Problems With Expert-Medical - Not received my day 2 Corona tests

zakperic

Hi There,

I hope someone can help please. I bought four day 2 test from expert-medicals.
Out of four test they sent only 1 so far. I have emailed them many times but had no reply at all. I don't know what to do. 
Reading on Trust Pilot they seem to have very bad reputation. 
Also, their company is still listed on .gov.uk website. 

They are not responding to any of the calls, I tried all numbers (three) provided on website. No answer.

Does someone know to whom in the government we can complain about it. Can someone help please. 

Best

Zak  

elsien

They do say no refunds under any circumstances on their main page.

How long before you needed them did you order them? 

Is their live chat responding?

There isn’t anyone in government you can complain to unless you go via your MP.
Gov.uk clearly say their list is not an endorsement and you should do your own research. It’s a bit of a cop out but did you not check reviews before you ordered? 

eskbanker

zakperic said:

Does someone know to whom in the government we can complain about it.

If you want to give us feedback about a provider, email dhsctesttrace.customerfeedbackteam@nhs.net

Louiseoc

I want this fraudulent company to be investigated, but i don't know where to begin? I understand I can give 'feedback' but what will that honestly do? They have taken money from me and my husband for our day 2 tests and guess what? they didn't even bother to send them. Can I do a charge back with the bank? because day 2 has long passed and we've sort other means of negative testing. So even if they did send them now, its too late and they're irrelevant. 

maggiebb

Hey all,
I have had an absolute nightmare receiving my COVID  status letter from NHS Scotland ( yes, us up here don’t do digital for some reason). As soon as I got my second jab I requested for it to be issued, at which point it transpired NSS had my postcode wrong (NHS had it correct). That took almost a week to sort, the when I finally got my letter due to printing error my date of birth was wrong.
I’m still waiting for it and in the meantime I had to pay for PCR test to go abroad. Is there anyone I could complain to, its just frustrating that because if their errors I had to be out of pocket. 

Thanks in advance! 

onashoestring

Louiseoc said:

I want this fraudulent company to be investigated, but i don't know where to begin? I understand I can give 'feedback' but what will that honestly do? They have taken money from me and my husband for our day 2 tests and guess what? they didn't even bother to send them. Can I do a charge back with the bank? because day 2 has long passed and we've sort other means of negative testing. So even if they did send them now, its too late and they're irrelevant. 

The feedback is so that the Government are aware of the problems and if widespread can take them off the list . They can’t investigate on hearsay and anecdotal evidence , they need people to provide them with actual evidence so that they can take the application and remove them from the list if appropriate.

eskbanker

Louiseoc said:

I want this fraudulent company to be investigated, but i don't know where to begin? I understand I can give 'feedback' but what will that honestly do? They have taken money from me and my husband for our day 2 tests and guess what? they didn't even bother to send them. Can I do a charge back with the bank? because day 2 has long passed and we've sort other means of negative testing. So even if they did send them now, its too late and they're irrelevant. 

If you paid for something and didn't receive it then yes, on the face of it that's a straightforward chargeback claim from your card provider, as long as you can show that you've tried to resolve the matter with the merchant, i.e. asked for a refund but been refused.

Tabitha005

I've issued a Money Claim Online through the UK Courts & Tribunal Service against this fraudulent company. Expert Medicals have defended the claim saying that their T&Cs expressly state 'no refunds', but this is a moot point in any case as current UK online selling legislation permits buyers to cancel an order even up to 14 days after receiving the goods (as long as they are returned in unopened condition). It took DPD 12 days to deliver my day 2 test - rendering it completely useless for the intended purpose and I'd cancelled my order. I then returned the unopened test to them on the same day it was delivered (having been unable to refuse delivery and return it at no cost to me because the DPD delivery guy had already marked it as 'delivered' before he'd even put it through my letterbox - which he wasn't supposed to do as the instructions I'd received from Expert Medicals was that it would need to be signed for, nd not put through the letterbox). 

I'd also tried to contact Expert Medicals by phone, email and via their online chat function - to no avail and I couldn't raise a response from anyone at the company. 

Expert Medicals are further claiming that I've had 'benefit' from them in using the booking reference they provide with each order on my UK return paperwork. My using a booking reference does not cost them anything, so they haven't actually 'lost' any money or provided me with any real benefit.

Seeing as how I've failed to comply with government requirements to test on day 2 after returning from overseas entirely due to Expert Medical's inability to provide the test in anything like a timely manner, I'm hoping the small claims court process finds in my favour and forces this appalling company to refund me in full. 

eskbanker

Tabitha005 said:

Expert Medicals have defended the claim saying that their T&Cs expressly state 'no refunds', but this is a moot point in any case as current UK online selling legislation permits buyers to cancel an order even up to 14 days after receiving the goods (as long as they are returned in unopened condition).

Cancellation rights within that legislation are subject to a range of exemptions, which Expert Medicals, along with other Covid test providers, claim that they can cite, hence their Ts & Cs including:

7.2 We are unable to provide refunds because the test kits are not suitable for return due to health protection or hygiene reasons, as per Article 28(3)(a) of the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 (“2013 Regs”).

7.3 It is a government requirement to meet UKAS accreditation which requires us to maintain a full chain of custody of samples so that they are traceable. Each test kit is personalised with a unique reference number for the purposes of the testing process and further personalised with a unique booking reference number (EXMED number) due to government requirements for passenger locator forms. The kit is therefore exempt from refunds as per Article 28(3)(b).

7.4 Depending on the shelf life of the subject kit, the test kits are liable to deteriorate or expire rapidly and therefore they are exempt from returns under Article 28(1)(c) of the 2013 Regs.

Whether or not such terms would be viewed as valid by a court is another story though, but best go in with your eyes open about their line of argument if you wanted to rely on that legislation to support your position....

silvercar

Tabitha005 said:

 

Expert Medicals are further claiming that I've had 'benefit' from them in using the booking reference they provide with each order on my UK return paperwork. My using a booking reference does not cost them anything, so they haven't actually 'lost' any money or provided me with any real benefit.

You bought from a company with terrible reviews totally focussing on the price, you could argue that all that you were interested in was the code for your plf, that you did gain the benefit of.

that the booking reference doesn’t cost them anything is a spurious argument, if I download a book to my kindle, does it cost Amazon anything? Part of what you pay goes to fund the admin costs of the company in providing the codes as well as the tests.

if you want to show me that you were concerned with the tests, did you obtain replacement tests from the NHS on day 2? Did you take any LFTs while waiting for your tests? Did you take the tests when they arrived, in order to comply with the law?