The CMA (Competition and Markets Authority) removes a testing company from its official list.. Following reports that a private service, Expert Medicals, had failed to offer tests to travelers, the CMA (Competition and Markets Authority) has launched a formal investigation.
The federal agency also suspects that the company does not return results in a timely or even at all.
Expert Medical is also accused of failing to respond to consumer complaints and of failing to pay refunds when they were due.
This summer, the company was one of the leading providers of PCR travel testing in the UK, and it was the subject of numerous complaints, both to Citizens Advice and, more recently, to the CMA.
It is no longer on the list of testing providers who self-declare that they meet the minimum Covid-19 testing standards.
The CMA has also written to a further 19 test providers, telling them that they must update their pricing information or face future action.
The organization is worried that the 19 firms continue to deceptively promote tests at extremely low prices when they are either not accessible at that price or carry hidden conditions, such as where the tests must be collected from.
The CMA (Competition and Markets Authority) took this move after sending an open letter to PCR test providers last week, warning that a variety of detrimental practices in the sector could violate consumer protection rules.
The CMA’s chief executive, Andrea Coscelli, stated, “Millions of individuals must purchase PCR tests in order to travel.”
“If we discover that businesses have been deceiving customers and failing to provide the service that individuals have paid for, we will take action.”
“Our actions are the next steps in our efforts to ensure that the PCR testing market works for customers, and we are planning additional actions in this sector.”
