Should You Send a Deposit to a Surgeon in Turkey?

Mar 21, 2023
4 min read

Person dressed in black offering a stack of fifty euro notes to a doctor

Unprotected Payments

As you go about researching your different options for medical treatments in Turkey, you will notice that most Turkish surgeons as well as Turkish tourism clinics will ask you to pay a deposit to book your surgery. The deposit could range from £300 to 25% of the price of your medical procedure.

Bank Tranfers

Most clinics in Turkey require that the deposit be paid through a bank transfer. If any problem or issue arises, either on your end or on the Turkish clinic's end, you will discover that the deposit is non refundable under any circumstance. Even if you cancel your procedure well ahead of time and due to an emergency, the Turkish clinic will most likely refuse to refund your deposit. Once you send a bank transfer to a clinic in Turkey, consider your money gone for good.

Is It Safe to Send a Deposit to a Clinic in Turkey?

Considering that a deposit sent to a clinic in Turkey is non refundable under any circumstance, we can conclude that it is not safe sending a deposit to a clinic in Turkey. If you want to keep yourself and your money out of trouble, avoid paying a deposit through a bank transfer to a clinic in Turkey. Bank transfers are not a protected form of payment (ie, you can't get your money back in case of a problem) and once a bank transfer is made, there is no way to get the money back.

Protected Payments

If you are compelled to pay a deposit to a clinic in Turkey, then do it using a credit card. The clinic in Turkey may insist that they don't accept credit card payments or will threaten to make you pay additional fees if you pay using a credit card, but you should stand your ground knowing that the safest option is to agree to pay a higher amount with your credit card in order to be covered under Section 75 of the UK Consumer Credit Act (CCA).

Benefits of Using Your Credit Card

For UK credit card holders, paying at least £100 of the medical procedure's total price using a credit card, your deposit as well as the entire price of the procedure and any damages ensuing from your procedure are guaranteed under Section 75. Injury, loss and damage inflicted by inadequate treatment may outstrip the treatment cost many times over.

You don’t need to pay the full price of your medical treatment by credit card to get Section 75 protection, it’s enough to just pay the deposit. For example, if your surgery costs £5.000, but paid a deposit of £400 using your credit card and the remaining £4.600 by other means (via debit card or cash), you would be able to claim the whole £5.000 from your credit card company and any damages that could have resulted from the faulty treatment.

If you live outside the UK please know that most countries in Europe, North America and Australia have Consumer Credit legislation which offers protections for credit card transactions similar to that under Section 75 of the UK Consumer Protection Act.

What Does Section 75 Cover?

Section 75 covers you in case of a Breach of Contract where the clinic in Turkey failed to supply the services it promised or has provided a service that is not up to the standard it promised. Section 75 also covers you in case of misrepresentation, where the clinic in Turkey has misrepresented what it is supplying. In this way if a clinic tells you that it will use Motiva implants for example, but ends up putting lesser quality implants which were made in China, you can make a claim under Section 75.

In order to be able to prove breach of contract or misrepresentation in case of a problem, make sure to record and keep all communications with the surgeon and the clinic staff in Turkey. Make sure to also take screenshots of the Surgeon’s website and social media posts.

How to Start a Section 75 Claim

If you pay the deposit for your medical treatment in Turkey using your credit card and there’s a problem, firstly contact the clinic to give them a chance to put things right. But if they don’t reply, or they won’t give you a refund, or it’s clear there’s no point in contacting them (as they have disappeared or gone into liquidation), you can make a claim against your credit card company.

Here’s how:

Write to the credit card company, stating what you bought, where and when you bought it and how much you paid. Include copies of receipts if you have them (if not, you’ll need some other proof of purchase).
Tell them that you’ve tried to contact the surgeon in Turkey and what the response has been – if any.
Explain what you’d like the credit card company to do, which will usually be to refund the purchase price into your credit card account – be sure to state: “I am making a claim under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act”.
Keep a record of the letter or email you’ve sent.

Other Options

Paying a deposit to a Turkish surgeon is not an obligation. Many quality clinics in Turkey book medical procedures based on a proof of purchase of flight tickets.

With GoldenSands you can book your medical procedure in Turkey without paying a deposit. We are a big fan of credit card payments because we know that we offer a quality service which our patients appreciate. In case we misrepresent what you will be getting with us or if we breach our contract with you, we will be more than happy to refund your money. In addition to encouraging you to pay with a credit card, we offer you interest free laybys to save up for your procedure and we help you find financing options such as interest free loans.