Home Covid test pickup - confused

[thisisnotmyllama]

Had to do a home Covid test today in prep for hospital procedure on Weds.

I rang the courier as instructed yesterday, expecting to be given a more precise time slot for collection than ‘between 8am and 4pm’ but they said they couldn’t. Not even a ‘We’re on our way’ text which surprised me as even Amazon can manage that, lol. Bit peeved because I have mobility issues with my stairs which means if I’m expecting something at the door I basically have to sit there and wait, but figured not much I could do about it.

Then I received a call later from the actual courier, clearly calling from his personal phone, insisting that I had to have the test done and ready for collection at 7am. I got a bit exasperated because I didn’t see why it had to be so early, it’s a bit much for a Sunday IMO, and tried to request a later slot but it didn’t seem possible. He kept saying ‘Well, yes, this is why I’m calling you now’ when I said the instructions said 8-4. In the end I (kind of jokingly) said ‘Oh well, ok, I’ll do my best to have it ready at 7 then’ and the guy became really stern and said ‘I’m sorry but your best isn’t good enough. We need to know it will definitely be ready at 7’ which took me aback a bit and I don’t think the conversation ended very well. Tbh I’m not sure what happened, as I’ve recently come to the realisation that I have an undiagnosed ASD and sometimes conversations like this ‘go wrong’ for me, seemingly without warning.

Anyway I dutifully got up at the crack of dawn, did my test, packaged it up, and have been basically waiting by my front door since 6.50am. It’s now 9.45 and there’s no sign of anyone!

Did I misunderstand? Did he mean ‘BY 7am’ not AT 7am? Why bother to call me to tell me that it wasn’t 8-4 as stated, but 7-4, if they didn’t plan to come early? I’m very confused! I don’t want to call the guy back because it was a really stressful conversation and I think he hates me!

Has this happened to anyone else? Can anyone clarify whether the time slot is normally 7-4 or 8-4? If I have to wait all day then so be it, but I’m just super confused as to what that phone call was about.

TIA.

8-4 but they told me to do it at 7am. It is probably so they’re not having to wait if it’s first pick up or whatever.
When I booked the courier they had to input the time the test was taken too. X

He shouldn’t have told you to have it ready by 7 if the earliest pick up is 8. He has no right to be stern with you either. I think he was out of order.

He was rude to you, don't overthink that into making it your fault.

They tell you to have the test ready 30mins before the courier is due.

Couriers can't wait around, so it's sensible to tell people to have it completed with a margin of time before the slot.

You're allowed to make a single trip out to your closest priority pillarbox, so if you ever need to go through this again, that might be an option, as might getting a friend/neighbour to post it back for you.

I agree that waiting in for a courier is absolutely pants. But they've got us over a barrel for these, as of course we have to be in

Update: the guy never showed up. It turned out he was an absolute time waster who clearly couldn’t be bothered to come out on a Sunday. Having spoken to the NHS line, they advised me to call him again which I did and he basically denied all knowledge of the arrangement, then tried to say he had meant Saturday morning, before hanging up on me.

@UnmentionedElephantDildo Unfortunately none of the post boxes in my area have a Sunday collection and by the time I could have gone to post it today, more than 24 hours had elapsed since I did the test, so that wasn’t an option. But I’ll definitely do that if I’m ever in this situation again as clearly this local courier can’t be relied upon.

Anyway I’ve made a complaint via the hospital and they arranged an emergency appt for me to go and get a swab done today so it’s all fine.

Thanks for your replies.

I'm glad you complained and that you got it sorted, though it's annoying for you to have the extra hassle.