CBR Systems
reviews and complaints

We did cord blood and cord tissue banking for two of my kids, for one in 2014 and the other in 2018. Both the times I was sold a package for storing cord blood and cord tissue with a guarantee that prices wont change till my child turns 18. But over the years they are steadily increasing the price bit by bit and forcing customers who are now bound to their storage service, as moving or shifting the samples could potentially carry the risk of them damaged and unusable. I called them multiple times and they kept saying random things to push my complaint away. Finally they said they will make the correction and refund and fix this for future years and after a month or so I see only a one time adjustment that too for a fraction of the amount. I would like to report this scummy practice of roping in customers for a long tenured service and then cranking up the price over the years when customers hands are tied. I would like the Complaintsboard.com to hold the company accountable and get them to honor the price that was promised for both my sons till they turn 18.

I banked my child's cord blood in 2007. Over the years, the yearly fees increased and I realized that, notwithstanding the marketing done at the time, paying to bank your child's cord blood does not make financial or medical sense. Several years ago I called CBR to cancel and was told I would need to sign paperwork to be able to cancel. No problem. The paperwork, however, required me to have our signatures notarized at our own expense. We did not want to incur the hassle of finding a notary or the expense and do not remember agreeing that we could not cancel without getting documents notarized. I called again and made it very clear that we wanted to cancel. Each time I try to cancel, they tell me I must first talk to someone who will give me an update on the benefits of cord blood banking and then put me on hold. I stopped receiving paper invoices and assumed they had honored my cancellation request. Instead, today I received a dunning notice from a collection agency demanding that I pay for several years worth of the annual fee, including fees that must be beyond the statute of limitations. They make it impossible to cancel and stopped sending invoices only to send me to collections.

We initially banked with CBR in 2009 for our first child, and then again in 2012. Like the other complaints filed, I agreed to a storage fee of $125/year for each child until the age of 18. The fees have been changing each year, however, I hadn't noticed until their most recent increase to $180 that something was wrong. I called their customer service line today and this is what happened during each round with the representative: Round 1: I was told I did not lock in $125/year for 18 years, and that I had agreed to a variable rate increase (open-ended). I requested that the original paper contracts (that I signed) be mailed back to me. Rep got the supervisor on the line while I was on hold. Round 2: I was told that CBR would do a 1-time credit for 1 year of storage for each child, but the rate would be variable going forward. Informed the rep I was on the Complaintsboard.com website and could see that I was not alone in my complaint, and that was not sufficient, as that's not what I signed on for (and never would have, especially with 2 kids). Round 3: I was told that each child could be taken back to a $125 agreement until age 18 but I would not receive credit for the years I overpaid. When I requested that I be credited the years I overpaid, I was told that if I wanted a credit for previous years, I would have to agree to a $150 storage fee going forward.

In 2010 my (now) ex-husband and I signed up for Cord Blood Registry to bank our daughter's cord for stem cells. At the time of renewal, we decided that medical progress had been made to the extent we did not want to renew. I personally spoke to multiple salespeople many times (because they wouldn't stop calling) saying we were not going to renew and they could destroy the deposit. In 2017 (7 years after the deposit), I divorced. In 2019, I started receiving calls from CBR again and letters. I repeatedly said that I was now divorced and did not need the service. We did not agree to a never-ending agreement to pay and they could do whatever they wanted with the deposit. I referred them to my ex-husband and gave them his number and address when they asked. I moved in 2018 and today I received 2 different adverse reports on my credit report as I am trying to refinance my house during COVID, after having lost my job. I didn't receive a letter or any attempt to provide notice. I know times are tough, but going after a single mother 10 years after a contract was signed during COVID, after she lost her job? Plus, that means they have been keeping my deposit illegally after I told them to dispose of it. If I can not get this resolved, I will bring legal action. My ex-husband and I are both attorneys and I take my credit very seriously - especially now.

Cancel the account per request - as requested by contact several times confirmed by email receipt, voicemail receipt and messaging. CBR has confirmed receipt of our request to cancel since January . This is confirmed by returned calls, messaging and emails promising to send the forms and contact us back to complete the cancellation yet the forms are never sent and supervisors never call back. We simply want the forms sent as they are not located anywhere for customers to complete without them being sent. We have requested cancellation since January (almost 4 months ago) and want no further charges since then, meaning February, March, April, etc as our request was received and ignored by CBR. Previous to this, we had the exact same experiences as the other clients complaints regarding receiving notices of our account being overdue even though we receive our receipt for our auto payment each month and show every payment processed the first time on time without issue. We received a call back and were informed that our account was in fact up to date and had no issues. At that time we directly requested to cancel and were promised forms to do so - they never came. Again, three additional conversations with same service rep promising to send forms but responding with increasing rudeness each call. We the requested her supervisor whom never called us of course, and we again, received an email promising the forms being attached but they are not. We use gmail and ensured through our IT that there was in fact no attachments. So this company has several times over ignored and played games to avoid our account. We want it cancelled post haste.

I wanted CBR to honor a 40% discount code my company has (through Beneplace) with CBR. This discount represents a little over $1300. I had to sign up rather quickly because of the birth of my son came up unexpectedly and signed up before getting the confirmed discount. Once my son was born I called them to figure out this situation and on various calls (2 or 3rd because they kept saying that they needed to speak to a supervisor or something but never reached out to me), they said that yes, they would be honoring my discount code and that I should not worry about it that it would be reflected in my billing statement. I kept checking my account but no changes took place. I called again and they kept saying the same thing and always trying to reach a supervisor and never calling me back. On the 5-6th call they told me that yes, they had honored a discount code, but not the one I had specifically stated to them from the company, and that is what they could do. This discount code is only 20% of what the other one is and isn't even one I provided to them. I find it incredible that they for intents and purposes lied to me about what they had done with my account, lied about accepting and honoring the discount code, lied on multiple times about telling me they would reach out to me about resolving this issue and most importantly, practically blackmailed since they have biological tissue of my son which they can practically hold at ransom from me if I do not want to pay. It's a terrible situation and a terrible company that I have to ACCEPT this behavior because I have no options of doing anything else. I have never written a complaint like this but this situation is just terrible, how can companies do this?! zero transparency on what they do. I have read some of the customers complaints and see very similar practices from their staff. I hope this can be resolved. Thanks.

Good morning, Cbr is slyly increasing annual cord blood/tissue bank fees .We paid thousands of dollars we made sure that our annual rate would continue to stay the same for the lifetime of my child. Cbr's process of increasing annual fees is unethical and wrong. I called [protected] this morning and I was given a canned response about why the payment is increasing... I do not care... we signed an agreement and it does not matter where Cbr is "investing" because my rate was locked in and it is against the contract to increase. The lady on the phone also tried to walk me through the portal where I could see my original signed documents...which conveniently has been rearranged in which I cannot see them. She also offered to waive this year's fee - it has been hours and still not reflected in the portal. I'm comforted by the fact that there are class action lawsuits against Cbr for the same unethical billing behavior. If this were any other account like cable or internet I would close my account and go to a different provider... yet I am held ransom because this is an organ tissue bank. I am more than happy to pay annually for my original agreement. I have already made this request via phone without response as I was told I would receive emails and updates to my account and I have not. I also tried to utilize the contact us form on your website that conveniently did not work please address these issues as soon as possible so that I do not have to reside to legal action. My requests are as follows: 1) Please provide a copy of all my original signed paperwork in my portal 2) Please provide a 2022 credit for the $90 over charges slyly increased over the last 2 years ($60 in 2020 and $30 in 2019). 3) A signed agreement/document IN WRITING stating that my fee will NEVER increase from $260/year for my child lifetime 4) This year's bank fee waived (currently now $370! which is $110 more a year than the original annual fee agreement).