2 PCR tests arrived too late for cruise - how do i get compensation??

missyshera

I booked a 24 hour PCR well in time for my cruise nov 30th. Royal Mail lost it (!). So I booked an expensive in clinic Expresspost 3 Hours Guaranteed PCR  - with 7 hours window - and left for Southampton. The test did not arrive even though i called 14 times, and I was not allowed to board. The cruise won't reimburse me because it was up to me to get the test. Insurance won't because the ship sailed and again, not their fault the test didn't arrive in time.

Expresspost (aka Cignpost) have now removed the 3 hour 'guaranteed' part from their website, and although i've emailed twice and called daily, I have had no response.

I missed the cruise because of their failing to deliver - the results (negative) finally arrived at 2250: a full twelve hours after i did the test.

Please, any advice: what are my rights here and who can i go to if Expresspost are ignoring me?? I am out £460 plus the £119 for the test. I'm sure I'll get the latter back = at least - but I feel they are liable for my expenses, too.

thoughts? advice? thanks!

eskbanker

missyshera said:

Expresspost (aka Cignpost) have now removed the 3 hour 'guaranteed' part from their website

It's presumably ExpressTest that you're referring to?  Removing a guarantee at a later stage is irrelevant - if there was a guarantee in force at the time you booked then that's what counts, but you need to ascertain the actual terms applying to that guarantee.  There don't seem to be Ts & Cs visible via a quick look at their website, but you presumably have a copy, what do they say about consequential losses arising from their failure?

Sandtree

missyshera said:

I booked a 24 hour PCR well in time for my cruise nov 30th. Royal Mail lost it (!). So I booked an expensive in clinic Expresspost 3 Hours Guaranteed PCR  - with 7 hours window - and left for Southampton. The test did not arrive even though i called 14 times, and I was not allowed to board. The cruise won't reimburse me because it was up to me to get the test. Insurance won't because the ship sailed and again, not their fault the test didn't arrive in time.

Expresspost (aka Cignpost) have now removed the 3 hour 'guaranteed' part from their website, and although i've emailed twice and called daily, I have had no response.

I missed the cruise because of their failing to deliver - the results (negative) finally arrived at 2250: a full twelve hours after i did the test.

Please, any advice: what are my rights here and who can i go to if Expresspost are ignoring me?? I am out £460 plus the £119 for the test. I'm sure I'll get the latter back = at least - but I feel they are liable for my expenses, too.

thoughts? advice? thanks!

You need to read what the guarantee stated, we used a different provider for a "same day" test and the T&Cs stated that "same day" was actually up to 3am the following morning and the "guarantee" was simply around the cost of the test not any consequential losses.

Unfortunately the time to read these things is when you are buying them so you know exactly what you risks you are exposed to. Not found any that offer anything more than money back on the price of the test under any "guarantee"

missyshera

ExpressTest, indeed.

The T&C have now been changed, having just checked!

I spoke to a nice support lady on the 1st who said their systems went down the day i was travelling and 'everyone' had late results (!) so I'm not alone.

The maximum return time in the T&Cs i have is 6 hours - the guarantee was 3 hours with maximum 6 hours. So I would have been well covered.

However there is no mention of what that 'guarantee' - now removed - would cover if they missed it.

I'm trying to find out who to appeal to: the company is ACAS accredited, but there's nothing on ACAS on complaints.

Argh.

Ganga

Can you claim on your travel insurance for the missed cruise ?

eskbanker

missyshera said:

I'm trying to find out who to appeal to: the company is ACAS accredited, but there's nothing on ACAS on complaints.

If you mean the accreditation body UKAS rather than ACAS (the independent arbitration service), then they do offer some sort of complaint handling process, although I imagine that would be more to do with a provider's technical capabilities rather than being a place to resolve commercial disputes.

https://www.ukas.com/customer-area/complaints-feedback-and-appeals/

Complaints

UKAS recognises that on occasion it may be necessary for our customers, or those using accredited services, to raise a complaint with us.

If you wish to make a complaint about UKAS or one of our accredited bodies, please submit this in writing to customerfeedback@ukas.com. Please include a full written summary of your complaint and any supporting information you consider relevant to your complaint.

Note: if you are complaining about a UKAS accredited body, please ensure you have complained to them first, and that you have allowed them the opportunity to investigate and respond before escalating the matter to us.

I've found the ExpressTest Ts & Cs after looking a bit harder and the currently published version is dated 30/11/2021 - earlier versions can be found at the web archive site, so the previous one (dated 05/11/2021) is at http://web.archive.org/web/20211122043659/https://www.expresstest.co.uk/terms-and-conditions/

As would be expected, these exclude any liability for consequential losses arising from "events outside of our control: This includes but is not limited to failure to perform, or delay in performance of, any of our obligations under these Terms and Conditions that is caused by any act or event beyond our reasonable control" so they may well claim that this includes the system outage that allegedly caused their failure to perform the services within the stated timeframe, but obviously you need to get an answer to your complaint first in order to hear their explanation.  That's not to say that such Ts & Cs are the end of the story though, if you can make a case that they'd breach your statutory rights....

The online Ts & Cs don't make any reference to what happens in the event of a guaranteed timescale not being met but they also don't refer to the 3/6 hour time that you mention, so you presumably have a different document?

missyshera

thank you so much everyone, this is very helpful and supportive.

I've raised another complaint, compiling the first two.

If no response, I'll try to MAIL one to their listed office by tracked post.

I'll update you here, as I cannot be alone on this.

thanks again