M.J. Reider Associates, Inc.

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I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ***, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
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March 1st, 2018We received the inquiry to test drinking water for perchlorateWe previously had done this testing in-house for $50. The request to ship the sample kit out was received by the shipping departmentThey could not meet the request because it was at that point that we realized we could no longer support the perchlorate testAt this same point in time, the client followed up to see why there was a delay in receiving the sample kitThat is when the client was informed that was a delay because we had just discovered that we could not do the testing in-houseThe client incorrectly stated that we “knew of the new.price” at that point in timeWe did not know that there would be a change in price, let alone such a drastic change in price.We outsource tests all of the time and have never experienced this kind of price increaseWe ourselves experienced sticker shockWe reached out to other labs, all of which had substantial price increasesA few thoughts that come to mind that potentially explain the drastic price increase are that the other labs are using different methodologies and instrumentation that are more expensive or maybe the other labs have recognized that this is a very in-frequent request and therefore it’s more expensive because you rarely have more than one sample in-house (the later issomething that M.JReider did not account for in its low range price point for perchlorate).Unfortunately, the sample kit was shipped to the client before we had heardback from any of the other labsThe client collected the water sample and overnight shipped it to usThe client knew that we would not be able to perform the test in-house.We had not received a drinking water request for perchlorate for a very long timeThe lack of requests for that test paired with recent upgrades and changes made to our instrumentation are the reasons why we were not aware of this short-comingThe timing of all of these events created a perfect storm because during our interactions with this client We also received our perchlorate Pro?ciency Test samples for our PA DEP Accreditation and had to prepare the withdraw request to remove perchlorate from our scope which is standard protocol when making changes to yourtesting capabilities.The client also incorrectly states “they insisted that we would have to eat the increased cost”We explained that they should consider going to a different laboratory to avoid the additional outsourcing costs that would be incurredWe apologized for the unfortunate timing in that the client had already shipped a water sample to us and that unfortunately there was no way we could have predicted the cost increases.The client has requested that we issue them a refundDue to the complicated circumstances and the fact that we cannot issue a refund because We’ve never charged them anything, we will mail them a *** Gift Card to compensate them for their troubles.MJRaider Associates, IncManagement Team

March 1st,  2018We received the inquiry to test drinking water for perchlorate. We previously had done this testing in-house for $50.  The request to ship the sample kit out was received by the shipping department. They could not meet the request because it was at that point that...

we realized we could no longer support the perchlorate test. At this same point in time, the client followed up to see why there was a delay in receiving the sample kit. That is when the client was informed that was a delay because we had just discovered that we could not do the testing in-house. The client incorrectly stated that we “knew of the new. . .price” at that point in time. We did not know that there would be a change in price, let alone such a drastic change in price.We outsource tests all of the time and have never experienced this kind of price increase. We ourselves experienced sticker shock. We reached out to 4 other labs, all of which had substantial price increases. A few thoughts that come to mind that potentially explain the drastic price increase are that the other labs are using different methodologies and instrumentation that are more expensive or maybe the other labs have recognized that this is a very in-frequent request and therefore it’s more expensive because you rarely have more than one sample in-house (the later issomething that M.J. Reider did not account for in its low range price point for perchlorate).Unfortunately, the sample kit was shipped to the client before we had heardback from any of the other labs. The client collected the water sample and overnight shipped it to us. The client knew that we would not be able to perform the test in-house.We had not received a drinking water request for perchlorate for a very long time. The lack of requests for that test paired with recent upgrades and changes made to our instrumentation are the reasons why we were not aware of this short-coming. The timing of all of these events created a perfect storm because during our interactions with this client we also received our perchlorate Proficiency Test samples for our PA DEP Accreditation and had to prepare the withdraw request to remove perchlorate from our scope which is standard protocol when making changes to yourtesting capabilities.The client also incorrectly states “they insisted that we would have to eat the increased cost”. We explained that they should consider going to a different laboratory to avoid the additional outsourcing costs that would be incurred. We apologized for the unfortunate timing in that the client had already shipped a water sample to us and that unfortunately there was no way we could have predicted the cost increases.The client has requested that we issue them a refund. Due to the complicated circumstances and the fact that we cannot issue a refund because We’ve never charged them anything, we will mail them a [redacted] Gift Card to compensate them for their troubles.MJ. Raider Associates, Inc. Management Team