What happens if I do not take the sample properly?

With self-sampling at home, on rare occasions we are unable to obtain a complete DNA profile, or there may be issues with contamination, mixed profiles or not enough of a sample has been taken. The actions we will take are as follows:

1) Discoloured (e.g. due to food/nicotine) swabs or mouldy swabs (due to the long time taken to return them to us) will not be processed. We will inform you of this point via e-mail and offer you a replacement kit for a charge of £12.50.

2) If we do not gain enough DNA from one swab to complete the test, we will conduct the work once more, then process the second swab before taking the decision to re-sample. This can cause a delay to your expected completion date which we will notify you of by email.

If we have started the laboratory work and find an issue such as no DNA on the swab, mixed profiles or adulteration, then we will inform you of this point and offer re-sampling for a charge of £44.