Have you recently seen referral companies offering breast augmentation for $2999? So have we.

There are several new doctor referral companies that promise extraordinary discounts and are making their presence known on the Internet. If you have used any of the major search engines in the past few months, I’m sure you’ve seen them. They promise board certified surgeons will perform breast augmentation for a startling, ridiculously low price.

The truth is, in many cases, by the time you’re handed the final bill, it’s a far cry from the advertised fee.

When a woman first contacts these companies through their ads they may be surprised to find that they are not allowed to know who their doctor will be until they have paid up to a $500 deposit by credit card. Granted, it’s a refundable fee. Well, normally, all but $50 of it is. The doctor gets $50 for his/her consultation time (which is reasonable.)

Before meeting your surgeon at the consultation, you will first be given a sheet of conditions by a rep from one of these referral companies. After the consultation with the surgeon, the referral service will sit down with you and discuss the actual price of your surgery. This is where you’ll find that it’s very often nowhere near $2999.

If your surgeon does not recommend over-the-muscle placement of the implant (and most won’t) you’ll find an additional fee of around $1000 tacked onto your bill. If the surgeon uses a surgery facility that is not on the premises (and most do not have their own surgery center) you are looking at an additional fee of at least $500 added to your “discount.” Should you or your physician decide that a smooth, round implant is not suitable, an implant upgrade fee will be tacked on for another +/- $500.

So your fantastic $2999 discount has suddenly become a disturbing $4999 (and maybe more), all in the course of an hour. Frustrated? Most women who use these types of services are. Surgeons who have discussed the matter with us tell us that though their patients are happy with the results of the surgery, they feel a “bait and switch” was pulled on them and can’t help but hold the surgeons somewhat responsible. Unfortunately, it is very likely that this can threaten the surgeon’s reputation.

For the surgeon’s part, they supply the same high quality service and are paid almost nothing from the additional fees. Those fees go to the referral company. The surgeon covers all the costs of the procedure and often sees less for his/her efforts than the referral service does.

So why do women use this service? Because the initial lure of $2999 is not uncovered until they’ve already deposited $500 and are in the surgeon’s office. Once there, it’s human nature to want to finish a purchase they have already put on “lay-away”, to say nothing of the initial discomfort most people feel discussing their body with a stranger. Plus, the woman has to make her surgery decision and pay in full before leaving the surgeon’s office, otherwise “their deposit could be in jeopardy.” If this sounds like an experience on a used car lot, give some thought to how you plan on financing your surgery.

One last caveat: should you pay in full but then decide against surgery, you have one year to reschedule. However, you will not be given a refund. So if you have a change of heart concerning your body and surgery in general, you just paid full price for that revelation. This is something you signed and agreed to in that initial sheet of conditions that the company’s representative handed to you on your consultation day. You just paid thousands of dollars for the freedom of choice.

We cannot state emphatically enough that you must take the price of your surgery as only part of the overall package. You must first thoroughly research your surgeon and visit the doctor to see if you actually like and trust him or her. Then and only then should you consider the price. If you think you’ve found a shortcut to great savings in a field that has existed in it’s present state for over 40 years, chances are that you’ll find some unwelcome surprises hiding in the bushes. If you know of anyone who is thinking of using a service like the ones described above, please show them you care and direct them to this article. You could be saving them a great deal of time, money and frustration.