ok, obvious i am from ucla. i am a graduate student in the electrical engineering department, and over the past months i have noticed something that's ridiculous and i am definitely disappointed about the whole department (or actually the school).
i went out of town to some companies for my research project, and i was required to pay all the fees (hotel, car, etc etc...) up front and later on get reimbursed. that's fine, i don't really have a problem with that. the problem came in when i compared my bank statement to the voucher i signed for.
when i handed in all my receipts and stuff, the total was 1098.12, i agreed and i signed the voucher. but when i looked at my bank statement, it said only 1044.12 was deposited to my account, which is exactly 54 bucks less. being very confused, i asked the secretary who took care of my voucher, and in turn i got this reply from the accounting deparment, saying that when i rent a car with alamo, who is contracted with ucla, i should never ask for any kind of insurance plan, since the university has already covered that.
now that ticks me. i was never told about the rule at all in my whole life. when i rented the car, the secretary didn't tell me about the rule at all (in fact she didn't know about that as well), and no one sent me a link, or gave me a notice, or paperwork, or nothing, where i can know about the rule. yet the dumb university has that "rule".
now of course, since i didn't know the rule, when i rented the car for 6 days, i asked for the cheapest 9 bucks insurance, so now you know where that 54 bucks came in.
to me, since i wasn't aware of the rule, and actually the department didn't tell me the rule, i shouldn't be responsible for it. i complained and asked for that 54 bucks left, but the accounting basically said rule is rule, and be with it. what the hell? this is totally ridiculous. i mean, if i knew the rule and still asked for the insurance, yes that's my fault and i should be held with the 54 bucks. now i am never told about the rule and i am charged with those 54 bucks, damn no way.
secondly, their process of reimbursing students are ridiculous as well. see, for another voucher, after i signed the initial one, they rejected it and said that one of my meals was over the daily limit. that's perfectly fine, and i was required to sign ANOTHER new voucher with the new amount. the whole reason behind signing a voucher is like a contract, so both parties agree on the same amount before proceeding.
now back in this case, who gave them the authority to change the amount credited to my account without me signing the new voucher? better yet, they have never ever notified me about the changes, which means if i wasn't smart enough to check the bank statement i would have never known! to me this is more like a frault. if they found out about the insurance and wanted to change it, they had to notify me and asked me to sign the new voucher (whether i sign it or not is another story).
moreover, going to foreign country is definitely a joke if you are in ucla. i went to paris to present my paper, and i had to again pay everything before they reimburse anything. however, the stupid story is that i will be responsible for the loss between buying and selling my france franc. this is ridiculous, since if i have any leftover cash after the trip, i would pay for the loss between buy and sell? if you have ever done that, you would know it's quite a bit of cash right there. moreover, for those i have paid for in france franc, the university would use THEIR own rate, which of course is between the buy and sell rate, so that means i will still lose money there....
now for christ's sake, i was representing ucla, the department. why on earth would i be responsible for that? i asked my dad, who has been the general manager for a company for more than 10 yrs, and he also thought this is totally ridiculous. unfortunately there was nothing i could do about it, blah blah blah....
i have been in ucla for 4 yrs (ugrad and grad), and frankly, i think the ee department here is really nice in terms of education. however, over the past few months i have been dealing with the accounting deparment, i have to say i am extremely disappointed about their what so called policy and the way they do things.
i do think i am a reasonable person and i always try to understand other people, but seriously i can never ever accept what's being done on me by the deparment or school.
here's my story, although a long one, i hope you guys can tell me if i could do anything or at least whether i am right or wrong.
sigh...
i went out of town to some companies for my research project, and i was required to pay all the fees (hotel, car, etc etc...) up front and later on get reimbursed. that's fine, i don't really have a problem with that. the problem came in when i compared my bank statement to the voucher i signed for.
when i handed in all my receipts and stuff, the total was 1098.12, i agreed and i signed the voucher. but when i looked at my bank statement, it said only 1044.12 was deposited to my account, which is exactly 54 bucks less. being very confused, i asked the secretary who took care of my voucher, and in turn i got this reply from the accounting deparment, saying that when i rent a car with alamo, who is contracted with ucla, i should never ask for any kind of insurance plan, since the university has already covered that.
now that ticks me. i was never told about the rule at all in my whole life. when i rented the car, the secretary didn't tell me about the rule at all (in fact she didn't know about that as well), and no one sent me a link, or gave me a notice, or paperwork, or nothing, where i can know about the rule. yet the dumb university has that "rule".
now of course, since i didn't know the rule, when i rented the car for 6 days, i asked for the cheapest 9 bucks insurance, so now you know where that 54 bucks came in.
to me, since i wasn't aware of the rule, and actually the department didn't tell me the rule, i shouldn't be responsible for it. i complained and asked for that 54 bucks left, but the accounting basically said rule is rule, and be with it. what the hell? this is totally ridiculous. i mean, if i knew the rule and still asked for the insurance, yes that's my fault and i should be held with the 54 bucks. now i am never told about the rule and i am charged with those 54 bucks, damn no way.
secondly, their process of reimbursing students are ridiculous as well. see, for another voucher, after i signed the initial one, they rejected it and said that one of my meals was over the daily limit. that's perfectly fine, and i was required to sign ANOTHER new voucher with the new amount. the whole reason behind signing a voucher is like a contract, so both parties agree on the same amount before proceeding.
now back in this case, who gave them the authority to change the amount credited to my account without me signing the new voucher? better yet, they have never ever notified me about the changes, which means if i wasn't smart enough to check the bank statement i would have never known! to me this is more like a frault. if they found out about the insurance and wanted to change it, they had to notify me and asked me to sign the new voucher (whether i sign it or not is another story).
moreover, going to foreign country is definitely a joke if you are in ucla. i went to paris to present my paper, and i had to again pay everything before they reimburse anything. however, the stupid story is that i will be responsible for the loss between buying and selling my france franc. this is ridiculous, since if i have any leftover cash after the trip, i would pay for the loss between buy and sell? if you have ever done that, you would know it's quite a bit of cash right there. moreover, for those i have paid for in france franc, the university would use THEIR own rate, which of course is between the buy and sell rate, so that means i will still lose money there....
now for christ's sake, i was representing ucla, the department. why on earth would i be responsible for that? i asked my dad, who has been the general manager for a company for more than 10 yrs, and he also thought this is totally ridiculous. unfortunately there was nothing i could do about it, blah blah blah....
i have been in ucla for 4 yrs (ugrad and grad), and frankly, i think the ee department here is really nice in terms of education. however, over the past few months i have been dealing with the accounting deparment, i have to say i am extremely disappointed about their what so called policy and the way they do things.
i do think i am a reasonable person and i always try to understand other people, but seriously i can never ever accept what's being done on me by the deparment or school.
here's my story, although a long one, i hope you guys can tell me if i could do anything or at least whether i am right or wrong.
sigh...
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