Northern California Fertility Medical Center – Is It Accused of Being Greedy and Selfish?
Northern California Fertility Medical Center is a fertility clinic that has received complaints for lacking care and compassion towards its patients. Many of its reviews complain about how the clinic sells false hope and tries to squeeze out as much money out of you as possible.
The following review will share some of those complaints to give you a better idea of what it’s like to work with them:
About Northern California Fertility Medical Center:
Northern California Fertility Medical Center is a fertility clinic in North Highlands, California. Their address is 4320 Auburn Blvd, Sacramento, CA 95841, US.
They stay open from 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM on weekdays and from 8:30 AM to 12 PM on weekends.
They offer various treatments to their clients including:
- IVF
- Vasectomy reversal
- Male infertility identification
- Egg donation
- Recurrent miscarriage treatment
- Female infertility treatment
And more.
They serve clients in various areas including Folsom, Lake Tahoe, Bay Area, Elk Grove, El Dorado Hills, Redding, Stockton and more.
The doctors here are Dr. Sara Babcock Gilbert, Dr. Manuel A. Doblado, Dr. Michael J. Murray, and Dr. Laurie P. Lovely.
On paper, it might seem like one of the best fertility clinics in northern California. However, when you look at the Northern California Fertility Medical Center reviews, you see a completely different picture. In the next section of my review, I have shared some of the numerous complaints this fertility clinic has received. So, you can understand what it’s truly like to work with them:
Northern California Fertility Medical Center Has Expensive Procedures and Careless Staff
Here, the reviewer says that her treatment began with 2 rounds of moderate dosage of Clomid. Unfortunately, it didn’t affect her body like it was expected to so she underwent another round of Clomid before both of her IUIs.
The third time, they doubled the dosage of Clomid and tried to see if it made a difference. Then, the clinic canceled her IUI and she went in the next month for a baseline ultrasound.
During that visit, they told her she had a cyst on her ovaries. So, she went on birth control for a month. Then, she went back for another ultrasound, the cyst cleared up and they started giving her injections.
The injections worked and the reviewer underwent another IUI which was also unsuccessful.
She shares that her biggest gripe with this place is how they handle callbacks. The clinic doesn’t call back in time. Many times, she had to wait for 2 days to get a reply.
Furthermore, the procedures were quite expensive. Each IUI was around $1200 and the insurance covered a little of the consultations.
The biggest issues she had were their failure to order appropriate tests and failure to call her with the results. Also, the clinic failed to share critical information and inform of the changes in protocol.
She points out that they didn’t send her prescriptions twice. Also, they canceled the IUI without any explanation except that the medicine didn’t work. They gave her the results incorrectly and they called her later to tell her that they had read them wrong.
It appears the people at Northern California Fertility Medical Center are quite careless.
Doctor Doesn’t Interact Enough, Provide Contradicting Information
Here, the reviewer is disappointed with the result although she points out that Dr. Sahar Stephens is a compassionate doctor.
They tried 2 IUIs with Clomid. The first procedure had a low dose while the second was normal. Both of the IUIs were unsuccessful. Then, they recommended doing IVF. However, the hormone levels were very high during the injection due to which the reviewer couldn’t get the proper dose of HCG.
Hence, the reviewer had to switch from a fresh transfer to a freeze. They transferred two eggs but they all failed.
The reviewer shares that the front desk felt very cold initially. Also, they make you feel like a number as you go through different doctors during the IUI and IVF processes. She understands the urgency of these procedures but says it would be good if the doctors who handle your specific case interacted with you more.
In her experience, the insurance covered 50% of the IUIs so she paid $1,000 for 2 consecutive IUIs. The cost of egg retrieval and transfer for IVF was $12,000 while they charged an additional $800 for the freezing procedure.
Insurance didn’t cover any of the hormones which cost an additional $4,000.
The reviewer points out that they provided her with conflicting information.
She points out that some of the sperm count numbers were different on the day of the IUI from what it said on the patient portal. This caused her confusion regarding the actual sperm count.
Staff Doesn’t Convey Critical Information, Doesn’t Know How to Communicate
The above reviewer liked Dr. Sahar Stephens at Northern California Fertility Medical Center. However, she didn’t like the staff.
She shares that it was difficult to get a call back from the main nursing staff. Furthermore, they didn’t convey a lot of vital information to the reviewer in time. For example, they never talked to the reviewer about PGS testing.
Although the clinic had given the reviewer a handout, it was really brushed over. They made it sound like something people don’t really do so the reviewer didn’t put much stock in it and moved on.
She wishes that she learned more about it to understand how it improves success rates.
In her experience, she highlights that the clinic lost appointments, failed to call with results, failed to convey critical information and gave her conflicting information.
Hence, she had to constantly stay on top of her nurse during her cycle.
Clinic Takes No Responsibility, Treats Male Patients Differently
The above reviewer says that Northern California Fertility Medical Center failed him in some way whenever he interacted with them. It was extremely difficult for him to reach someone to give information to so he could become a patient.
They asked him if he could provide them with his photo ID so he went to the desk and asked if there was anything else the clinic needed. The front desk staff told him “No, you can sit down” and then soon after they asked him to come back and pay his copay.
He says it was stressful and definitely not what he needed during a delicate medical appointment. When he asked questions about the specifics of providing a sample, they brushed them off as “not important”.
Then, they gave him information to review his results on a website. The clinic gave him instructions on how to login there and provided him with a username and password.
However, the reviewer hasn’t been able to log in there once. When he called to ask if they could share his results they told him they couldn’t because the test was “inconclusive”. Then, the clinic recommended he to make an appointment with a Urologist.
The reviewer says he waited for months before writing this review because it was a very emotional experience. He suspects they treated him differently because he is a male. According to the above reviewer, his experience with the Northern California Fertility Medical Center was the worst experience he has had with any clinic or doctor.
Later, he added an update to his complaint. The clinic claimed that they are happy to help with the portal login which was a clear lie. According to the reviewer, he called the place multiple times seeking help but they always brushed him off.
Also, when he called the place to get information about his results, the clinic didn’t bother to give him any explanation. They blamed the sample for the inconclusive test results. This is a notable complaint because many gay male couples seek the help of such clinics and facing discrimination wouldn’t help.
“This Place is a Total Rip Off”
Natalie doesn’t recommend this fertility clinic. She says “Do not trust anything this clinic says”.
According to Natalie, this clinic tells you what you want to hear and uses dirty car salesman tricks to deceive you. The clinic gives you a lot of false hope just so they can keep taking your money.
She is a 40-year-old patient and had no fertility problems. Natalie highlights that she got pregnant 4 years ago the first time she tried and has a healthy son.
Also, she never had a miscarriage. She wanted to save some embryos as a paying patient for future options. After spending thousands of dollars on blood work, she had an ultrasound which showed very active follicles. The clinic was confident that they could help her.
She told them that her goal was to have the option to have one more child. Natalie didn’t want a whole team, she already had several children.
The doctor started the process and after giving birth control they did an ultrasound 2 days later. However, the doctor was surprised and said her body must have overreacted to birth control.
Still, he told her not to worry. He told her that he won’t follow through with the retrieval until he felt he could get sufficient eggs. Also, he claimed to have full confidence that Natalie’s eggs were healthy.
Then, they monitored her for a few weeks. On every visit, Natalie says that she saw a different doctor. Her follicles progressed each time although they were a little slow. She had a total of 11.
They went back and forth and decided to retrieve them a day earlier than the other doctor she had seen in her last visit.
The doctors let go of the biggest one and said the smallest one was a runt. So, she ended up with 9. However, the surgeon only got 3 and they came back abnormal.
Natalie needed a significantly higher retrieval of eggs and she could have got it if they did the procedure right or waited for another day or two.
They could have at least delayed the IVF until her body was back to its normal self. Natalie had already paid over $20,000 for the procedures. Then, she saw a completely different doctor in her subsequent visits.
Also, they didn’t even tell her who was going to perform her procedure until she showed up for the same. Natalie says that the people at Northern California Fertility Medical Center are unorganized, mean, and greedy.
Later, they blamed her age for the unsuccessful results and refused to take any responsibility. She says that if her age is to blame then they should have told her so in the beginning. Or better yet, they shouldn’t have taken her as a patient.
Furthermore, why did they only take 3 out of 11? Natalie asks many questions like this in her review.
She wanted a partial refund but they didn’t care. Natalie says that this fertility clinic is a rip-off.
“The Staff at Northern California Fertility Medical Center is Extremely Cold”
Like most of the Northern California Fertility Medical Center reviews I have covered so far, this one also praises the doctor. The reviewer says that Dr. Laurie Lovely was quite knowledgeable and helpful.
However, the staff here was extremely cold. They made a few errors.
The reviewer would like to see the overall staff focusing on their patient’s well-being. They should put effort into understanding the patients as each patient’s situation is different.
Furthermore, the majority of patients here are going through a very difficult time and it doesn’t help when the staff is so cold.
According to the reviewer, the biggest issues in this clinic were its failure to send her chart to another clinic and its failure to share critical information. Also, the clinic provided her with conflicting information.
She points out that the front desk staff provided her with inaccurate information.
$50,000+ for Unsuccessful Treatments and Rude Staff
Here, the reviewer had an IUI, IVF Egg freezing, and embryo freezing procedures. She shares that the wait times here were too long. The front desk staff was completely disconnected from the staff in the back.
According to the reviewer, the front desk staff did not even remember you. All the procedures were out of pocket and cost over $50,000.
Manuel Doblado appeared to be in a hurry, making communication difficult
They refused to listen to their patients and charged them higher fees
Northern California Fertility Medical Center’s personnel appears to be unprofessional
Delays in the appointment and an apparent lack of competence
Northern California Fertility Medical Center was unpleasant, and patients received subpar care
They were unable to provide proper time slots to their patients
They were totally unprofessional and acted inappropriately with their patients
There was poor management and ineffective communication, and they failed to charge their clients
Northern California Fertility Medical Center had to repeat a cycle due to inaccurate results
The two IVF attempts failed, and the results were inaccurate
They mislead the patients and were disrespectful to them
They were dishonest and did not guarantee a better success rate
They were nasty to their patients and requested a second cycle
Communication issues prevented NCFMC from providing payment information
They were requesting additional money
The NCFMC staff member seemed rude and lacked proper office manners
They were inappropriate, impolite, and terrible communicators
Poor care and financial strain on patients
The NCFMC staff appeared hostile, and the rates were overpriced
They were providing their patients with incorrect dosages
Patients were given late appointments at NCFMC
They didn’t care about their patients and misled them by providing different referrals
NCFMC appeared to be squandering funds and making catastrophic errors
Disappointed since the staff lacked professionalism and appeared to be unfriendly
They were dishonest in their billing practices
They mistreated their patients and provided poor care
NCFMC was unaware of patients’ insurance benefits
They were inconsiderate, crooks, and appeared unprofessional
NCFMC seems to be the most untrustworthy medical company
They even charge for consultations, which is terrible
Paying BBB To Seem More Credible:
As you have seen, Northern California Fertility Medical Center has received a plethora of complaints from its customers. However, instead of trying to address and fix the issues leading to those complaints, the leadership of this clinic resorts to unethical marketing tactics.
One of their cheap marketing tactics is to pay BBB for accreditation.
On BBB, they have an A+ rating and an accredited profile. Contrary to popular belief, you don’t need to have excellent business practices to get BBB accreditation. You can get one by paying a hefty annual fee which can go up to $10,000.
CNN Money has done extensive research on this topic. They found that many scammers and companies facing charges of fraud and discrimination had A+ profiles on BBB simply because of their accreditation status.
It seems Northern California Fertility Medical Center has used the same tactic utilized by those scammers. This is quite unethical and suggests that they are trying to deceive consumers. Certainly, it’s a huge red flag.
Verdict
After going through the above Northern California Fertility Medical Center reviews, it’s obvious that this place is not as reliable as it claims to be.
According to the complaints, the doctors here need to care more about their patients rather than their wallets. Furthermore, the staff here needs to become more compassionate.
If you’re looking for a compassionate and caring fertility clinic, this is not the right place for you. Go somewhere else.
This clinic is the best in Northern California. Compassionate, experienced doctors and staff.
It was difficult to notice that these clinics were receiving higher ratings on websites, considering there had been thousands of complaints and many unfavorable reviews published about them, but they were still running.
This is not the proper method to interact with patients. I went there for IVF, but after my visit, I discovered that the front desk personnel was not responding to any of the inquiries I had for them regarding their patients’ problems.
It is now preferable to have treatment somewhere else because this facility is complete rubbish due to the staff’s lack of professionalism and the inaccurate test results.
They charged the patients more for the procedure, demonstrating how concerned they are about the people they serve, yet they still won’t listen to them.
After the procedure, the people felt let down.
It is better to be alert and continually verify if the clinic is the best option for the treatment or not, or whether any improper procedures were carried out by the clinic. Before visiting the clinic as a patient, individuals thoroughly research their medical issues.
After reading the reviews mentioned in the article, it is clear that there is a great deal of discrimination taking place in the clinics, that there are delays in scheduling appointments, and that there are numerous other issues that many patients would experience.
The government should take strict action against the problem to raise awareness in society and reduce the number of clinics that engaged in the flawed practice because many victims experienced the same difficulties as going through IVF procedures.
The IVF treatment is highly important and normally takes a long time, but it appears that North California Medical Center has received thousands of complaints about faulty technique, false hopes, and attempts to charge the customer more money.
Great find. I had my suspicions about this place but now I’m certain.
Yes, I agree with you that this place is a total joke. The clinic had no rules for how people should act, and everyone was in a hurry.
The staff was rude and didn’t care about the people they worked for.
I can’t believe Northern California Fertility Medical Center is still in business. My cusin visited this place and her experience was horrible. One of the nurses legit said to her “I don’t think you should have kids” only because she didn’t like her attitude.
I experienced the same thing—the staff was quite unkind to the patients, I was supposed to be by myself there, some people did not receive the required care, and the front desk employee appeared to be acting unethically.
Greedy and unprofessional. I won’t recommend this clinic to even my worst enemy. The way they treated my wife was not only insensitive but downright wrong.
Yes, the staff was incompetent and unprofessional, and it is difficult to believe the test results that are being reported because the clinic’s medical staff made so many mistakes
The doctor here is very understanding and compassionate. But that’s about it. I don’t trust their diagnosis because the staff seems to lack basic communication skills. They don’t know what your requirements are half the time.