TESTING COMPANY RANDOX says it takes customer complaints seriously and the vast majority of results are delivered on time after customers reported missing flights due to delayed results.

Randox offers a range of Covid-19 testing options including a “next day PCR test” (which promises results by 11:59pm the following day) an “express PCR test” (which promises results within three hours) and an antigen test (which produces results within an hour).

The “next day PCR” test currently costs €59, the “express PCR” costs €89 and the antigen test costs €35.

Negative Covid tests are currently needed for travel from Ireland to several countries, including for fully vaccinated people. Ireland scrapped the requirement for fully vaccinated arrivals last week.

Fergal McGovern missed his flight to India after he received his “next day” results from Randox’s testing centre at Dublin Airport approximately 10 hours after the 11:59pm delivery time had elapsed.

When he contacted the company seeking a refund he was told he would not receive one as Randox does not guarantee delivery times.

Indeed, despite Randox’s PCR tests being branded “next day” and “express” (within three hours), the terms and conditions state that Randox will provide people with their test results within 48-hours of the customer’s sample arriving at its lab.

McGovern believes this practice is misleading. 

“Randox clearly knew they were missing deadlines and failed to reduce bookings or inform customers enough. They gained financially from the above failure,” he told The Journal.

The 3-hour and midnight products are highly misleading because the terms and conditions say ‘within 48 hours after specimen reaches the lab’. This shouldn’t be allowed.

“It comes down to a lack of skin in the game. They get money for doing tests, whether they’re on time or not,” McGovern added.

Randox says its terms and conditions are compliant with “all relevant consumer law”.

Aoife Clifford said Randox provided “shocking service and a lack of communication” when her brother’s test results were late.

Clifford added that the staff at Dublin airport and on the helpdesk were “very pleasant and helpful”.

“They too seemed in the dark about what the actual issue was. They seemed to be left stranded with no information to front-face the whole thing,” she said.

Customers also expressed frustrations with Randox’s queueing system at the Dublin Airport facility, with several reporting long waiting times and that appointment slots weren’t being followed.

Randox said it takes each customer complaint seriously and all complaints are addressed in accordance with its terms and conditions. 

The company noted that it has processed and reported almost 900,000 tests to enable international travel from Ireland since the start of the pandemic. 

“From the outset over 99.9% of results have been reported within 24 hours of sample arrival in our laboratories, with frequent daily drops from travel centres, and Randox operates continuous improvement processes to optimise our services,” a spokesperson for Randox said.

“Demand can vary considerably and Randox responds dynamically. By way of example, Randox were the only test provider open at Dublin airport on Christmas Day to support travel to the US on Boxing Day, following short notice US Government changes,” Randox added.