Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Hyeon Een]

I think I probably 'won' the competition I'm about to propose:

What is the worst rip-off you've ever seen perpetuated in Korea? It has to be a fully complete sell, not just an offer.

Back in the day I used to be a .. err.. 'geek'. I upgraded my 486 486sx25 with 4mb RAM to a beast of an 8mb 486DX-100 with a CD-ROM, a Sound Card, some EXTERNAL (external baby!) speakers and all kinds of niftiness. I had a summer job making computers for a small computer manufactureres. (Obviously make = assemble from parts) in '95. I knew my shit. Me and the rest of the engineers were eternally PISSED OFF at '95 because that shiety operating was always trying to 'assume' things when we were used to 'telling' the operating system exactly what was going on. Anyway. I used to know what was going on. I don't know now.

So, I lost my mojo about.. hmm.. when 3d graphics cards appeared. I guess late 90s? I mean the period when you had your graphics card, then, all of a sudden, you had to buy a 3dFX as well so that your computer would play a game. It was a time I had no money, and so i quit the game. I never really got my game back. I've been ignorant ever since.

But not SO ignorant that I didn't recognise a total ripoff. I mean, some of the things on the buy-and-sell forum, I really wouldn't have a clue these days. I built a computer when I was 13 years old.. but that was 15 years ago so I don't know what's up now a days.

But, in early 2004 I moved into an apartment with a computer. It wasn't mine, it wasn't even going to be mine, I was just allowed to use it for 1 month or until the appointed saleswoman (30 year old English lady who'd never used a computer) completed the sale.

So, I had a sweeeeeeeeeeet as DX2-66 with 4mb RAM to play with. Yes, this is 2004 I'm talking, not 1996. For one month. It loaded Windows ME slowly. You know, this computer was worth about.. maybe.. 1,000 won? Maybe? In 2004 prices? You have to bear in mind that the beautiful 14" monitor it came with was heavy as.. well.. a 14" cathode ray tube.

So this apartment I was briefly in.. because I was staying in it, I was offered first dibs on that 486 beast. $600 and it would alllllll be mine. I very very very politely refused. The lady who was 'selling' had left the country and wanted the money wired to her back home in S. Africa. Her good friend in korea decided to sell it to the next newbie who arrived at the hagwan she used to work at.

She sold it to a lovely couple who'd been sucked into working at a crappy ECC (not all are crappy, buit this one was..) in Gwangju for about 700 bucks. Plus about 150 bucks delivery, (Delivery by taxi is not the cheapest apparantely). So about 850 bucks all in. For a DX2-66 with 8mb RAM in 2004. It had a CD-ROM. (Not a burner, haha) You could have bought a computer about 10x as powerful, with a free printer for the same price or cheaper at the time. Probably a free taxi ride to your house and a whor to pleasure you the whole way too.

Neither the seller, or her proxy selling it in Korea realised that computers go down in value over time. And that just because SHE bought it for 700 bucks in 2002, and the girl SHE bought it from paid $700 for it in 1999, and the dumbass SHE bought.. well, you get the picture. They assumed computers held their value better than gold.

Anyway, has anyone else run into a more spliffworthy techno-sell in Korea? Any bigger ripoff? The one I've mentioned was un-intentional (they were girls!), I'd be curious about any cold-blooded real rip-offs. Even famos ones.

[IlIlNine]

Good story...

but 10 times? I'm not sure if you fully understand Moore's Law...

[cheeseface]

LOGITECH z-5500 about $220 in the US......


In Korea around $450

Not that I was going to buy them, but what a mark up in price!!