Korean Job Discussion Forums

[corroonb]

So my landlord comes up to me this morning and explains that I haven't paid my electricity bill this month. I tell him I always pay my bills and I must not have received the bill. I even have a receipt for May 22nd. Has this happened to anyone else before? Is someone swiping my bills? I am mildly irritated.

[icicle]

[corroonb]

I never get a bill like that. My boss pays the rent and the cable/internet. I pay the electricity and the gas. I have not received such a bill and the landlord mentioned my apartment specifically and the power for my apartment. Thanks for the suggestion.

[seoulsucker]

Word of advice...make sure you keep an account of ALL you "customer ID numbers" from all your bills. For some reason, it seems to be impossible for utility companies to track down your account using your name, address, ARC number, phone number, etc.

I've had to deal with nightmares like this several times.

[sojourner1]

Tell your director and head teacher or landlord since it sounds like your landlord understands a little English that you're having a problem locating your bills and you need to get sorted out as to avoid unnecessary problems later on.

Yes, I had a similar problem too since moving into a new place 3 months ago. My land ajumma gives me the small electric bill which I pay at a post office and collects once a month in person at my door for water and cable, but I always have to ask around for my regular electric bill that runs the fridge, lights, and computer. The problem is when I ask, the director and vice-director both reply, "I don't know", and do nothing while the land lady fails to deliver and doesn't understand me when I ask. Also since my land ajumma gets the bills, she should be delivering all the bills to me, not just the small ones. I always have to have my vice-director call the land ajumma every so often to get the larger electric bill from the land ajumma which puts me in an uncomfortable position. One time should be enough, but apparently it's not. I had a phone bill issue too in my first several months where I wasn't paying for local service, wasn't recieving a bill, and didn't know local dial tone was not provided by the school and then one night I was in for a rude awakening when I tried to call home and there was no dial tone. I was told all bills are paid by school and then deducted out pay which was not so in my case, while that system is set up and works for my co-FT's. Funny thing now that I am thinking about this, I have had my internet for 6 weeks, was told school would pay it, and take it out my pay, but my first month was not deducted. I going to straight up ask them why I am having problems and my co-Ft's are not. As you can imagine, these sorts of issues might be confusing and can be easily miscontrued as not being wanted or liked by a school which at times I can't help not to believe despite being told otherwise. Total disregard, a lack of respect, and a disorganized way of doing business here that centers around a lack of planning and communication with last minute cramming is the norm here.

When a school rents an apartment, they should discuss with the landlord how the bill paying processes are to work and then share that vital information with their foreign teachers. One would think it would be standard common sense as the landlord may not be able to tell the FT nor take initiative to discuss it with the school director who rented the apartment. Due to much being very different in Korea, informing FT's of what, how, when, and where on these issues would relieve many headaches and tensions between FT's and their hagwons that can be avoided altogether. While it is a privilege to receive employer provided housing free of rent, non-sensical disorganized ways of doing business I believe causes many relations to go bad as a result of confusion leading to many FT's not completing their contracts which they could had, had they been at least informed on how things get done. It can be a rocky road and a real roller coaster ride for newbie�s here or when you change employer as I experienced last winter and occassional still experience when unpleasant suprises occur that could be handled in a sensible manner.