During the Christmas holiday, Steve Winawer found himself in need of a COVID-19 PCR test in order to travel to Puerto Rico.
“Puerto Rico's requirements for arrival have now added that you needed to have a negative PCR test that was within 48 hours of arrival,” Winawer said.
“It was a big risk I was going to show up on the island without the test completed,” he said.
With long lines at COVID-19 testing sites and few other options during the holidays, he opted to make an appointment with a company named BeeperMD. The company’s website advertises free at-home urgent care testing for COVID-19.
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“They said, yes, we have service in your area and can come on Sunday morning,” Winawer said.
He made the reservation and paid $298 online.
On the day of the appointment, he said the company did not show up.
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“There was no answer, no call back, no contact, nothing, so now we are getting really nervous,” Winawer said.
He is not the only person who says the company did not show up for appointments.
NBC 6 Responds found out Florida’s Attorney General’s Office has received six complaints related to BeeperMD. A customer wrote in one complaint: “Charged for at-home Covid testing which never occurred. The customer service number is a loop, no answer.”
In another complaint, a person wrote, “I uploaded my driver’s license, my Medicare card and my Tricare card. I waited 2 hours for them to show up to do my Covid-19 test and they never did.”
The Better Business Bureau says they’ve received 17 complaints about the company during the last two weeks of 2021.
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Eddie Mady with BeeperMD admits the company has missed appointments and has struggled to keep up with the growing demand for at-home COVID testing.
“These issues and it came fast and furious and nobody really anticipated it,” Mady said.
He said the company is making changes like setting up pop-up COVID sites, limiting the number of appointments, and only taking payment from clients after the service is completed.
“There is limited availability and we have been working day and night to try to bolster our systems to give feedback as to what’s available and what’s not available and what to expect,” Mady said.
The company is working on refunding any customers who did not receive the service they paid for, Mady said. So far, the company has refunded over $100,000 to customers.
Winawer was able to get a test somewhere else for his trip and get his money back after he disputed the charge with his bank.
“If you are counting on this unknown quantity, double-check that you really feel comfortable that they are going to provide what you are counting on them for,” Winawer said.
Editor’s Note: Since our story was first published, BeeperMD provided an additional statement:
The company has issued refunds to 2762 customers in the past 4 weeks because we had to cancel their appointment due to BeeperMD testers contracting COVID and they were at full capacity. They have performed 150,000+ successful tests in Florida over the last 4 weeks.
