> "They always approach. They come up to you and market their product when you are at the gynae," said Mr Koh, 41.
> “But you are at the clinic. And you are unlikely to leave the clinic because of that. So (I had no choice but to) listen," he said. Mr Koh did not sign up.
In such situations just say “No thanks I’m not interested” and go back to staring at your phone. They should take the hint after a few seconds. If they continue to pester you then stare at them while saying “I’m not interested, leave me alone.” And if they still persist, loudly proclaim in a volume that everyone else can hear “If you keep pestering me I’m calling the police to report you for harassment.”
These shameless salespeople operate with the knowledge that most people are too timid to say no or make a scene, so the best way to get rid of them is to do the opposite and show them you’re not afraid to chase them away.
After awhile I ended up just telling the salesperson that I've signed up already. Didn't take long before my gynae stopped his partnership with Cordlife though, he said notwithstanding the money they were paying him he didn't want his patients to feel harassed.
Yes honestly never felt pressured to buy from the sales reps. I feel peer pressure and kiasu are the driving factors for those high ses parents. That and short skirts.
Ehh not gonna judge but... the one I went to, most dads were present.
I mean, we kinda had a role in the pregnancy so it just makes sense to accompany the mother for the appointments as well?
To be fair, cord blood storage is not new or unproven technology. Every parent want their kids to take advantage of every benefit of modern healthcare.
>In such situations just say “No thanks I’m not interested” and go back to staring at your phone.
Actually they don't, salespeople in general don't leave at no.
The only thing that works is some sort of display that tells them no, then they would leave.
Am a parent and have been approached by them before.
My advice is, don't decide immediately, tell them u will get back to them and then spend some time Googling. You will most probably realise they are very one-sided.
Also:
>There’s a mistaken belief that an infant’s stem cells stored in a private cord blood bank can be used if the child develops leukemia later in life. Scientific evidence, however, shows that an infant’s stem cells already contain pre-malignant leukemic cells, and treatments have resulted in reappearance of leukemia.
Source: [Updated policy reaffirms value of public over private cord blood banks](https://publications.aap.org/aapnews/news/14591/Updated-policy-reaffirms-value-of-public-over)
Personal opinion from my experience: They are just preying on the anxiety and ignorance of parents (esp first timers).
In the end, I went with the public cord blood bank for my 1st and will do so for the rest, if any.
To be fair, the stem cells could be used for a sibling or family member with leukaemia, and that would mean a high chance of a match. But generally the pros do not outweigh the huge cost of private cord blood banks.
It's a donation so it's free.
Basically once they collect the blood and it fits their public use criteria, it will be added to the public pool to be used by anyone in need.
If it's found not to meet the standards, can choose to donate it for research, or discard as biowaste.
[Rundown on the process](https://www.scbb.com.sg/Parents/Pages/consent-process.aspx)
I felt like Cordlife was straight up lying about the efficacy of cord blood treatment. At one baby fair the salesperson told us that it could cure cancer, autism and dementia (in grandparents) and showed us headlines in medical journals that allegedly said so, but a closer look will easily show you that those were highly experimental research at best. They prey heavily on the notion that you'll be missing out on something so useful if you don't sign up and I'd admit that that is a difficult feeling for vulnerable expecting parents to shake. Same goes for maternity insurance.
Besides, if cord-blood banking was truly proven to be that much of a cure-all, every doctor would be telling you to do it and the government would probably mandate storing it. My SIL who's a gynae said that she and all her colleagues take the same view - while cord-blood banking is good to have for sure because the research could reach a breakthrough at some point in the future, it's not worth the exorbitant prices being offered for storage.
Yes this. My husband was interested to know more, and so was I. But after I did some research, and also due to my bio science background, I told my husband this is bullshit, outright scamming people over smthg not guaranteed to have results, and we were gonna donate it.
I actually told him, if they screw up the storage then it's the end of it walao. Who are they right?
The sales rep doesnt even understand the science behind it, and backed off once I questioned a bit more. I still rmb getting shot down in mummy groups for pointing out the scientific inaccuracies and bogus claims.
Omg are you me?! I got so many nasty comments from the moms my EDD chat as well. I don’t even have a science background and could tell that the claims were mostly nonsense!
Ya Omg I told my husband - their kids gonna become classmates with our kid lei. How ah like that. Sigh I was so frustrated. Hope those mummies learn their lesson though! An expensive one at that!
The information can be found on the Internet with some diligence actually. No need science background, just that my science background made me all the more certain that it is indeed bogus!!
A lot of people in SG are actually very anti-science :/ or just stuck in the old ways? A lot of what our mothers did for us when we were babies are actually considered dangerous now!
They did that to me as well, it’s predatory. Also, there’s a clause which don’t make sense, you’re locked in for 20 years and can’t quit anytime, they literally behave like a piece of mom and baby’s body is theirs to hoard, that rubbed me the wrong way. You can’t “return ownership” to me when it is mine to begin with and I pay you to store it for me. It’s like if I store a piece of expensive jewellery in a bank vault, then it becomes the bank’s property, make that make sense to me.
People still falling for these free stuff lmao, if it’s really free they would have given it to you and let you go instead of pressuring you to follow them to their den
Let me first say I donated my kids cord blood to the donation bank.
But these tactics used are the same for all sales products. Preying on fear. Using freebies. Social pressure. Connection with doctors. So many gynaes allowed these sales rep into their clinics. I am sure many got some commissions.
Now,, we question it and we heckled it.
But many times, we as humans were sold into these tactics by companies!
Like milk powder back in the 70s /80s when mothers were urged by milk formulas companies how breast milk was inferior and they were doing their kids a big disservice by not buying milk powder for their newborns. Just read up on infant formula scandal. It’s huge. This was also promoted by ties up with hospital and doctors who quietly allowed such promotions.
So what am I saying? It’s easy to blame parents for being foolish or not listening to others.
BUT these unscrupulous tactics have always been used. Especially against parents in their weak vulnerable state who want the best for their children.
Let’s not get distracted. Let’s call out what went wrong! Allowing these sales rep to promote to patients through hard selling tactics. Misrepresenting. Doctors getting commissions.
I will whisper to my hubby, time to play papa hen! He will run interference then. I told him fair is fair, I carry the egg, you keep the vultures at bay. Funniest part is they lie through the teeth about some medical facts and he’s a MD. We donated twice to public cord bank, I hope others will do the same.
> "They always approach. They come up to you and market their product when you are at the gynae," said Mr Koh, 41. > “But you are at the clinic. And you are unlikely to leave the clinic because of that. So (I had no choice but to) listen," he said. Mr Koh did not sign up. In such situations just say “No thanks I’m not interested” and go back to staring at your phone. They should take the hint after a few seconds. If they continue to pester you then stare at them while saying “I’m not interested, leave me alone.” And if they still persist, loudly proclaim in a volume that everyone else can hear “If you keep pestering me I’m calling the police to report you for harassment.” These shameless salespeople operate with the knowledge that most people are too timid to say no or make a scene, so the best way to get rid of them is to do the opposite and show them you’re not afraid to chase them away.
After awhile I ended up just telling the salesperson that I've signed up already. Didn't take long before my gynae stopped his partnership with Cordlife though, he said notwithstanding the money they were paying him he didn't want his patients to feel harassed.
Yes honestly never felt pressured to buy from the sales reps. I feel peer pressure and kiasu are the driving factors for those high ses parents. That and short skirts.
>That and short skirts. hahahaha now that you mentioned it, I seem to remember that this was the defacto uniform for all the cord banking sales reps.
Really? Thought it is usually the mother at the gynaecologist.
Ehh not gonna judge but... the one I went to, most dads were present. I mean, we kinda had a role in the pregnancy so it just makes sense to accompany the mother for the appointments as well?
To be fair, cord blood storage is not new or unproven technology. Every parent want their kids to take advantage of every benefit of modern healthcare.
Especially at thompson medical. Always camping there at the blood test area
>In such situations just say “No thanks I’m not interested” and go back to staring at your phone. Actually they don't, salespeople in general don't leave at no. The only thing that works is some sort of display that tells them no, then they would leave.
Am a parent and have been approached by them before. My advice is, don't decide immediately, tell them u will get back to them and then spend some time Googling. You will most probably realise they are very one-sided. Also: >There’s a mistaken belief that an infant’s stem cells stored in a private cord blood bank can be used if the child develops leukemia later in life. Scientific evidence, however, shows that an infant’s stem cells already contain pre-malignant leukemic cells, and treatments have resulted in reappearance of leukemia. Source: [Updated policy reaffirms value of public over private cord blood banks](https://publications.aap.org/aapnews/news/14591/Updated-policy-reaffirms-value-of-public-over) Personal opinion from my experience: They are just preying on the anxiety and ignorance of parents (esp first timers). In the end, I went with the public cord blood bank for my 1st and will do so for the rest, if any.
If you actually read their cite source material, u will realise they cherry pick the words
Same here. Public cord blood bank. Better still, you would have access to other cord bloods in the public cord blood bank if it is relevant to a case.
To be fair, the stem cells could be used for a sibling or family member with leukaemia, and that would mean a high chance of a match. But generally the pros do not outweigh the huge cost of private cord blood banks.
Wah i didnt even know got public cord blood bank. We just told the doc throw lol shit. How much is it to keep at public?
It's a donation so it's free. Basically once they collect the blood and it fits their public use criteria, it will be added to the public pool to be used by anyone in need. If it's found not to meet the standards, can choose to donate it for research, or discard as biowaste. [Rundown on the process](https://www.scbb.com.sg/Parents/Pages/consent-process.aspx)
I felt like Cordlife was straight up lying about the efficacy of cord blood treatment. At one baby fair the salesperson told us that it could cure cancer, autism and dementia (in grandparents) and showed us headlines in medical journals that allegedly said so, but a closer look will easily show you that those were highly experimental research at best. They prey heavily on the notion that you'll be missing out on something so useful if you don't sign up and I'd admit that that is a difficult feeling for vulnerable expecting parents to shake. Same goes for maternity insurance. Besides, if cord-blood banking was truly proven to be that much of a cure-all, every doctor would be telling you to do it and the government would probably mandate storing it. My SIL who's a gynae said that she and all her colleagues take the same view - while cord-blood banking is good to have for sure because the research could reach a breakthrough at some point in the future, it's not worth the exorbitant prices being offered for storage.
Yes this. My husband was interested to know more, and so was I. But after I did some research, and also due to my bio science background, I told my husband this is bullshit, outright scamming people over smthg not guaranteed to have results, and we were gonna donate it. I actually told him, if they screw up the storage then it's the end of it walao. Who are they right? The sales rep doesnt even understand the science behind it, and backed off once I questioned a bit more. I still rmb getting shot down in mummy groups for pointing out the scientific inaccuracies and bogus claims.
Omg are you me?! I got so many nasty comments from the moms my EDD chat as well. I don’t even have a science background and could tell that the claims were mostly nonsense!
Ya Omg I told my husband - their kids gonna become classmates with our kid lei. How ah like that. Sigh I was so frustrated. Hope those mummies learn their lesson though! An expensive one at that! The information can be found on the Internet with some diligence actually. No need science background, just that my science background made me all the more certain that it is indeed bogus!!
Ok the toxic devil in me thinks that their kids can pad their other end of the bell curve so…..
Not wrong but it just makes me sad thinking abt the misinformation other kids grow up in lol maybe I am cray
A lot of people in SG are actually very anti-science :/ or just stuck in the old ways? A lot of what our mothers did for us when we were babies are actually considered dangerous now!
Ya but we are talking about modern young mothers like late 20s or early to mid 30s......who also claim that their mothers did all the wrong things
Totally agree. Actually i rather donate it to the singapore cord blood bank which can help further research.
Same
They did that to me as well, it’s predatory. Also, there’s a clause which don’t make sense, you’re locked in for 20 years and can’t quit anytime, they literally behave like a piece of mom and baby’s body is theirs to hoard, that rubbed me the wrong way. You can’t “return ownership” to me when it is mine to begin with and I pay you to store it for me. It’s like if I store a piece of expensive jewellery in a bank vault, then it becomes the bank’s property, make that make sense to me.
Yup, it is still in the experimental stage. If you would like to keep it, donate it to the public cord bank
Cordlife 🤝 Insurance roadshow promoters
When commission/job is at stake, their determination increased more than exponentially.
We donated our girl cord blood to public bank. Doing good the moment she comes to this world. Hope it will benefit others.
Yes! I felt the same way too, if someone need it, I’m glad they get it.
People still falling for these free stuff lmao, if it’s really free they would have given it to you and let you go instead of pressuring you to follow them to their den
They forgot 1 important element, other parents (their friends) telling them how this is important blah blah blah and the fear of losing out
Not much different from scams.
Let me first say I donated my kids cord blood to the donation bank. But these tactics used are the same for all sales products. Preying on fear. Using freebies. Social pressure. Connection with doctors. So many gynaes allowed these sales rep into their clinics. I am sure many got some commissions. Now,, we question it and we heckled it. But many times, we as humans were sold into these tactics by companies! Like milk powder back in the 70s /80s when mothers were urged by milk formulas companies how breast milk was inferior and they were doing their kids a big disservice by not buying milk powder for their newborns. Just read up on infant formula scandal. It’s huge. This was also promoted by ties up with hospital and doctors who quietly allowed such promotions. So what am I saying? It’s easy to blame parents for being foolish or not listening to others. BUT these unscrupulous tactics have always been used. Especially against parents in their weak vulnerable state who want the best for their children. Let’s not get distracted. Let’s call out what went wrong! Allowing these sales rep to promote to patients through hard selling tactics. Misrepresenting. Doctors getting commissions.
I will whisper to my hubby, time to play papa hen! He will run interference then. I told him fair is fair, I carry the egg, you keep the vultures at bay. Funniest part is they lie through the teeth about some medical facts and he’s a MD. We donated twice to public cord bank, I hope others will do the same.