Gary_Mc

I had a small mishap that required an ambulance ride in Würzburg. Service was great. Cost was vasty less than it would be in the USA. I just received the invoice in euros for the service with only 4 days until due.

I could wire transfer the payment and maybe that is the only way. The wire transfer will cost about the same as the ambulance fee. If I must...

I have emailed the firm to ask if it is possible to pay with a credit card on line. Waiting reply.

I just wondered if anyone had another suggestion. I assume that mailing the payment would involve finding someone to cut a check in euros. Plus it would be late.

Any other ideas that I have overlooked?

Thanks for any suggestions, Gary

travelhorizons

Invest a few cents in an international phone call state that you are phoning them in order to pay by credit card over the phone.

If they don't cooperate, send them a check in USD for the equivalent amount.

Question: look into whether your credit card provides any kind of travel insurance. Many do, and this would cover this expense.

traveller1959

The problem is that here in Germany we have a system of money transfer by bank accounts that is unknown in the USA. We call it SEPA. PLease ask your bank if they can do a SEPA money transfer without horrendous fees.

On the other side, we do not use checks any more here in Europe. Even cashing American Express travellers cheques is extremely expensive in Europe.

And the ambulance organization has probably no credit card charge system.

Do not worry too much about the four days. Send them an email with the following text:

Haben Sie ganz herzlichen Dank für den Notfalleinsatz mit dem Rettungswagen. Gern möchte ich Ihre Rechnung bezahlen, die vollkommen angemessen ist. Allerdings lebe ich in den USA und ich weiß nicht, wie ich Ihnen das Geld zukommmen lassen kann. Internationale Überweisungen zwischen USA und Deutschland sind sehr schwierig. Am einfachsten wäre es per Kreditkarte. Haben Sie dafür eine Möglichkeit? Oder haben Sie eine andere Möglichkeit, wie ich Ihnen das Geld senden kann? Kann ich Ihnen einfach Bargeld in US Dollar senden? - Bitte haben Sie ein paar Tage Geduld. Ich selber suche nach Wegen, wie ich das Geld transferieren kann. Mit freundlichen Grüßen

One option would be sending just cash in US Dollar bills. Would be the easiest way.

Send them the message and wait for the reply.

The ultimate option is that you send me the invoice and I transfer the money to them and you send me the Dollars with an envelope or some goodies from the U.S. worth the same amount.

PalenQ

Wow - guess I were lucky to fall flat on my nose in Naples, Italy where the initial visit to a train-station medico office, ensuing ambulance ride (blood all over my face) ensuing X-rays (of course showed nothing) and doctors' looks and all and when I asked 'how much do I owe' - they said nada - in socialist medicated Italy there was they said no way of charging for anything - ditto in Florence at the ER a few days later for stitch removal.

God Bless Italia!

Gary_Mc

Thanks for everyone's reply.

I have travel insurance (through my credit card company) but it requires that I pay the bill, file a claim with my own USA health insurance and then file a claim with them for what is not covered. Makes me wonder about the wisdom of my travel insurance purchase.

Thanks traveller1959. I appreciate your email suggestion and could read it. I could not have composed it. The invoice to me was in English so I hope it was alright to contact them in English. The invoice was from a billing firm (Zast Gmbh of München) collecting for the Bayerisches Rotes Kreuz Würzburg. As they are a professional billing firm, maybe they are more likely to accept a credit card or payment in dollars.

PalenQ. My care was not free but still much less that it would have been in the states: 85 euros for an emergency room visit with 5 stitches by a surgeon - and - 43 euros for the ambulance ride with EMT treatment of my wound.

I will call them if they do not have a suggestion in response to my email.

Gary_Mc

They accepted a personal check in dollars. They gave me the current day's exchange rate to use. Good out of a bad experience.

bvlenci

Care isn't free in Italy either, but Palenq doesn't let reality interfere with his fantasies. He happened to find a doctor who didn't know how to do the paperwork or couldn't be bothered. I've four times needed to take relatives to the emergency room in the almost-18 years I've lived in Italy. Once the relative wasn't charged, but the other times they were.

Or, considering the "socialist Italy" blather, maybe Palenq hasn't been in Italy in the past quarter century.

Michael

Other means of payment:

XE.com requires a registry as if opening a bank account, which might not be worth it for a single payment. You could try Transferwise; until fairly recently, the amount to be deposited could not be specified, only the amount to be withdrawn from a U.S. bank account. But this may be changing as it advertised an expansion of services in the States. It did not require the same amount of registry as xe.com.

Michael

BTW, my emergency ambulance ride in SF officially cost $1250 for a 3 mile ride, but I suspect that this is not what my insurance paid.