Korean Job Discussion Forums

[jweeke]

thought i'd be re-signing, but i found a better gig.

now there's five months left on the internet contract. hagwon's saying i gotta pay 180k to cancel it, while the rest of the monthly payments add to only 100k. they say if i leave it and pay the remainder of the contract, someone might steal the router, in which case i'd owe 300.

annoying. any way around it?

[crossmr]

get a korean-speaking friend to talk to the company directly.

[willteachforfood]

Generally the best thing to do in situations such as this is to bang your head against the wall.

Something is amiss, however....how can 5 months of TV/internet service be only 100,000 won? You pay 20,000 won per month and found a deal that is SO much better that you are cancelling your current service? I find this hard to believe, are you sure that you did the math correctly? Cable and broadband are cheap in Korea, but not 20,000 a month for both.

Edit: I read that wrong...I thought that you meant re-signing with the internet company, and not with the hagwon...it still seems off that your bill is only 20 bucks a month though.

To be fair....you DID sign a contract for a year of service with the company, which probably led to lower monthly rates. Whether you planned on taking the contract out to the end or not is somewhat irrelevant.

[horton1]

Why not just get someone to call the cable company and get the cable/internet transfered to your new place? I'm pretty sure it will only cost about 20,000won or so to do the transfer.

[jweeke]

good thought horton! i'll give that a try on monday.

i guess it might be 24k a month with cable. still pretty cheap.

[Lastrova]

Five months left on the contract and you want to cancel? Yeah, that's called a penalty.

[Canonite]

If transferring doesn't work, can you just return the router NOW and then let it run out?

[Skippy]

Careful at times with letting hagwons or coworkers or schools deal with your problems like bills. Learn to pay them yourself if you can.

Some schools really to jerk people around with extra hidden costs aka pocket money for school later. If you can go to the company head office and try and cancel it there.

[scorpiocandy]

When I got my internet subscription they told me if I signed a contract for a certain period I would get a discount on the monthly fee. If I cancelled before the subscription period is over I would have to pay in the monthly discounted amounts (probably in additon to what was left of the contract). Perhaps that's what's happening with yours?

[Lolimahro]

I moved before my internet contract expired and I got it transferred no problem. There was an additional fee because I ordered video on demand. If you are going through KT, then you can call them yourself. Just google "Korea Telecom English" and you'll get their English page with a phone number at the bottom.

If it's a different company, then you could ask a friend to do it or try contacting your nearest Global Center for assistance.

[NYC_Gal 2.0]

I moved and my internet company transferred it with no fee. They've also come to replace my ethernet cord after my pet nibbled it one night when I forgot to close his cage. Give them (or have a Korean-speaking friend give them) a call and see what they'll do. Even a small fee is better than a large cancellation fee.

[Milwaukiedave]

[wormholes101]

Listen... if you can't keep with the same company, many internet companies will buy you out of your old contract. They will pay your cancellation fees to the old company, in exchange for you signing a contract with them.

Find the company that you will sign with and ask them to buy you out.

[gossipgirlxoxo]

I signed a 2 year contract and the deal was, if you cancel because you are moving to an area where they don't provide service, there is no penalty. And this includes moving out of Korea.

If you move to an area where they DO provide service, they will transfer it for free. If you choose to disconnect voluntarily, there are some pretty hefty penalties. I think it involves a blanket fee plus repayment of the discount you received during the whole period of service.

[orosee]

^ Like gossipgirl. I was up for 3 years with Gangnam Internet (which provided a great service) while living in Daechi-dong. I moved to Hannam-dong 6 months ago and they told me that since they don't provide a service North of the river, I won't have to pay the (substantial) penalties. They even sent someone to pick up the router because I couldn't figure out how to get to their service office

Your company will be more interested in customer retention than collecting penalties. Talk to them and they should transfer/reconnect you at your new place.