A report by the Korea Consumer Protection Board seems to suggest that over 40 percent of foreign consumers are “dissatisfied” with their life as consumers in Korea. From the Chosun Ilbo:
According to a study on the daily lives of foreign consumers from the Korea Consumer Protection Board, 41.7 percent of 545 respondents said that they’re “dissatisfied” with their life as consumers in Korea. When asked what the biggest problem is, 35.9 percent pointed to communication difficulties. Other reasons for unhappiness include a lack of consideration for foreigners on the part of Koreans, financial difficulties, a lack of public information, and cultural differences.
When it comes to consumer goods, 48.7 percent of those foreigners expressed dissatisfaction with their mobile phone companies. Other sources of frustration were credit cards, the Internet, and real estate transactions.
I find some things quite annoying. For starters, I’ve been here a decade, so it would be nice if I didn’t have to get a Korean friend to sign me up for a cell phone. And God knows darker-skinned foreigners have it rough. That being said, some of the gripes—language difficulties, “lack of public information” (the information is there, numnuts. You just can’t read it), lack of “consideration” for foreigners (What kind of “consideration” were you expecting, Memsahib?) and cultural differences—are less persuasive.
Anyway, if you’re a dissatisfied barbarian consumer, my comment section awaits. Let your voice be heard!
15 Comments
Yeah, not too persuasive. The Japanese student complains “There seem to be too many complicated procedures that foreigners have to go through to live here,” so now he knows what it’s like for foreigners in Japan.
True about the cell phones (and cable TV etc) though….
My ‘beef’ is with beer prices - over 2X higher than back home. And of course, tuition at foreign schools is insane. If anything, there should be schools with instruction in English for both foreign and Korean kids, where native English speaking kids get a discount.
Agree with you on the cellphone purchasing…my wife and I had to use my brother-in-law’s Korean ID card so we could buy cellphones. Aside from that, and the video store episode I had recently, I can’t complain. And I have to say that the few times I have had language/communications difficulties, and Mrs. Nomad wasn’t around, I’ve always had some complete stranger come to my rescue.
Actually I had cell phone problems too until I changed from SK to KTF…no foreigner prejudice with KTF. And no problems or extra charges getting cable or internet service either in my experiences…luckily I don’t have to deal with either anymore as they are included in my monthly apartment rent, including free hook-up.
But maybe I’ve just been lucky on those issues (although SK was a headache in regards to the cell phone).
Korea really isn’t that bad for getting services, at least in my experience. In ’99 I got a pager and later a cell phone (although prepaid) , as well as dial-up internet service with a university ID, and in 2002 got a cable modem with a passport, all without the help of anyone or the need of a Korean ID. But perhaps things have changed, for the worse?
My biggest grievance is with requiring the Korean national ID number for everything on the net. A draconian rule to control access to the internet, thus censoring minors, foreigners, foreign residents, and any one else who cannot be easily controled by the Korean government. They’ve essentially created an intranet, which is not unlike what exists in China.
Yeah, try to open a bank account in Japan, without a resident card, see how it goes…
My first mobile phone was a PCS, way back when, a 016 number, and the shop never had a problem with my white skin and foreign ID. Problems started in the 21 Century, I think. By then I had been married for a few years, and Da Missus took care of all these things anyway
And I’m with Robert here, lack of information, grmbl; cultural differences, yeah right, get yer ass back home. Service in Korea is great, even if uneven sometimes, and that’s one of the things Da Missus and I miss now that we’ve left – but then again we live in France, where “service” was KIA a long time ago… I still can’t get to open a [new] bank account in my home country, since I don’t have a fixed income, aka salary. Go figure.
Shopping is much better than it was in the 90s, as far as what is available. (Still lame compared to Thailand, to give an example, but improving.) Anyway, while good beer and wine remains somewhat overpriced (and sometimes hard to find in the local ’supa’), and beef, rice, fruit, and vegetables are especially expensive, I can’t complain about not being able to enjoy a lot of creature comforts.
Because my wife is Korean, I haven’t had all that much grief with cell phones, etc. However, not having a national ID number, it is a pain in the ass to have to rely on her for a few basics. I’d rather be able to take care of some of these things myself. And, it is odd when one KB bank turns you down for a credit card, but the one down the street has a manager who personally processes your application for you!
As for customer service, I don’t expect what I get back home (and that can suck too, even if a 15% or 20% tip may hang in the balance.) To be honest, Koreans don’t seem to get any less in the area of customer service than I do. Actually, sometimes I think the occasional salesperson or manager makes more of an effort to help because I am a foreigner. Unfortunately, were I black or of a south/southeast Asian background, this might be completely different. I think DDA’s comment on service being “great, even if uneven sometimes” is pretty accurate.
Tip: I have had cell phone registered to me for 12 years. The guys selling you the phone could care less if you were ET. The problem is when they enter your English name in the computer to register the phone, the system at KT and other providers will red flag any thing not Kim Chul Soo.
Use a Korean name as an alias and your alien registration number; and all will be fine.
You can later use the bill you received under the alias for other things you would not other wise have access to.
PS: A quote from The Shawshank Redemption by Andy Dufresne: “You would be surprised at what you can become, open, and access in the real world once you have a library card”
The survey was also reported in the JoonAng Daily.
http://joongangdaily.joins.com.....id=2871863
It started off with the positive news :
“Only 17 percent of those polled said they were dissatisfied with their lives in Korea”.
And then carried on with the list of whingers and complainers.
You wonder how the CPB selected their sample and phrased their questions, because it sounds like they were looking for problems.
It’s a shame the CPB seems to have given up updating their website in English.
http://english.cpb.or.kr/
The venerable Horace H. Underwood had to get a Korean co-signer when he applied for a credit card with a Korean bank.
No better or worse than anywhere else. Some things better, some things some things are worse and somethings are a touch annoying (read - different) but…meh…whatever.
iwshim,
It’s also easy to get a Korean credit card. I’ve had 2 for nearly 10 years. Despite the fact that I’m a permanent resident, my ID number still isn’t accepted by most sites (it’s based on a different algorithm…which doesn’t make much sense since I’m a landed immigrant…just a step away from being a citizen). My money isn’t good enough for them.
PS. In Canada, all social insurance numbers are based on the same algorithm. The first digit depends on the province where a person was residing when he or she applied for a card and the numbers assigned to landed immigrants begin with a 9. Then again, it would be illegal for online stores and other websites to ask for one’s social insurance number.
I had a painful experience buying Eric Clapton concert tickets….