Overall, it was okay. Today was my first successful donation w/ physical and overall, my experience was okay. It wasn't great, but it wasn't horrible either. I arrived almost an hour earlier than my appointment time and appreciated being worked in and able to start my process earlier. The process was also super informational and thorough, but still somehow quick and efficient which was great. Staff also answered any questions I may have had during the process and were attentive to me as well. Truly my only complaints are during my finger prick at the first station, I was pricked in the center of my middle finger and 7 hours later it is still hurting like holy cow!! As a medical professional myself too, I know that finger pricks need to be on the SIDE of the finger. Next time, I will be making sure of this and I would hope that staff is fully complaint in doing so. I also happen to notice a donor frequently dozing off as well to which I saw no staff react or act upon. I was told that sleeping or having my eyes closed was not allowed due to safety precaution, but multiple people let this person "sleep" while they saw and did nothing. Just thought that maybe we could be better in the future for things like that. read more

BioLife Plasma Services - Middle finger stick - Blood & Plasma Donation Centers Near Me - Ankeny, Iowa

I've gone to Biolife in Ankeny since 2018; It's a great business..staff is polite and place is always clean.

I jumped through all of their ridiculous hoops just for them to tell me the tattoo on the BACK SIDE of my arm was too close to my veins. Ummm....lazy much?! read more

Their website indicates you need only and id and proof of address. Then once you arrive, they turn you away for not bringing a social security card (even though I know my ss number) and marriage license from 6 years ago. Waste of time. read more

Slow to do work, quicker to gossip. Sat for 10 minutes with a needle in my arm waiting to be let go. They have under toned attitude. Please go to CSL! read more

If you like being treated like cattle this is the place. They just heard you in, take your plasma, and throw some change at you. Initial promo is good but after that the pay sucks. I saw a promo so I made an appointment, after I made the appointment, the promo changed. read more

Hello. I have been going to this Biolife for over 9 yrs... Everyone is professional and helpfull.. I am a very hard donar to stick.... 1 1/2 yrs ago... I went in and they tried my right arm, nope. my left arm.. nope. they said try again next time.... i went back in,,, they tried right arm, nope. left arm. nope.. I was tired of getting stick with a needle and nothing happened... i told my sticker... I quit... no more.... my sticker said... can u do me a favor before u quit. I said,,, what... He said... go to Walmart... buy some Vitamin E Lotion and rub in your elbows.... I said... i have new scars over old scars.... he said try it. so i did.. every morning, every night i massage my elbows with E lotion and I drink a hell of alot of water day before.... I have now been coming for last year with %90 sucessfull stick... Gary read more

This place purposely leaves out important information about how you need to eat before your appointment (not on the website or any correspondence) and how tattoos in certain places are in issue (also not on the website or any correspondence). I wasted 35 minutes of a Sunday afternoon and now they have my social security card on file for something I won't be using. Don't waste your time. read more

I wouldn't recommend this to anyone. I got deferred the first time because I ate 2 hours prior and they said it wasn't soon enough. The second time because they said my iron was a little low, so I rescheduled for today (5 days later the third time) I went in and waited awkwardly while the ladies at the front desk were singing and not doing anything else for at least 5 minutes and they told me they didn't have me scheduled for an appointment. You'd think they'd try harder if they're so desperate for donations. I thought it would be nice helping out and making money but I'm done. read more

Totally worth it at any location EXCEPT Ankeny. If you can get past the initial visit which is 3 hours, you will make more money per hour than you can at any other part time job. Ames and West Des Moines have staff that will ensure you have two successful donations a week or find a staff member who can ensure this for you. Ankeny's staff has been and still is immature and full of attitude. Six years ago I went to this location and the staff was so rude, I didn't end up donating and didn't return. A few months ago, a friend talked me into trying it again. I had great service in Ames. The staff really went out of their way to ensure I was successful scheduling and donating. If I ran into a snag and they couldn't fix it, they found an employee who could fix it. Ankeny is the opposite. If you ever need help rescheduling, you will not get assistance. The app did not work properly and would not allow me to reschedule all week as it should (after not meeting blood screening requirements). When I informed a desk staff member of this, she said "we have no available slots-thank you" and walked away. On another occasion, I had a great blood tech but his assistant kept disappearing to do other things. I always hydrate with water before hand, waited 15 minutes just to get hooked up to the machine, gave my donation on the machine, and waited for an entire 20 minutes with my machine dinging that it was finished. The blood tech was swamped hooking up people but his assistant was no where. I finally called out that I was about to have an accident. It was embarrassing and super uncomfortable. I barely made it to the bathroom. Again, not too bad if you go to the right location. Good luck! read more

The only reason I'm rating this so low is because they are so severely understaffed which results in LONG wait times. Management really needs to get their head out of their ass and find better ways to recruit people. Other than that that staff is very friendly and helpful. read more

Quit my side job but still wanted an easy, quick way to make some extra cash. I've racked up over 100 donations so far and use the time to read, watch Netflix, or surf the web. Free internet and a clean, bright facility make it an easy way to spend an hour twice a week. And easy extra $$ in my pocket read more

BioLife Plasma Services - Biolife entrance - Blood & Plasma Donation Centers Near Me - Ankeny, Iowa

Extremely inefficient. My first appointment was almost 3 1/2 hours! Have had an issue every time I've tried to donate. Do not recommend. I will be driving a further distance now because I refuse to inconvenience myself there another time. read more

have been going for not even a month and I got deferred for their computers not working?!? I couldn't do my questions they said I could come back in 5 to try again then a guy comes after me and says I can't leave the station without finishing my questions I explained to him the computer wouldn't let me and I had permission to come back in 5 and he said it doesn't matter I have to defer you still. don't go here they have no respect when talking to you even when your not being deferred. read more

I was told I have a positive lab, but they won't tell me what or a timeframe for when they are going to tell me. I've been donating blood regularly for years and never had any issues. This center has a blatant disregard for the safety and well-being of the donor. Should I go to my doctor...wish I knew read more

Been a few months since I donated, definitely done for a while. Made an appointment well in advance for 930 am on a weekday, still was told there is a 45-60 minute wait...even before signing in for questions, and then there is waiting to be prescreened, then if you're not denied, after 1 and a half hours waiting already, then you wait to be thrown on a chair, then you wait for the phlebotomist to stick you, then you finally do your 45 minutes or longer donation. Potentially my "930 am scheduled appointment" that was always told takes " an hour of your day to save lives" turned into 3 hours or more. read more

Absolutely the worst experience trying to donate plasma I've EVER had. Not only is making an apt for yourself not applicable but it's ridiculous. I sat for 45 minutes waiting to be checked in (so much for an apt) then I CLEARED MY THROAT and this woman came in and told me I had to leave because I could be contagious. I CLEARED MY THROAT. Not only were the staff rude and the wait was long but they lied about how much you can earn. Trust me and go somewhere else. read more

Back to back times I have waited over three hours to give a regular donation. Today I was sitting in the chair for an hour just waiting to be hooked up. The girl was so scatterbrained. Then when she finally did, she blew my vein. I've been donating for eight years. I've never had a this happen. I will not be going back. It's not worth it. read more

the donors that you say are valuable are sitting in chairs waiting for ever while you phlebotomist are standing around talking also see a lot of time being wasted here almost not worth the $40 this is for the se 14th location Kyle the phlebotomist is one of the lazies/slowest I've ever seen makes ppl not want to continue to donate. also katlyn plays too much just watched her stand here laugh and dance for about 8 mins read more

BioLife Ankeny is phenomenal! I go and donate twice each week. All staff are very competent, and have great camaraderie, as they take me through the process. They create a welcoming and comfortable experience each time! read more

I scheduled an appointment to donate for the first time. As you probably know, they have to do a physical exam before you can actually start donating. My appointment was at 5pm and I waited over an hour just to be seen by somebody. I normally am not the type of person to leave reviews or anything like that, and I'm not sure if it was just this particular place that has bad service, but I am very frustrated. Not only did I have to wait almost an hour and a half to answer some damn questions, I didn't even get to donate because they said my veins were too small. I understand it gets busy, but I will not be returning after my 15 day deferral. Try it if you wish, but all I'm going to say is that I wish I would've listened to reviews before wasting 2 hours of my day for nothing. read more

All good here. Even with the pandemic happening they had a plan in place to keep people moving through at an orderly fashion. Majority of the techs are great, there's one crabby ass old lady that is at the front counter/pokes fingers. She talks to you like your a moron even though I've been there 50 time and pretty much know the drill. So yeah, avoid her. Others are friendly and efficient to get you in and out. CBass is the man. read more

Nice place and Easy way to make money so I do recommend donating plasma but this specific one some of the employees were really disrespectful to me and a friend of mine. They were giving us attitude the whole time and were not friendly read more

I've only been donating for about a month and in the beginning it wasn't to bad and worth my time. But over the course of that month the wait times I've gotten ridiculous, yesterday I had an appointment at 7:40 AM upon arriving they asked for my phone number and told me they would call me if I would please go sit in my vehicle and wait. At 8:34 AM almost an hour after my scheduled appointment they called me and let me know that I could enter the building and donate, The rest of the process took till 9:25 AM when I was finally hooked up and then donating. I finished donating at 10:15 AM Lucky for me my boss is very considerate and understands I wanted to donate because I have a friend that was diagnosed with cancer. Overall the staff is very nice but definitely seem overworked and most generally not very happy. Donating plasma is definitely a good thing and I would love to be able to continue doing this but not sure I'll be able to if it's going to be a three hour process every time. read more

My appointment was at 7:40... it is now 9:10 and I'm just now being hooked up. This happens all the time because they're either understaffed or they just overcrowd themselves with appointments they can't handle. A lot of the workers will just ditch their section after asking for your name and leave you just sitting there waiting. Don't recommend read more

I'm my opinion the reason they hire young people (18) or people without a college degree who can't find jobs with benefits is so that they can pay them less than McDonalds employees. You want someone who gets paid $11/hour to put a needle in your arm and perform plasmapheresis?? These same employees are only allowed 6 sick days a year or they will be fired and they are on their feet all day, lucky to get a bathroom break and you wonder why they seem so tired, unhappy, overworked, and underpaid. Giving plasma is great but unfortunately most plasma centers are not. read more

I found the staff very helpful and informed. the whole process was very easy. only problem was that if you have rheumatoid arthritis, you cannot donate. it would have been helpful to know that before hand. read more

I went in the first time last summer. I wasted an hour of my time going through the whole process only to be told because of the meds I was on I needed permission from my doctor. Why the f*** didn't they tell me up front about that. And after reading the reviews I'm just glad to know I'm not the only one who thinks the people running this place are all a bunch of idiots. read more

bio life employee was definitely way too rude when all i asked for was to redeem a coupon i had rightfully earned she gave me a very mean mug from the beginning and denied me my offer i am donating and giving my time to biolife but yet i get treated like a hassle this was very uncustomer service like they also have new workers reinjecting people because they missed their vain i thought you guys were professionals ? very displeased with this read more

I've got over a hundred donations logged, twice a week for almost three years but I can't do it anymore. They don't schedule their staff around their busy hours even though they make us schedule appointments and they have no since of urgency. It's not at all uncommon to walk in and see two employees screening twenty donors and a line reaching the door for people just trying to get a chair after being screened. You get a chair and they ignore you, or worse yet you complete your donation and they ignore you. Recently one of them turned off my alarm and then walked away. I had to wait 35min to be disconnected while I watched her play with her gloves. Finally she saw me giving her a mean look and she unhooked me. Last week after my donation was completed I timed three of them just standing near me talking about coffee and sleeping in for 28min before one of them could finally be bothered to disconnect me. Too much goofing off and zero since of urgency. When I told their manager he said it was because the machines are new. So the machines are new and thats why they had to talk about their last day off for so long? I could hear them, they wont even entertain the thought of having shorter wait times or that the long wait times can be prevented or managed better. Recently they removed a third of all their machines from the floor and donors have noticed even longer wait times. It shouldn't take 3hrs or sometimes longer to do a 30min donation. read more

Very clean facility, friendly staff and prompt service. Thorough explanations of each procedure and step by step process, including pamphlets to help you follow along with where you're at in the sequence. My first time donating and overall it was a very pleasant experience. I've already made my next appointment! read more

Great interacting with employees. Nice and informative. Clean all throughout the facility in and outside.

Very disappointed and upset with how I was handled there. I will not recommend this place to anyone! When they poked my finger for blood a part of the needle broke off into my finger! It's been a week now and I still can barely put pressure on my finger tip where it happened and there is still a big mark and bruise from it! I informed them as soon as I walked in the door that I am allergic to latex and asked if that would be an issue preventing me from donating they told me no worries our facility is completely latex free it won't prevent you from being able to donate. I went through the whole process of becoming a new donor and going through the screening the vein check everything then I get pulled into a room and told I'm not allowed to donate because of my latex allergy because even though the Ankeny site was a completely latex free zone they had other buildings that do have latex products in it. With no other explanation just a sorry. 3 hours of my time wasted. Plasma is something that is always on high demand how are you supposed to meet that demand when you are denying people like this when you have a perfectly safe facility for my allergy for me to donate in but deny me after you told me it wouldn't be in issue because you guys were a latex free building? I will try to prevent people from coming to this place so they don't have to waste time like I did and end up with part of a needle stuck in their finger. I am very upset with this place! read more

Biolife in Ankeny doesn't change their gloves in between donors. I have noticed this on several occasions between the front in-processing area down to the floor in the back. This is a major liability. Just because they can't see visible blood on the gloves, doesn't mean there isn't room for transmission. I am shocked that a major corp who highly profits off these donations, with minimal return to the donors, take so lightly to changing gloves. As someone who has worked in a hospital setting for 15 + years, you ALWAYS change your gloves after contamination and in between patients. The overall facility is clean and the staff is nice, but the glove changing or lack there of leaves this place deserving of less than one star. Out of all the visible supplies seen, I couldn't even see a glove box. I am beyond shocked. This isn't even simply about the donors safety, but the mere employees as well. I understand there loaded with donors and have to move at a fast pace, but do not draw blood on one donor and turn around and remove my line. At the end of the day we all signed waivers, but I never agreed to this. If your a donor I'm sure you've witnessed this and thought the same thing yourself. However most people would risk their health for a few bucks a week in fear of getting deferred permanently from the center. Change your gloves people! Common sense! read more

I drove 36 miles roundtrip wasting an hour of my time. Then I wasted 15 minutes there waiting to be helped by the incompetent buffoonish staff that they have working there. One receptionist said it's my first day while her trainer took a call. The new WDM manager started waiting on me. He asked for my ID then walked off while I got it out. I waited longer for a tech to remove her face shield and come help me. I gave her my drivers license, two VA photo ID cards, and a Government CAC card with embossed social security number that can't be forged. She took it to someone in the back and they refused the Government CAC card because it was expired. A social security number does not change and a social security card has no expiration date. I have never met such incompetent maroons in my life. Google + has 20 complaints about the morons that they have working here. I won't be back because I don't even trust their techs to draw blood properly. I do mystery shopping for a living and would have written them all up to be fired if this were a paid shop for me. I would not recommend this location to anyone that would like to remain hemo-safe with these inept clowns. read more