Company asking customers to send medical samples outside the UK

Atomik1

I have been in contact with Consumer Direct today regarding the operations of a company based in Brighton who send out medical testing kits to the public.

I ordered one of these kits and was immediately concerned that I was required to post my samples to their laboratory based in Germany in order to get my results. I noticed that no form of preserving liquid was included with the kit, so the sample would have to be sent without preservative to the EU taking up to 7 working days in transit via Airmail. I contacted the company via email and their representative informed me that there was no need for a preserving liquid as organisms such as yeast/parasites etc do not simply "disappear". This I found very doubtful and in fact I have been given advice to the contrary from another source who said they would never expect a fresh sample to be sent in transit without some way of preserving its contents, if it couldn't be examined without delay. Consumer Direct did advise me that based on this fact I should write to the company demanding a full refund as it is 'not fit for purpose' under the Sale of Goods Act 1982, although the company will obviously deny this is the case!

However, there was still the matter of how they expect their customers to post samples. I went onto the Royal Mail's website to find out that the shipping of human material samples by individuals is strictly forbidden. I immediately rang the Royal Mail to ensure I had understood this correctly. I was told that under no circumstances should companies expect customers to post medical samples for diagnostic purposes outside the UK, it is for the company to send samples abroad and they would need a Permit/Licence issued by their Local Health Authority to do this. I presume they do not have such a permit our else they would not be expecting customers to mail their own samples to Germany. Furthermore, the box and packaging they provided in order to transport this sample would fail to meet agreed standards even if they did post the samples themselves.

It had no markings, labels or wording on the outside to indicate its contents, no required Hazard label and the box is re-cycled' and probably not adequate to transport such items. I can only assume they do this so that the Royal Mail are totally unaware of its contents and will simply process the item through the postal system without any query. As this is clearly in breach of regulations, I emailed them again to inform her of these prohibitions, to which her response was that all of their customers send the provided sample box to Germany using standard Royal Mail Airmail and in asking their customers to do this their company has met all the required EU Rules. Clearly this is not the case.

Now I am at a loss as to who to report this to. Consumer Direct were only interested in the refund issue under the Sale of Goods Act and not the fact that they were asking customers to breach international shipping regulations. Is this a HMRC issue? Clearly they shouldn't be getting customers to circumvent shipping regulations.

Any advice would be gratefully received.
Apologies for the VERY long post

vuvuzela

Just wondering precisely what sort of 'sample' the company wants you to send ?

Atomik1

Its a mouth swab (saliva) sample and stool sample. The regulations, I believe, cover all human test samples such as blood, saliva etc

Just not sure who to report this to...

mountainofdebt

So how come a donor can send a spit sample to the Anthony Nolan Trust via the Post Office.

Admittedly though the envelope was marked accordingly.

brettcta

whilst they have a point that pathogens and parasites don't simply just 'disappear', some dead parasites, especially in faecal samples, can be extremely difficult to detect once they have died. i dread to think how difficult it'd be to detect them after 7 days in the post.

brettcta

mountainofdebt wrote: »

So how come a donor can send a spit sample to the Anthony Nolan Trust via the Post Office.

Admittedly though the envelope was marked accordingly.

they'd be ok, as it was labelled as such

here's what royal mail say:

Human or animal material including, but not limited to, excreta, secreta, blood and its components, tissue and tissue fluids. These items are prohibited in the international post, but may be carried within the UK provided strict conditions are met. Samples must be packaged in accordance with Packing Instruction 650.

Atomik1

Hi 'mountainofdebt', Is the sample for the Anthony Nolan Trust a UK address? If so, then this is permitted. It seems it is ok to send samples, as long as they are not highly infectious obviously, within the UK, but not outside the UK. This company wants me to post to Germany.

'brettcta' I agree entirely. I did point this out to them, but they said it wouldn't be affected by the delay (and with no preservative solution!), I really cannot believe micro-organisms would survive

Atomik1

Hi 'brettca', thanks for the extract from the Royal Mail. That only applies to UK postage, it states it is prohibited for International postage.

brettcta

out of curiosity, are the medical testing kits prescribed/recommended by your gp or is it something you've looked into privately?

Atomik1

Apologies, meant to say 'thanks for the extract... which shows it applies to uk postage...prohibited for international postage'

Atomik1

brettcta wrote: »

out of curiosity, are the medical testing kits prescribed/recommended by your gp or is it something you've looked into privately?

Privately. I have undergone many NHS tests am now looking at Private methods. Doubt if any GP would expect you to post abroad. Perhaps I should have just saved my money

But I really don't like companies who might be taking advantage or getting customers to unknowingly break regulations