You may have read about guarantees offered by other cord blood banks. We've seen guarantees posted as high as $25,000-$50,000.

Cord blood companies that offer these guarantees state that, if you need to use your child's cord blood stem cells for transplantation and the cells fail to engraft, you will receive reimbursement of your processing and banking costs, as well as extraordinary compensation in the tens of thousands.

The truth is, when you look carefully at all the exclusions and exceptions in the guarantees offered by other banks, you will see that these cord blood banks have established many exceptions that virtually eliminate the possibility that they would ever be liable to pay for guarantees in the $25-50,000 range.

What may not be apparent on these websites or in the contracts you will sign regarding these guarantees, are the pages of exceptions that raise the question as to whether these guarantees will ever get paid out.

For example, cord blood bank guarantees are void if a collecting doctor or nurse varies at all from the cord blood company's own standard operating procedure. It may be easy for these companies to cite the smallest variance in their own SOP and will, therefore, not guarantee the blood or pay the guarantee amount.

Also, if a parent has been on any experimental medication, or if the quantities of blood collected are low, exceptions apply and the guarantees are not paid. If you and your doctor read the fine print you will see that is it very unlikely that this "guarantee" will ever come to pass.

Failure for stem cells to engraft is beyond the control of any cord blood company, any lab or any parent. That is the truth.

At M.A.Z.E. Labs, we have decided not to offer a guarantee unless it was a real one. As a compassionate company, should your child need his or her cord blood for stem cell transplantation, and the cells fail to engraft, we will reimburse you for the costs of collection and storage of these cells.

M.A.Z.E. Labs have been operating successfully for 15 years, and are FDA registered and approved. Our processing and storage facilities are safe and secure and we are honest providers of this important service.

Make sure you read the fine print before spending more on a cord blood bank with a questionable guarantee. Consider the honesty and integrity of M.A.Z.E.