Korean Job Discussion Forums

[jondepoer]

Hi everyone,

The installment plan from SK ~50,000 a month for iPad hardware and 4gb of data seems like a great deal. Of course, being Korea, every individual dealer and agent has different information on whether I can actually get this offer as a foreigner.

I've been told any number of things, from: "you have to pay 300,000 up front" to "you can't have an iPhone and iPad instalment plan simultaneously" to "sorry foreigner cannot have iPad".

So I'm looking for some firsthand information about specifically where I can go in Seoul to get a iPad on a monthly instalment plan, without being treated differently because I'm a foreigner on an E2 visa.

Any and all reports would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

[hogwonguy1979]

go to the KT global store at Gwanghwamun between the Kyobo Building and the US Embassy, they have a great staff there that can help you. Also check olleh expats twitter feed, I just posted that same question so they may answer there. or you could call 1588-5644

[jondepoer]

Ok, I will check the twitter feed and hopefully get to the Global Center tomorrow. On the other hand, there's nothing like a first-hand account, if anyone has successfully obtained an iPad lately.

Keep the info coming!

[tc20]

Wow. I have a 10 gig wifi egg I use with my iPad. 5000 won a month through KT, and I never come close to my limit.

[jondepoer]

Yes, but the plan also includes the iPad itself. :) You don't have to fork out 700,000 right off the bat, and it is actually cheaper in the long run.

[jondepoer]

Hmmm. I was just flatly turned down by Mobile Zone, the cell phone store in HBC that's supposed to be foreigner friendly.

[jondepoer]

Really? Nobody has an iPad plan and an iPhone plan? Tell me how you did it!

[Ferguson]

He already told you in the first reply: Go to a Global KT Store and they'll set you up.

Not a "foreigner friendly" store, a "Global KT Store".

Korea is different from America.

In America every Verizon store is able to sell all the services Verizon offers.

In Korea they subcontract out to lots of different vendors who may or may not be able to sell a particular service that the company offers.

If you want a contract as a foreigner, then you have to go to one of the stores equipped to perform that task. Not any store will do.

[jondepoer]

NO. It doesn't matter what kind of shop it is. It doesn't matter what you're buying. Simply having the money, walking into a store, and paying for it RARELY works here. Especially if the item is something out of the ordinary, or a "luxury" product. There are always complications 90% of the time.

I have a real-life experiment to back-up my claim. This morning, my girlfriend and I walked into two separate KT Global Centers. She works in Jongro, so she went there. I work in Gangnam, so I went there. They are both "Global", and say so on the outside of the building.

She had her iPad in 20 mins. The salesperson explained that because she currently had an installment plan on her iPhone, foreigners couldn't start a second installment plan for an iPad. A little discriminatory, but good information nonetheless. But get this - her iPhone was with a different carrier, SK. The sales person WALKED her across the street to SK, and let her pay the remaining balance on the iPhone, so she could start a new iPad contract. No - she's not Korean, not that it should matter.

I was immediately surrounded by a flock of three guys who couldn't string a sentence together between them. The had me sign papers, pay off the balance on my iPhone, and then made a phone call and said that the process was complicated - "come back in an hour". Another phone call was made - "come back in three hours". Yet another phone call resulted in - "you'll have to come back tomorrow". Finally - "sorry, you can't buy this iPad". 1.5 hours had elapsed. I walked out.

What I was originally asking for was a first-hand connection to a salesperson or shop that is - for lack of time to be more eloquent - not retarded.

I have a name and salesperson number for the person in Jongro that sold the iPad to my girlfriend this morning, and I will be going there tomorrow. It's just sad that I had to waste my morning.

There needs to be some kind of armband system in this country...

[jondepoer]

NO. It doesn't matter what kind of shop it is. It doesn't matter what you're buying. Simply having the money, walking into a store, and paying for it RARELY works here. Especially if the item is something out of the ordinary, or a "luxury" product. There are complications 90% of the time.

I have a real-life experiment to back-up my claim. This morning, my girlfriend and I walked into two separate KT Global Centers. She works in Jongro, so she went there. I work in Gangnam, so I went there. They are both "Global", and say so on the outside of the building.

She had her iPad in 20 mins. The salesperson explained that because she currently had an installment plan on her iPhone, foreigners couldn't start a second installment plan for an iPad. A little discriminatory, but good information nonetheless. But get this - her iPhone was with a different carrier, SK. The sales person WALKED her across the street to SK, and let her pay the remaining balance on the iPhone, so she could start a new iPad contract. No - she's not Korean, not that it should matter.

I was immediately surrounded by a flock of three guys who couldn't string a sentence together between them. The had me sign papers, pay off the balance on my iPhone, and then made a phone call and said that the process was complicated - "come back in an hour". Another phone call was made - "come back in three hours". Yet another phone call resulted in - "you'll have to come back tomorrow". Finally - "sorry, you can't buy this iPad". 1.5 hours had elapsed. I walked out.

What I was originally asking for was a first-hand connection to a salesperson or shop that is - for lack of time to be more eloquent - not retarded.

I have a name and salesperson number for the person in Jongro that sold the iPad to my girlfriend this morning, and I will be going there tomorrow. It's just sad that I had to waste my morning.

There needs to be some kind of armband system in this country...

[hogwonguy1979]

some of the stores say "global" but that only means that somebody allegedly speaks English there but they are still contract stores and not owned by KT. The ones in Itaewon are , for example I walked into that one asking for a copy for my bill and they told me to go to Gwanghwamun that they couldnt get it for me.

Best bet is go to a KT owned store or like I said call them at the number I posted and get the info straight from them.

[wishfullthinkng]

[hogwonguy1979]

I got a response to my tweet to olleh expats, they said: