Question about ATMs in Turkey (Booked with Dr. Erdogan)

[ScientistGuy]

I am scheduled for surgery with Dr. Erdogan in mid-June and sent my 1000 euro deposit a few days ago, but now I am curious about the best ways to exchange USD for Euro.

 

My bank (Wells Fargo) has a terrible exchange rate, and I read that ATM withdrawals are limited to a max of 1000.

 

Since I am going three days before the actual surgery, I was thinking that I could pull out $3000 over those 3 days from an ATM to help reduce the amount that I would need to exchange from the bank.

 

Has anyone gone through a similar process? Or any advice?

 

Thank you

[JustJax]

I am scheduled for surgery with Dr. Erdogan in mid-June and sent my 1000 euro deposit a few days ago, but now I am curious about the best ways to exchange USD for Euro.

 

My bank (Wells Fargo) has a terrible exchange rate, and I read that ATM withdrawals are limited to a max of 1000.

 

Since I am going three days before the actual surgery, I was thinking that I could pull out $3000 over those 3 days from an ATM to help reduce the amount that I would need to exchange from the bank.

 

Has anyone gone through a similar process? Or any advice?

 

Thank you

Have a look online for other companies that have better currency rates, you'll probably find plenty with better rates than the bank. Not sure with American banks, but UK banks charge a fee for withdrawing cash from overseas ATM's. I think its something like 2%, so if you withdrew the equivalent of $10k then you'd also land up paying $200 in fees too. Have you paid for the airport transfers with ASMED? If you have then you'll be picked up straight off the flight at the airport, so you could get a money belt and as soon as you get to the hotel put it in your room safe. Also, you could get your Euro's in very high denomination notes (they have 200 and 500 euro notes) so you could easily carry quite a high amount very discreetly.

[ScientistGuy]

Have a look online for other companies that have better currency rates, you'll probably find plenty with better rates than the bank. Not sure with American banks, but UK banks charge a fee for withdrawing cash from overseas ATM's. I think its something like 2%, so if you withdrew the equivalent of $10k then you'd also land up paying $200 in fees too. Have you paid for the airport transfers with ASMED? If you have then you'll be picked up straight off the flight at the airport, so you could get a money belt and as soon as you get to the hotel put it in your room safe. Also, you could get your Euro's in very high denomination notes (they have 200 and 500 euro notes) so you could easily carry quite a high amount very discreetly.

 

Thank you for the detailed reply!

 

I did look at online companies but the rates all seemed very similar. At Wells Fargo, I am looking at around 6% in fees to convert the money.

 

I will need to take roughly 7800 euros with me for my surgery (this covers the surgery, hotel, driver transfer fees and post-op medications).

 

So basically 8000 EUR = $8886 USD.

 

Wells Fargo wants $9,424.00 to do this which is about 6% in fees... absolutely terrible.

 

I was thinking possibly converting the money in Turkey because I heard that might be cheaper, but I have zero clue where to go and do that.

 

I will have to email and ask if they also take USD as payment, but I highly doubt that they do.

[JustJax]

Thank you for the detailed reply!

 

I did look at online companies but the rates all seemed very similar. At Wells Fargo, I am looking at around 6% in fees to convert the money.

 

I will need to take roughly 7800 euros with me for my surgery (this covers the surgery, hotel, driver transfer fees and post-op medications).

 

So basically 8000 EUR = $8886 USD.

 

Wells Fargo wants $9,424.00 to do this which is about 6% in fees... absolutely terrible.

 

I was thinking possibly converting the money in Turkey because I heard that might be cheaper, but I have zero clue where to go and do that.

 

I will have to email and ask if they also take USD as payment, but I highly doubt that they do.

No harm in asking the clinic. I'm sure I read on one thread that someone paid in British pounds. In terms of exchange rates, I'm not sure where in the States you are? But maybe Google "bureau de change" and your local city and see what comes up. Small Bureau de change tend to have better rates. For example we have a London based chain called Thomas Global Exchange and today they are offer 1.30 euros or 1.00 GBP/pound, while Barclays, one of the UK's leading banks are only offering rates at 1.23 which would means I'd be paying approx ?316 pounds more for the same amount of euros.

 

So when exactly is your surgery? I do hope you are planning to share your experience on the forum, particularly as you are having your HT done at Asmed as I'm also paying my deposit this week with Asmed for surgery on Oct 11th :cool:

[ScientistGuy]

I am in California, but having no luck with any cities near by as far as the exchange rate goes. Thank you, I did look into your suggestion about the bureau de change.

 

Surgery is scheduled for the week of June 13th, so in two weeks! I definitely plan to share my experience because I feel some details were lacking in other reviews that I would have loved to see answers for... so I plan to contribute in a way that I feel people researching years down the line might appreciate.

 

On a side note:

 

After going through countless pages of reviews on Ataturk airport, I grew slightly anxious and a bit intimidated, especially because I am heading back home two days post-op and wouldn't want to deal with those same scenarios/horror stories.

 

Istanbul Ataturk Airport Customer Reviews | SKYTRAX

 

So I decided to do CIP Prime Class which basically allows you to sit in the lounge, eat, rest, and allows you to enter a special line for expedited customs/passport check in etc. with an assistant who guides the whole process. (Costs around $100 roughly for the CIP service).

 

Istanbul Atat?rk Airport International Terminal VIP Departures Service

 

I figured on my way back home, this would be the most stress free way to go about it; as such, I plan to review that extensively as well.

[JustJax]

I am in California, but having no luck with any cities near by as far as the exchange rate goes. Thank you, I did look into your suggestion about the bureau de change.

 

Surgery is scheduled for the week of June 13th, so in two weeks! I definitely plan to share my experience because I feel some details were lacking in other reviews that I would have loved to see answers for... so I plan to contribute in a way that I feel people researching years down the line might appreciate. .

 

Yes definitely check out local bureau de change branches/stores as I think they'll offer better rates. Looking forward to reading about your journey too. I love all the detailed threads as they really do help and set expectations, etc. Out of curiosity what made you choose Dr Erdogan/Asmed?

On a side note:

 

After going through countless pages of reviews on Ataturk airport, I grew slightly anxious and a bit intimidated, especially because I am heading back home two days post-op and wouldn't want to deal with those same scenarios/horror stories.

 

Istanbul Ataturk Airport Customer Reviews | SKYTRAX

 

So I decided to do CIP Prime Class which basically allows you to sit in the lounge, eat, rest, and allows you to enter a special line for expedited customs/passport check in etc. with an assistant who guides the whole process. (Costs around $100 roughly for the CIP service).

 

Istanbul Atat?rk Airport International Terminal VIP Departures Service

 

I hadn't overly considered the airport. From what I've read Ataturk is very busy due to running at max capacity. I'm actually flying in and out of SAW (Istanbul Sabiha G?k?en Airport) which while busy, I think its probably better than Ataturk. Doesn't look like they have Prime Class at SAW, but it seems like they have something called FastTrack and for 65 TL (which is about 15 GBP/pounds) and that seems to give you fast track for passport and access to international lounge. Can't seem to find much info on it on the airport site but if its just 15 GBP then its probably worth it just to have a slightly more relaxed area to wait in.

[mav23100gunther]

I believe Erdogan will accept payment in US dollars cash (read this in another thread). It's scary how the staff at his clinic must all know patients are flying in carrying so much cash - definitely open up the door for gangs and syndicates. Regardless, check with the clinic if they accept US dollars and that cash in your underpants or something

[JustJax]

ScientistGuy, I spoke with ASMED today and they confirmed the except British pounds so I suspect they'll do the same for dollars. Ask them just to confirm.

Need to ask them how they decide the exchange rates though, don't want to go planing to pay in GBP pounds but then find out on the day the rate is pretty bad.