Paying Pekiner in cash

[Jackhair]

I have a transplant with Pekiner next week and I’ve been asked to pay in cash, has anyone here had any experiences in paying in cash, ideally in Turkey, and specifically with Pekiner.

[Anon94]

Seems to be the standard in turkey. From what I've read the government demands a 10% or so fee on card payments from accounts outside of turkey. 

There might also be some tax-dodging happening of course. 

At least until 10k€ it shouldn't be an issue in terms of travel. Beyond that you are probably still fine, but some places do have restrictions on how much cash you can enter the country with. 

[StillAlive]

It's a tax evasion thing and in our case, a win-win. 

Check the cash limit for going in the country, I believe 10K is correct. If you need extra, you can make an ATM withdrawal in euros or dollars while there.

Good luck and Godspeed!

[Spring15]

Yes I paid Dr Pekiner in Euros. If it's over 10k you might need to declare at customs when flying

[NegativeNorwood]

Let me get this straight:

- You'll fly to Turkey with 10k euros at hand (as if no one could rob you or you couldn't lose your luggage with your money there).

- Pekiner would have to pay 10% taxes if you pay him via debit card or bank transfer (very low, I'm not pro taxes but still 10% is quite fair. IE: Andorra is a tax haven and has 10% taxes). Tax haven tier low taxes are still not enough for him, so you have to take this huge risk of carrying large amounts of money instead of paying via bank transfer like any normal person would.

- He doesn't have proper after pictures of his work, just patient posted selfies and is not recommended here. I would understand the struggle if he had high resolution pictures taken with a pro camera showing Konior tier results at the 3€ per graft rate he charges, but not with useless low resolution, lens distorted patient posted selfies taken with phones.

Idk man, sounds risky af. Best luck.

 

Edited March 16, 2023 by NegativeNorwood

[BaldDude]

Yes to avoid a 40% tax.

[StillAlive]

This is super common in all developing countries and particularly when it comes to luxury goods deals.

Essentially you fly over with a big envelope of cash and your heart in your throat, much like a dyed-in-the-wool hobbyist. 

All part and parcel of the excitement and adventure

[NegativeNorwood]

38 minutes ago, BaldBobby said:

Yes to avoid a 40% tax.

 

40% tax is abusive IMO, that's quite understandable by him then tbh. But doing that to avoid paying 10% tax would be hilarious ngl, almost Bond villain tier lmao.

[ScottishGuy21]

Yes I had a procedure in Turkey, not with the same Dr but I also paid in cash. It’s pretty standard over there

[Anon94]

8 hours ago, NegativeNorwood said:

Let me get this straight:

- You'll fly to Turkey with 10k euros at hand (as if no one could rob you or you couldn't lose your luggage with your money there).

- Pekiner would have to pay 10% taxes if you pay him via debit card or bank transfer (very low, I'm not pro taxes but still 10% is quite fair. IE: Andorra is a tax haven and has 10% taxes). Tax haven tier low taxes are still not enough for him, so you have to take this huge risk of carrying large amounts of money instead of paying via bank transfer like any normal person would.

- He doesn't have proper after pictures of his work, just patient posted selfies and is not recommended here. I would understand the struggle if he had high resolution pictures taken with a pro camera showing Konior tier results at the 3€ per graft rate he charges, but not with useless low resolution, lens distorted patient posted selfies taken with phones.

Idk man, sounds risky af. Best luck.

 

Sorry, but some people on this forum are getting ridiculous now. There are tons of results of this doctor all over the internet, way more than many doctors that are recommended on here. 

 

You can criticize his patient advisor for being a dick, but the work speaks for itself. 

 

Since when is it more reliable to have the doctor pick and choose some cases that they present, instead of patient reports, who would also share if they had negative experiences or results? You can look on this forum, on Reddit and on other popular forums. Vast majority are great results. 

Sure it's not Konior, but you are also not paying like $20 a graft. Not everyone has that type of money. 

Paying cash is standard procedure for all the docs in turkey. Even the ones recommended by this forum. And why wouldn't the docs want it? I wouldn't want my money in Lira and I wouldn't want to pay 10% just for a different payment method. 

Edited March 16, 2023 by Anon94

[ostein]

Perhaps the Doctor might except Bitcoin as an alternative traveling with so much cash?

[NegativeNorwood]

33 minutes ago, Anon94 said:

Sorry, but some people on this forum are getting ridiculous now. There are tons of results of this doctor all over the internet, way more than many doctors that are recommended on here. 

 

You can criticize his patient advisor for being a dick, but the work speaks for itself. 

 

Since when is it more reliable to have the doctor pick and choose some cases that they present, instead of patient reports, who would also share if they had negative experiences or results? You can look on this forum, on Reddit and on other popular forums. Vast majority are great results. 

Sure it's not Konior, but you are also not paying like $20 a graft. Not everyone has that type of money. 

Paying cash is standard procedure for all the docs in turkey. Even the ones recommended by this forum. And why wouldn't the docs want it? I wouldn't want my money in Lira and I wouldn't want to pay 10% just for a different payment method. 

 

How is stating facts getting ridiculously low? 

Pictures are the most important and low resolution patient posted selfies don't let you see the work clearly. You don't know how good Pekiner is, he could even be better than Konior, but you can't tell with those pics. This is how a proper, well reputed doctor that charges 3€ per graft presents his work:

You may like or not like his work, but at least you can see it clearly and judge for yourself. Patient posted selfies taken with low resolution, lens distorted cellphone cameras don't mean anything, doesn't matter if from 1 or 1000 patients. 0 multiplied by any number is still 0.

You imagine the results are good, because you can't know it 100% without good pictures (which he doesn't present, and that's his choice, 100%. He doesn't present his work well because he doesn't want to, not because he can't, and that's bad for everyone, him included if his work is actually good.)

It is what it is, you can spin and twist it in the most colorful way possible, but facts are facts.

Imagine risking losing 5 figures cash on hand and engaging in shady tax evasion tactics for the benefit of third parties when you can get world class results by the same price in different countries, paying with your debit card or via bank transfer. All of that for a doctor who's results you imagine to be good (yes, imagine, because again, you can't tell with those pics).

Paying large sums of money in physical cash may be normal in some countries, and so was incest among royalty centuries ago. Normal or standard doesn't mean good. That's not a good reason. And 10% taxes is very low btw, Andorra is a certified tax haven and has 10% taxes. More than that is abusive IMO, I agree with that btw.

Edited March 16, 2023 by NegativeNorwood

[Anon94]

 

44 minutes ago, NegativeNorwood said:

 

 

Sorry, it's not letting me deleted this quote. 

Comparing paying in cash to incest is quite the leap. As I said, clinics recommend by this forum, like FUEcapilar, will also advise paying in cash. You can pay by card, but that will increase the price of the surgery. If that's ok for the patient, they will just have to communicate that to the doctor. 

 

As for the pictures, that's only true for this forum, where doctors are only allowed to post if they pay the monthly fee. You can find high quality picture of cases elsewhere. I'm not trying to criticize this forum by saying that - it's needs to get financed in some way. But just because a doctor isn't active on here doesn't mean they aren't good.

 

Even on this forum you can find some cases with plenty fine picture quality for both pre-surgery, post-surgery, and the months after.

I personally prefer patient posted pictures, since they won't filter for quality. 

[NegativeNorwood]

6 minutes ago, Anon94 said:

As for the pictures, that's only true for this forum, where doctors are only allowed to post if they pay the monthly fee. You can find high quality picture of cases elsewhere. I'm not trying to criticize this forum by saying that - it's needs to get financed in some way. But just because a doctor isn't active on here doesn't mean they aren't good.

 

Even on this forum you can find some cases with plenty fine picture quality for both pre-surgery, post-surgery, and the months after.

I personally prefer patient posted pictures, since they won't filter for quality. 

 

I'm talking about his pictures posted on Reddit and Bellicapelli, not here. It doesn't matter if they are posted by him or the patients, they have to be taken with a pro camera, with hair slicked back, wet and dry to be valid. You are looking at the wrong things.

Patient posted pictures are great, if they are taken properly (high quality camera, hair slicked back, wet and dry)...and guess what, 99.999% of the time they aren't, because they are taken with phones. Same with clinic posted pictures, no excuses to be a clinic and post pictures taken with cellphones or low light levels to fraud density.

You have to look at the quality of the pictures, not who posted them. Doesn't matter if on Reddit, Bellicapelli or Facebook, he doesn't have quality pictures of his work posted, either by him or his patients, period. No way around it.

Edited March 16, 2023 by NegativeNorwood

[NegativeNorwood]

@Anon94 This is a Pekiner patient. 16 months result. Does he have doubles or triples in his hairline? Does it have enough micro and macro irregularities to look natural? Does it look soft or harsh to you? Answer: you can't tell with this pic because you don't have x ray vision or superpowers

 

Another Pekiner patient. Again, 16 months result. Same questions as before. Answer: you can't tell with this pic because you don't have x ray vision or superpowers

 

 

Compare it with this:

 

16 months post op. Night and day difference, now you can see the hairline clearly (and conclude that the surgeon did a great work). According to you, the Pekiner ones are better because they are posted by the patients, and this are worse because they are posted by a clinic. Just use your eyes to see how wrong you are.

It doesn't matter if Pekiner has 1 or 3000 patient posted cases online, with those pictures it is irrelevant. It's the same as not posting any picture because they are useless. The sooner you learn this, the better for you.

Edited March 17, 2023 by Melvin- Moderator
Removed links

[Anon94]

1 hour ago, NegativeNorwood said:

 

I'm talking about his pictures posted on Reddit and Bellicapelli, not here. It doesn't matter if they are posted by him or the patients, they have to be taken with a pro camera, with hair slicked back, wet and dry to be valid. You are looking at the wrong things.

Patient posted pictures are great, if they are taken properly (high quality camera, hair slicked back, wet and dry)...and guess what, 99.999% of the time they aren't, because they are taken with phones. Same with clinic posted pictures, no excuses to be a clinic and post pictures taken with cellphones or low light levels to fraud density.

You have to look at the quality of the pictures, not who posted them. Doesn't matter if on Reddit, Bellicapelli or Facebook, he doesn't have quality pictures of his work posted, either by him or his patients, period. No way around it.

Just because you say it doesn't make it true. There are multiple cases documented with high quality cameras on the italian forum. 

I don't think links are allowed, otherwise I'd post some. 

Either way, it's definitely possible to somewhat judge off cellphone pictures. We have plenty of posts like that on this forum from all types of doctors. As long as it's in natural lighting the quality is absolutely sufficient. 

That's how most cases on this forum are presented. People getting work done abroad won't just fly back to their doctor to take some "after"-shots. 

 

I'll be down in a month, I'll try to post as best I can after. 

[Spring15]

Are we really questioning the authenticity of Pekiner's results? There's enough photos posted on the internet with poor, low, high quality resolution to determine he is world class..

[NegativeNorwood]

10 hours ago, Anon94 said:

Just because you say it doesn't make it true. There are multiple cases documented with high quality cameras on the italian forum. 

I don't think links are allowed, otherwise I'd post some. 

Either way, it's definitely possible to somewhat judge off cellphone pictures. We have plenty of posts like that on this forum from all types of doctors. As long as it's in natural lighting the quality is absolutely sufficient. 

That's how most cases on this forum are presented. People getting work done abroad won't just fly back to their doctor to take some "after"-shots. 

 

I'll be down in a month, I'll try to post as best I can after. 

 

Two words: keep coping

And: good luck, unironically you are going to need it.

1 hour ago, Spring15 said:

Are we really questioning the authenticity of Pekiner's results? There's enough photos posted on the internet with poor, low, high quality resolution to determine he is world class..

Not the authenticity (his patients  clearly are real), the quality. Because those pictures are useless to draw conclusions. Read this, the pictures were taken from the italian forum and were posted by him, the links were removed:

11 hours ago, NegativeNorwood said:

@Anon94 This is a Pekiner patient. 16 months result. Does he have doubles or triples in his hairline? Does it have enough micro and macro irregularities to look natural? Does it look soft or harsh to you? Answer: you can't tell with this pic because you don't have x ray vision or superpowers

 

Another Pekiner patient. Again, 16 months result. Same questions as before. Answer: you can't tell with this pic because you don't have x ray vision or superpowers

 

 

Compare it with this:

 

16 months post op. Night and day difference, now you can see the hairline clearly (and conclude that the surgeon did a great work). According to you, the Pekiner ones are better because they are posted by the patients, and this are worse because they are posted by a clinic. Just use your eyes to see how wrong you are.

It doesn't matter if Pekiner has 1 or 3000 patient posted cases online, with those pictures it is irrelevant. It's the same as not posting any picture because they are useless. The sooner you learn this, the better for you.

 

 

 

[BaldGuy]

12 hours ago, NegativeNorwood said:

 

How is stating facts getting ridiculously low? 

Pictures are the most important and low resolution patient posted selfies don't let you see the work clearly. You don't know how good Pekiner is, he could even be better than Konior, but you can't tell with those pics. This is how a proper, well reputed doctor that charges 3€ per graft presents his work:

You may like or not like his work, but at least you can see it clearly and judge for yourself. Patient posted selfies taken with low resolution, lens distorted cellphone cameras don't mean anything, doesn't matter if from 1 or 1000 patients. 0 multiplied by any number is still 0.

You imagine the results are good, because you can't know it 100% without good pictures (which he doesn't present, and that's his choice, 100%. He doesn't present his work well because he doesn't want to, not because he can't, and that's bad for everyone, him included if his work is actually good.)

It is what it is, you can spin and twist it in the most colorful way possible, but facts are facts.

Imagine risking losing 5 figures cash on hand and engaging in shady tax evasion tactics for the benefit of third parties when you can get world class results by the same price in different countries, paying with your debit card or via bank transfer. All of that for a doctor who's results you imagine to be good (yes, imagine, because again, you can't tell with those pics).

Paying large sums of money in physical cash may be normal in some countries, and so was incest among royalty centuries ago. Normal or standard doesn't mean good. That's not a good reason. And 10% taxes is very low btw, Andorra is a certified tax haven and has 10% taxes. More than that is abusive IMO, I agree with that btw.

You cant compare photos posted by a clinic with patient cases. Photos that are posted by a clinic are not trustable since the clinic wants to promote its work, so you can't really know if the cases that are posted by a clinic have been edited by the clinic itself to make the result look better than it actually is.

In addition clinics post only their good cases and hide the bad ones, so you cant make any judgement about clinic's yield rates if you dont look at real patient cases posted by the patients.

People should focus on real patient cases POSTED BY PATIENTS THEMSELVES, and not to the cases that are posted by a clinic which might be not real with photoshop motnage...who knows? A clinic would do everything to promote its work and get more patients.

Edited March 17, 2023 by BaldGuy

[ITA]

The Italian forum is not reliable, Pekiner's consultant is a moderator there, even if for me, Pekiner is one of the best surgeons in the world.

[NegativeNorwood]

45 minutes ago, BaldGuy said:

You cant compare photos posted by a clinic with patient cases. Photos that are posted by a clinic are not trustable since the clinic wants to promote its work, so you can't really know if the cases that are posted by a clinic have been edited by the clinic itself to make the result look better than it actually is.

In addition clinics post only their good cases and hide the bad ones, so you cant make any judgement about clinic's yield rates if you dont look at real patient cases posted by the patients.

People should focus on real patient cases POSTED BY PATIENTS THEMSELVES, and not to the cases that are posted by a clinic which might be not real with photoshop motnage...who knows? A clinic would do everything to promote its work and get more patients.

 

Probably edited, can't be trusted because is posted by the clinic:

Trusworthy, can see the hairline perfectly and 100% valid because it is posted by a patient:

 

LOL, no comments.

Hair mills exist thanks to people like you, no doubt about it.

 

[BaldGuy]

32 minutes ago, NegativeNorwood said:

 

Probably edited, can't be trusted because is posted by the clinic:

Trusworthy, can see the hairline perfectly and 100% valid because it is posted by a patient:

 

LOL, no comments.

Hair mills exist thanks to people like you, no doubt about it.

 

This makes no sense. You have an agenda by trying to sabotage Dr Pekiner, who is one of the best doctors worldwide with the most patient cases posted, which are real!!!

I just only say the truth. You cant really trust photos that are posted by a clinic, since a clinic wants to promote its work. So how can you know if the clinic has edited or not its photos? Technology has evolved a lot nowdays, so clinics could edit their photos and you would not even understand it. I personally dont trust any clinic photos and i just focus on real patient cases, which i know are real and they post pictures every month on real time...not just a BEFORE-AFTER like the clinics results.

Thats why people should focus only on real patient cases, which are on real time and not like the ones posted by a clinic in which u dont know if they have been edited or not.

Edited March 17, 2023 by BaldGuy

[NegativeNorwood]

1 minute ago, BaldGuy said:

This makes no sense. You have an agenda by trying to sabotage Dr Pekiner, who is one of the best doctors worldwide with the most patient cases posted, which are real!!!

I just only say the truth. You cant really trust photos that are posted by a clinic, since a clinic wants to promote its work. So how can you know if the clinic has edited or not its photos? the Technology has evolved a lot nowayds, so clinics could edit their photos and you would not even understand it. I personally dont trust any clinic photos and i just focus on real patient cases, which i know are real and post pictures montly...not just a BEFORE-AFTER.

Thats why people should focus only on real patient cases, which are on real time and like the ones posted by a clinic in which u dont know if its edited or not.

 

Keep coping and doing mental gymnastics. I have no agenda against Pekiner and think the same about any doctor without proper pictures of his/her work.

Not going to lose more IQ points arguing with you.

[shiba1985]

On 3/16/2023 at 6:46 AM, NegativeNorwood said:

Let me get this straight:

- You'll fly to Turkey with 10k euros at hand (as if no one could rob you or you couldn't lose your luggage with your money there).

- Pekiner would have to pay 10% taxes if you pay him via debit card or bank transfer (very low, I'm not pro taxes but still 10% is quite fair. IE: Andorra is a tax haven and has 10% taxes). Tax haven tier low taxes are still not enough for him, so you have to take this huge risk of carrying large amounts of money instead of paying via bank transfer like any normal person would.

- He doesn't have proper after pictures of his work, just patient posted selfies and is not recommended here. I would understand the struggle if he had high resolution pictures taken with a pro camera showing Konior tier results at the 3€ per graft rate he charges, but not with useless low resolution, lens distorted patient posted selfies taken with phones.

Idk man, sounds risky af. Best luck.

 

I can understand your skepticism if there were  one or two results. but he literally has a large number of results posted by patients. There are post op photos as well. The reason he doesnt post on the board is cause he or his clinic is banned  or maybe there are some other forces at play behind the scenes that we dont know about. 

But to say only clinic posted results are valid is ludacris. If the results are only clinic posted, then people say there are not enough patient results. If there are a lot of patient results, then people like you say there are not enough clinic photos. make up your mind lol

[NegativeNorwood]

3 minutes ago, shiba1985 said:

I can understand your skepticism if there were  one or two results. but he literally has a large number of results posted by patients. There are post op photos as well. The reason he doesnt post on the board is cause he or his clinic is banned  or maybe there are some other forces at play behind the scenes that we dont know about. 

But to say only clinic posted results are valid is ludacris. If the results are only clinic posted, then people say there are not enough patient results. If there are a lot of patient results, then people like you say there are not enough clinic photos. make up your mind lol

It's not because he is banned here, it's because the quality of the pictures presented elsewhere. It doesn't matter if they are 1 or 2000, bad quality pictures are useless. 0 multiplied by any number is still 0.

Clinics have to present their work with high resolution, honest pictures. If they don't do it, that's their choice. If they don't do it, it's safe to assume they have something to hide.

Patient posted results are just a confirmation of the results posted by the clinic, and can't be solely used to judge the clinic's work because they are not taken with a good camera and following a detailed protocol, simple as that.

This is for any reputable hair transplant clinic, not just for Pekiner.

Not going to waste more energy with this btw.