(warning: 2nd tri loss mentioned; early surrogate pgcy men\'d)
Hi guys,
I posted this over on the egg donor board, but thought I'd post this here in case anyone here was looking at this agency. Please feel free to PM me or contact me however you feel comfortable if you have any questions about this egg donor "agency."
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I know I haven't posted on the egg donor boards in awhile...I used to be an active poster on this board, but after going through 4 egg donors, 8 IVFs and a 20 weeks egg donor loss, I just haven't been up to it...
In any case, we are pushing forward, this time with a proven egg donor, a proven sperm donor and a wonderful gestational carrier we were matched with in Dallas, TX. Here is what happend to us:
The clinic we used had just had a wonderful egg donor go through who was willing to donate again, so we thought- easy, we'll just go with her! Thus, we were "forced" to use whatever donor agency she had been signed up with, which was the Dallas, Texas based "Surrogate Parenting Center of Texas,"
spct.org
The IVF clinic told us that this agency was, if you will, kind of 2nd tier, their egg donors weren't the most responsible and they never usually recommend this agency. However, the donor that had just gone through was actually wonderful, made all her appointments early, took her meds perfectly and provided a whopping 9 PGD-normal embryos. Not to mention she was a NASA rocket scientist. We thought we had finally gotten a lucky break as we were able to cycle right away.
All was set, my GC was on her meds, the IVF cycle was paid for, DH and I had flights to Texas for the transfer, and after losing our baby at 20 weeks a few months prior, were really banking on this, our 9th IVF (we are unexplained, I am only 33 years old.) I get a phonecall at work that no one has heard from my egg donor, then later that the agency (NOT the doctor's office) received a cryptic email from her saying she was in a small car accident and was being kept in the hospital overnight for observation but still really wanted to donate and did not want to mess up our cycle. The agency told the clinic about the email, the doc said no problem, come in right away and we'll just switch you to an Antagon cycle since you already missed the cutoff to begin Lupron.
That was it- no one ever heard from her ever again. I had already paid the $5,500 in donor compensation and a whopping $3,500 in the agency fee, of which the agency did NOTHING since I came to them with the donor I wanted.
We were informed she had disapeared on us on June 17th. Today is October 6th. I have not received one penny back from SPCT. They say the agency fee is non-refundable but that the donor comp is. After weeks and weeks of no contact, not getting them on the phone or via email, they finally said the "check is in the mail." That was 15 days ago.
At this point, I have told them my Texas lawyer is contacting them. I am active in RESOLVE and know many people there and will make sure they know of this "business."
Please- if anyone is in the Texas area who is interested in either egg donation or surrogacy- please, please stay away from this company. I do not trust them; and because our GC is in Texas I randomly have heard of other surrogates in the area who use them and they, well, let's just say they are not being surrogates for what I believe are the right reasons....
I am more than happy to come back here and update you guys on what happens. I also have a blog where I write about this stuff (warning: early pg mentioned on the blog.) If you have any questions about anything, I am VERY open about this and everything so feel free to ask here or if you are more comfortable, to PM me or email me.
Ok, I'll get off my soapbox now, but I really want to avoid this from happening to a fellow IFer.
Sunshine
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Edited to add- After writing such a negative post, here is something POSITIVE:
The agency I used to match me with my carrier has been an absolute dream to work with. They are called Surrogacy Options:
surrogacyoptions.com
And the NEW egg donor agency I used which matched with a NORMAL egg donor was The Donor Solution (NYU uses them as well):
thedonorsolution.com