Balance, But Still Bad (A Review of BKC Moscow by Current BKC Teacher)

This is a guest post by one of our contributors: The contributor cross-posted this review on Dave's ESL Cafe.
 

So BKC has to jump through hoops.  Here's how they pass it onto us.

The last two weeks of the contract cannot be taken as holidays because of legal hoops BKC jumps through to accommodate the end of your contract.  In order to make sure the legally-recognized part of your salary and all can be received by you via bank deposit prior to the end of your contract, they have to legally say your employment actually finished two weeks (or so) earlier than on the contract you signed.  There's a form you sign for this when you get the visa manager's signature on your BKC leaving form.

That said, what's the thing about terminating early and having to submit your passport two weeks before your early departure date?  They basically issue you a visa that's good until the day you leave (or very shortly thereafter).  This is blatantly illegal.  They do this so as to insure you don't go and work for any one else because your visa IS NOT tied to an employer.  Withholding pay unless you give them your passport is illegal in so many ways I haven't bothered to count.

Registration is legit and if you stay for more than one contract it may even display the address of the apartment where you actually stay as opposed to the hostel at Tverskaya where most of us have been registered at one time or other, no doubt.

The number of paid vacation days does suck for global EFL standards.  Most of the days are taken up by national holidays.  As for February 23rd, that was a holiday.  Thing is, BKC decided the 22nd would also be a holiday, hence making up for it the Saturday the 27th.

Making up for holidays, yeah, that's just a way for BKC to get you to work more.  Many cultures around the world do this and it's just a matter of the teacher being aware of this and negotiating otherwise.

Policies and contracts are different according to Russian law.  Contracts are set in stone and require both parties to agree to any changes.  Policies must be written and physically given to all employees in a hardcopy form.  The catch?  The company has the legal right to change policies whenever they want unilaterally.  Any extra bonuses like non-standby placement tests that aren't written in the contract are literally at the company's discretion as to whether or not they're paid and that is legal in Russia.

Case: I was stiffed on interviews because BKC decided to switch it to a stand-by session last-second so I wasn't paid anything extra as the standby was part of my base contract hours.

As for contracts, the only valid ones are those written in Russian.  Good luck getting one like that from BKC because the Russian income tax rate is insane, plus there are other bureaucratic concerns (most of which I don't know).  That's why many teachers can't find legal grounds to sue BKC, although BKC is currently in the midst of a legal battle with a former teacher on the concerning the grounds of dismissal.  I'm rooting for the teacher on this one regardless of the grounds of the case just because of the bad things BKC has done (otherwise my view would be really different and this would be a glowing email, although in a non-nuclear way).

As for postal addresses, most teachers send their stuff to central office for various reasons - and it's reliable.  What happens is, the Russian postal system will deliver it to a specified postal mailbox or keep parcel notices on-hand until you go there and ask if anything is there.  So, BKC has a runner who goes there once a week (or so) and collects everything with BKC in the address.  Voila.  That's not BKC, that's just the postal system.  I haven't tried DHL, but that may result in direct - and therefore speedier - delivery.

The airfare re-imbursement totally sucks, even with 2010 increases (which are a bad joke IMO).  I have no idea how this is calculated, but I know tax issues are involved.  That said, BKC can make it what it wants, so....

Medical coverage is actually ok for non-serious stuff.  I've had a house call and I've had to visit the hospital once.  Say what you want about the doctors, but the house call was free and the hospital visit re-imbursed. 


There have been issues with teachers who became seriously ill and needed surgery.  Then BKC did the absolutely disgusting thing of renegging and forcing them for forgo so much just to stay in-country to get it done.  You don't kick someone when they're down, but that's not a Russian axiom.  The Russian one is kick them until they can't get back up.  Seeing bar fights or street fights anywhere will make it clear that it's different in Russia.

What, then, about accommodation?  Dealing with Russians in your building is not something BKC can control, but choosing neighborhoods is.  Loud neighbours is one thing, gangs around the buildings that accost you is another.  Such is life.

While the teacher is responsible for cleanliness as well as anything they break, BKC is responsible for everything else (but not lightbulbs and matches and garbage bags and simple stuff).  That said, I was docked for replacing door knobs, shower knobs, taps/faucets, oven/stove knobs, etc.  It took me and my roommate two weeks to get a bathroom door lock replaced.  This was a particular problem because the door would remain open without it.  I literally had to email the accommodation manager that demanding a change in sexual orientation to save on a door lock was too much to ask.  Only then was a door lock installed.

I honestly don't know if they wait for kicks or if it's just a test of patience.  That said, I know many admin on the 3rd floor are caught between a rock and a hard place.  Bribery, ass-kissing, and gift-giving seem to have worked well for other teachers, but only generally so.

My family builds their own homes.  I never had the heart to tell this to the accommodation manager because then I would have gone on and on at all the shoddy things in the apartment I occupied while at BKC.

Finance on 3rd floor can be rude when they reject any costs that aren't covered under BKC's ever-changing policies.  "What you do with your money is your business."  I hated that.  In all honesty, I wonder if they receive any bonus, commission, or company kickback for shaving off this and that teacher-based expenditure.  I don't know if that happens, but I wouldn't put it past BKC and admin.

As for wanting teachers to stay and cover classes, that's to insure continuity of classes.  That's a little BS considering the attitude Russian students have toward "their teacher" versus others.  Plus, BKC is a company and continued classes mean money is continually coming in.  This is an arguable point, but whatever, covers are a part of TEFL-life.

If there's ever an unresolvable issue between yourself and your mentor/ADOS, then you're passed onto the DOS, Mr. (or is it now Dr.?) Rimmer.  He knows his stuff when it comes to the English language, but he has a nasty tendency to put teachers into one of four categories.  You're either a criminal, sexually deranged, trying to escape something, or are genuinely meant to be a teacher.

Then there's the owner, Mr. Bondarev.  Former scientist who grew his business up from the mean streets of Moscow during the rough `90s.  Drives a nice car, owns BKC country, has property in other countries, and is engaged on a sizeable personal project involving frequent travel to one country in Asia I will not name.  BKC is a cash cow, so I'm truly stumped as to why BKC is engaged in actions that will see the company run into the ground.

How to Deal With Your BKC Moscow Flatmate From Hell

This blog post comes courtesy of one of our anonymous contributors.

So! You hate your flatmate. Get in line at BKC Accommodation! And prepare for this to happen: ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!  This is what happens when you complain about your flatmate:

Step 1: You send an e-mail to BKC Accommodation.
Step 2: You get no reply, so you phone BKC Accommodation and e-mail again.
Step 3: BKC Accommodation sends both you and your flatmate a form letter, telling you both that you need to get along.
Step 4: Your flatmate ignores the e-mail and continues whatever it is he or she is doing to annoy you.
Step 5: You send BKC Accommodation another email, and start to get VERY UPSET.
Step 6: BKC Accommodation invites both you and your flatmate in to "discuss the issues." Your flatmate might not even show up.
Step 7: You are given a choice: live with your flatmate and stop bothering BKC Accommodation, or move to a distant flat, far away from your schools. No matter who is to blame, no matter how much evidence you lay at the table of BKC Moscow, unless you are literally or figuratively in bed with BKC Moscow, BOTH OF YOU MUST MOVE OUT OF THE FLAT.
Step 8: Repeat steps indefinitely.

You MIGHT have a chance at getting BKC Accommodation to place you in a flat with a person who is not crazy or disgusting or evil - that is where a little thing called "bribery" comes into play.

• Ply the BKC Accommodation Manager with the following: chocolates, vodka, and, if you're very desperate: an envelope with 1000 rubles. Make certain that you use the words "gift" when you do this. Enclosing a card may seal the deal. 
• Compliment the BKC Accommodation Manager on her beauty. If you are a female, then tell her how pretty she looks today, and where on earth did she buy that lovely dress? 
• If you are a male, imply to the BKC Accommodation Manager that you would like to sleep with her. Make positive references to her body parts, including her breasts and ass.

Final Steps to Take When the Above Actions Fail

• Fight fire with fire. What exactly is the issue with your flatmate? Does he leave his dirty dishes all over the place? Put them in his room. Does he leave his dirty underwear in the bathroom? Get some plastic gloves, remove the items and place them directly on his bed, with a sign that says, "These are a health hazard, you disgusting moron."
• Does your flatmate stay up all night and make a lot of noise, making it impossible for you to sleep? Arrange to spend the night at a friend's flat. Set up your clock radio to blast rock music starting at 1 a.m. 
• Does your flatmate leave the toilet dirty? Get a jar, and pee into it. When your flatmate is out, enter the flatmate's room and spill your urine over all her clothes and bed. This is best done when the flatmate has just left the apartment. When the flatmate returns, she will find that her entire bedroom smells like piss, but the wetness should have dried by then. 
• Does your flatmate steal your stuff? Carry all your valuables on you at all times. Then enter the flatmate's room when he or she is out, and steal whatever you want. BONUS TIP: Steal things that look important, such as paper with phone numbers on it, directions, phone cards, and so forth. Toss them all in the garbage. 
• Call the militia and tell them you have an illegal immigrant living at your flat. (This only works if you or one of your friends speaks Russian). TIP: If you do this, make sure you LEAVE the flat after you do this, before the police arrive, otherwise you might end up having to pay a bribe to the militia.)
• Is your flatmate a truly psychotic person? Do they talk to people who are not there, scream at the walls, or scream at you? If this is the case, THEN YOU ARE TRULY FUCKED. BKC Moscow doesn't care how crazy a teacher is, as long as they show up when they're supposed to. If you or one of your friends speaks Russian, it may be possible to get the authorities involved and have the crazy flatmate carted off to jail or to the mental hospital. 
• Other possible remedies for a psychotic roommate include 1) attempting to drug him or her with sedatives by dissolving sedatives in his/her beverages 2) screaming along with them when they start to go crazy 3) inviting your friends and students to visit your flat and make fun of your crazy roommate 4) get a video camera or your cell phone, and videotape your roommate as he or she is "acting out." 5) post the video on YouTube with the tags "BKC Moscow" "roommates" "crazy" and your flatmate's real name. 

Good luck to you, BKC Moscow Teacher With the Flatmate From Hell! You are not the only one in your position. Many have come before you, and many will come after you. (Your flatmate might actually really come after you -- think about investing in a lock on your door. At the very least, barricade yourself in at night if you feel that they will become homicidal.)

BKC Teacher SUES BKC International House Moscow

We have confirmed that the lady we spoke of in our last post, Horror Story: the Truth About BKC Moscow is, without a doubt, SUING BKC IH MOSCOW.

An advocate retained by this teacher filed a motion for the lawsuit at the Basmanniy district court of Moscow last Thursday, February 18, 2010.

The lawsuit is for illegal dismissal.

Many of us grumble about suing BKC Moscow. Some of us threaten on occasion to sue Lingua.ru, BKC's umbrella company. But to our knowledge, this is the first time that a teacher put her money where her mouth is and got herself a lawyer and took them to court.

BKC Moscow breaks many laws - we all know this. They dodge taxes, tear up contracts, take hours away from hourly teachers who need them, and give hours instead to teachers who are already working more than 30 hours a week. They might be breaking the law by not giving us free flats - it only appears that they give us free flats, when, in fact, our payslips show that this is deducted out of our real salaries.

We are not mentioning the name of the teacher because it is our policy to not name any teachers at all, even ones who have put themselves out there in terms of being disgruntled.

We wish this lady the best of luck with her lawsuit against BKC Moscow.

BKC Moscow Accommodation Strikes Again

One of our anonymous contributors writes on BKC Moscow flats. One of many teachers on the "BKC Moscow Hit List"

After arriving in Moscow, I was taken to my apartment by a member of the BKC Moscow staff.  It was located at the end of the metro line, and in an area I was later told by veteran teachers was one of the worst parts of the city.  The staff member kindly walked me around the area.  She informed me that she lived nearby.  She then told me to be very careful because there is not a lot of foot traffic around and that it is not safe.  She told me to NEVER walk by myself when it is dark outside. I told her that I would have to do that as my teaching schedule had me working into the evening hours, and she reiterated that I should be very, very careful.

Even as we were walking in broad daylight, we were followed by several men and she told me not to speak to them and to BE CAREFUL.  The nights I did walk home by myself, I felt very unsettled. There were no sidewalk lights and I could barely see two feet in front of me.  In the wooded areas surrounding the sidewalks, I could hear drunk men shouting and bottles clanking.  I felt extremely vulnerable and unsafe.  I knew that I could not live like this for a long period of time.

The apartment itself was (apparently) a typical Soviet-style flat that left much to be desired.  It was also filthy.  The staff member even washed her hands after touching something and made a remark about the lack of cleanliness.  Only two lights functioned when I moved in and I was left living in darkness for several days until the repairman could come. 

My first week was spent feeling scared, disgusted and isolated.

I called the BKC accommodation manager and begged to be moved to a new apartment. She gave me one option, which I gladly took.  I was moved to a more central location and much nicer, cleaner apartment. 

BUT, I was sent to live with an older woman that BKC had never been able to successfully place a flatmate with.  This woman had lived in that apartment for years, harassing anyone placed with her until that person asked to be moved.  She successfully did this for over three years and was successful time and time again without BKC Moscow accommodation managers stepping in.


Immediately upon meeting me, I was given a lecture.  I was told we would not be friends.  I was shown what I could use and not use in the apartment.  I was given many rules which she expected to be followed. I did not want to move back to the first apartment, so I decided to try to live in peace with her and keep to myself. 

This did not work.

- She banged on my bedroom door almost nightly to yell at me about anything she could think of.

- She monitored my actions in the apartment and posted a cleaning schedule that she wanted me to sign and date.

- She removed my food items from the refrigerator because she did not want to share it with me and told me to "be creative" as to how to keep my food cold.

- She told me if I had a problem with that, to contact accommodation. I did. 


Finally, we were both requested to meet with the accommodation managers to try to work out our problems.  I showed up, but my flatmate did not.  We received an email the next day saying that we needed to make a compromise or else we would both be moved.  We decided to give it another chance.  Our compromise lasted about three weeks before I was locked out of the apartment at night.  She had imposed a curfew on me, and I broke it. 

The next day, I contacted BKC accommodation again and said that it was not working out and that something had to change.

My punishment for not getting along with this woman was to be moved to another apartment which required a 90-minute commute to work, which goes against BKC Moscow's "guarantee" that no commute would be longer than 1 hour.  After months of struggling with accommodation issues, I decided to terminate my contract.

Warning to BKC Moscow Teachers - Flat Inspections

Accommodation will now be sending inspectors who will take pictures of your flat.

From BKC Moscow Weekly News

Dear teachers,

To address landlords' concern about state of accommodation we are planning to hold regular flat inspections. I will be contacting each of you to arrange time and date convenient for everyone. In case flats are not kept clean and tidy we will be sending a cleaner once a month and expences will be covered by teachers occupating those flats. Please be aware that we may need to take a picture of the apartment during the inspection. 

If you have any questions, please contact me at flats@bkc.ru

Respectfully yours,

Anna, the accommodation coordinator.

The Flatmate You are Given by BKC-IH Moscow

New teachers quite often fill out a short form that asks preferences of the following types of lifestyle choices:

Are you a smoker?

Do you drink? Occasionally or frequently?

What is your level of cleanliness?

The Flatmate BKC Moscow Gives You May Be the Opposite of You

Current teachers have a theory that BKC Moscow takes those forms you filled out and simply tosses them in the bin. There is no other logical reason, since here are the facts:

• Smokers and non-smokers are frequently paired together in the same flat.
• Although cleanliness is subjective, there are some teachers who are cleaners, paired up with teachers who are filthy slobs.
• Teachers who simply work and study are paired with very young teachers who spend the majority of their time and money on liquor - and throw the necessary late-night loud parties that accompany this.

What to Do If Your BKC Moscow Flatmate Is Crazy?

Some more true stories from the field of BKC Moscow's World of Disgusting Flatmates:

• In 2009, a teacher attacked his flat mate with a knife, because his flat mate had an annoying habit of bringing home prostitutes and causing a lot of late-night noise.

• A female teacher in her 30s recently remarked that her 20-ish flatmate dirtied every dish in the kitchen and refused to wash them. The flatmate also soiled the toilet and refused to scrub her own shit stains from the toilet bowl.

• There are occasional stories of flat mates sneaking into the other's room to use personal computers, read diaries and snoop around.

• A male in his mid-twenties told a group of teachers that his 30-ish flat mate's room actually smelled, and the smell permeated throughout the flat. This person also had a tendency of leaving shit-stained underwear in the shower room, as well as leaving moldy plates and food inside his room.

• A female teacher reported, with horror, that her flatmate had not only snuck into her room to use her computer, but also left trash and dirty dishes behind.

• A male in his late twenties invited his long-time girlfriend to Moscow for a weekend. The girlfriend mopped the floors (in addition to cleaning the whole flat), and asked her boyfriend's flatmate to refrain from walking on the floors for a bit. The flatmate off-handedly remarked that she was a "bitch." The boyfriend was not happy about this at all.

• A brand-new teacher, who had been in Moscow for just a couple of months, was saddened when his flatmate did not invite him to a dinner party. The problem is that the dinner party was in their shared flat. The new teacher hid in his room until finally making a getaway to meet other new teachers at a club.

• One infamous woman, who has been with BKC Moscow for about 4 years, boasts that she has managed to make every single one of her flatmates leave. This older woman greets her new flatmates by immediately telling them, "You and I are not going to be friends." Then she shows the new flatmate around the flat, explaining, "This is mine, and you are not to touch it." She then begins cleaning and throwing things around between 3 am and 5 am. She knocks loudly on the new flatmate's door, and screams at them for not cleaning enough. She locks her roommates out of the apartment. Multiple female teachers have gone to BKC Moscow administration to ask for help. These teachers are told to move to another flat. The problem here is that in most cases, these teachers are forced to move further away from the schools they work at. The old, crazy lady? She is friends with the accommodation manager, and so suffers no punishment at all. Just a slap on the wrist and a "tsk, tsk." BKC Moscow doesn't care whether or not you leave because of this crazy person.

But we shall discuss BKC Moscow management and administration at a later point.

Can Hourly Paid, Off-Contract BKC Teachers Get Some Fucking Flats?

Originally posted on the BKC Teacher's Forum

Free flats?

May 15, 2009

Dear person in charge of accommodation

I read on the Internet that all licensed educational establishments in Russia are required by law to provide free accommodation to foreign English teachers. Is this true? Doesn't this mean that you have to provide for off-contract teachers too? Or at least give them an allowance for their apartments?

I look forward to your considered answer.

May 31, 2009

It is so easy to know when a nerve has been struck in BKC. Deafening silence...