A Wild Ride with Lab4U: From Budget-Friendly to Stressful Nightmare

My Review from May 2023: How I Discovered Lab4U and Our Terrible Experience with Test Results for Our Kid

Update: The Lab's Customer Support Team Got in Touch, and Everything Changed

Lab4U - it's not a network of laboratories, but rather a network that works with medical centers. You choose the test on their website, select a partner center, pick a date and time, pay, and then go to that center to give the samples and wait for the results, which come to your personal account or another place you chose.

I learned about Lab4U back in 2018, and what caught my attention was that it's one of the most budget-friendly labs out there. Since it's a partnership-based model, not a personal lab, Lab4U can offer significantly lower prices than its competitors.

But at the time, I didn't think much of it. I was 20, and I knew I'd always be healthy. And that lasted until I was 24, when I saw that positive pregnancy test and discovered the joy of being pregnant.

My pregnancy was tough, and my gynecologist wasn't really interested in me. I had to do everything myself - find information, get consultations from other doctors, take tests. Among the tests I needed were blood tests, clotting tests, mutation tests, and folate cycle tests, among others. And I visited a lot of labs, leaving a pretty penny behind.

But then I discovered Lab4U! That's how we met.

My personal account insideI went to their website, chose the two tests I needed (OAC and separate coagulogram indicators), selected a medical center near my work - super convenient - specified my pregnancy term (yes, they take that into account, which is a definite plus). I paid, and the next day I went to the center, gave the samples, and by evening, the results were in my hands (though the production time was 1-3 days). Talk about a fairy tale.

Example of my orderI was especially happy with the price. For comparison - prices for the same tests at other labs.

Comparison of prices for OAC without LFT and coagulogram - Lab4U, KDL, Hemotest, InvitroSo, I went to Lab4U throughout my pregnancy, then took tests after giving birth, and then annually checked my women's health. The democratic prices, large number of partners, ease of use of the personal account, and speed of getting results - all of this was more than satisfactory for me. I'd smile knowingly at friends who visited expensive labs, telling them about Lab4U.

<\/a>Example of OAK test results<\/div>I'll be honest, my experience with Lab4U changed when my daughter started growing up. She was relatively healthy, and when she did get sick, we just went to our pediatrician's office. That was until this spring, when I entrusted Lab4U with what's most precious - my child's health.

It all started in March and April, when my daughter came down with infectious mononucleosis, followed by bacterial complications, and then she got ORVI twice. Each time, we needed to closely monitor her blood work and determine the effectiveness of her treatment.

Yes, we did get blood tests done at the pediatrician's office, but my anxiety, combined with the challenges of getting blood tests done at a public clinic (you need an appointment, get a referral, wait in line, and then go back for the test), pushed me to consider private labs. And that's when I decided to go with Lab4U, a lab I'd used before and found to be budget-friendly. Two tests - a complete blood count (CBC) and C-reactive protein (CRP) - cost me a bit over a thousand rubles, which is significantly cheaper than other labs that charge between 1,500 to 2,000 rubles for similar tests.

So, let's get to the chronology of events. We first went to the lab on April 16. It was at a children's center near our home, and it was a nightmare getting blood from my two-year-old daughter. Even when she's sick, she finds a way to scream and squirm during blood tests. It took two experienced nurses and me to finally get the blood samples and send them off.

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<\/a><\/div>That evening, we got the results. The CRP was pretty bad, but at least we had something to work with. The CBC, however, wasn't ready yet. I wasn't surprised, to be honest. I even wrote to the lab's chat support, and they apologized, refunded my money, gave me some advice on how to take blood from my daughter, and even threw in a promo code.

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<\/a>Lab4U's chat support<\/div>The next day, April 17, we went back to the lab, and this time, we were successful. The results were ready, and the sedimentation rate (ESR) was through the roof. According to Google, an ESR of 40-60 is normal, but my daughter's was 81... I won't go into too much detail about the test results, as I'm not a medical expert, but I'll leave some of the screenshots as examples.

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<\/a><\/div>Our pediatrician then diagnosed my daughter with something new, and we started her on antibiotics. Right after that, I rushed back to my trusty lab in the same location. It was April 22, and the whole ordeal was a repeat of the previous visit. My daughter was still fussy, but we managed to get the blood tests done. The results weren't spectacular, but they were definitely an improvement. The only thing missing was the ESR, which we didn't get this time.

I recently had a nightmare with my kid's health, and I'm still trying to wrap my head around it. Just two days before this ordeal (April 20th), we had a blood test done at our local clinic. The result? A Sedimentation Rate (SOER) of 23! I mean, what's going on here? And this was after 81 days of dealing with this issue. It's like some lab is just making it up as they go along. To make matters worse, there were also some myelocytes in the blood - but neither before nor after this test did Lab4U detect them.

Blood test at our local clinic on April 20thApril 20th SOER: 23April 20th Myelocytes: 1Our doctor told us to wait a week for the results, but my mom's anxiety got the better of her, and she scheduled another test for April 24th. The myelocytes were gone, but the rest of the results were the same. The pediatrician suggested we do a follow-up test in a month.

But my gut was telling me to go back to Lab4U and get my kid's blood tested again. So, on May 6th, we went back, and the waiting game began. I was expecting the usual drama, but little did I know what was in store for us.

That evening, the results for the SOER came in, and I opened it to find... 61! What in the world?! With no clinical picture from the test results, my kid was seriously ill, but that wasn't the only surprise. The file with all the test results had crashed, and when we opened it, we found...

I was furious! We'd subjected our poor kid to all these tests, and now she's terrified of doctors and starts crying before we even enter the clinic. And all for what? Because they didn't have enough blood? By the way, what about the SOER? It's there, but somehow it's not? Okay, fine. Complaint, refund, and let's try again on May 7th.

The same drill - the center, the drama, the blood tests, and the agonizing wait. The nurses at the center felt sorry for us and wrote a note to Lab4U, asking them to be more careful and run the test again. The centrifuge was full, but there were no clots.

SOER dynamics, difference between May 6th and 7th more than 4 times!And then, the SOER result appeared... 12? What about 61? I didn't know whether to be relieved or cry. Oh, the test results have crashed again. And...

Aaaahhhhh!

I've spent two days taking my kid to get lab tests and receiving this kind of treatment. It takes so much energy and nerves to deal with the lab tests, and so many unanswered questions. We've been getting a huge range of diagnoses for months now - from complications of mono to cancer - all thanks to Lab4U and my attempt to save money on lab tests.

Now I'm dealing with a refund, and I won't be using Lab4U again. My kid is worth more to me than the $500-$1000 I could have saved.

This isn't just a matter of lab test errors - it's preventing us from getting the right diagnosis, treatment, and creating a ton of stress for my kid and me.

And here's a quick rundown on the lab:

It's really affordable to get lab testsThey have a large number of partner centersThe personal dashboard is convenientResults come back quicklyYou can see the analysis dynamicsIt's easy to get tax deduction documents in the personal dashboardThe chat support is convenientThey offer a promo code as a gesture of goodwillCons:

Some lab tests aren't availableThere are questions about the resultsLab results don't always come back, and you might have to redo the test multiple timesRefunds are credited back to your account, but it's hard to withdraw the money to your cardI really loved Lab4U, but my opinion about the lab has changed drastically over the last month. I'm asking the lab staff to look into this situation and refund the money to my card.

UPDATE FROM SEPTEMBER 2023:

The lab's customer support team got in touch with me after I posted my review. They looked into our situation and conducted an investigation. It turned out that there was a miscommunication between the pediatric clinic staff and the lab.

It turned out that you need to fill the entire test tube. Not like it's done for other labs. The customer support team promised to work on fixing the issue and even offered me a compensation in the form of points on my account that I can use to get lab tests.

I was skeptical at first, but later on, I had to use the lab's services again - and again, the kid had to give blood in the same place.

And this time, everything went smoothly. The results came back the same day. As it turned out, we re-ran the same test two days later at another lab, and the results matched.

I'm grateful to Lab4U for addressing the issue, fixing the problem, and now I can continue using their services without worrying about getting the right results.

I'm upgrading my rating for their work. But I'm leaving this review so that those who read it know that if you encounter a similar issue, it might be due to the way you fill the test tube. And in that case, it's better to contact Lab4U's support team (not the chat on their website), and they'll help you fix the issue promptly.

I'd highly recommend the lab, but with some caveats.

Considering the points I mentioned above.