Licensed Medical Tourism Company

Seoul Guide Medical is an incorporated legal entity in South Korea based in Seoul. Under Korean law, all documentation has been granted and a medical tourism certificate granted. SGM is fully insured as required by the National Korean Government.

Payment and Refund Polices

Please note that Seoul Guide Medical does not make the following policies. The policies are created by clinics under Korean law. We have gathered the general information here in one spot so you can see the general guidelines but they differ from clinic to clinic.

Payment Policy

Payment for all procedures must be done before treatment starts. Clinics normally accept: cash, bank transfer and credit card payments. In some cases, Paypal may be accepted. The sender is responsible for all transaction fees to ensure that the clinic receives the surgery payment in full. International credit card companies often limit card transaction daily limits for security purposes. To make sure you can pay for your procedure, please call the bank and tell them you will come to Korea and use your card to make payments. Increasing your daily spending limit is advised, especially when paying for a surgical procedure in Korea. To secure a surgery date, you will need to send a deposit to the clinic or hospital. Once the deposit is received on the clinic’s end, your surgery slot will be considered booked. The deposit amount is usually 10% of the total fee, but this may vary according to each clinic and procedure. If you do not pay a deposit, your surgery date cannot be guaranteed. This is standard clinic/hospital policy in Korea.

Refund Policy

Korea Standard Refund Policy

The refund policy for each clinic is slightly different. The Refund Policy For Clinics Under Korean Law
Legislation 2014-4 of the Korea Consumer Agency states that clinics are to determine their own refund policy. The following is a widely implemented refund policy:

Surgery Refund Policy

-No refund will be made once the surgery has begun.
-There are no partial or full refunds in any way, shape or form for dissatisfaction with your surgery. This is the standard policy across Korea. It is standard practice in Korea that you sign a waiver before your surgery which includes this information. There is no clinic or hospital in Korea that will perform your surgery without a waiver.
-There is no reimbursement of any personal expenses for any reason.

Deposit Refund Policy

Please keep in mind that your surgery time slot is set aside specifically for you, including all the post surgery checkup timeslots needed. Cancellations cost financial implications for other patients and the clinic/hospital. Your deposit ensures that you will be present at the clinic at the promised time in order to receive the treatment you booked for. The clinic sets aside the doctor’s time, nurses’ times, surgical rooms, recovery rooms, medical equipment and all other preparations necessary in order to provide you with the treatment you wish to receive. Upon cancellation on short notice, the clinic will not be able to prepare for another patient or schedule another patient who wished to receive treatment at that time, leaving the clinic with no patients at your timeslot. Due to the difficulty in scheduling another patient at that time or receiving full payment of a treatment, clinics do not alter their refund policy or make exceptions in any case.

Your deposit may be partially refundable in the following circumstances:

Partial Deposit Refund Policy:

Category 1: 14+ business days notice before treatment – 90% refund
Category 2: 10-13 business days notice before treatment- 50% refund
Category 3: 7-9 business days notice before treatment – 20% refund
Category 4: Less than 7 business days notice before treatment – 0% refund

* Clinics have different working hours but the general office hours for refund purposes is 9:30am to 7pm Monday to Friday Korean standard time. A business day is counted within these working hours. Even though clinics and hospitals are usually open on Saturdays, the administration staff is not fully present and thus Monday to Friday are considered standard business days.
**Standard Example of a cancellation request:
If you e-mail a cancellation request on a business day at 8pm Korean standard time on the 14th business day before surgery, it is after working hours and it will be classified as received on the next business day. This means that it is classified as Category 2 (10-13 business days notice) and you are entitled to 50% of the deposit to be returned.
*All cancellations must be done in writing and sent to our e-mail address: consult@seoulguidemedical.com . A phone call or text message is not sufficient. The time stamp on the e-mail will be used to determine any timing issues.
*Please note that deposits will be returned minus any sending fees we have to incur from the sending method. These are things like bank fees, Pay Pal fees etc.
*Please note that all the cancellation requests made during Korean Holidays are not considered business days.
*Please note that we have no power to change clinic/hospital refund policies. According to Korean law they have all rights to determine their own refund policy and they rarely if ever alter it.

South Korea/Public holidays (2020)