Saturday, March 24, 2018

My experience with 23andme - DNA testing reject




I was so excited that my hubby bought me a DNA sampling kit from 23andme.  He thought he got a really good deal on it, purchasing it on Black Friday.  This is March 24 and I just got the rejection email.

What?

I sent a sample in as soon as I received my kit in the mail.  I waited and waited, then one day got an email that said I needed to request a new kit because there was not enough DNA in my sample.

I got the new kit, which FYI does not contain instructions like the original kit did.  Luckily, I had saved the instructions.  I was extra careful this time to make sure I had enough saliva ( one of the hints said I might not have sent enough saliva in the previous go).

I sent my second sample and waited.

On March 24 (a Saturday), I got an email from 23 and me stating that I needed to request a refund.  I went to the refund page and that was when my mouth dropped open.


To get a refund "less handling fees", which I will post when I see how much they charged me to handle my spit, I had to agree to never enter another sample to them again...ever.


So in the future, if technology changes and they are better able to extract dna from my saliva, I will be unable to submit a sample....how nice.

I am told that I am a rarity and that a very low percentage of people have low dna volume in their saliva, but no one will give me their failure rate.


Have you had a similar problem?



Update:  As of April 8, several emails asking me to jump through hoops including giving the order number etc.  Twice I have had to complete actions in order to move ahead to get the refund, but still no refund.  ps:  my refund choice will be an amazon gift card or visa gift card.