[trying129]

We have been trying to have a baby for years and finally made the difficult decision to use a sperm bank. I chose Fairfax based on their very specific warranty on quality of sperm. I spent over $500+ per vial and each time, the quality was WAY below their "warranty". When I complained and asked to be reimbursed for the money I spent on the vials. They dragged their feet and finally reimbursed me pennies on the dollar. I gave them multiple chances to make it right and even had to switch to another donor to get better quality and that donor sperm was below their warranty level as well. There is obviously no quality control at Fairfax and when they are called on it, they refuse to stand behind their warranty. I've wasted so much money (doctor's fees, shipping fees) not to mention taking fertility drugs, monitoring my cycle and taking time off work just to get in there and have the doctor tell me that once the sperm was thawed it was practically useless. Don't use them, they have made the last 6 months of my life miserable. BTW, they still have both those sperm donors on their website....very unethical. Has anyone else had this experience?

[APmama]

Originally Posted by trying129

We have been trying to have a baby for years and finally made the difficult decision to use a sperm bank. I chose Fairfax based on their very specific warranty on quality of sperm. I spent over $500+ per vial and each time, the quality was WAY below their "warranty". When I complained and asked to be reimbursed for the money I spent on the vials. They dragged their feet and finally reimbursed me pennies on the dollar. I gave them multiple chances to make it right and even had to switch to another donor to get better quality and that donor sperm was below their warranty level as well. There is obviously no quality control at Fairfax and when they are called on it, they refuse to stand behind their warranty. I've wasted so much money (doctor's fees, shipping fees) not to mention taking fertility drugs, monitoring my cycle and taking time off work just to get in there and have the doctor tell me that once the sperm was thawed it was practically useless. Don't use them, they have made the last 6 months of my life miserable. BTW, they still have both those sperm donors on their website....very unethical. Has anyone else had this experience?

Not with Fairfax but with Xytex. Crappy numbers on two cycles and they don't stand behind them either. "not our problem." Just wanted to pipe in here and warn everyone against Xytex too.

[Nik-N-Tosh]

Wow. I had my first IUI with one their donors. However, the doctor said that the sperm was pretty good as far as motility and things of that nature, but evil kaneva just left the building yesterday!!! So obviously it didn't work. Im ordering my 2nd vial Wednesday b/c I start testing on Thursday and im sure to be ovulating by "Sunday." What do I need to do? Now im confused...blahh, blah, blah!! This is frustrating, and im not on any medications b/c I dont have any medical problems, and he thinks im too young and shouldn't have any problems conceiving.

Originally Posted by trying129

We have been trying to have a baby for years and finally made the difficult decision to use a sperm bank. I chose Fairfax based on their very specific warranty on quality of sperm. I spent over $500+ per vial and each time, the quality was WAY below their "warranty". When I complained and asked to be reimbursed for the money I spent on the vials. They dragged their feet and finally reimbursed me pennies on the dollar. I gave them multiple chances to make it right and even had to switch to another donor to get better quality and that donor sperm was below their warranty level as well. There is obviously no quality control at Fairfax and when they are called on it, they refuse to stand behind their warranty. I've wasted so much money (doctor's fees, shipping fees) not to mention taking fertility drugs, monitoring my cycle and taking time off work just to get in there and have the doctor tell me that once the sperm was thawed it was practically useless. Don't use them, they have made the last 6 months of my life miserable. BTW, they still have both those sperm donors on their website....very unethical. Has anyone else had this experience?

[infertilitynovice]

Isn't Xytex affliated with Fairfax, or is that another one?...Anyway, lots of people have complained about low counts on donors. FYI, you can check my siggy, but we had GREAT post thaw numbers with The Fertility Center of California, San Diego branch. They were FANTASTIC to us! Very helpful, sensitive, knowlegable...overall great experience!

I didn't feel comfortable using them after discovering that they over use the same popular donors.

If you're ever curious about getting an idea of how "popular" a prospective donor is, check out the Donor Sibling Registry. I was interested in one through Fairfax and found the guy has his cult practically! And they were currently taking a waiting list for clients waiting for new swimmers to be released! Crazy!

[3rdtimesthecharm]

May I ask what type of specimen you used? I just had my ER today and we are using an IVF specimen from Fairfax. We picked a donor that had known pregnancies...but the two vials only had 11 million (total I believe) prewash and then 3 million post wash. That seems so low! Fairfax's policy is 5 million per vial, but I wasn't sure if that is pre or post wash. This is the first time we've used Fairfax. Previously we used California Cryobank with a known donor; though we didn't get pregnant we never seemed to have any problems with them.

[lisa_kev]

I thought I'd chime in here and add my experience with Xytex.

On April 18, 2009 DH and I had our 1st IUI using a donor thru Xytex. We paid $645 for the unwashed sample and shipping. Before the IUI, the attending nurse said that the post wash was 6 million, but at that time I was told that many patients have less than 5 million. I thought it would be alright. Then later that night, I logged on and found out thru Xytex website that they have a 15 million pre-wash guarantee. My pre-wash was 10 million and 6 million post wash.

I called and complained. They had me give my fertility clinic a form for the andarology dept to fill out and a few days later I got an answer from Xytex. They not only were giving me my next sample for free, but were offering free shipping AND the best count.

I don't know what my numbers will be for this second IUI, but hope they're really good this time. DH and I are doing back-to-back IUI's this cycle. I ended up paying $485 for 2 vials. That it works.

I'm sorry you're having problems with your bank. I know first hand how it feels. Having spent all that money for the cycle to find out that the failure could have been on the bank all along. No one will ever know.

In our case, Xytex is the only bank we will use. They offer adult and childhood photos, something that was very important to DH and me.

[winkie01]

We froze my husband's at Fairfax before he was deployed overseas and the counts were horrible. When we froze at my RE's, they were much, much better so i do think it was Fairfax and agree they stink!

[janehill]

I agree that all of these sperm banks need to be audited.

Never mind the cost of the "product" itself. The cost of a cycle is astronomical and the cost of fertility meds is no picnic either. To go through all of that to find a count that's less than desirable is frightening, to say the least!

I chose a donor at Fairfax who is extremely popular - I didn't realize it until after the fact. The ONLY good thing about it (if there can be a "good" thing) is that I know he's proven (over and over and over and over again) and that the sperm quality must have been good.

Good luck to you all.

[3rdtimesthecharm]

I go in for my ET today, so I am going to ask the RE for more information about the quality of the specimen we got from Fairfax. I know that they won't do any sort of refund if you get pregnant, but that if you are interested in a refund you only have 5 business days to contact them. I'm hoping for beautiful embies and that two weeks from now all my worrying about DS will have been for nothing.

[peggysue]

Sorry to hi-jack your posts ladies, hope you don't mind. Sorry to all who have had trouble with donor sperm. I wish you all the very best on luck on your ttc journeys

Janehill: noticed your single and trying to conceive. Just to let you know that we have a forum for singles trying to conceive if you'd like to join us. If you click on "relationships & taking care of you" and then clinck on "singles trying to conceive: you will find us. We have a number of ladies who are all trying different methods, IUI, IVF, donor Embryo's and we have a few ladies who have just had babies. Pop along and see what you think.

Hope to see you there

[Naomi35]

Hi,
sorry to hear you had trouble with them. How did you know the numbers were bad? I don't quite understand. Edited- oh- I reread it and realized that since you were doing iui your doctor was able to check it. How would one know at home?!

I want to talk about my situation but I don't want to hijak your thread- but regarding this thing-
We are beginning cycle #3 of Donor insem (at home)- I am currently menstruating.
So- our first try we used TSBC- and the donor had ridiculously high counts- 89 million post thaw! But they ran out of unwashed the very week I was ordering and we ended up trying with 3 vials of washed- which they said we could use for ICI. Got bfn.
Then last cycle we switched to "Cryogenics Lab".
At that point I was just trying to find an acceptable unwashed donor- and that was SO hard to find. TSBC, who I like in a lot of ways, had VERY FEW unwashed.

S0- we bought 4 vials- and tried 2- and bfn. But I think we inseminated too early ( 6hrs and 20 hrs past +opk but I think I ovulated like 48 hrs past +opk)

I was too scared to ask the count #'s! I thought- well, if they have unwashed smaples it must be okay. I don't know- sohuld I ask? I wasnt to just assume they are high counts. We have 2 vials already purchased so we are planning on trying again in 3 weeks when I ovulate.

[tygerlilly]

I am glad to hear that the Sperm Bank of California in San Diego is good, that is who we are going with. I was kinda nervous reading these posts, I hope everyone got their money back!

Question: How can a Sperm Bank "guarentee" a number when they dont know the numbers they will be recieving? It seems as though they have "run out" of the high numbers, and have tried to pass off the lower numbers to people they thought "wouldnt notice".... what a sham.