C. Payments, Amendments, Cancellation and Refund Terms and Conditions
1. Payment in advance
1.1 All services and products provided by SxSB (of whatever nature) and all applicable HFEA fees must be paid for, in full, in advance. Failing this, SxSB will not be able to provide the relevant service or product.
2. How much is payable?
2.1 Prices are as detailed on the SxSB website.
2.2 SxSB is entitled to vary its prices from time to time – for example, but without limitation, to reflect increased licensing, administrative or other overhead costs. SxSB will notify you of changes relevant to you. The price you will pay for any product/service will be the price prevailing at the time the product or service is provided. However, if by prior arrangement you have made full payment for services/products to be provided at a later date, SxSB will not alter that price.
2.3 SxSB will provide receipted invoices for all amounts paid, setting out the service or product provided and the price.
2.4 Accepted methods of payment are: Credit card or direct bank transfer to Sussex Sperm Bank: Santander sort code 09-02-22 Account 11062158.
2.5 Unless expressly stated otherwise, all prices are excluding VAT (value added tax) which will be payable in addition at the appropriate rate(s) and at the same time.
3. Refund policy for clients having treatment at another clinic
3.1 Pregnancy rates are influenced by many elements including the centre offering treatment services, and as such there can be no guarantee of pregnancy using donor sperm. You are not entitled to any refund in the event of no pregnancy occurring or failed cycles.
3.2 In the event of you discontinuing treatment before using all of your purchased samples – The cost of the donor sperm samples may be eligible for buyback according to SxSB buyback policy found at https://sussexspermbank.com/buy-back-program/ . SxSB’s buyback policy is also applicable to the Terms and Conditions detailed in this Form C.
4. Private Health Insurance or Health Authority Funding
4.1 Health authorities may fund some or all donor samples purchased and sperm freezing for medical issues but generally not storage and/or family slots. You are liable to pay the storage fees once this funded period has lapsed. It is your responsibility to renew storage at the end of the agreed period, especially if sibling samples have been purchased for future use.
5. Interest and overdue accounts
5.1 All amounts must be paid in full, in advance. Any outstanding payments not made within 30 days of invoicing are subject to interest at 3% above Santander Bank base rate which is added monthly. If payment are not made (in full or part paid) then this would be referred to a debt collection agency.
6. Problems paying fees
6.1 If you have any issues with payments due or any concerns with making payments –especially for renewal of storage at review times- we would strongly encourage you to contact SxSB immediately so we are informed. As part of the contract for storage it is especially important to renew contact at the review times to ensure your storage can continue. No reply to letters may mean you have not received the letters or have moved address and SxSB staff have to make a judgement at some point whether the contract for storage has been broken. To prevent the wrong judgement being made and the samples being destroyed please let us know any change of circumstances. If we know about the situation then arrangements can be considered with the Director. These situations are reviewed on an individual basis.
7. Refunds for deviations in samples
7.1 Refunds will not be given for any samples which have left our facility and are not eligible for a quality complaint replacement.
7.2 Refunds will only be due in the case where the customer has purchased standard IUI or ICI vials. Please note that our ART units contain less motile sperm than our regular vial guarantees, and do not qualify for replacements. In addition, please note that our guarantee applies ONLY if our thaw procedures are followed and applies to specimen at the time of thaw, prior to any post-thaw processing. Counting between laboratories can predictably vary by as much as 25% due to differences in counting procedures. As such, IUI vials counted with at least 7.5 million motile sperm per vial and ICI vials counted at 11.25 million motile sperm per vial are considered within an acceptable range of our target motile sperm count and do not qualify for a replacement. Please note that our final decision will also take pregnancy test results into account. Refunds are not given for a change from IVF to ICSI made by the treatment centre which may incur extra expense. The decision to use this technique may include other factors than sperm numbers alone and SxSB is not involved in the patients’ treatment decisions. Courier fees and family slot fees are non-refundable in full or part.
8. Scenarios outside control of the centre
8.1 If treatment is cancelled or cannot proceed as planned due to a medically relevant reason (for example: Genetic testing incompatibility or by clear direction of the patient’s treating physician), SxSB will allow for the client to swap to a different donor (and family slot) at no cost to the client, or will offer a full refund of the order placed, minus 3% credit card processing fees.
• Payments for donor samples due to be shipped to other centres that have not yet left SxSB may be refunded upon written request from the patient. Donor samples that have already left SxSB cannot be refunded due to scenarios outside of the centres control. Please refer to https://sussexspermbank.com/buy-back-program/ or https://sussexspermbank.com/sussex-sperm-banks-medical-refund-and-donor-exchange-policies/ for more information about buybacks, refunds and/or exchanges.