Scammed by UK Cronid-19 Test & Trace - Page 3

That could be a long wait.  With the total cost of the three tests necessary to return down to about £120 I'd look at travelling now while air fares, car rental and accommodation prices are still very low and you will easily save that £120 elsewhere.  That's assuming the UK quarantine conditions aren't too much of a problem of course, which they really aren't if you are retired or working from home.

Hi 

We had problems with Medicspot when returning in April.  I booked the tests (cost £410 for us both) and the day 2 tests arrived within about 48 hours. 

We arrived home and completed our day 2 tests and posted by midday on a Saturday.  My results arrived on Tuesday but husbands not until the Thursday.

Day 8 was due on a Friday and their paperwork stated that the tests will arrive by the 8th day. Waited until after lunch and then created a webchat (no phone numbers) and was told the warehouse had forgotten to send the tests but no information was given at that time stating the warehouse does not work over the weekend and the tests would not be send until Monday.  So further webchats with the 3rd one lasting 1 hour and 37 mins, I presume a lot of other people were in the same boat as us.   I finally received more information including that I was not entitled to compensation for having to remain in quarantine an extra 3 days (in the small print apparently).

The tests arrived on Tuesday, our 12th day. I had been told that they would rush the tests through the lab, which I didn't believe but they must have done as we received the results about 10 pm on the Wednesday evening.

There was no argument about a refund for the day 8 tests and it did arrive in my bank quite quickly, so one plus point.

I don't think there is enough information out there relating to the test results being reliant on the post arriving at labs within 24 hours. We are retired so though inconvenient it was not the end of world but for people who could have been returning to work then it is a major problem.

Although your analogy sounds good. Flights are no cheaper now than they ever was, car hire is not particularly cheap and that £120 is per person. That quickly becomes £240 for a couple. £480 for a family. That will take one hell of a saving on car hire and accommodation to make up the additional cost.

I’m really concerned that this lack of service and lack of results is hitting the most vulnerable like yourselves.

There doesn’t even appear to be a discount if you are a senior citizen etc. for these tests. 
The DoH and Hancock who commissioned these test suppliers have a lot   Questions to answer!

How dreadful, what a terrible experience for you both when you should be enjoying the moment of a new chapter in your lives. 

Take them to the online small claims court as follows, here’s the link.

https://www.gov.uk/make-money-claim

I’m giving my rogue test supplier until  the end of the month and if I’ve not had a refund that’s what I’ll be doing.

A quick check with Ryanair Stansted to Alicante shows flights from under £30 per person, return from next week and under £100 right through to the end of August.  Once the £120 fee is removed fares will go up significantly.  Car rental at short notice in Alicante starts at under 10 euros a day. Accommodation will also be much cheaper while the fee is in place.

I always pay those sort of prices from Manchester to Alicante and have done for many years. I rented a car before the pandemic for €10 per day including insurance etc. Dont forget if you book the £30 flight with the add ons its will be around £100 not £30. Flights do and always will vary on price depending on what day you fly and how soon you book. Adding on £120 per person will at least double the cost of the trip, so cant see how you could consider booking 'now' could work out as making a saving. Sounds a bit like the report I saw on the news today. Coronavirus levels in the UK are rising daily in figures, but somehow that was reported as cases falling! Maybe I'm stupid, but numbers going up, is rising in my book, not falling.

You are making the assumption that fares, car rental and accommodation will not cost more once the brakes are off (ie the cost of tests and the need for quarantine is removed) and demand for everything increases dramatically. That's seems like a very dodgy assumption to me.  For a holiday home owner who may be able to stay a long time at minimal cost, that £120 may not be payable when they return and is in any case a fairly trivial amount in the overall scheme of things.  How long will it take to save £120 on the cost of living in Spain compared to in the UK?

We will have to agree to disagree I'm afraid. The prices may increase when the restrictions are lifted. But the prices will be as normal not increased to the amount that £120 per person will be swallowed up. Maybe for 1 person that would be possible if staying for a longer period up to 90 days, but what about the family of 4 at £480, who dont have the ability to stay a long time. I actually live in Spain and am trying to get back to the UK at some point but the cost of £240 added to the flights, which we have the luxury of flexibility on, is stopping us from visiting relatives we have not seen for almost 2 years. 

The other problem and the reason for the original post is, people are paying for the tests and either not receiving them or not receiving the results. The £120 you specify per person is just money paid to companies for no result. Just to put in perspective. After talking to someone who runs a franchise for supplying the test. He said the actual cos is £13 per test, so a massive markup and they still cant fulfill their obligations to supply what has been purchased.

My £120 is EUR40 for an antigen test in Spain where you get the result in about 10 minutes, plus £86 for two tests from Randox which is a big professional operation which works reliably - at least it did for me and I've heard no complaints about them.  Ryanair and Easyjet wouldn't be working with them if they didn't deliver.  If you want to be picky you could add £5 for Royal Mail Tracked 24 service from almost anywhere. The quarantine and palaver with paperwork is an irritation for a completely unnecessary exercise but if that and the cost (as it is now) is what it takes to avoid any more of my life being spent doing nothing then I'm willing to do it.

When travel restrictions are eased, pent up demand will be much higher than the old 'normal' and the airlines etc. will set their prices accordingly.  It certainly won't go back to the old 'normal' of steady and predictable numbers while the airlines resurrect their services and start recovering their huge losses as best they can.

As for excessive mark ups, there's nothing unusual about the cost being 1/10th of the selling price.  Ever thought about the actual cost of a packet of crisps, or cornflakes, or any number of other familiar products, especially when it's got a 'trusted' brand name attached to it?