Cord Stem Cell Storage

£240 Savings On Stem Cell Storage For Newborn Babies

Have managed to negotiate £240 off for stem cell storage! Thank you for your inspiration MSE!
If 3 people from an anti natal class subscribe, potential savings of £390 for each child!!

Hello Everyone, expecting our first child and looking into stem cord cell storage.

Does anyone have any experience advice or feedback for this procedure?

Although I feel this should be part of the NHS as a standard procedure for all children inspired by MSE I have approached a company to see if there are any savings possible where the system is at the moment:

There now follows the transcript of the conversation I had with a stem UK cell storage company



Customer support
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Chat started

You —Where is the laboratory where the stem cells are stored?

Rob joined the chat
Rob
Good Morning, how can I help you?





You —What is the cost for Multiple Treatments?

"xxxx gives you option to store your baby’s cord blood in multiple samples"

Rob
We dont do treatments, as we are not a treating facility, but we split the sample into multiple volumes before we freeze it. The multiple volumes are £150.


You —Whats the difference between the pricing packages?

Whats the difference between "Cells" & Cells Plus" price package?

Rob
The Cells service XXX uses AXP processing to volume reduce the sample which is second only to TotiCyte. With AXP it seperates the sample and removes the plasma and some red blood cells, leaving between 30% - 40% of the red blood cells. Due to the processing it can also potentially lose up to 50% of the stem cells in the sample which is the main reason why over 98% of our customers choose CellsPlus.

The XXX service, £1755, is our best service, it uses TotiCyte processing to remove 99% of the red blood cells in the sample as these are not therapeutically useful in treatments. It can also give you 2 to 5 times more stem cells at the point of treatment than any other method. As so much of the red blood cell content has been removed it would mean that the sample potentially would not need to undergo a washing as it eliminates blood type incompatibility issues.


You —
Does the "Cord tissue" package get added to "XXX" and what does this offer? Is the sample into multiple volumes before you freeze it?

??

So what is the total cost for "XXX" & "XXX" & storage in "multiple volumes" ?

Rob
The cord tissue is £XXX, it can be added to the Cells or CellsPlus service. The main benefit of the cord tissue is that is has lots of stem cells in it as well so if you store both the blood and the cord tissue you will have the best coverage in regards to the number of stem cells in storage.

If you wanted the Cells and Cord Tissue is would be £1755 and £495 = £2250.

The only service you may need is the phlebotomy service.

The cord tissue is not split into multiple volumes only the blood.


You —What is that and its cost? Does this include the sample being split into multiple volumes before you freeze it?

Rob
ellsPlus: £1755 OR
Cells: £1595

With Cord: £495

Phlebotomy service: £300

Multiple portions (Secure): £150
Multiple portions and dual storage locations (SecurePlus): £250

So if you wanted CellsPlus, Cord Tissue, Phlebotomist, Secure.

£2700

The only amount due before the birth is £195 deposit and £300 Phlebotomy fee. The remaining amount can either be paid up front or can be spread up to 12 months. You would incur a £20 admin fee per month that you wanted to spread the payment.

After the first year there is an annual £50 storage fee, for Cells or XXX and £50 for the Cord Tissue.


You —Do you offer a payment plan like XXXX :

This is made up as follows:
£xxx is payable on registration
£xxx is payable when the cord blood is sent to be processed
2 further payments of £xxx are made at months 3 & 6 and 1 final payment of £xxx is made at month 9 after baby's birth
Payments can be made by credit card (Mastercard and VISA) and debit card (Visa Debit, Visa Electron, Maestro, Switch and Solo)

Rob
I dont believe that XXX still operate in the UK. The service we offer are quite different. XXX is not something xxx are able to offer as they are only able to provide conventional volume reduction which is similar to our Cells Service, but they do not use AXP.


You —
So what is the total cost and payment structure over 12 months?

Rob
£2700 in total, before baby is born the only amount due is £495

This leaves £2205

Spread across 12 months would be

£203.75


You —
We are due on the 18th of May at XXX. How quick will collection be at this location and have you experience collecting there?

Rob
Yes we have done lots of collections from there, we would be more than able to set the service up in time for you


You —
Just to confirm £495 before chid is born and then 12 monthly payments of £203.75?

Rob
Yes that is correct, that will give you the xxx processing technique, Cord Tissue, Phlebotomy collection, Secure splitting the sample into multiple volumes.

£495 before baby is born then 12 monthly payments of £203.75


You —
Is there any discount available for the full package? : xxx processing technique, Cord Tissue, Phlebotomy collection, Secure splitting the sample into multiple volumes.

Rob
Unfortunately not.


You —
What APR does the £20 a month charge work out as? It may be cheaper to put on a credit card!

Rob
It is actually an admin fee to set the spread payment up using direct debit


You —
But works out around 10% extra over 12 months?

Rob
The admin fee is £20 per month, it is only charge at the month of payment, we dont charge it upfront or at the end as a lump sum.

We find a lot of customers set up 12 month spread payments then half way through have saved and pay a lump sum so they dont pay the remaining admin fees.


You —
What admin is there can't you just set up a Direct Debit?

Rob
Once its set up, we still have to submit to the bank every month to request the money, which is something our accounts team will do.


You —
A standing order could be set up so your accounts team would not have to do anything?

Rob
Unfortunately this admin fee is not something we would be able to waiver as it would apply whether there was a direct debit or a standing order


You —
I was quite happy to proceed but I have serious doubts now. This "Admin Fee" of £240 looks unscrupulous which gives me serious concerns about the company ethics.

Rob
Unfortunately this isnt something I wouldnt be authorised to remove as this is a standard charge that is applied to all spread payments.


You —
Is it possible to raise a complaint or concern with someone who is authorized as this feeling that the "Admin Fee" of £240 is unscrupulous must be putting off a lot of people such as myself who now have serious concerns about the company ethics. This is reminiscent of Bank Charges/Admin fees of £30.

Rob
I will mention it to management for you, but we have had spread payment fees on all spread payments


You —
Profit over Product? £240 "Admin" or over 10% interest is not by any stretch of the imagination Fair, reasonable or ethical!

Would you mind if I shared this thread on FB, as I think parents should be made aware upfront, like with bank charges?

Rob
I would be more than happy to speak to management for you about your concerns

Unfortunately it is just a standard fee that we apply to all spread payments

We always make the cost upfront, we never hide any costs


You —
So are bank charges of £30 quid for going overdrawn. That doesn't mean its "Fair" or "Reasonable". If any company is solely profit driven without any sense of value for money or fairness, it raises serious ethical considerations and doubts in the mind of the public!

If you expect me or any member of the public to trust our stem cells and children's lives in your hands at a cost of £2700 pound and then add on over 10% interest within 12 months as an "Admin Fee" for setting up a Direct debit, the ALARM BELLS start ringing!

Rob
I have just spoken to management for you and expressed your concerns about the spread payment fees, management has said as a gesture of good will we would be more than happy to offer you a free 12 month spread so there would be no £20 per month charge. As a result the monthly instalments would be £183.75


You —
Can I have a moment to think?

Rob
yes of course, would you like me to email the quote


You —
Yes sure, my email address xxxxxxxxxxxx@hotmail.com.

Rob
Can I assume your first name is Joe?


You —
Yes, Hi.

Rob
Hello, I will email you over that quote shortly


You —
Could you pose the question to management. Is this offer something that could be available to every parent? Whilst I appreciate every business must be financially viable, I would not be surprised if over half of the general public would be put off by such high "Admin Fees" over 12 months, it does raise ethical concerns, people are not so stupid now days and well informed over the internet and it does seem reminiscent of unfair Bank charges?

Rob
I will of course let management know your concerns, unfortunately I dont have any control over the pricing structure.


You —
I am somewhat reassured by the fact that you have treated me & my concerns as an individual and waived the "Admin Fees". I look forward to receiving the quote in the meantime....

Rob
No problem at all. I have actually just sent it so it should be with you now


You —
Rob, Just one more question if I may. If other parents were to set up a syndicate at our anti natal class and arrange for say 5 or 10 other parents to sign up, are there any discounts that could be offered to those parents for booking in bulk?

Rob
Yes we do offer group discounts of £150, the group would need to be a minimum of 3 plans.


You —
Also would management be prepared to offer an "Admin Waiver" for parents with a "Discount Code" on say sites like "MoneySavingExpert.com or through Facebook?



Finally I would like to pose a question or poll about cord stem cell recovery:


If this is a genuine and viable technology, I think that stem cell recovery is currently out of reach for most babies & should be available to every newborn in the country within the NHS.
Surely if the NHS could set up a National Storage facility or facility at each hospital they have midwives & staff in-house and could make cord stem cell collection a standard procedure for every birth and still profit if they charged £1000 per child born due to the economies of scale!

The existing companies that offer cord stem cell storage state that with todays technology, Currently stem cells from cord blood are used routinely in over 80 different therapies to treat a range of blood and immune diseases including Leukaemia, Neuroblastoma, and Sickle Cell Anaemia. Stem cells are also being investigated in thousands of clinical trials for use in regenerative medicine. One day it is expected that they could be part of the treatment for currently incurable conditions such as heart disease, Alzheimer’s, diabetes, brain injury and many more.

I wonder if the NHS or Government have calculated how much could be saved in long term treatments if cord stem cell storage was made available to every child born in the UK

My question is this:

If the NHS could roll this out Nationally for every child born for £1000 or for the same amount you would receive in child benefit for the first year, would you choose cord stem cell storage?



Perhaps there could even be an option to transfer the first years Child benefit to the NHS to cover these costs or 50% of your child benefit for 2 years or 33% for 3 years or 20% over 5 years !!