New York – Congratulations — it’s a boy! Or a girl!
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A group of New York moms has filed suit against the makers of a “99.9-percent accurate” baby-gender test, claiming the results they got were 100 percent wrong.
The product was advertised as “infallibly accurate in foretelling the gender of a healthy baby,” and its Web site said the “prediction of your baby’s gender is unmistakably correct or we will double your money back.”
The Baby Gender Mentor is touted as allowing women as little as five weeks pregnant to tell if they’re expecting a boy or a girl, the suit says.
That’s nine to 13 weeks sooner than parents normally find out from a sonogram or amniocentesis and typically the cutoff point for abortions — although no one suggested in the court papers that was the reason they took the test.
In papers filed in Manhattan Supreme Court, six New York women claim they were given incorrect results from the $275 test, and claim the company, Acu-Gen Biolab, Inc., made them jump through hoops to get their refunds — or, in some cases, simply refused to pay.
“They’re just hoping these people will go away,” said the moms’ lawyer, Barry Gainey.
He said in a pending federal class-action lawsuit against the company that officials admitted that 10 to 20 percent of their customers have asked for refunds based on incorrect results.
“That doesn’t sound like 99.9 percent accurate to me,” Gainey said.
Keven Duffy, 41, said she took the test three years ago “on the sly” in hopes of being able to surprise her husband with the news that they were going to have a son. The couple already had a daughter, and was hoping for a boy for “family balancing.”
She double-checked the results with the company, and “they said for sure it’s a boy” — so she told her hubby the good news. Several weeks later, a sonogram revealed they were having a girl.
“I feel they’re just tricksters,” she said
The company allegedly told her it wouldn’t refund her money unless there was a live birth and she sent them an original birth certificate — and then stopped returning her calls. The flip-flop “caused stress” in her marriage, Duffy said, and she and her husband have since divorced.
A call to Acu-Gen head C.N. Wang was not returned.
One may feel bad for the couple who received “bad” news about the inaccuracy of a gender test. But to claim that this caused their marriage to disintegrate is strange. I would not be surprised to see a multimillion dollar award in such a civil suit, though I will feel bad that I never chose law school and the career of bringing mega lawsuits over trivia. I agree that a bad product should be removed form the market, or that outrageous claims should not be made. But where this lawsuit can go frightens me a bit.
This Duffy lady is like a lot of you VIN posters. You have a legitimate point (or several). Then, in cold blood, you murder it with a laughably ludicrous statement such as Ms. Duffy’s last one about her divorce. I don’t know whether to laugh or cry.
I didn’t find out I was carrying twins until the fifth month. The babies heartbeat were in unison & until a clear sono showed two. Based on this articles logic, I can sue G-D for “tricking” me into thinking I only had one……
Why do people purchase every item advertised by the media. Don’t they realize when something sounds to good to be true it is? They do this with everything and then they complain and sue or become mentally deranged. This one costed a few dollars so what. It is time people grew up and lived in a reality based universe.
Rabbosai: It was a healthy child. What normal person would care if it was a boy or girl. Both are equal in the eyes of hashem and there is no more zhchus for one gender over another. The really sick part of this story is that the incorrect information caused “stress” for this couple and led to their divorce. Unless this part of the story is a joke, their lawsuit should be thrown out of court since both this husband and wife are clearly troubled people and the lawsuit is frivolous. If you want certainty, go get a sonogram like normal people would.
Sounds like a great scam to me. Sell a product that you know will be right 50% of the time; when it’s right you keep the money, and when someone sends you proof that it was wrong, refund their money with a smile and an apology for this “rare failure”. Of course you don’t want to be scammed yourself, so you demand proof of failure before coughing up the refund. And of course if you make them wait until the baby is born, you keep the float on the money for 5-6 months or more, and they may never get around to claiming the refund at all, especially if it’s not that much money.
“Rabbosai: It was a healthy child. What normal person would care if it was a boy or girl.”
That is the way many Americans think, but in some Asian countries, the gender of a child is extremely important.
The statement of the company “”prediction of your baby’s gender is unmistakably correct or we will double your money back.” is imo funny. Think back to the days when cameras used film, and imagine a film maker who would make a similar statement. So if your wedding photos don’t come out due to a malfunction of the film, you get double the cost of the film! Many photo labs had the policy of giving replacement film when photos did not come out.
I find it funny that the same product is advertised as both:
“99.9-percent accurate”
and
“infallibly accurate”
The two claims are contradictory. The former indicates a 1 in a thousand chance of error. The latter indicates that there is no chance of error.
The Wolf
anybody out there feel like me that its just not a good thing to find out gender. persoanlly after having my wife go through two miscarriages (bh 4 healthy births too) I think its smarter for her and me not to know or get too attached and think about names, clothes, colors… until born. seems like it could bee an ayin hora. incidentally she disagrees. and is pregnant now. doctors apt. next week. and we’re arguing about whether she should find out or not. any thoughts out there?
if it is 100% wrong, so you know 100% the opposite
has anyone thought that perhaps the woman in the article was misquoted like so many people are? Perhaps the reporter “spun” the story to suit the needs of the article. Just food for thought.
The only opinion I have #29 is that arguing causes stress. Stress is no good.
chazal do tell us leolam yispallel odom sheyehey bonov zecharim v’lo nekayvos, so yes, like the chineese chazal indicate a preferance to boys.
Rav.Avraham Steinberg, an Israel Prize laureate, pediatric neurologist at Shaare Zedek Hospital and medical ethicist at the Hebrew University’s Medical School has paskind that the use of such a kit here could result in numerous “abortions for unacceptable reasons” and is assur except where necessary to detect possible genetic defects. The same position has been expressed by many other leading rabbonim in EY and in the U.S.
why are we discussing China? This whole thing happened in NY!!!???
please all of you be careful when you comment on a saying of chazal (post41) & only people who aren’t solid in their emunah contest sayings of chazal , others might ask their rebbe to explain it to them
reply to#49 see #41 before you talk
men say shalo ahsani isha & women only say sheasani kirtzono , what does that indicate milhouse?
“men say shalo ahsani isha & women only say sheasani kirtzono , what does that indicate “
That men wrote the brachot? Perhaps if women wrote the brachot, they might be shelo asani ish for women to say, and sha asani kirtzono for men to say? Perhaps some men are jealous of women since women can give birth to children? In modern society women can do almost everything a man can do(except within orthodox Judaism). Women also don’t suffer from the huge testosterone levels that men have.