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Original poster

Lowest cost Day 2 test

273 replies

Window1 · 09/08/2021 15:07

Hi can anyone help with the lowest cost day 2 test following return to UK from France (Amber country).

I've found Randox at £43 with discount code but wasn't sure if there was anything cheaper. A lot on the gov website look like they're going to be £20 but are actually around £80.

Don't care about service or reputation as just need the code to sort the passenger location form.

What a farce this all is by the way!!

OP posts:
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JayAlfredPrufrock · 10/08/2021 06:50

Oh goodness. I’ve booked to go to France at the end of September. Fervently hoping this will have changed by then.

Original poster
Window1 · 10/08/2021 08:39

Haven't gone yet but trying to sort before going. Wondering who will actually chase up if we don't receive the result from one of the cheaper unreliable companies. Just need the code to complete PLF. will not have any bearing on quarantine as double jabbed.

OP posts:
Original poster
Window1 · 10/08/2021 08:39

@JayAlfredPrufrock

Oh goodness. I’ve booked to go to France at the end of September. Fervently hoping this will have changed by then.
Agree hope it is a matter of time or they bring in some better regulation of costs / service.
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FrancescaContini · 10/08/2021 08:54

It’s a total racket

windmill26 · 10/08/2021 09:45

After spending 2 days trying to understand what to do and looking for a cheaper 2nd day test we went with Randox,so £260 for PCR fit to fly and 2nd day for a family of 3. As others said above the £20 tests were nowhere to be found...total mess as usual! Some people are making a LOT of money out of this!
Tests should be £20 (or less) for lateral and £30 PCR ,available from the local chemist or Boots ...but organising something like this wouldn't have made sh... load of money for some !

Theredjellybean · 10/08/2021 09:53

We used tui chronomics, lft to travel. Home worked brilliantly.
Day two tests arrived after priority postbox shut for tgat day and the qr codes were showing a different families name on website.
Multiple calls to tui...
Day 8 tests showed up day 10, qr code not even recognised.
Uoshott... We didn't do day two or day eight tests, track and trace didn't seem in slightest bit bothered.
Tui now refunded our money

FrancescaContini · 10/08/2021 10:04

How long do you think we need to do this for??
I also spent hours yesterday trying to work it all out. It was a total mindfuck.

Surely there’ll come a time when we can just book a flight and go? The cost of these tests - travelling with children will just become prohibitively expensive.

We have boxes and boxes of the NHS tests my children got given at school but of course, the government website makes clear that we CAN’T use these tests Hmm

Ivalueloyaltyaboveallelse · 10/08/2021 10:07

We used Randox, no issues. Delivered to a neighbour who kindly dropped them off on our door step a few minutes before we arrived back. Did our tests the next day and DH dropped them straight off to a Randox site. Got and email to say they had received them that day. The next day got a email to say they were processing them and the results emailed back to us on day two. All rather quick and easy.

timeforacuppa28 · 10/08/2021 11:21

@Window1 are you also sorting out the test you have to do while in France, before you come home? Is everyone who is travelling double jabbed?

timeforacuppa28 · 10/08/2021 11:25

@FrancescaContini oh you are so right!!! It’s a total mindfuck! Also have boxes of LTF tests but using those isn’t going to line anyone’s pockets!
A friend works in a lab, run by a charity who has been testing NHS workers from the start, when they were finding it difficult to be tested. So they’re testing is good, but still doesn’t make the grade for travelling 🙄

FrancescaContini · 10/08/2021 11:42

There will DEFINITELY be some kind of scandal in years to come over government ministers’ links to these testing companies.

I’m pissed off about paying around 75 quid for a) a test just like the ones lying around in my children’s rooms; b) a test that I could do for free at a drive-in nearby.

Not only a racket but doubtlessly excluding millions of people from the possibility of travelling abroad due to the high costs - or is this the idea??

Original poster
Window1 · 10/08/2021 13:43

[quote timeforacuppa28]@Window1 are you also sorting out the test you have to do while in France, before you come home? Is everyone who is travelling double jabbed?[/quote]
All double jabbed.

Tour operator arranging tests in France to return to UK.

Just got to sort the day 2 tests. The NWP ones I was looking at yesterday at £40 are now £65!!! How can they get away with it.

Thinking either Randox now or one of the cheap ones just to get the code on the PLF and not worry too much of they don't deliver / receive tests this end.

OP posts:
Original poster
Window1 · 10/08/2021 13:45

@FrancescaContini

How long do you think we need to do this for?? I also spent hours yesterday trying to work it all out. It was a total mindfuck.

Surely there’ll come a time when we can just book a flight and go? The cost of these tests - travelling with children will just become prohibitively expensive.

We have boxes and boxes of the NHS tests my children got given at school but of course, the government website makes clear that we CAN’T use these tests Hmm

There will be loads of the NHS tests discarded at some point. I really don't see why we can't just use them.

Absolute scam.

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PeppermintGum · 10/08/2021 13:51

Completely agree, this is a disgrace and a scandal in the making. I couldn't book any of the £20-odd ones. They were either much more expensive once you got to the right page, or the online forms didn't work. Like others on here, I booked through Randox with the Ryan air code (am not flying with them.but it didn't seem to matter).

Randox is actually in the news today for uncollected tests..!

Original poster
Window1 · 10/08/2021 13:56

Does anyone know if the day 2 test is either not delivered to me or not received when I send it off for processed, is there someone that will make contact to ensure I buy another test or what are the consequences?

We do not need to quarantine.

OP posts:
ButYouGottaHaveASkillJeff · 10/08/2021 14:34

Be thankful you don't live in Scotland, you have to use the one company (CMT) they recommend, at a dearer cost obviously. It's extortion.

Although my friend bought hers from Randox and flew into Scotland and noone said anything. She also didn't even bother taking it out of the box and had no phone calls etc. My other friend wasn't allowed through border control until she bought the CMT one.

I'm away in 3 weeks so not sure what route to take in terms of company etc.

Coogee · 10/08/2021 16:41

Be thankful you don't live in Scotland, you have to use the one company

It’s the same in Wales. £88 fixed price.

FrancescaContini · 10/08/2021 16:58

That’s shocking about Scotland and Wales Shock

I wonder when this is going to be picked up and scrutinised by the press?

Original poster
Window1 · 10/08/2021 17:03

@Coogee

Be thankful you don't live in Scotland, you have to use the one company

It’s the same in Wales. £88 fixed price.

Do you think there isn't a huge uproar because people just want to get away? Or do they feel powerless? That's insane, it would be impossible for most families of 4/5 to get away.
OP posts:
EmmaStone · 10/08/2021 17:38

We used Randox. I ordered them while we were abroad (I wasn't going to pay for something until I knew I'd actually made it out of the UK!), they were delivered late on Day 2, we took the tests, and I posted them in one of their collection boxes the next morning, results came back the following day (so within 48 hours of actually taking the test). And that was the end of that. Until we got 'pinged' by a positive case on our flight and told to isolate.

JayAlfredPrufrock · 10/08/2021 19:36

Article in the paper today about how outrageous this whole thing is.

I’m tempted to just wing it on the Day two test. Or do you have to prove you’ve ordered it to be allowed back in?

Franklin12 · 10/08/2021 20:01

We used Screen 4 for Day 2.Complete rubbish. You don’t need to report the test to anyone. They took 7 days to confirm receipt of the test then it was inconclusive. By that time the 10 days were nearly up...

Someone is making a huge amount of money from this stupid testing.

Tui allow you to do the test unsupervised. A friend of a friend said they got one person to do all the tests by using the NHS test first to ensure that person was negative.They wanted to go on holiday but didn’t want to test positive!!

That is how people are being pinged during a flight.

Franklin12 · 10/08/2021 20:01

Just use the cheapest test to get the code to put on your PLF

EileenGC · 10/08/2021 20:51

@JayAlfredPrufrock

Article in the paper today about how outrageous this whole thing is.

I’m tempted to just wing it on the Day two test. Or do you have to prove you’ve ordered it to be allowed back in?

You are not issued with your PLF unless you add the test’s booking reference. They check your PLF at the airport, so I wouldn’t risk it. For all means get a cheap one if all you want is the number, but it definitely needs to be added for the PLF to be valid.

Good point about the pinging. I still don’t understand how a self-test is valid for anything, people can just lie about the result if they’re reporting it themselves. Although at least home tests aren’t valid for travel, not yet anyway. That would be even more stupid than charging the current prices.

EileenGC · 10/08/2021 20:51

By all means* and who knows how many more mistakes in there…

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