Test to release - our experience so far

[jongood]

This is July 2021, hopefully this will soon be irrelevant but might be helpful to some in the next few months.

I thought I would post about our using test to release as I havent seen anything else on here about it, its a very new process and hopefully this and subsequent discussion will help others using it.

To be fair I did the whole thing in a bit of a rush when Boris suddenly changed the rules last Friday meaning that it stuffed up our plans somewhat.
We did have 48 days left so could have gone back into Spain or France or even gone down to Croatia and had a nice long time, but we had a few issues pressing so decided that 5 day release would work for us.

There are a lot of testing companies listed, not all of them offer test to release and the methods vary greatly. Everyone I checked that had reviews had an OK score on trustpilot but the actual reviews were dire, usually to do with bad comms and late results.

In the end we decided to go with Prenetics who are the linked to one by Eurotunnel, we paid £466 for both of us for 2 day, 8day and the 5 day test to release.

One of the surprising issues is timing things; This is clearly set up for people flying who book a holiday weeks/months before with clearly defined departure and return dates so is not quite the same for the holiday nomads type. You have to nominate your day for arriving back and have to book the tests to arrive on the day afterwards. Its my understanding that you re not really allowed to anything but go straight home. So I'm not sure how you would get on returning home on a Saturday as that would require a Sunday delivery. Or in our case as we were booking last minute at a weekend they would not allow us to book a Monday arrival as they had missed the window for shipping the tests ( One of the testing firms also refused a date because of lab capacity).

So we arrived home on Tuesday and on Wednesday we received our 6 tests ( 3 each) in one shipment. Self adminstered PCR tests with prepaid packages to post them back to the lab in. OK so Thursday is officially day 2, As part of the process we were asked to setup project screen accounts with a profile for each of us. And before you take the tests you activate (basically put the test number in against the profile) did tests packaged them up and took them down to the priority postbox. We received notification of our test results alst night at about 9pm both negative, so happy days.

We ve now realised that the 5 day test isnt quite going to work out because day 5 is Sunday. It appears that there is no practical way of getting the test to Prenetics on the Sunday. The fastest it could be done is to drive or courier down to Norwich which would then get it into the system on Monday morning and we could get the result on Tuesday (day 7) or royal mail it and hopefully get it by Wednesday (day 8) . Tbf we can live with day 8 but its annoying and perhaps something that others could bear in mind.

 

[Odd-no-more]

Like a lot of this Covid stuff it seems badly thought out and expensive, how is it isolating if you have to take the test kits out to return them? I see on MHF people paying €40 for a test abroad but far more here for a service which is less good.

 

[Neil S]

this companies name has been mentioned on another forum as being reasonably priced for folks returning home

<Broken link removed>

 

[jongood]

Like a lot of this Covid stuff it seems badly thought out and expensive, how is it isolating if you have to take the test kits out to return them? I see on MHF people paying €40 for a test abroad but far more here for a service which is less good.

Our tests in France cost us 25 Euros each and were really efficient, once you know where to go.

Tbf I think the current setup is still developing, hopefully the next step is to find a better, easier and quicker test

 

[Odd-no-more]

The tests themselves must be fairly inexpensive, my daughter works for a firm that does testing for film crew, she told us she can get tested free and family can get test for £20

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[jongood]

The tests themselves must be fairly inexpensive, my daughter works for a firm that does testing for film crew, she told us she can get tested free and family can get test for £20

I think the tests probably are inexpensive to produce but it will depend on whether they have to go to a lab for the result or not.

I'm under no illusion that the testing companies are making good money right now but it will have required some investment and how long will this last is the question I would be asking.

 

[ED O'DARAC]

Nice piece, thanks. Very well written and helpful.

We are in France having been 'surprised/ambushed' by the isolation or test-to-release news on the ferry out here.

We are finding it difficult to change our ferry crossing back as this can only be booked by phone once the outward sailing has been taken. Waiting on the phone for hours....
Anyone got any workarounds??

 

[glenn2926]

It’s all about making money. Nothing else. Which is why the paid for testing will not be going away anytime soon. Too many people with their snouts in the trough.

 

[jongood]

Nice piece, thanks. Very well written and helpful.

We are in France having been 'surprised/ambushed' by the isolation or test-to-release news on the ferry out here.

We are finding it difficult to change our ferry crossing back as this can only be booked by phone once the outward sailing has been taken. Waiting on the phone for hours....
Anyone got any workarounds??

Assuming you're trying to bring it forward

Book another crossing online - with someone else if it works better, then sit on the phone at home during Q10 and get them to push it back?

Our experiences with ET and BF is that they ve both been very helpful.

 

[jongood]

It’s all about making money. Nothing else. Which is why the paid for testing will not be going away anytime soon. Too many people with their snouts in the trough.

I don't think testing will go away but the pressure from the transport industry is not going away so it may well change/evolve

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[Landy Andy]

We’ve yet to sort out 5day tests, and like you ours involve a Sunday, so have a couple of avenues to investigate. One of which is the testing they do at our local airport which works Sundays.

 

[Odd-no-more]

think the tests probably are inexpensive to produce but it will depend on whether they have to go to a lab for the result or not.

Daughter's firm have their own approved lab, but they do hundreds of test every day

 

[bobandjanie]

We used Dante for day 2 and day 8 test £86 each and then drove to the testing area at stansted airport where NHS Collinson and Randox who was the cheapest for day 5 test, all tests were negative although apparently they never received day 2 but in reality they probably don't bother testing day 2 because your in quarantine anyway.
But we was still receiving one or two calls a day and our daughter had a visitit on day 8 although we had left there by then, we thought early release was to be left alone only after Janie losing it on day 9 phone call did they stop phoning.
Yes just a money spinning exercise. Bob.

 

[jongood]

We used Dante for day 2 and day 8 test £86 each and then drove to the testing area at stansted airport where NHS Collinson and Randox who was the cheapest for day 5 test, all tests were negative although apparently they never received day 2 but in reality they probably don't bother testing day 2 because your in quarantine anyway.
But we was still receiving one or two calls a day and our daughter had a visitit on day 8 although we had left there by then, we thought early release was to be left alone only after Janie losing it on day 9 phone call did they stop phoning.
Yes just a money spinning exercise. Bob.

If its necessary next time I would seriously consider using an airport one, Birmingham is the nearest so its a couple of hours out and you get the result faster.

The phone calls are a bit OTT IMO, Every day at about lunchtime we ve have both had a phonecall where somebody reads exactly the same script to us, then ask us if we ve got any questions? Still only another 7 times to go?

 

[Landy Andy]

We used Dante for day 2 and day 8 test £86 each and then drove to the testing area at stansted airport where NHS Collinson and Randox who was the cheapest for day 5 test, all tests were negative although apparently they never received day 2 but in reality they probably don't bother testing day 2 because your in quarantine anyway.
But we was still receiving one or two calls a day and our daughter had a visitit on day 8 although we had left there by then, we thought early release was to be left alone only after Janie losing it on day 9 phone call did they stop phoning.
Yes just a money spinning exercise. Bob.

Hi quick did you get your 5 day test results from airport? And what day did you test?

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[Twogirls]

If its necessary next time I would seriously consider using an airport one, Birmingham is the nearest so its a couple of hours out and you get the result faster.

The phone calls are a bit OTT IMO, Every day at about lunchtime we ve have both had a phonecall where somebody reads exactly the same script to us, then ask us if we ve got any questions? Still only another 7 times to go?

There's an easy way round that, when I got the first call I said I didn't want to continue, so they didn't phone any more. Still did my isolation and got one visit, but wasn't hassled by phone calls telling me the same thing I already knew every day

 

[gus-lopez]

the priority postbox.

What's one of these? What difference is it to a normal post box?
Why would you use it?

how is it isolating if you have to take the test kits out to return them?

You can actally choose to have the day 2 & 8 tests done by attending a clinic.
Me ,personally I cannot see the point of paying for ealy release using a day 5 test.Especially when you still have to take day 8.
Where I would be isolating would be 5 miles from anywhere so we would both have to go in the van to post anything.

 

[jongood]

What's one of these? What difference is it to a normal post box?

Its got a label on it

 

[jongood]

There's an easy way round that, when I got the first call I said I didn't want to continue, so they didn't phone any more. Still did my isolation and got one visit, but wasn't hassled by phone calls telling me the same thing I already knew every day

I'm going to give that a go today.

No visit yet

 

[Trevor Wbm]

That reads like you've effectively spent the thick end of £500 to reduce isolation by two days. Is that a fair summary?

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[DangerMousy]

What's one of these? What difference is it to a normal post box?
Why would you use it?

As the samples have to get to the labs within a certain time frame RM have designated certain postboxes as priority ones to make sure the samples get there on time. Broken Link Removed

This has been a really useful thread - thanks for starting it jongood
We probably weren't going to do test to release, but if we do then we'll definitely do an on-site one. Our day 5 will be a Friday and it looks like we can get a test to release at Heathrow for £69 each with results guaranteed by 10pm the next day. A bit late for a pint in the pub on Saturday night, but work's out of for Sunday afternoon

 

[jongood]

That reads like you've effectively spent the thick end of £500 to reduce isolation by two days. Is that a fair summary?

Extra £158 for test to release

We would have paid £308 anyway, or half that if France had stayed normal Amber.

I know a lot has been made about the cost but it does depend which the more important to you. I would have been prepared to pay (some) more for a service that I knew to be reliable and a seven day service. Its all buttons in the scheme of things as its the only big holiday we ve had this year and we had a fantastic time - a much better one than we would be likely to have had on the South Coast of UK- but each to their own.

 

[Lenny HB]

Just appears to be a money making scam I really don't see why you need tests if you are isolating. I would have thought drving to an airport for a test would be breaking the quarantine rule.
Then what about all the people arriving by air and getting home on public transport.
It's just a total farse.

 

[busby]

This is July 2021, hopefully this will soon be irrelevant but might be helpful to some in the next few months.

I thought I would post about our using test to release as I havent seen anything else on here about it, its a very new process and hopefully this and subsequent discussion will help others using it.

To be fair I did the whole thing in a bit of a rush when Boris suddenly changed the rules last Friday meaning that it stuffed up our plans somewhat.
We did have 48 days left so could have gone back into Spain or France or even gone down to Croatia and had a nice long time, but we had a few issues pressing so decided that 5 day release would work for us.

There are a lot of testing companies listed, not all of them offer test to release and the methods vary greatly. Everyone I checked that had reviews had an OK score on trustpilot but the actual reviews were dire, usually to do with bad comms and late results.

In the end we decided to go with Prenetics who are the linked to one by Eurotunnel, we paid £466 for both of us for 2 day, 8day and the 5 day test to release.

One of the surprising issues is timing things; This is clearly set up for people flying who book a holiday weeks/months before with clearly defined departure and return dates so is not quite the same for the holiday nomads type. You have to nominate your day for arriving back and have to book the tests to arrive on the day afterwards. Its my understanding that you re not really allowed to anything but go straight home. So I'm not sure how you would get on returning home on a Saturday as that would require a Sunday delivery. Or in our case as we were booking last minute at a weekend they would not allow us to book a Monday arrival as they had missed the window for shipping the tests ( One of the testing firms also refused a date because of lab capacity).

So we arrived home on Tuesday and on Wednesday we received our 6 tests ( 3 each) in one shipment. Self adminstered PCR tests with prepaid packages to post them back to the lab in. OK so Thursday is officially day 2, As part of the process we were asked to setup project screen accounts with a profile for each of us. And before you take the tests you activate (basically put the test number in against the profile) did tests packaged them up and took them down to the priority postbox. We received notification of our test results alst night at about 9pm both negative, so happy days.

We ve now realised that the 5 day test isnt quite going to work out because day 5 is Sunday. It appears that there is no practical way of getting the test to Prenetics on the Sunday. The fastest it could be done is to drive or courier down to Norwich which would then get it into the system on Monday morning and we could get the result on Tuesday (day 7) or royal mail it and hopefully get it by Wednesday (day 8) . Tbf we can live with day 8 but its annoying and perhaps something that others could bear in mind.

We opted just for day two and day eight tests.Day two was waiting for us when we arrived home on wed,We should have been home tue but didn't get results for first test to return home in France so had to have another test and get a later ferry.We used Confirm Testing in UK.Think four tests cost us 200 quid.Tested ourselves Thur,,confirmed by e.mail that we had tested and posted off Thurs t.time.Negative results arrived 0700 this morning.Bit of luck and we will be FREE a week tomorrow. BUSBY.

 

[busby]

Nice piece, thanks. Very well written and helpful.

We are in France having been 'surprised/ambushed' by the isolation or test-to-release news on the ferry out here.

We are finding it difficult to change our ferry crossing back as this can only be booked by phone once the outward sailing has been taken. Waiting on the phone for hours....
Anyone got any workarounds??

Either book Brittany flexi which you can change as many times as you like free or don't book a return until the day before you want to come home.BUSBY.

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[jongood]

Either book Brittany flexi which you can change as many times as you like free or don't book a return until the day before you want to come home.BUSBY.

This is what we always do. A return ticket is not often cheaper and much more difficult to reallocate as the return leg is classed as a part used ticket.

 

[Top Hat]

My advice would be to buy the cheapest test available, the main thing track and isolate are interested in is that you have bought the tests and are isolating.
Here's our experience, my wife and I isolated for 10 days having the 2 and 8 day tests, during the 10 day isolation my wife had 9 phone calls (2 in 1 day) checking that she was isolating and one actual visit to our house by track and isolate, he asked a series of questions and checked her passport, he was not interested in me I wasn't on his list.
I only had 3 phone calls, as far as we can remember out of the 12 calls we were only asked a few times what the 2 day test had been and never had another call after day 8

 

[stevewagner]

That’s all as clear as mud to me

 

[Puddleduck]

What's one of these? What difference is it to a normal post box?
Why would you use it?

Its got a label on it

And is big enough to take the test package.

When I had to do a test because I had symptoms the nearest priority box had been cleared before my test arrived (no collection Sat or Sun), there was no courier in this area and the next nearest priority post box was too far away for me to legally go there as there was a 5 miles from home rule at the time (rules have changed since). The lady on the help line was very nice but unable to suggest anything except to call 999 if my symptoms got worse. She was astounded that the nearest drive through centre that was open was 50 miles away. Anyway someone took the self test to a post box for me and it was negative - as have been all tests since.

 

[ED O'DARAC]

Thanks, Jongood and Busby. Great suggestions. We just booked a flexi return earlier than we were returning prior to the Amber+ surprise. I think we have to get a French Antigen or PCR before we can get on the ferry as well.
If it wasn't that Bretagne was SO gorgeous, food, roads, cycling, aires..... we would have got slightly annoyed, but it has been worth any inconveniences. Wow, I really needed time in France in the Moho!
Thanks again. FUN Rules!

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