendly Dave's poster lend this poor damsel in distress a phone?

[Globutron]

Wait a minute... I could do that.

I only have one phone, but I won't need to use it for a while really as long as I get the Internet.

I leave tomorrow so if you need it...

Oh, although It's unlocked, you'd need to throw a SIM card in there, so that might leave you with the exact same problem. *shrug*

[crazytealeaf]

Thanks so much, but yeah i think may not work too well without sim-card! I've been trying to look up what exactly the deal is with those pay as you go phones?
like, where can you get them?!
the usual problem of search results being +3 years old keeps happening whenever I try search. Im assuming its just a phone which works on call cards?

[Globutron]

Pay as you go is the only way i've ever had phones. You have to have a certain network, and then you just buy cards, or pay at a counter for, say, �10 of credit. once it runs out, you can't use your phone. But you also don't get any bills etc.

Here in uk, you get some pretty great deals - Top up �10 and get 500 free texts, for example. or top up with �20 and get unlimited texts and internet. stuff like that.

I don't use phones much at all so they work out way better for me. However, the phone itself will cost more.

[caniff]

[crossmr]

4-6 weeks seems like a rather unreasonable time to wait for a new passport in an emergency situation when you are overseas and have had it stolen.
I think that is longer than you have to wait for a new one in Canada if you just walk in off the street and request it for no particular reason. What if you were a tourist over here just for a couple weeks, would they expect you to wait 4-6 to get a new one? Did you file a police report?

[Zulethe]

[madtownhustl]

people lose passports and ARC's all the time.

being without a phone for that long in Korea would be hell...
Not so much in the beginning but especially important after you've established friends and a life...

[lifeinkorea]

[crazytealeaf]

yup, police report is filed, and they really really want to catch the person who took the bag. I tried to explain that I wasnt that bothered that I understood my stuff was gone, only really went to the police to get the report in order to try speed up the passport process, but it appears as if this is the biggest crime to have ever hit the area and they really want to solve it, which is nice I suppose!
I kind of thought that it would mostly be up to my own Irish embassy to be helping me with the passport issue, but I cant seem to get through to a single actual Irish person whenever I call, which I find very strange. Im not sure if its a Korean person either, doesnt sound like it, but whoever it is doesnt really understand me that well so its a bit frustrating.

Would anyone know if you can definatly get pay-as-you-go phones that work in Korea, or where you can find them?
Ive asked a Korean friend and she was sure they couldnt be got in Korea, and she searched some websites on Naver but came up with nothing?