Korean Job Discussion Forums

[GoshiwonGuy]

Hi all,

I vowed to put the word out on this school and Sophie Lee (recruiter) and as this account is now activated here is the score.

The recruiter, Sophie Lee, and the owner of Garam (Karam as Sophie said), Paul, both point-blank lied to me about the school, the contract and everything else. (And I spoke to both of them by phone and went over each point of the contract in detail...).

(a) I was not reimbursed my airfare at the airport as agreed,
(b) and was put to work the next day at double the agreed hours (3-90 minute classes in a row) with the promise that once I signed the contract I would get reimbursed my airfare.

The only problem was that the contract was extremely ill-written and far from what I agreed to. I was simply told to sign it by Paul with him adding that "it's a standard contract" (forget everything about what we negotiated directly on the phone and via email). He also made sure to let me know that any misunderstandings were due to KOREAN CULTURE.

So basically this a-hole left me with no money for anything, except he took me out for a meal a day to show me what a great guy he is. The rest of the time I ate one bowl of noodles a day at the internet shop and walked around in a windbreaker in very cold almost-winter weather.(I came from a Thailand and the wage disparity was one reason I insisted I get paid at the airport; the other being I knew I needed winter gear.

3 days after I arrived, due to embarrassing him in front of his office staff, I got my 'airfare reimbursement' from Paul. He also made a point of saying "I'm sorry, I didn't know your situation...", which is a load. When I pointed out "What are you talking about? I told you I have no money and you can see I'm sick and only have a windbreaker" he replied " Oh, ah, ha ha, yes, but I thought you're...um...JOKING". What a loser...

So in any case, as soon as I got money from him I left. And I didn't get reimbursed for my airfare in any case since I worked in 3 days roughly the amount he gave me...

Sophie Lee also gets a thumbs down because she (I think intentionally) misspelled the company name as Karam when I saw Garam on company documentation (to make it harder to do web searches on the company?), told me the schools been in business for 3 years, which may be strictly true but the owner Paul is new, having just purchased it within the last few months. Sophie also knew that this guy Paul is trouble because she placed many teachers with him over the course of his new 'venture' and all of them got dicked around and screwed out of money and were either kicked out or left.

There is no set curriculum at the school, the kids are a nightmare, the office staff are too tight with Paul and offer nothing to you;they are basically his eyes and ears; I was the only foreign teacher there although I was told that there would be others...the list goes on...

BEWARE Garam School
BEWAWE Karam School
BEWARE Sophie Lee (based in Toronto, Canada I believe).
BEWARE Paul

Also Beware his other venture Keystone Leadership Training Centre. It is after all owned and operated by the same A-hole.

And everything I am saying is the truth. I still have the contract he wanted me to sign in my suitcase and all my saved emails. It would also be more prudent for me to just walk away but I'd like to save another newbie the pain. I'd also relish the thought of driving by Paul one day and, due to his own 'efforts', and other peoples word of mouth, see him walking around cold and hungry wearing only a windbreaker...that a-hole...

Goshiwon Guy

[Raoul Duke]

Goshiwon Guy, you may also want to post this warning in the ESL Cafe Job Information Journal.
http://www.eslcafe.com/jobinfo/asia/sefer.cgi?Korea

[Guest]

Thanks for letting us know. I am looking for a new job as of NOW and this is nice to know, though I've not seen anything regarding this location. Unfortunately I have had nothing but such doings in Korea. All I can say is that Korean business, especially Hogwans are "lying" sacks of you know what. Fraud, deceipt, manipulation, lies, threats (of multiple types) and so on and so forth. I'm dealing with a NASTY situation now regarding my position which terminated today ... I may be forced out of the country because of my director holding a personal ego-tis-ti-cal borderline pschotic grudge because I (1) demanded terms in my contract, (2) demanded money legally and responsibily due to me, and (3) would not be a subservient dog slave to his every whim ...

What can I say ....

[eamo]

Just so as I can get in before Gord........


What details in the contract you signed were broken?

You say that you made some verbal agreements before you arrived. You mean you didn't agree (sign) to a contract before you accepted the job??

Correct me if I'm wrong.

Dude, if you don't sign a contract and agree on the conditions of your work over the phone then you can expect to arrive to anything.

[GoshiwonGuy]

[TheUrbanMyth]