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Paid covid study from ONS is it genuine?

107 replies

Babymamamama · 18/07/2020 21:42

I've just had an important looking letter in the post marked "On Her Majesty's Service" inviting my household to take part in a paid study to be swabbed regularly for covid over the course of a year. Apparently the reimbursement is up to £425 per family member. I'm trying to work out if this is a genuine study. To be honest I'd participate in this kind of thing for free if it could help the scientists in any way. Has anyone else had such a letter? I'm trying to work out whether we've been randomly selected, if this is going to everyone across the country, or is it some kind of con? Please let me know your thoughts if you've had the letter too. Apparently it's a joint study with university of oxford and office for national statistics. Not sure if I'm being naive and should bin it or not.

OP posts:
pistachioicecream · 19/09/2020 22:57

We’re participating in the ONS survey.

Vouchers are per person. You each get sent a code that you can exchange for a variety of different vouchers.

AngFreda · 24/09/2020 13:17

We had our first tests done a fortnight ago. We opted to carry on weekly but can't get through on line or on the phone noones answering in order to find out when they're coming again. Also had to ge in touch with Sodexo ref vouchers as I'm only one that's received one... So not sure what to think. We've given up trying to call back there's been absolutely no contact since

Layladylay234 · 24/09/2020 13:32

Damn,I really want to take part in this!

Waxonwaxoff0 · 24/09/2020 14:42

I've just signed up for it. Will be interesting.

sally067 · 24/09/2020 20:42

I've been participating and they've been visiting once a week for the past 5-6 weeks.

I usually get a call from them on a Wednesday or Thursday morning saying they'll be round at such and such a time but nothing at all this week, not even a call or message to say they wouldn't be coming.

Could they have run out of tests with all the testing problems?

Chasingsquirrels · 24/09/2020 20:57

We have been in the survey since April.

Weekly for the first 5 weeks (actually had 5 tests spread out over about 8 weeks cos the admin was shocking in the beginning - unsurprisingly as set up so quickly).

Swab tester has never come into the house, just stands on the doorstep. We do our own swabs.

Vouchers are by email code and lots to choose from. Again there was an admin fail at the beginning as they'd taken my email address as @yarhoo rather than @yahoo, they also didn't register an email address against my boys. All sorted eventually. Email tends to come out 9 days after the test - we test on Wednesdays and email is the following Friday.

Chasingsquirrels · 24/09/2020 20:58

@sally067

I've been participating and they've been visiting once a week for the past 5-6 weeks.

I usually get a call from them on a Wednesday or Thursday morning saying they'll be round at such and such a time but nothing at all this week, not even a call or message to say they wouldn't be coming.

Could they have run out of tests with all the testing problems?

The inotial testing period is weekly for 5 weeks, it then goes to monthly for the next 11 months.
VirtuallyThere · 24/09/2020 21:00

Thank you for all your replies. DS is looking forward to taking part. Just waiting for them to make our first appointment. Smile

richdeniro · 24/09/2020 21:49

Thanks @Chasingsquirrels , I must have missed that.

vera99 · 24/09/2020 22:13

Got the letter on Monday, rang the (Indian) call centre and are awaiting the callback. Am up for the tests and potential 900 quid for the year for the 2 of us.

AngFreda · 24/09/2020 23:01

Well I hope you have more luck than we did... Still no follow up and you can't get through on number they give you, and still no sign of my partners voucher.

vera99 · 25/09/2020 08:09

I had an inkling it would be a shambles - funny that no idea why!

Chasingsquirrels · 25/09/2020 09:03

As I mentioned earlier we've been doing it since April. I'd say since June we haven't experienced any issues at all. I suppose if they are bringing new tranches on board the admin just needs to catch up with that.

Puppylucky · 25/09/2020 14:43

I got the letter today and signed up. The process is staggeringly bad - I actually started to have doubts half way through that it was legit as I couldn't believe an organisation like the ONS would let themselves be represented in such a way. Anyway it was eventually completed and I will wait to see if anything actually comes of it.

Zaczy2 · 25/09/2020 16:19

This is definitely genuine. My partner is someone who is involved in delivering the testing. Its one test every week for the first 6 and then it changes to less frequency! The vouchers are love2shop so can be spent on all kinds which is great as it can help so many of those who's income has reduced recently!

redlockscelt · 25/09/2020 16:21

We had that letter but I didn't do it as I don't want them coming to my house.

CeibaTree · 25/09/2020 16:30

We are taking part too and it's 100% genuine. I know a couple of other people who are doing it to. The chap just comes to our door step, pits the testing kits on the ground and we do the swabs and put them back on the ground so there is no contact. They won't want to come into your house just as much as you don't want them to come in!

Chasingsquirrels · 25/09/2020 16:46

Vouchers are a range from a massive choice.
I've been having Amazon, but the list to choose from is massive.

Houseplanted · 25/09/2020 16:57

My family have done the 5 weekly tests and are now being tested monthly. We’ve had the same lovely lady do the tests each time (she does them in the doorstep and doesn’t go in to peoples houses).

The vouchers have been great, especially for my 16 year old DD. DS and DH were saving the vouchers to buy something from Argos but they have been removed from the list, they found the same item on Amazon. The shops you can exchange your vouchers for do seem to change.

cheeseychovolate · 25/09/2020 17:10

Yes my parents are doing it, they've had amazon and John Lewis vouchers.

AngFreda · 25/09/2020 17:19

Just had a letter back today from Sodexho saying they only have one person registered and that's me and my partner who did this test on the same day has not had one as he isn't on the list?! So they have taken his swabs, his DNA and they can't even find it. We still have no follow up appointment. I'd say its been one almighty cock up.

Madcats · 25/09/2020 18:04

I just thought I would pop on to comment now that we have done 3 weeks, having agreed to be available for the year (me, DH and DD(13)).

I think it took about 3 weeks to get us into the system from our first phone call. We had two hours' notice of the proposed first visit , so were bumped back again for a fortnight. I spoke to a Scottish bloke when I first rang.

The system has scope for improvement, but there is minimal inconvenience. We've taken the precaution of warning the neighbours as we thought they would be worried seeing testers with clipboards/iPads and sample bins on our doorstep each week and then spotting us out and about as normal.

DH and I agreed to give blood samples (DD is too young). It would seem that this means we are always flagged up as a family needing a blood test (as are others in the area) even if we are only due to put the swab down our throats and noses. Our poor tester has a 2 hour/80 mile round trip (we live in a city a few miles from an even bigger city).

Rather annoyingly the testers only get the caseload the day before so there is no scope for them to plan their week in a sensible manner.

Possibly because we always get allocated phlebotomists, they have to get all their samples back for a courier to collect at 4pm, so they none have been able to see us after 3pm. This means that unless they can get to a house before, they can't test the schoolchildren.

I think the most annoying aspect for us is that they never hear about our test results. Obviously we'd be called if it was positive but it would be nice to hear that we'd done the test correctly and it was negative, not least because we also report in daily to the C-19 ZOE app.

Houseplanted · 25/09/2020 18:11

Madcats the results go to your GP . I haven’t heard back from any off mine but assume we would of we had a positive test.

Puffthemagicdragongoestobed · 25/09/2020 18:25

We have just started taking part in the study and the guy who delivered our tests has just left. We got the invitation to take part last Saturday, I rang them back on Monday and received a call yesterday to arrange the appointment. The guy only stayed outside for the duration? I felt bad for him standing around in the cold, at least it wasn't raining. I found it easy doing my own test but testing the rest of the family was a bit of a mission. With DS and DH I could barely get to the throat so not sure if the tests are actually clear. Let's see if any family members drop out, I wouldn't be surprised if I am the only one continuing after a while.

vera99 · 25/09/2020 20:33

Just got my call back and he's coming tomorrow so seems to be working fine so far despite my previous cynicism.