Please be warned of this egg donation "agency" in Dallas, TX
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Hello everyone,
I am an IP and have been trying to have a baby for 4 years. I've been through 9 IVFs, and 4 losses, including one devastating one at 20 weeks due to an umbilical cord accident.
After the loss I decided to go with a GC, as I wasn't physically or mentally able to carry a pregnancy again. However, I had a terrible experience with an agency in Dallas where my 2nd surrogate lives, and I felt I had to warn you wonderful ladies about this place.
I am very active over on ivfconnections.com, so I will copy and paste what I wrote over there. I hope I am not offending anyone, I just really really do not want what happened to me to happen to ANYONE else out there. I was scammed and it's horrible. Please feel free to contact me at waitinginsunshine@gmail.com if you would like more information or to discuss this offline.
Anyway, here is what I wrote:
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Hi guys,
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 happened 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,"
http://www.spct.org/home. This "agency" does both egg donation and also surrogacy.
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 disappeared 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....That's just my opinion, of course, but I've been doing this long enough to know what a truly good hearted surrogate does it for....
I am more than happy to come back here and update you guys on what happens. 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.
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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 carriers has been an absolute dream to work with. They are called Surrogacy Options (Jamie and Dana):
http://www.surrogacyoptions.com/home.html
And the NEW egg donor agency I used which matched with a NORMAL egg donor was The Donor Solution (NYU uses them as well):
http://www.thedonorsolution.com/
Also: I posted this warning over on a surrogacy message board and I received some interesting comments, which shows that others also had some terrible experiences with SPCT and Merritt:
Cori67
Hi there, thank you so much for posting this. I was actually a surrogate of Merritt's - I applied in 2004 and I carried twins in 2005 for a couple. I went back to the same agency in 2006 when I wanted to be a surrogate again. I had an ok experience with them that time. For my 2005 surrogacy my IPs lived 10 minutes from me so they decided to pay me directly each month, rather than having SPCT do it. Perhaps that is why my 2005 experience was good. My 2006-07 experience was just ok. Monthly checks arrived late, and my expense checks were always late too. But I thought it was a one-off thing.
I actually went and met Merritt after my second surrogacy and she said she had lost her heart for surrogacy. But while I was there she asked if I would match with another couple. I met the couple (also local for me) and we liked them so we decided to do another surrogacy. That one was a nightmare in terms of money.
Long story short, after much discussion with my husband, the REs here in San Antonio who had expressed their displeasure with SPCT, and with urging from the three couples I had carried, I started my own agency. Let me tell you the San Antonio based fertility clinics have been thrilled and I have had great success in finding quality surrogates and matching them with the intended parents.
So, as a former 'employee' I can tell you first hand that although Merritt comes across as really sweet, she is no longer doing this for the right reasons.
IPTexasGirl
I'm sorry for all you have been through. It's such a shame that surros and IPs can be taken advantage of so much.
I was actually referred to SPCT by our new RE. I already knew we weren't going to sign with them, but I was interested in seeing what they might have to say. I guess I should be super glad they never called me back.
Glad to hear you've found someone reputable to work with.
OfficerAndy
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I had a really bad experience with the agency as well.
