Korean Job Discussion Forums

[I_Am_Wrong]

Last August my old ktf cellphone fell apart so I had to get a new phone. I went to Suwon station and looked around in the underground shopping area because you can usually get good deals in those areas. After searching around for a while I chose a nice used Ever slide phone in good condition for 90,000 won. I used this until Christmas and then left it at a friend's house while I was on holidays in Canada for January and February.

I picked my phone up from him last weekend but it turned out that my account had expired because it had been inactive for more than a month, so I would have to re-register. I've been waiting for my arc card so I can re-register and I finally got my card today. Of course, I went straight to the ktf store.

I went into the KTF shop and we filled all of the paperwork out to get my phone back in operation. The guy was doing his stuff on the computer when he stopped and started to say some stuff to me in Korean. He couldn't speak much english but he was telling me that he couldn't give me a number on this phone because it wasn't allowed.

I was really confused because I had a number on this phone before and never had a problem with it so I asked him why? He looked in a dictionary and said the word "copy." I had him call a korean pal of mine and my friend said that "it is illegal for you to have a phone number on this phone because this phone is a fake black market phone." I was astounded to say the least...perfect copy.

The shop I bought it at had changed my account to the phone when I bought it and, obviously, had a way to bypass the fact that it was a fake phone. I guess my Korean friend and I are gonna go back to the shop and see what we can do.

I'm pretty pissed!

[Cymro]

this doesn't suprise me at all.

phones here (maybe at home too) cost way more to the consumer than they do to produce

[Ya-ta Boy]

Also, be careful not to buy the one my friend dropped in the toilet. You never know where those used phones have been!

[I_Am_Wrong]

apparently the gov't fines/punishment that a shop could face for this type of thing are HUGE, in addition KT corporation doesn't take shops that do this lightly. My k-friend and I are going to another kt shop to get more information and to see if the KT computer records have the information of when my number was changed to this phone. The shop I bought it from also changed my number over.

My k-friend wants to blackmail the shop bigtime....