Growing Generations

I applied to be an Egg Donor for Growing Generations. After completing a lengthy 3 – 4 hour application process I was sent a pseudo auto-​generated e-​mail after two days saying that I didn’t meet their minimum qualifications to be an Egg Donor. I replied saying that unless I mischecked a box somewhere I seriously doubt that I didn’t meet their minimum requirements as I am a five time successful Egg Donor. No response.
I’m glad I dodged a bullet because Growing Generations seems great to work with (that was sarcasm).

I am a current surrogate with Growing Generations and couldn’t be happier with their services! They have always kept me up-​to-​date with phone calls and emails including a personal case worker that I have never had trouble contacting. I am impressed with Growing Generations in how they process their surrogates to be one of the safest in the industry. The doctors and staff are friendly and professional, medical tests are scheduled at my convenience, and they quickly reimburse me for all my expenses. I love the fact that you are able to choose the intended parents that you want to work with which makes the process that much more seamless. All of the staff I have come into contact with whether over the phone, in person, or by email have been nothing but wonderful, caring, and professional.

I have been a Gestational Surrogate for Growing Generations three times (2 sets of twins and a singleton). I would not even think of having a different agency represent me. I love them and refer Growing Generations to everyone I know.
I never had any communication issues with them but I am also a person who gets things done and if I have any questions, I ask.
I loved my case managers and continue to follow them on Facebook so I can see their posts about matches, betas, ultrasounds and births.

It’s hard for me rate this agency fairly because there are so many good and bad things about it. The good things are, they do have a great donor base and we actually found the perfect donor for my husband and I. IF you can get them to communicate with you, which is sometimes like pulling teeth, the client coordinators and financial gals are nice.
The bad things are, they seem to be totally lacking in ANY sort of customer service skills. As I said before, their communication skills are about a –1 on a scale of 1 – 10. It’s horrible. I felt like I should have been getting paid for all the calling, organizing and reminding them to do their job, throughout our journey with them. They don’t even call you actually, it’s all done via email. Trying to actually talk to a live person is extremely rare and difficult and did not make me or my husband feel safe or assured. It made us feel apprehensive and always wondering if they were a legitimate company or not!
Our fertility clinic had a heck of a time with them, as well. I was always put in the middle trying to solve disputes between the two of them because my fertility clinic didn’t even want to deal with them, they were so disorganized and flakey. So instead of us being able to sit back and relax like we were told would happen, we were always in limbo or having to email reminders for things.
The plus side is, the donor we picked was very reliable and on top of things. If it wasn’t for her being this way, I don’t even know if we would have gotten this far! The agency is expensive and wants a big chunk of money, up front. On that note, if you have any monies left over in your client account, be prepared to probably never see it again! it’s been months and we still have no idea if we have any reimbursements coming our way, or not! they continually put us on the back burner or throw excuse after excuse, to us.
Positive side is, our surrogate is pregnant!

I’m surprised to see that Growing Generations rated so low with other patients because I had a wonderful experience with them. My review is based on my experience as an egg donor with them and cannot speak on behalf of their other services.
I actually lived out-​of-​state at the time I was selected as an egg donor. Growing Generations made the whole process so easy and stream-​lined. The whole process took about 2 ½ months from the time I was matched (March 2012) to the time of my egg retrieval (May 2012). They flew me in to do the psychological evaluation, legal paperwork, and medical screening a month after I was matched (April 2012). I needed to be there and back on the same day, and the agency was able to accommodate for me.
They were able to send me the medications through the mail in which I would do blood work and follicle measurements with a third-​party clinic during the cycle before I flew down to Pasadena for the actual retrieval with Dr. Kolb of HRC Fertility. They were in constant contact with me, which was nice because I felt very in the loop about everything, even if there was nothing to update me on. Erica Bowers was my point person to talk to and Amy Ramsey matched me, and both were great.
The whole staff is friendly and professional and was very easy to work with. When I was billed for something I shouldn’t have been billed for they took care of it right away. I was compensated and reimbursed for all my expenses within a couple days of my retrieval with no hassle.
I would definitely work with this agency again, given the chance, and highly recommend them for egg donors.

If I can give it a zero star, I would. This is coming from personal experience dealing with this agency. I had to turn to surrogacy for a medical reason to conceive a biological baby. The fact that this is a large company does not equate to quality service or no conflict of interest.
First of all, the agency is quick to take your money, and it requires that you pay in full in the trust account right away. The many other professionals that the agency use are all tied to the agency somehow. If you look at the law firm and the psychologist the agency uses, the main principles of these professional firms are also setting as an active managing member of Growing Generations. This is a major conflict of interest. We were also forced to pay a non-​refundable fee to the psychologist even though service was never rendered. That to me is fraud. What legitimate business would force a client to pay for a service that is expected but have not been fulfilled.
Second of all, the lack of communication we get with this agency is just astounding. We finally have a match with the surrogate, but once that is done, I am left hanging without further instructions on what to do next. I had to constantly hound my client service rep for more information and instruction. Then, we had a failed pregnancy with the surrogate, so we took a three months hiatus. During this time, the agency haven’t been following up with surrogate. So, I had to hear to horrible news of the surrogate getting pregnant with her own child by the surrogate herself. Meanwhile, the agency has been sending money out of our trust account to the surrogate. I can not believe why I have to pay our surrogate the three months in hiatus but ended up with the news of her breaking the contract by getting herself pregnant with her own child. The agency should have checked on her to make sure she is using a proper mean of birth control until we resume our next round of IVF.
Lastly, Growing Generation has failed in all ways as an agency, and I am terminating myself as a client with this agency. However, the agency is dragging its feet on refunding my money. Once again, lack of communication. The agency hasn’t done a thing since the first attempt of IVF with the surrogate, and that was 7 months ago. Now, they are only trying to process my refund in installments, because there might be unbilled costs in the future. How can that be? They’ve taken their share of the money in an expedient fashion. What should have been paid, were all paid up front. What reason does the agency have to not fully refund my money for the past 7 months of inactivity?
If you are forced to go to surrogacy, do yourself a favor, don’t work with this agency. This is from my personal experience. I hope to help another couple who do need to turn to surrogacy less grief by not working with this horrible agency. It is already hard enough mentally and physically as the intended parents. You don’t need to be frustrated even more by a callous and poor client service company, when you do need your hand to be held. Frankly, you won’t get it from this company. At least, that was from my experience.