ComplaintsforDNA Reference Lab, Inc.

• Initial Complaint

  12/18/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  Hello I obtained services from this business for a paternity test 12/04/2023 and was told the results would be ready and available in 10 business days. 12/15/2023 comes; 10 business days later and ** told unfortunately their was an inventory issue and the owner unfortunately did not order a specific chemical needed for the lab analyst to do their jobs. I am told results will be in NO LATER THAN MONDAY. Today is Monday 12/18/2023 so I call for the status of my results. And I am now told that for some reason the sample needs to be re-extracted and I will hear from the company by Friday 4 additional business days later for a total of 15 business days no with no results. I have attempted to speak with the owner but unfortunately the owner is NEVER IN AND HAS NOT SEEMED TO SHOW ANY INTEREST IN RETURNING MY CALL. I understand that things like inventory errors happen but just because a service can take a maximum of 10 days does not mean it needs to, unfortunately it feels as if Asia the owner takes customer money and drags out the service to her convenience. For DNA testing and paternal issues there should be some sense of urgency. With the amount of negative reviews on this company I felt as if this business needed to be reported, these are extremely difficult services for customers to get and with an owner that exhibits such a lack of empathy for customer service. Something really should come out of this and I really would like a refund considering they are well out of their promised time frame.

  Customer response

  12/18/2023

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
  
  Regards,
  
  *********************************

• Initial Complaint

  03/18/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Order Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  DNA sample was sent from US Embassy ******* on February 15, 2022. After making final payment and being asked to wait a week for the result of the sample nothing has been resolved. I called multiple times and I don't get a response. They say their equipment is not working and it will be repaired but has been a month and they don't have an estimate of how long it will take to repair. It is a very important matter that the dna results. Please send the DNA sample to another lab for the test to be completed.

  Business response

  04/11/2022

  This is in reference to the complain of Mr. ****** ********* ******, file number ** ****, in regard to his son ****** ********* ********* ******, for sending a DNA collection kit to the us consular office in ******* ***** via DHL tracking number***********.  We have received the sample back from the embassy on February 25, 2022. All samples were processed immediately,  and the last step was to put it on the machine to analyze the data and process the report. Unfortunately, the data was shifting on the machine, and we didn't know what was the cause. We had to fly an engineer from California to find out why the data was shifting. His conclusion was that, there is nothing wrong with the machine and it could be one of the reagents and chemical we use for the machine, but we have to figure out which one. We have ordered new chemicals and reagents to try one by one, till we found out the one that was contaminated and replaced it with  new one. We really apologized to Mr. ****** ********* ****** for this unfortunate situation which we have no control over. We have contacted Mr. ****** several times, and we have tried to explain the situation to him several times. I personally, was on contact with him several times, and promised him it is not going to take longer after we have  found the contaminated reagents. I have sent an email to the consular office on his behalf explaining the machine situation, and neither the client nor us, have had control over this situation, and we have requested that his file to remain active,  and the consoler's office answer was" no problem". As Mr. ****** has requested again to send an email to see if we could send the sample to another lab. I have sent another e-mail requesting if the embassy would let us do that without breaking the chain of custody, ( copies of the emails were attached). On March 29,2022, the case was completed, and was shipped and receive by the consular office on via DHL tracking number ** **** ****.  Since the job was finished, report was sent to the embassy, and the job was completed on March 29, shipped and received by the consular office, since everything was done and completed there should be nothing else to be done after March 29,2022.
  

• Initial Complaint

  02/23/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Hello, USCIS asked me for optional DNA test and was advised by attorney not to do it as it is not mandatory however, I contacted DNA Reference Lab and ****, the one who recommended to do it. I decided to do it later on just to be in the safe side . months have passed and did not get a call from the embassy nor an update from **** so I asked for a refund but **** advised me to wait because the embassies are closed which is not true. Now, my family is going through interview processing with embassy and was not asked to do the DNA test. Therefore, I contacted **** around the 7th or the 8th of Feb to refund me the amount and she stated that she will call me. I waited few days and texted her to inquire about the refund but she stated that she has some health issue and she will call me the next day. It has been almost 3 weeks and she keeps promising me from day to day . I have tried every possible way but still not able to get the refund. Not only that, she also mentioned that she will charge me for some things that I don't know about. I called the office to speak with the manager and the staff told me that **** is the owner of the place. Added screenshots of some text messages that show what I have been through .

  Business response

  03/29/2022

  Mr. **********, *** has contacted us for doing DNA testing to his family. DNA Reference Lab, INC. is a corporation owned by ten shareholders, and not owned by an individual. Mr. ********** has informed me that he is going to travel to Egypt and he requested that we collect his sample first,  before the arrival of the sample from his family abroad. Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, our building was closed, so I had to drive and meet him near the ********* ********  ***** ****** **** *****,to collect his sample.  He provided us with all the information and he filled and signed the application( a copy of the application is attached) we prepared the packages  for his two children to go via FedEx tracking number **** **** **** and it was received by the embassy in Cairo Egypt. Since 2020, all the embassies around the world, were closed to the public for collection of DNA sample, and that was due to the pandemic of COVID-19, and we have no control over embassies scheduling for clients, we just wait till they schedule our client for the appointment, and send us the samples to process it and send them the report.,  As Mr. ********** has mentioned, the embassy tell people doing DNA testing is optional, one can choose not to do it, but they will not approve the case without DNA . On October 09,2020, I have sent an email to the embassy (a copy is attached), and I have explained to the us consular that Mr. **********'s family is in Egypt; which is not their country, and that they are running out of money -as he has informed me. I have also explained to the embassy that they can't go back to their country Yemen because of the war. I have helped them by explaining their situation to the consular office, so they could help them. The consular has understood their situation, and let them come without doing the DNA testing, and to come to the US.  I have explained to Mr. ********* that since we have paid for the FedEx, and we have collected his sample outside the office, and processed it, and we have also contacted the embassy by an email written to them (a copy of the email and the FedEx is attached), we have to deduct our expenses, and refund the rest of the money to him. We have no problem refunding his money after deducting our expenses, but he said there is no expenses. FedEx will never give us our money back because the case is cancelled.  
  

  
  

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