A few people said they first learned from my review that the deposit is non-refundable. I keep bringing it up whenever it feels like it might get buried, for the public interest and the common good.
I paid a 1 million won deposit to this clinic and tried to cancel the very next day, but I couldn’t get a single won back. The surgery date was still more than a month away.
They said they couldn’t refund it because it was the cost of the 3D implant, but in fact they never showed me a single manufactured 3D implant in front of my eyes. According to a front-desk employee who couldn’t keep quiet inside the clinic, they hadn’t even gotten to the printing stage, let alone actually made it. But later, maybe after receiving instructions, the consultation manager changed the story and said the implant had been made. The front-desk employee who had originally said it wasn’t made kept her mouth shut after that.
There are recordings of all of the above and notarized transcripts from a stenography office. I lost 1.1 million won, including the consultation fee, in just one day.
Even after filing a complaint with the Korea Consumer Agency, they still refused to refund anything. According to the agency staff, it is rare to find a clinic that has no intention of refunding even part of the money, let alone all of it.
The way they treat patients before surgery is already like this, so I worry what their attitude would be after surgery, especially if the result turns out badly. I didn’t actually have the surgery, so I don’t know how good their technique is. But I learned that for a doctor, skill is important, and so are basic decency, common sense, and character.
Please keep this in mind.