Sneaky extra charges from clinic - is this normal?

[AFoxcraft]

Hi all, I'd appreciate you sharing your thoughts and experiences please!

We paid for an IVF package which included the price for the embryo transfer. However, due to high hormone levels they told us we'd need to freeze our embryos as the risk of OHSS was high.

The clinic have now sent us a bill which includes freezing and storage (we expected this of course) and also an extra grand for another transfer as we couldn't have the fresh one. They tried to make this more palatable by saying they were charging us a reduced price of a grand rather than their usual FET cost of £1500. I don't get it! We've already paid for a transfer which they then told us we couldn't have. I get that a FET will have additional costs like thawing and possibly another scan but surely these don't cost a grand?! I don't remember seeing this extra charge anywhere in their fine print and it seems very sneaky and greedy that they've just sprung this on us.

Is this normal practice in fertility clinics? We've only been at this one so have no clue! Your thoughts would be appreciated. Thank you.

[Millbanks]

Hi lovely, unfortunately I think this is common. I had to do a freeze all due to OHSS and was also charged for an FET after. In their fine print it does say this…. Boooooo xx

[AFoxcraft in reply to Millbanks]

Thanks for your reply 😊 I just don't get it! It's so much extra money and for what? We want a family so have no option but to pay it. Seems like they know this too and fully take advantage...

[Purpledoggy]

If you have not seen this in the fine print, maybe ask for a copy of the signed consents as it should be in there if they are right. It does seem rather naughty to charge almost a full FET charge (mine only charges for the freezing and thawing) but if it is in the fine print you can’t do much unfortunately. I do wonder though whether you could argue for a refund of the transfer you didn’t have, though they may say that is the reduced FET cost xx

[Kyell2]

It wasn’t normal practice in my clinic if you had a freeze all on their recommendation. The first transfer was included in place of the fresh. I’d ask for their terms and conditions and query it. You have nothing to lose but £1000 to gain x

[Social-Butterfly]

Hi AFoxcraft, I don‘t understand the keeping of a transfer payment when the transfer never happened. Did they explain extensively why??? Even if they have a fine print, I would go back and push back/argue. They can fine you a cancellation fee, but keeping the paid amount and asking for additional is greedy in my opinion. I was very adamant and pushed back when the clinic wanted extras or tried to „bill“ additional cost I asked for detailed written justifications and saved myself lots of additional cost that way. When my egg collection failed in 2018, the clinic wanted for that IVF round the full £9k paid (this request was made just as I was leaving the clinic - talk about insensitivity….) I of course exploded right there and then and took out all of the sadness and disappointment and my anger on the receptionists in front of other patients. They ran away from the desk and had onother lady came back after 20min to inform me that finance will get in touch with me within the next day to discuss. At the end I only had to pay 1k cancellation fee (that was in their contract’s fine print that I didn‘t see beforehand and didn’t dispute before signing).

[AFoxcraft in reply to Social-Butterfly]

Very sorry you had to go through that - especially in front of other people when you were feeling like that. How incredibly insensitive of them. I'm very sure I would have had the same reaction to you! I'm glad you stood your ground though, well done. It's mad to think of clinics profiting off people who are so desperate to have their own families. But they are just businesses at the end of the day and I find it hard to reconcile that sometimes.

Thanks for your response, I appreciate it. Xxx

[Ivfgotadream]

Yup totally normal and it’s why we blew through our IVF budget a lot quicker than planned.

I did ask why and it’s because the “transfer” bit of the cycle is actually the cheapest and quickest part of the whole treatment - hence why an FET after a freeze all is discounted by a couple of hundred pounds (that couple of hundred is the cost of the transfer which you have paid as part of your original package m) in a normal treatment cycle you’ll have multiple scans and obviously sedation for the egg collection. The transfer bit takes 20 minutes with minimal resources

With an FET after freeze all the extra cost is the scans you have to have leading up to transfer - usually 3-4 or more which you wouldn’t have needed had you been able to do a fresh transfer plus the resources taken up in thawing the embryo

[AFoxcraft in reply to Ivfgotadream]

Gotta admit I wrote a reply to you saying I didn't understand your explanation but I deleted it because the more I think about it, the more it makes sense. Thanks for taking the time to explain this - it means a lot and makes me feel a lot better actually! With FETs at our clinic, generally people only need one scan before a transfer so paying a grand for a single scan and thawing seems very expensive. But we're totally at the mercy of these places so don't have another option. Certainly has blown through our budget too! Thanks again xx

[Ivfgotadream in reply to AFoxcraft]

Ha sorry! I did re read it and thought bloody hell I’ve made a mess of that explanation 🤣

My clinic was scans every other day from cycle day 5 or 6 leading up to an FET to confirm a lead follicle and monitor when/if ovulation was going to happen so the discounted cost of an FET made sense as I probably had the same number of scans for an FET that I did for the egg collection.

[AFoxcraft in reply to Ivfgotadream]

No your explanation was really good actually - I was just trying to make sense of it in our context.

Ah so you go for FET with a natural cycle? Our clinic does it as a medicated cycle and I don't enjoy taking all the estrogen! Not sure which way has better odds but I prefer the idea of natural...

[ZessB]

I would pay the £1000 charge but ask in writing for some money back for the transfer they cancelled. If they said no and could not provide me with a written document where this extra charge is clearly explained, I would pack up and go at the first opportunity, which obviously is easier said than done when they have your frozen embabies...

[LSandJ]

We weren't on a package, but when we had our fresh cancelled (same OHSS risk) we didn't have to pay for the first FET (just the drugs for it which were almost £1000!). I've since been buying the drugs in asda and getting the GP to prescribe others. Much cheaper!

[AFoxcraft in reply to LSandJ]

Were you on Lubion?? It's made how much it costs isn't it! 30 days' worth is just insane...

[LSandJ in reply to AFoxcraft]

Yes! Lubion twice a day (that's what I got from Asda!) My Gp prescribed progynova and cyclogest, so they were just the cost if the prescription!

[AFoxcraft in reply to LSandJ]

For my previous cycle I got Lubion from my local pharmacy instead and saved almost £100 which doesn't sound a lot but it all adds up for us doesn't it! Two Lubions a day is crazy money. I might suggest to my clinic that they give us our next lot of Progynova and Utrogestan via private prescription instead then...

I try not to fixate on money too much as it provokes a lot of stress but sometimes I need a day where I can just get it all off my chest!!