What do you do if you need to leave the country before your money does?

It’s a common conundrum, even if it shouldn’t be: The last paycheck comes in after someone leaves the country for good. 

But one US citizen found the solution in a local concierge service.

“He asked us to help recover the money in the account and transfer it to him in USA,” said Angie Kang of We Can Help in Korea. 

“It was not an easy task and required a great deal of work, including creating power of attorney documents and regular visits to a branch of the Korean bank that had the account. I am glad to say that in the end we were successful in helping recover all of his money.”

The company is one of a new breed of concierge services, offering help via a mobile messenger on a pay-per-service basis, a divergence from traditional concierge programs with pricey subscription fees.

Another provider, Ask Ajumma, has been operating for about a year and a half and has handled over 50,000 requests in that time, according to founder Maria Lee. 

“A lot of times, simple tasks can become extremely complicated based on local business practices and difficult payment systems,” she said. 

“Our goal is to encourage global citizenry and make it easy to travel and live abroad. We help tear down the challenges of language and culture by helping to facilitate getting things done.” 

She soon had competition.

Daniel Choi, founder of Butlers Korea, said he had been helping foreign residents with various things for a long time, including as a police interpreter from 2003. He finally decided to take the plunge and register a business in March last year.

We Can Help in Korea was launched the same month by Kang and Suki French, also seeing an opportunity based on the help they had offered foreign acquaintances in Korea.

“I have many foreign friends here in Korea and observed that they faced challenges performing even the simplest tasks due to the language barrier or a lack of everyday knowledge necessary for living in Korea,” said Kang, who added that foreign residents often didn’t know about many of the services that are available here.

“When they use them effectively, we believe that their lives in Korea will be much easier and enjoyable.”

The three companies all offer similar services, including helping with delivery, relocation and travel and arranging personal services such as house cleaning. They also provide general information, such as on hospitals and places to go.

As well as expats, their customers include visitors such as tourists and businesspeople. 

Kang said her company had planned a vacation for a family who had not been to Korea before. 

“For tourists and business visitors, they often ask for concert tickets to hot shows, accommodations, transportation and items they forgot to bring on their travels,” Lee explained.

Expats, on the other hand, have a more varied set of requests, including arranging services such as housekeeping, translation and pet sitting, as well as one-off tasks like renting dinnerware for large parties, private yachts and hiring magicians.  

“We love helping people plan their vacations, romantic engagements and special occasions,” said Lee 

Delivery is also a common request for the services -- Ask Ajumma has even arranged transport for live snakes and tarantulas, and Butlers Korea has its own delivery driver. 

“Especially for furniture moving, like secondhand things and small furniture, because the local furniture shops are not really kind and there are communication problems, too,” said Choi, who added that online expat flea market prices were often cheaper than those in conventional shops.

Butlers Korea also helps with finding somewhere to move and dealing with the new landlord, though this service is mostly kept to Gwangju, where the company is based.

The services all say they will consider any request -- within the law, that is. In many cases it is a learning experience, in which they find the solutions as the problems present themselves. Case in point: holiday package holdups.

“At Christmas and New Year’s, customers parents or siblings who are out of Korea send some items to Korea, but some of the packages got stuck in customs, and they sent our customers some documents that they have to submit in terms of clarifying what items and what the value is,” said Choi, who explained he helped resolve the issue so they could get their packages.

Now in tax season, Choi said Butlers Korea also has an accountant available to help with returns.  

Ask Ajumma and We Can Help in Korea both offer VIP subscription services, but all three companies provide one-off services, with charges arranged in advance based on a commission and the amount of work involved in fulfilling the request.

But though the services are one-off, the key has been in repeat customers, they said.

“Regarding pricing we try to make it reasonable and most of our support is based on per transaction,” said Lee “We never charge a customer until they are 100 percent happy with what we‘ve found.”

By Paul Kerry (paulkerry@heraldcorp.com)