Review: ExpressTest Covid-19 testing at London St Pauls One New Change

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• Loz says:

  28 Sep28 September 03:21

  I have to say I speak as I find. I have used express test 3 times now. First two times went down without a hitch. The last time however their website crashed on me during the final stage of the booking process and my card was charged erroneously a number of times without any booking being made. Their customer care service was SHOCKING in these circumstances. Numerous calls to their helpline and nobody wanted to know, much less help. In the end I disputed the charges with Amex who ultimately wiped them but buyer beware. It’s definitely in the never again category for us.

• Blenz101 says:

  28 Sep28 September 05:39

  I found having my tonsils swabbed completely revolting.

  Fingers cross this test centre is huge failure and the routine testing of healthy, asymptomatic, vaccinated travellers rapidly becomes a thing of the past.

  Charging people more than cost of a short haul flight is an insult. We have a perfectly good network of existing pharmacies which could have been leveraged by the government to distribute (and supervise if needed) tests and compensate pharmacists reasonably.

  Hopefully the CMA will report sooner rather than later and perhaps suggest a price cap as many other counties have done. It’s supposed to be a public health measure not a chance for private companies to make huge profits.

  At £80 a pop it just further encourages some people to edit the PDF of a previous test test result or buy a negative certificate with the dates required if they aren’t tech savvy enough. It ultimately makes everyone safe but a guy with a printer at home in my old local pub is charging £5 a pop for a PDF and hard copy fit to fly certificate.

  • Yuff says:

    28 Sep28 September 07:07

    My thoughts too, if they are investing in clinics like this they must have some insight into where testing is heading over the next 12 months.
    Even at £60 it’s way too high and the fact they only guarantee results in 48 hrs isn’t good enough imo.

  • Zoe says:

    28 Sep28 September 08:14

    Going into the pocket of some Tory donor no doubt

  • Save East Coast Rewards says:

    28 Sep28 September 08:38

    In Italy it was €15 at my local pharmacy and I think the price is capped. The government here wanted to make tests affordable and accessible for everyone. I was worried that the results would only be in Italian but they’re also in English so can be used for flying to the UK.

    Other places cost more. Currently €40 at Bologna airport which is still cheaper than similar UK based offerings but most people should be able to get one from a pharmacy (at the beginning it was more difficult as many didn’t have online booking set up)

    • Rui N. says:

      28 Sep28 September 08:46

      You think the price is capped at €15, but someone else is charging €40?!
      In the UK rapid tests are free, so there is no really cheaper than that.

      • blenz101 says:

        28 Sep28 September 10:02

        Except that NHS tests are explicitly not valid for travel. You need a private test to get the required paperwork which generally needs to include your passport number.

        And yes prices can vary if there is a service, e.g. the price is capped at 50AED/10GBP in the UAE but if you want someone to come to your home/hotel and do it they can charge a bit more on top – perhaps 120AED total. Doesn’t stop access to the tests at the capped price though.

        Using gov.uk advertise test ranging from 20GBP to 200GBP shows how broken the UK system is.

        • meta says:

          28 Sep28 September 11:01

          This isn’t going away for another 4-5 years until the majority of world population has been vaccinated and that’s a big if given the resistance to vaccination in large parts of the world. Remember these are not tests to go to the UK, this is a test to travel from UK to other countries. You can abolish all testing in the UK, but 90% of countries will still require some sort of testing and these companies know it.

        • Lady London says:

          28 Sep28 September 12:27

          “how broken the UK system is”

          …and not just for tests

        • blenz101 says:

          28 Sep28 September 12:34

          My issue is with the extortionate mark-up surrounding the tests and setting up plush new sites paid for by those taking the tests when infrastructure already exists – there is a Boots or equivalent in every town and city in the land.

          If you do need a test prior to travel then you have to take it in the UK and get ripped off. Prices in more rational counties have already been quoted in this thread.

          Plenty of employers are bringing in policies where the unvaccinated must have tests to come to the office so I assume they will be relying on that revenue stream soon enough.

          I think the 90% figure is totally off. I suspect those left inside the EU will happily be continuing to enjoy their free movement for the next 5 years without any such nonsense.

        • meta says:

          28 Sep28 September 13:01

          In Finland you have to pay 300 euros if you are non-resident and need an English certificate. In some countries, you have to pay for PCR test on arrival at $150+. This isn’t only happening in the UK. Companies will always profit and governments will turn the blind eye because as we all know they like to profit too.

        • meta says:

          28 Sep28 September 13:02

          And I am not talking about EU. EU is only 27 countries in the world…

        • blenz101 says:

          28 Sep28 September 14:07

          Well at 27 countries the EU is already 14% so good luck with you 90% figure.

          I see your 300EUR in Finland for non-nationals and translated certificates with $8 testing in Mumbai….

      • Save East Coast Rewards says:

        28 Sep28 September 13:46

        I meant *pharmacy* tests in the Emilia Romagna region are capped. Nothing to stop private providers offering more expensive services that offer a value add (in the case of the airport tests you get a faster turn around time)

        • meta says:

          28 Sep28 September 14:35

          @blenz101 Even EU countries require testing for a lot of non-EU arrivals, so yes, testing is to stay for quite a while. Especially given that Russian and Chinese vaccines are prevalent in huge parts of the world and are not uniformly recognised. It’s going to be a slow process although I wish it wasn’t.

• Tobias says:

  28 Sep28 September 05:50

  Which is the most “cost effective” day 2 test on Govt list?

  • Phillium says:

    28 Sep28 September 11:10

    The one you make up yourself by using the letters RANDX and 7 random digits. Not that I’d advocate that, of course, since the system is designed to flawlessly protect us…
    Failing that, paying £43 for the same code from Randox using any of the airline codes like Easyjet2021 etc is probably as cheap/easy as they get.

• Gezza says:

  28 Sep28 September 06:42

  At £80 a pop this is another rip off. Maybe you can afford it in the City?
  I have flown 3 times in past 6 weeks and used Randox Health for a pre flight PCR and also a Day 2 arrival test. £48 each test. Each time result was back on my phone in 24 hours. They have dedicated postal boxes everywhere, post by 5pm and get result next day. The sooner these charges are capped the better.

  • Rob says:

    28 Sep28 September 07:17

    If you’re getting it expensed, why bother? Walk down the street and get it done in person with some come-back if the result isn’t there.

    • Memesweeper says:

      28 Sep28 September 08:03

      Even when paying with my own money I’d like an in person test with the quickest possible result. Much less to go wrong and then mess up subsequent travel.

  • Ben W says:

    28 Sep28 September 07:23

    Gezza you should use a discount code to get it for £43 from Randox. I agree they’re fairly efficient- strolled to my local dropbox a few weeks back, and had the results back at 5:45am the next morning!

  • Bob says:

    30 Sep30 September 13:59

    Dubai doesn’t allow at home tests

• JIF says:

  28 Sep28 September 07:19

  For anyone living out in the sticks like me, that still travels a lot for work. I found better2know very good for a postal company and turn round times are within the time frame requested.
  Cost is paid by my customers, so price is irrelevant.
  Never had a problem using them for any of the return tests, always through the letter box on time.
  Only grip was test to release, results on day 6.

• Andrew says:

  28 Sep28 September 08:05

  Same price at their store in Oxford Westgate.

  At £60, it’s less than 2 days parking in the Council Car Park or a peak return on the train to London.

  On Saturday there was a queue of 15 people outside their shop.

• Aaron C says:

  28 Sep28 September 08:19

  In the nicest possible way I hope this is a complete failure and we follow the Irish and dump all of this nonsense.

  • meta says:

    28 Sep28 September 11:01

    You’ll still be required to take the test to travel somewhere from UK!

• Michael C says:

  28 Sep28 September 08:35

  So, awaiting the updates but in theory:
  -for a 2-day trip to Paris in late Oct, I’ll need the French sworn cert. / original NHS vaccinations certs going out, then…
  -nothing to come back, apart from the NHS doc? Then do a 2-day test once in UK?

  • Rob says:

    28 Sep28 September 08:43

    Yes. You mean PLF to return, not NHS doc.

    • Michael C says:

      28 Sep28 September 09:49

      Thanks – I don’t know what I mean, to tell you the truth!
      Will be our first trip out of British Isles in 18 months, and following your Eurostar idea, Rob, and avoiding LHR at half term.

  • tony says:

    28 Sep28 September 08:45

    Yes and by late October it should be LFT on day 2, not PCR. Not clear if you can use an NHS one for this yet as I understand.

    • Michael C says:

      28 Sep28 September 09:55

      Thanks, Tony. All sounds a whole lot easier!

    • IanM says:

      28 Sep28 September 09:55

      I think you are paying for the reference number to put on your PLF rather than the actual test. Total rip off.
      WHat’s to stop anyone just making up a reference number??

      • blenz101 says:

        28 Sep28 September 12:43

        Nothing at all. What if you order a £20 in person test in Wigan but never show up, nothing at all. What if you book and pay for a test and cancel it after entering, nothing at all. What if you enter via Ireland, nothing at all.

        If they can just integrate into regular airport security that would the best solution, laptop out, coat off, belt and watch in the tray, liquids in the bin, shoes off, step into the body scanner, head back for your nose swab….

        Makes us all safe though.

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