1. VISA:
They will tell you to get a visa m which is impossible unless your boss in your country of residence is nice enough to give you a letter attesting he is sending you abroad to attend a marketing course which is illegal by the way!!!! So you would probably have to come under a different visa.
2. Accommodation:
A lot of people think that the accommodation is individual and i did based on the first description the make about accommodation: " Having your your own accommodation upon arriving means that you can get right down to excelling at your internship in China. During this time, Gi2C can help you find alternative accommodations - based on your budget - for the duration of your time being in Beijing or Shanghai." But if you pay enough attention and go on the next pages you will understand that it is shared. If you want your own flat like i wanted you would have to pay an additional 3000 rmb.
3 . The placement:
Gi2c has a very good network with marketing departments of a lot of companies and it makes sense because it is the easiest work to get for a foreigner in china. Most of the time they will come up to you and tell you they have something for you in a finance company in the marketing department and you will end up not doing what you want. I was placed in a company located in a bad area, the building was disgusting and they even gave us individual toilet paper to go to the bathroom.
4. The support system for accommodation :
They will send you some internet links but after that you are on your own. I was lucky enough to be helped by a friend's uncle who helped me find a flat 1000 rmb cheaper than the only flat kris found for me after i complained about the lack of support in regards to the accommodation hunting process.
5. Complaining and refund:
I was lucky enough to find a much better internship placement with one of their competitors in a very good company in my field. I will not name their competitor in order not to sound as if i am advertising on their behalf.
Once i informed Gi2c that i indeed found a much better placement. The first thing kris asked me was to send him the job description of my new internship so that he could look for the closest position possible in order for me not to leave gi2c. Which is a shame because i had been telling them what i wanted since August 2014 and it was already February 2015.
6. The refund and the consequences:
So after proving to Gi2c that they indeed did not provide me with the service they promise they would, i was given a refund of 5500 rmb the exact amount i asked to pay their competitor who found me a much better internship. I thought i had lost my premium package privileges after a meeting with kris but there was a misunderstanding because after meeting again with kris and yuri i was told i could still attend the monthly events and could still ask for any guidance i would need regarding my visa etc.
7. Conclusion:
That being said an internship in China is really GREAT experience you just have to be extremely careful about the internship offer and not be shy to reject an offer if you do not fully feel comfortable with it. My experience with Gi2c was not good but they admitted their mistake and i think i could have had a better internship if i had been more careful with the position they offered me.
Response from Get into China Group
In response to Winnie’s review of her experience with Gi2C, we would just like to say that everybody is entitled to express their view on how they perceive things, as is their right. However more times than not perception is skewed to express the emotions and or events of the teller, which is not exactly the truth or complete story.
1. Visa
Visa laws are constantly changing and when dealing with the Chinese embassy things can be even more confusing for people since they themselves don’t adhere to the visa policies that are posted on their official website. We do however do our best to stay current with the regulations. If you are coming to China for an internship it is recommended to get an M visa. This is not Gi2C’s rule it is what is told to us by the Chinese embassy since this is the closes visa to get being that there is no specific visa set for internships. Each country may encounter different issues when obtaining a visa for China if problems do occur. We state this clearly on our website. In this intern’s case it was required for Winnie to get a letter from her current boss as well as the invitation we issue her to receive a visa. Once again not our rules but the government, when difficulties arise we do everything legally in our power to help interns receive the visa.
2. Accommodation
Once again we have all the information about accommodation on our website, also if anyone is unclear about what we offer they can send an email to use or call to ask about any information and we would be more than happy to answer. This intern may have initially misunderstood but as she stated if you read further you see that it is a shared apartment. Nonetheless we immediately found a way to accommodate Winnie's request and the additional amount set is not our pricing but that of the apartment complex. With our package for share accommodation the price is reasonably set. Also because of this incident we have updated our website to make it even clearer for our participants, because we in no way what to give the sense of deception.
3. Placement
Placements are agreed upon by the intern most times after an interview with the company. And in a lot of cases we provide pictures of the company itself. This may be an exaggerated depiction of the company based on this intern’s dissatisfaction. Also finding marketing internships in China is not as easy as we make it look. There are a lot of other fields that we have a strong network with as well. And if any issues arise with the company we do our best to resolve it and depending on the situation it may result in a new placement.
4. Support system for accommodation
Yes it is true that we send links to assist in the search for accommodation when it’s time for our participants to find new housing, but this is not all we do. We also set you up with apartment agencies that specialize in this area and if you need help with the landlord or signing the contract we also assist with this. In this applicants case special attention was paid in helping to find a suitable accommodation because of her unique needs. When presented with this Winnie declined stating that she already found assistance, which is her prerogative. But it is unfair to negate this simply because a cheaper one was found. Also this was done before a complaint was lodged.
5. Complaining and refund
Yes it is true that Winnie found another internship through another company. This is because she did not allow us to do the job she paid us to do. She was informed of the process and the reasons why each process needed to be performed. When the complaint was made she had already sought out other methods before informing us so we could assist her. When told how we were going to rectify the situation within 2 days Winnie had already accepted help from another company. Also intern accepted the original offer knowing full well what the company does and what role she would play because as stated earlier she interviewed with the company first.
6. A refund was indeed given to Winnie but not because of the lack of service provided. As far as her package was concerned Winnie was and still is entitled to certain assistance and events.
7. Conclusion
We deeply regret this unfortunate situation; we would like to make all our clients happy and satisfied. While each individual’s experience is different and the outcomes vary a large percent of our clients are happy, satisfied and value or service as much as we value them. We appreciate the feedback whether it is positive or negative it all helps us to be better. We just ask those who review us to not let emotions cloud their judgment and provide an honest and full picture of their experience with us.
Regards,
Gi2C Group - Customer Service Department