Advice re booking PCR tests after travel

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DD is working in Spain and coming home soon for the Summer holidays. Not sure how to book her the tests she will need. Is there a specific agency one has to use or can I just book tests on line?
She's had both her vaccines which is good, and will bring certification about that.

You need to book a travel package. There are lots if suppliers with varying costs and reputations. Do a bit of research on reviews of the company you select.

www.gov.uk/find-travel-test-provider

You book them online. It must be one that means the U.K. governments specifications.

You must book them before your arrival in England as you need the booking reference number for the locator form.

They are generally a minimum of £60 per test.

Dd used Randox but I wouldn't recommend them. It's very hard to speak to anyone and if there is an issue they are unhelpful in our experience.

We ended up needing a replacement test and were very happy with the service we had from confirmtesting.com

This is the thing. There are so many to choose from and a huge variation in price. £48 - £150

She needs booking confirmation for her flight log.

Really helpful to get recommendations or advice to avoid. Thank you.

I just don't know if it is better to choose a supervised on site or self swab on site or self swab at home!

Self swab at home seems like the easiest but instinct tells me there is more room for error, getting lost in the post or something?

As she can't drive, and will be self quarantining, does this mean she can't attend the site as that would involve a parent driving her there and back?

It's so confusing and not easy finding the actual details you want

Dd went for ones done at home. Easier to organise and arrange, plus cheaper.

The easiest ones are the ones you can post in any of the ordinary Covid priority post boxes rather than drop off boxes.

Results came back within 24-48 hours.

The day 2/8 tests must be PCR which also do geonome testing to see the variant. All of the sites we looked at this said they were government approved in this way.

We paid £60 per test. It was the cheapest we could find available to all (some travel companies have deals for their customers such as TUI.)

Dd came from a green country so we didn't need to buy a test to release one on top.

Order them well in advance. Some can take a while to arrive.

To be fair Randox we're okay - until there was an issue. It was then very hard to contact them in person and they weren't helpful. They also have to be sent back via specific drop off box sites which aren't always as easy to access. Hence why I wouldn't recommend then, just incase.

It's so confusing and not easy finding the actual details you want

I agree. I consider myself to be fairly competent with a degree of intelligence but found the whole travel and testing rules so confusing to navigate and sort.

Don't forget she will also need one to come home in Spain. It has to be done within 72 hours of the arrival time in the U.K. if I remember rightly. However we discovered that (for Portugal at least) it could be a cheaper and faster LFT test, often available in European pharmacists and even at the airport, costing just €10-20 and results back in less than half an hour.

Thanks @Abraxan

Looking at My London Pharmacy but I'm feel suspicious not least due to the spelling mistake on the site. Had live chat that seemed helpful.

We had a good experience with Randox. Paid about £60 per test.
Order in advance as you need to put your order reference on the passenger locator form.
We did the tests at home and posted in a drop-off box, luckily not far from us. They are collected everyday at 5pm and we got the results by email the next day.
Also day 1 of quarantine is the day AFTER your arrival in the UK.

We paid about 40€ for a lateral flow before leaving Spain. Just walked into a clinic and waited 10 mins for the results.
Our paperwork was checked very thoroughly at Stansted and we were called every day of our quarantine period.

If you happen to be in Scotland then she can only use the one government approved provider at £170. It’s a complete farce and Sturgeon needs to follow England’s lead on this.

Thanks. She has booked her test to leave Spain €70

It's incredibly confusing with so many providers to choose from and DH shouting out trust pilot reviews....

The prices quoted on the gov website (which is sorted in price order) do not reflect the price quoted when you go on the booking site.

Some list that they are CE marked and give the booking reference for flight and others don't specify these things. I decided I wanted one that had a contact phone number though it's any guess whether anyone answers if you have a problem.

Now I've done it I'm concerned as I didn't have to enter her travel date 🤷‍♀️

The one stop shop that uses Randox is sold out though you can book for September.

Do you get the order reference number in an email after you order? Or do they need to arrive to receive this information? Just concerned what if they arrive after you have already left @Abraxan @Bichette

I've gone for Icorporate in the end. Fingers crossed.
£84 plus £34.45 shipping

Just noticed they all have a phone number on the Gov site, but they don't all have one on the website when you go to it so who knows how easy to contact any of them are. Plenty of reports of people not being able to make contact.

Article from Guardian

www.theguardian.com/money/2021/may/29/covid-test-travellers-quarantined-kit-results

They've emailed the order reference number to me @User72642

We used these packs.

Reviving the thread as we are still awaiting test results from day 2 done on Tuesday. Royal Mail tracking confirms delivery on Thursday morning. Website states not yet received in lab. I suspect they have sack loads piled up awaiting processing by a couple of part time lab staff.

Have found them on twitter announcing their advertising across London. And with lots of complaints under their tweets.

twitter.com/rightangledltd/status/1405559948055035904?s=21

Office is only open Monday to Friday so no hope of getting through on the telephone, which, incidentally I notice is shared with the outfit above in the list whose website appears not to exist.

Someone has started a petition to demand an investigation into the performance of private COVID testing providers.

twitter.com/harlemratbag/status/1397662249767026692?s=21