‘My PCR provider ghosted me’: The post-travel tests and results going MIA

Missing test kits, late delivery and radio silence on results - is our travel testing spend really helping the UK’s Covid efforts? asks Lucy Thackray

PCR test providers are letting down travellers (Getty Images)

I was midway through a two-week trip to Greece when a fellow holidaymaker told me about the cheapest day two test she’d found online.

Keen to spend the least amount possible on post-travel PCRs, she’d done her research and tracked down the £28 ‘day two’ test from Expert Medicals.

Having already spent €70 on my pre-departure test Greece-side, and keen to cut costs, I ordered it on the spot - £35 once postage and packaging were factored in.

When I got home that weekend, I found it waiting at home for me. So far, so good.

I took the test on day two and sent it back as instructed - but I never heard back about the results. It has now been 16 days since I landed back in the UK. That’s right - Expert Medicals has ghosted me.

Maybe I caught Covid in the Greek islands; maybe I didn’t. The point is, I have no idea - and felt rather cautious returning to my fairly sociable London life, potentially disseminating the virus everywhere I went.

And I’m not the only one; PR Dean Piper also had a negative experience with the bargain private test provider.

That’s right - Expert Medicals has ghosted me

Having ordered his Expert Medicals day two test while still in amber-list Ibiza, Piper arrived home on 21 August, but told The Independent “nothing has arrived since then”.

Knowing he should have taken his day two test by Tuesday 24 August, he tried emailing and calling the company to chase down the test, but found the phone line perpetually engaged, while his multiple emails went unanswered.

I also contacted Expert Medicals to chase down my results, but heard nothing back. There is little information online or from the government on what to do if your test kit or results go astray.

If you’re thinking, “You get what you pay for,” the evidence suggests it isn’t just the bargain-bin test providers that have gone missing, arrived late or failed to send results.

British expat Emma Pearson, who lives in France, returned to the UK for two separate family occasions this year, spending big both times in the hope of fast, quality test results.

“The first time I booked a test with 247 HomeTesting,” she says, “Very expensive at nearly £300, but test results came back within 48 hours.

“The second time I used RightAngled, opting to do ‘test to release’, because 20 days of quarantine is a lot and I have a job. That cost me £265 in total and was a farce.”

A test-to-release PCR is taken on day five of quarantine after arrival into England, to cut down the self-isolation period for people who aren’t fully vaccinated, and costs an extra £120 with RightAngled. The average cost for a government-approved PCR test in the UK is £93.

Pearson quarantined at her parents’ house in the UK, posting a day two, day five and day eight test using Royal Mail priority post boxes as instructed by the test provider. But each set of test results took between four and five days to come back to her. This meant Pearson wasn’t “released” from her day five test until day nine after travel - at which point she would have taken her day eight test and been free to end quarantine a day later anyway.

She’s asked for a refund on what she sees as a pointless extra spend, but has been refused - RightAngled says this occurrence falls within their terms of service.

For Ellen Himelfarb, the day two test kits themselves were never delivered. After paying £129 in total for three kits from Randox Health for herself and two children, she hit a snag when the provider tried and failed to deliver them while she was still away.

“They did arrive, but we weren’t home to receive, and [Randox] left no information to recoup them or schedule re-delivery,” she says. “We’re now in the process of asking for a refund. We ordered the tests on 9 August, flew home 14 August, and have been home for 17 days now.”

Confusion over what constitutes an official, approved test, and how much we should be paying for it, is rife - even among experienced travellers who have done their research.

“The whole government website is so confusing,” says Piper. “I’m not computer illiterate by a long shot, so God knows what the average Joe or an elderly person is doing. I honestly can’t imagine many are doing their test on time for day two.”

Despite the headlines about overflowing test kits at Randox return points, multiple consumers told The Independent that, having travelled more than once during the pandemic, they’d still use Randox.

“They’re still who I’d go with every time,” said travel writer Tamara Hinson. “I’ve written about a lot of testers, and they have invested the most in tech and have the most capacity. But also results have always [arrived in] under 24 hours, from the second I put the kit in the drop-box.”

Press officer Rachel Corcoran had been browsing Expert Medicals’ cheaper tests for an upcoming trip, but - wanting to help with track and trace efforts - has also decided to stick with Randox, who she’s had a good experience with on recent travels. But she sees why fellow travellers are opting for cheaper and less reliable providers.

The whole system needs an overhaul

“It’s so expensive on top of the cost of a holiday,” said Corcoran. “People will go with the cheapest option they can find, even though they know the company may not be fit for purpose. [So testing] becomes nothing more than a fee to receive a code for the passenger locator form to make sure you’ve complied with the rules - not a catch net for infection. The whole system needs an overhaul.”

The Department of Health claims its current review of private Covid test providers will help tackle the erratic quality of post-travel tests.

“As part of the ongoing review, regular spot checks will be introduced from this week to make sure companies are complying with the rules to ensure prices displayed are accurate [and] providers are legitimate,” read a statement released on 23 August.

But it insisted that late and missing tests and results were a “customer service” issue.

“We advise those who have had or are having a customer service issue with a private test provider, to first report this back to the provider. They are the primary point of contact to help resolve [it]. If the issue cannot be resolved, the consumer may wish to contact their local trading standards office.”

Like Corcoran, I was keen to do the right thing - I took my sample within the window instructed and made sure I sent it off correctly. Travellers being urged to “do their bit” - and threatened with large fines or jail time for breaking the rules - are understandably miffed that “their bit” isn’t being recorded properly, or communicated to them for their own peace of mind.

And if, in the end, the main purpose of booking a day two test is to flash a quick reference number at the UK border, I’m glad I only spent £35 on mine.

Expert Medicals and RightAngled have been contacted for comment by The Independent.