shinyglittery Posted March 1, 2014 Share Posted March 1, 2014 Do not pay deposit to a clinic you haven't been to. If you have never seen the doctor, how can you pay deposit?*Do you know who was on the phone?*How he looks like?*Can you trust someone just based on their voice alone?*What if it was someone else on the phone who sounds like the person you meet in real life?*The person who performs your surgery?*How can you do it? If some clinic is so busy they need a deposit 2-3 months in advance then: -go at another time of year -don't go -find a different clinic, this clinic is not for you I have read so many posts here about people paying a deposit and then asking if they should be worried or not go... people who never even saw the dr!*Please, think about it: try to make good choices. Don't give your hard earned money away too early.*Be sure about the people you are trusting, the people you are giving your money to. If you have to doubt and ask if you made a wrong choice... you made your decision too soon. Please be careful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yoshieee Posted March 2, 2014 Share Posted March 2, 2014 Great advice as usual! Also, people shouldn't be tempted to go back the same day to confirm the clinic. Just because they tell you the spots will fill up...I'm sure they tell it to everybody , you have to be careful and really THINK about what you want and who you want and who you felt the most comfortable with. It seems like a lot of people have the experience where they felt pressured to go schedule an appointment or go back on the same day and schedule an appointment but you shouldn't rush such a huge decision and the clinic should be respectful of that. Also, make sure you agree on prices before anything happens!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ideabaker Posted March 4, 2014 Share Posted March 4, 2014 Seems like common sense, but so many people fall into that trap and lose their money for good! Thanks for posting this important reminder! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shinyglittery Posted March 6, 2014 Author Share Posted March 6, 2014 It's common sense but i know myself how easy it is to forget common sense, get lost in dreams... our surgery goals are our dreams! but we shouldn't forget common sense Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
k-couture Posted March 6, 2014 Share Posted March 6, 2014 problem is no matter how convicted you are in your e-mail/kakao consultations, you are not speaking to the surgeon but the consultant. Who most are not knowledgeable at all. Even if a surgeon is the one replying to your e-mails, which at times is possible but rare, its still a very bad idea to put a deposit down before meeting them face to face. It is a must to have a surgeon analyse and examine your face in person. It is also a must to have multiple consultations for your own personal reference on different methodologies for your surgery to achieve the result you want. It is also a must to compare proposed techniques and get a second and preferably third and forth opinion on those proposed techniques. I guarantee you after doing so your decision will most likely sway from your initial choice(s) you made thru online consultations. It is your face, don't take a gamble on it to save money on multiple trips to korea or because you are too anxious to have your surgery. The last thing you would want is a revision. i firmly believe the clinics who emphasize the notion of patient satisfaction and welfare over money making and marketing WILL NOT request a deposit before your face to face consultation. That's just ridiculous. After i did my multiple consultations i flew back to Australia to internalize everything and went to my surgeon here for his opinion who i greatly respect. 2 weeks ago i booked my surgery date. The clinic i have chosen secured the date and never even mentioned a deposit. Big clinics like BK and ID had the audacity to mentioned it the moment i had arrived "if you pay deposit today you get discount" EXCUSE ME? I haven't even seen the surgeon yet? U must be cray cray. Id much rather pick a mid sized clinic that operates like a well structured and ethnical corporate entity than a meat market. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
k-couture Posted March 7, 2014 Share Posted March 7, 2014 But that still goes against the logic that its still a unnecessary risk you are taking by placing a deposit on a clinic where a)you have yet to meet the surgeon b)where you have yet to compare with other proposed methodologies from different surgeons c)where you have yet to get varying opinions from medical professionals. Your face is not a commodity where you can simply put a deposit on. It is a lifetime investment. Some clinics are known to refuse to return your deposit should you change your mind. Or you may feel pressured to go with that clinic not wanting to lose your deposit. We also have to acknowledge most of us here are lay people. That is, most people are either surgical virgins or have a lack of knowledge on how to select a surgeon and what methodology would be best suited for their circumstance. Thus putting a deposit just for the sake of securing a surgical date with a clinic one does not have prior surgical experience with is undoubtedly a risk we shouldn't take at all. I feel it is beyond a situation to keep reservation for their management. In my opinion it is one where the ideals of the clinic are that money > patient health and satisfaction. As opposed to good clinics who emphasize patient health and satisfaction over money. Such clinics have the ideology that their income will be generated through a high level of patient care and satisfaction and a truly good reputation. Clinics we hear about through marketing we should be skeptical of. Clinics we hear about through word of mouth from their patients is certainly something to look at or consider. With regards to being too busy to guanrantee your surgery date without a deposit, I will say this. My chosen clinic may not be as big as BK or ID or Grand. It is a mid sized clinic with less surgeons. However, in comparison to the those big clinics i mentioned, they had far more people in the waiting room. They also never mentioned not once asking me to place a deposit. Now we all know the reputation that BK and ID has. I also know that right off the bat before you see your surgeon they already start talking money with you. In comparison my chosen clinic never brought up a deposit and had more people waiting to see them. I am also aware that they do not use aggressive marketing to procure potential clients. This leads me to believe that they have built up a strong reputation through ethnical and patient orientated practices which has in turn allowed them to have more patients despite being a mid sized clinic. Yet despite having more patients, they did not ask for a deposit at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
k-couture Posted March 7, 2014 Share Posted March 7, 2014 Oh you misunderstand me. I did not mean all mid sized clinics do not do aggressive marketing. I meant the one i chose does not do it. Also, it is incorrect to suggest that as a clinic grows in size they will change their marketing strategy to an aggressive one. It is illogical from a strategic point of view. Clinics who are successful without using aggressive marketing techniques will never employ such strategies as they get bigger because it is counter productive. That is, it contradicts their original, success proven model which by the time they have become a larger entity, their business strategy will have been organic. To warrant change to an aggressive model is illogical in a business perspective. Also, with regards to opportunity cost and the deposit system, as I mentioned, the clinic i have chosen, is mid sized, do not request deposits and on top of that they had more potential clients waiting to consult with the surgeons than the larger more well advertised clinics, well marketed through public channels clinics that i have visited. This shows a conceptual business model based on customer centric approaches that does work. I did not choose a large clinic soley because them asking for a deposit demonstrated a lack of patient-centric ideology in their practices. I did not choose the ones i consulted with because after meeting the surgeons, they not only did not meet the needs I required, they also gave me the impression that i was a commodity. I also heard negative feedback from their patients on this forum. So all that together led me to steer away from those large clinics i chose. I too have had alot of surgeries and from my experience, both good and bad I have learnt how to be as empirical as possble when it comes to selecting a good surgeon. After you have gone through your multiple consultations, compare and constrast proposed methods, get your second opinions, you also check out the infrastructure of your chosen clinic for health safety reasons and finally make sure they follow a customer-centric as opposed to a quantity-centric model. True, all clinics want money, it is the business after all. But the approach they use matters and says alot about their practice. In this day and age where information is readily available due to modern modes of communication, many businesses who have the adequate human resources and skilled personnel are using customer-centric approaches to build their reputation through customer satisfaction and in that, turning a profit. Would you really want to go to a clinic that you found on google which came up first on the search engine? That gives you a discount if you put a deposit down before you even meet your surgeon before you even know whether his approach is suitable? Or would you rather go to a clinic that their actual patients have told you how well organized it is, how well their surgery went, how well taken care of they were, how well handled their concerns were and that they were treated not like an ATM machine but like a valued individual? Thats the difference in the initial selection process between clinics that use aggressive marketing as opposed to a customer-centric approach. . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
k-couture Posted March 7, 2014 Share Posted March 7, 2014 True, a clinic that uses aggressive marketing does not necessarily mean they have bad patient care. But we have seen examples of clinics who use aggressive marketing and produce dissatisfied customers on both results and patient care. Since their focus is contradictory, the likelihood on this occuring at a clinic that employs aggressive marketing is higher. It is exactly because most people who do not have prior sugical knowledge or experience would not necessarily know how to source as you say, a customer orientated and skilled surgical clinic that they cannot put a deposit down without even meeting the surgeon. They cannot leave it up to chance as it is an unnecessary risk. They have to, and again i repeat myself. Go for multiple consultations, compare the proposed surgical methods, get second/third/foruth opinions on those methods THEN can one make the most empirical decision on what is best for them. That is how you select to the best of your ability, the most suitable and best surgeon for you. You also have to be at the clinic IN PERSON and interact with not only the surgeon, but the other staff too, to be able to decide how customer-centric a clinic is. So again, before all that how can you logically place a deposit down before you even meet your surgeon let alone visit the clinic? You can't and you shouldn't. You are right in saying that public channel marketing such as google and things like deposit should not be the SOLE factor not to pick a clinic. But it also should be ONE of the factors to remain skeptical of a clinic. As i have discussed, customer centric > aggressive marketing approach is a RELEVANT indicator when choosing a clinic. It also should be noted that clinics that use a customer centric approach employ specific teaching and learning guidelines when training their staff because that is the basis of their business. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
k-couture Posted March 7, 2014 Share Posted March 7, 2014 its only simple IF you have already had surgery with that clinic and had good results. Then its reasonable to put a deposit down. But even then you still need to make sure whatever added procedures you want are in fact suitable for you. And this can only be done after you are assessed by your surgeon. You can't consider a clinic the best for you before even being physically there and meeting your surgeon and doing comparisons. Its just like saying I'm going to put down the 10% deposit to purchase this house just by looking at the listing online and e-mailing the listing agent. No one would be foolish enough to do that. Unfortunately, many people lack knowledge to do with plastic surgery and the prospect at looking more attractive clouds their judgment. The purpose Shinyglittery started this thread is to stop people from making a mistake that can potentially be detrimental to their face and body. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yoshieee Posted March 8, 2014 Share Posted March 8, 2014 Exactly. Don't "secure" anything before you even know what you want. @K Couture made a good point in that most times, the people you are emailing are consultants who get paid to offer you X-amount of services in the hopes that you'll pick at-least 2/3 of them to go through with; sure you've gotten "used to" the consultant and she was "nice" during emails, but she's trying to pad her paycheck, the more you get, the more she gets. Why should you pay a deposit? They haven't even seen your face, you haven't told them your issues and even if you've sent in pictures, there is NO substitute for seeing someone in the flesh. If you're comfortable with those big clinics who want your money as soon as you take a step into the building, than go ahead, but personally, the fact that I have to reserve time before even consulting means the clinic is too busy. I don't like the factory style and I don't like being asked to put money into a service I might decide not to receive. And once you give them your deposit, it's going to be a struggle to get it back, they will try their hardest to pressure you into getting the surgery. In a foreign country with someone who has an MD attached to their name telling you what to do, it's VERY easy to get pressured into doing things you don't really want to. Don't let them prey on your insecurities and anxiousness to get PS over and done with. You want what YOU want. No, just because a clinic ask for a deposit doesn't mean it's a bad clinic, but I'd say be cautious either way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ladybugz Posted March 8, 2014 Share Posted March 8, 2014 I so agree with this thread. You lose ALL negotiating power (as well as the power to walk away, unless you have tons of money) when you deposit. Many clinics tried to get me to do that; I just told them I hadn't made up my mind yet. They'll live. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigbird9898 Posted March 8, 2014 Share Posted March 8, 2014 thank you Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shinyglittery Posted March 12, 2014 Author Share Posted March 12, 2014 Yoshiee, K*Couture thank you for explaining why I made this thread *anyone can fall victim, I was thinking about these things too, deposits in advance and in one moment you know that you can't put down a deposit before seeing anyone but in another moment you can be so in love with results you see from one clinic you may forget what makes sense! at least for a moment. and sometimes that moment can be enough. but we should always remember to stay calm and reasonable and not do anything foolish. it can happen in anything. for example, I know how easy it is to photoshop a better skin, a better face in a way that doesn't look photoshopped but sometimes I forget it and just admire at the results. it's hard to remember that not everything you see is necessarily true. but hopefully if you remind yourself about these things. hopefully you can stop yourself before you make a foolish choice.* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vichyk Posted May 13, 2014 Share Posted May 13, 2014 True, but I dont think any of my korean friends are that interested in PS (or they arent telling me), they prbbly dont know much about the surgeons either. If someone asks who is the best brain surgeon in Montreal, I prbbly wont be able to point his/her to the right direction. Sigh... P.s., how do I know who is the doctor that preformed the surgeries in the before and afters? I think my biggest problem right now is that I'm evaluating the clinics instead of the surgeons which is wrong wrong wrong. Do you happen to know any link to maybe a list of reputable surgeons, or similarily a list of black-list surgeons? Am I making sense, thank you Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
k-couture Posted May 13, 2014 Share Posted May 13, 2014 i think one of your problems is that you are basing part of your decision of before and after pictures. Do not do that. Its highly inaccurate, not just because there are clinics known to use photoshop but also because it gives a false sense of expectation. Your surgeon can only enhance your current features based on your original structure and tissue elasticity. It is for that reason that i never bother to view before and afters during consultations. Too often people bring in a picture of a kpop star and ask to have that nose or those eyes and end up disappointed. You evaluate your surgeon based on his surgical methodology in comparison with that of others and decide which is the least invasive and yields the best relative results. Another great way to select a surgeon is to speak to post op patients in the waiting room, see their results (u can usually tell beyond the swelling) and ask about post op care. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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