Cord Blood Registry

CBR is an amazing company, providing the best in technology and customer service. If you are looking for a stable company that is pushing the science forward, look no further — CBR has it all.

I got totally scammed by this company. DO NOT USE THEM. I was going to use this company to store our baby’s cord blood as this was the company my sister used. I called because I had a question regarding the payment options. When on the phone, the sales person told me that if I began the enrollment process with her over the phone we would save $ 200. What she didn’t tell me was that if I changed my mind, even though we never completed the enrollment process nor banked any blood with them, they would charge us $ 150 which was exactly what happened. I was definitely taken on a ride with them. But I’d rather eat the $ 150 than get stuck with them for 18+ years!!!

Like other reviewers, I banked my children’s cord blood with CBR 10 years ago. I pay the yearly storage fee via credit card, so you can imagine my surprise when I received a copy of my otherwise perfect credit report. CBR had sent me to collections! I logged on to my CBR account, and I have a $ 0.00 balance due with all previous year paid in full! When I called CBR, they confirmed the bills were paid, and they blamed it on AWA Collections. I am waiting for CBR to call AWA to clear this. This is completely unacceptable and terrible customer service.

My wife and I had our first child this year and chose to go with CBR. We saw first hand what it could potentially do a 2 years ago when our 6 year old nephew was diagnosed with AML (cancer). Long story short, he FIRST question the doctor asked was «did you save his blood cord?». The answer was no, mainly because we didn’t know about it. Fast fwd to 2015, our nephew is healthy now, but those 6 months were so hard and we said when we have our child we are saving the cord, NO MATTER WHAT!
We went with CBR and had a great experience with our rep, he was very helpful and answered all of my questions.
There is a yearly storage fee, which is a small price to pay (in my mind). One good thing though is CBR has a referral program, if we refer someone, each of us will get a year storage for free (a value of up to $ 260 each). If anyone out there is interested in saving your babies cord, please contact me so I can give you my info so we can both take advantage of that offer.
Congrats on your baby, hope to hear from you!

Posting a 1-​star Unilocal review about my frustration got immediate results. Representatives from CBR contacted me to help me deal with my account.

This was given to me as a gift when my child was born. I signed the permission for the service and gave my medical info – but did not sign the financial agreement.
I carefully left this part of the contract blank.
Years later, and the «gifter» has not paid the annual storage fee for a while. Without ever receiving any letter to my address, I discover the company has filed a collections report against MY credit (my SS # was collected on the «medical history page” – isn’t this misuse of information given for medical purposes?). I did not pay for the service, nor have I ever made a payment – it is clearly documented that this was done by a second party. I have never even received info from this company to my actual address.
So now they state they will only remove the claim if I pay the years due – despite not being the gifting party or ever signed a financial document. Huh?
1) I never signed a financial agreement
2) I would probably have canceled if I knew the gift-​er had stopped payment.
I called them and asked them to look at the contract. They confirmed the financial agreement was blank – that I had not signed a financial agreement. I asked why they did not also send a claim to my husband’s account (his social security number was also given under the medical info), and they said, «We just send the claim to the mother” – shady AND sexist billing practices… awesome!
So perhaps they are a great service – maybe they are. I received it as a gift, never got any followup except from when I went to get a mortgage for a new home. Surprise… a claim on my credit report!
I guess this is the gift that keeps on giving.
So beware. If you give this as a gift, it could actually harm the recipient. If you receive this as a gift, it could cause financial harm without you even knowing. They want to charge me like 500– 600 dollars for past due storage years!
Now that I read the other comments, I wish the giver had gone with a more reputable company. If this is an important service for you, you may consider this.
I am asking the gifting party to resolve this directly with them, so am doing my part. However, filing a claim as standard procedure against the mother is unreasonable and defamation.
I will update my rating if the company resolves this in an ethical manner.
Update: I did contact CBR, and they said that we had to make a payment while we were working through details. Be careful if this is suggested, because even one payment creates some sort of legal acknowledgement. As it was I had never made any payment and there was no signed contract so the company, after significant back and forth and a BBB claim, finally sent a letter clearing my credit. I am not I increasing my rating because the «make a payment while we talk so we can then we hold you accountable due to a legal loophole» was not cool. The fellow I worked with was nice otherwise though.

I gave birth in Miami in July 2014. My doctor referred me to this company and my experience was perfect. My child was born healthy and I hope I never need to use his cord blood but I have great peace of mind having it available. And The research going on is mind-​blowing! I highly recommend cbr.

We have had both of our kids’ cord blood stored with CBR. Customer service is great. A small price to pay for peace of mind. Thanks CBR!

A complete scam. On top of their questionable, quack science, their business practices including record-​keeping and account collections are a disaster.
My wife was suckered into paying $ 1,500 that we really didn’t have at the time for their initial cord banking service. After our child turned 10 (i.e. after we paid for 10 years of storage @ $ 95 per year plus the original $ 1,500 = $ 2,450 that we could have put into a college fund), and after CBR was SUED AND LOST, TWICE, for putting client records at risk by virtue of employees LEAVING THEIR LAPTOPS WITH PATIENT RECORDS IN THEIR CAR ON TWO SEPARATE OCCASIONS AND OF COURSE THE LAPTOPS WERE STOLEN, we decided to stop throwing good money after bad.
In spite of our numerous notices that we no longer were going to pay annual storage fees, they put our account into collection with a sleaze bag collection agency (AWA Collections) that illegally added interest to the $ 95 past due storage bill, therefore putting the amount due over the $ 100 FICO medical collection threshold for affecting our credit score. Same kind of sleazy collection tactics gyms use.
GOOD LUCK COLLECTING. We have enough other credit and can withstand the collection trade line. In fact, my wife just got a $ 30k car loan at 0% interest.
Don’t waste your money. The «science» of cord blood banking is FAR from proven, and there are cheaper alternatives (i.e. public cord blood banks). Put the money in a college fund and let it grow over 18 years.
FU CBR!!!

As a registered nurse, I was very interested in this product when it first came out.
I signed up to have my first child’s cord blood banked in 2005. At the time, my doctor said is was new technology, and it could be very useful although the jury was still out. Fast forward to today, where current data shows that a child’s chance of using someone else’s cord blood for a stem cell transplant is only 1 in 5000 (or 0.02%) and a child’s chance of using their own cord blood for a transplant is only 1 in 10,000 (or 0.01%). Those are about the same as your child’s odds of dying in an airplane crash, and much lower than their odds of dying in a car crash (1 in 84) — just to put it into context. Your child might be better served by you investing in a safer automobile. Also, the company engages in very unethical business practices by using fear to coerce parent’s into buying a product they don’t realistically need. When I tried to cancel, they were not transparent about the process, and forced me to pay an extra $ 100 before I was able to cancel the account. To sum it up, bad company, bad product, you are better off going with public cord banking (which, by the way they won’t allow you to donate your privately banked blood to without paying a lot of money).

USE ANOTHER SERVICE. THE BILLING PRACTICES ARE DECEPTIVE AND FALSE. PLEASE BEWARE!!!
We signed up for this service at the urging of our doctor prior to the birth of our son. We filled out the necessary paperwork and allowed for the blood to be collected at the time of birth. As a doctor, I felt that it was an important safeguard for the first few years of his life. However, as he got older, we realized that we no longer needed the service and requested and returned a termination letter for the samples obtained. A year passed and we got another bill for another year of storage for the sample. I called and spoke with a representative who said there had been an error and sent me another termination letter. I sent this one back and lo and behold, a year later, I get another bill. I have paid the amount but plan on suing the organization in small claims court as I feel that they are doing this to others and scamming people out of relatively small amounts of money as they attempt to terminate their account. There are many different companies that can provide this service. PLEASE STAY AWAY FROM THIS ONE. THEY ARE DECEPTIVE AND DECEITFUL REGARDING THEIR BILLING PRACTICES.

This is my first pregnancy and I was hesitant about which bank to go through. Rodel at CBR was incredibly helpful, kind, and educational in every way. He answered every question I had — and I had many — and the whole enrollment process was simple. I read the negative reviews about previous clients’ experience with poor customer service and I have to say that has yet to be the case with me. Everyone I’ve talked to at CBR has been very helpful and honest. I genuinely feel that there are no hidden fees or agenda with them.

We made the decision to store all three of our children’s stem cells (extracted from their umbilical cords at time of birth). Our oldest child was born in 2002, so we’ve been customers for a long time now…
It was super easy. After signing-​up, they send you a box (collection kit), you give it to your doctor on delivery day, call an 800# after the delivery — and someone picks it up. As a parent, there’s not much else to do. The doctor does the work after the baby is born.
There is an initial fee for the collection/​processing, then a relatively modest annual fee of about $ 130 per child. We chose Cbr because they are the biggest and most respected.
While we initially did this as insurance for our kids (in case they had health issues), we’re realizing that there may be new ways for the stem cells to be used to improve quality of life — not just for them, but for our whole family.
I’ve just started paying more attention to stem cell advances and clinical trials. I am excited by our early decision and the possibilities. We’re very happy with Cord Blood Registry and would recommend!

NOT SO MUCH!
They ‘forgot’ to mention the $ 150 fee if you sign-​up and then change your mind. In fact, after 3 phone conversations, I had to learn about the fee on Unilocal.Luckily, we didn’t complete the enrollment process, so it was not an issue, but it was because of their inability to just shoot straight that I’m giving them one star. I take major issue with dishonest companies.
You can even check them out at the better business bureau. They have seen to it that you can’t read the complaints made against them and allege that they have an A+ rating on their website when they do not. It’s more like a B if you do your homework– another example of dishonesty.
Beware of all of these private cord blood banks– they are generally scams and their ‘guarantees’ if you actually need the cells are barely worth the paper they are printed on. The most reputable is Stemcyte. However, YOU SHOULD KNOW THAT YOUR CHILD’S SAMPLE IS WORTH MORE TO THEM THAN YOUR MONEY. So they have every incentive to ‘fail to reach you’ for continued payment, etc. Read the fine print… they can take possession of your child’s cells, which would bring them tens of thousands of dollars if used commercially or save them tens of thousands of dollars if they use them for research.

I stored my daughter Francesca’s cord blood with CBR as a biological insurance policy so in case something were to happen to her I could use her stem cells to clone another daughter (hopefully with better manners!). The service is not cheap, but neither was my bachelor party in Vegas, and I ain’t complaining about either. I keep getting emails about these FDA trials they got going on so that means they must be doing something right. And their customer service is great, whenever I call the general sales line to update my credit card the sales reps are always happy to help me out. CBR rocks!

Dan Wellborn, our CBR rep has been great! He answered all our questions and followed up with us when need be. The whole process was very smooth and easy. Thank you Dan and CBR!

Do you believe in research and science? If so, cord blood banking is probably for you. It is kinda expensive and we don’t have a lot of money, but we decided it would be worth it in the long run. We have paid a lot more for car insurance. My sister stored my nephew’s cord blood also. The customer service was amazing. They knew the answer to a ton of crazy questions I had. People should at least research information about banking cord blood. I feel bad for a lot of Unilocalers who think it is some kind of voodoo or scam and never really look into it with an open mind. Lovely day.
BP Titan 4 life lol

Awful customer service. Can’t get them to answer any meaningful questions. Shady shady business and the whole operations of private cord blood banking is a shady industry all around if you ask me.

DO NOT GO WITH THESE GUYS
In a nutshell, they allowed my sons cord blood to rot in some storage room somewhere until it was worthless, in spite of me calling and calling to find out what was happening with it. Their reps were rude and complete idiots, telling me to chill out and that everything was fine (it wasnt), and in the end, their management tried to skirt responsibility saying that the blood was worthless anyhow. I wouldnt go with a company that views what they provide as worthless, and neither should you. I was not compensated at all, and all I got in the end, even after reporting this to the better business bureau, was a feeling of how powerless an unhappy customer of theirs was in trying to right a wrong.
Please, allow me to send you emails and describe my case with you if you are thinking about going to this outfit.
My email is —
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We used CBR to bank both our kids’ cord blood (hey stem cells research is the latest wave of biotech!). Even though we may not use the cord blood, we consider this as insurance.
Reps are very friendly and service is efficient. The process is pretty straightforward and we had no problems getting the cord blood sent for storage. On the anniversary of storage, CBR usually sends a gift to the kid (a book or teddy bear).
CBR will also refund your OB/GYN’s fee for cord blood procedure if your insurance does not cover it. You do have to file paperwork to get your money back.
They also have a referral program where you can get your annual storage fee waived if someone says you recommended them. The only problem is, I’ve recommended a lot of people who used the coupon w/​my name on it but I never got my storage fee waived. Therefore, deduct one star for the rip off referral system.
Otherwise, we’re happy with their service.