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Ellume Covid 19 test recall- much bigger than original announcement

Posted by (Minneapolis, MN) on

Hey fellow travelers! I know other places in this forum have posted about the Ellume test recall. I am in the middle of a pretty bad experience and want to share a few words of wisdom. I had such a wonderful experience this summer when using it in Portugal, but now in Mexico it is turning into a train wreck. Honestly, it has fallen apart in stunning fashion. I'm still processing what I am witnessing as a customer.

Ellume is continuing to update their list of tests recalled. But I as a customer am not getting new notifications on it- even though I bought it from them. So you have to go to their site and check to see if your test is recalled. Surprise!

So these test numbers went on the site after the original recall announcement. I went along my merry way and brought our test kits to Mexico City with us. Much to my surprise, these kits are also recalled. So now we are figuring out where to get tested locally. The worst part- you have to OPEN the kit to figure out if it is recalled. Basically compromising the test. My husband was in the middle of his test only to be told it is recalled. Even worse- now inside the app they say he has a positive Covid test even though when you go into the details it says it is indeterminate. Oh goodness gracious. forehead slap

I share this as I know others have bought kits. We will be fine because we can find somewhere in Mexico City to get tested. But I don't want this to happen to anyone else that might plan to take the test in more remote places and end up with a big problem. This also reinforces the philosophy to make sure to have tests done well in advance (not the last second).

Note- Ellume customer service was no help in this situation. As soon as they saw it was recalled during the test, he basically tried to get off the phone as fast as possible. He basically told us to figure it out for ourselves. ;o) And the best they are offering so far is to replace the affected kits.

Please please please if you have an Ellume test go to this link to check so that this doesn't happen to you.
https://www.ellumecovidtest.com/return/company-announcement
New tests were added October 25th as well, even those I suspect all these updates are not making much news now.

We consoled ourselves for this hot mess by eating some delicious local Mexican chocolate. It felt like a reasonable response to the situation. ;o)

Will this affect my decision to travel- heck no! Still looking forward to our Spain trip in December. ;o)

Posted by
9567 posts

Amber, this is very kind and thoughtful of you to take the time to post this to warn other travelers. Thank for for sharing your experience - you may well save someone some trouble !

Posted by
124 posts

Had the same thing happen. Purchased tests from Ellume because they were recommended by our airline, Delta. Packed them with us on our trip to France. While on the trip, got the email about the recall but our lot #'s weren't on there so thought we were good. Called in for our observed video test and were told they were recalled. smh Luckily we were able to get a test done quickly and easily at the pharmacy, and in hindsight this was probably better because the check-in agent at the airport didn't speak much English so having the testing document and results in French was helpful.

But the real negative for us is that Ellume isn't refunding the cost of the kits, they are only providing replacements, which we obviously don't need now. So I'm out the costs of the kits plus the cost of the video observation through Azova because we still dialed in for the call, plus Azova didn't provide any way to cancel the appointment in advance. So lesson learned: just do the test through a local provider.

Posted by
99 posts

Hi copperheadpdx, thank you for sharing your experiences too! It was definitely a shock to the system to learn this while traveling. I sincerely hope that by talking about it we can save some fellow travelers the stress of the situation!

My husband and I were able to get tested here in Mexico City today easily. We tested negative so we are all set to come home. I am in the same boat as you that they want to provide me new tests. But I don't feel real comfortable using the new tests knowing that they just update a website if there is an issue and it is on me to deal with it. I guess the way it was handled is what made me so uneasy. I admit I also took to Twitter with this, and they responded I should call support so they could find a solution to my problem. lol.

Ummm.... I had to figure out testing locally because your testing proctors basically told us to figure it out ourselves. I am sure they are not happy that I took it to a public forum, but gosh this was pretty bad. Traveling is hard enough right now, and I so want to encourage others to travel! I think you are right that it might be better to figure out the local testing. I haven't decided what I will do for Spain yet, as I have some time. So glad it was also easy for you to find somewhere to get tested!

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