Company Offering Free COVID Testing Temporarily Shut Down Amid Customer Backlash

Thursday, January 20th, 2022 -- 2:00 PM

(WMTV) A company offering free COVID-19 testing is temporarily shut down amid customer backlash and a Better Business Bureau investigation.

The Center for Covid Control is an Illinois-based company that has opened nearly 300 pop-up clinics nationwide, including more than two dozen in Wisconsin. But their testing practices have come under scrutiny.

The company’s business profile on the BBB website shows 22 complaints filed, reporting a lack of PPE worn by staff, long wait times for testing results, poor customer service and the collection of personally identifiable information (i.e. photographing drivers licenses). Customers rate the business one out of five stars.

Regional Director for the Wisconsin BBB Tiffany Bernhardt Schultz says that given the company’s unresponsiveness to these complaints, that it is new business, and has required government action, an F rating was appropriate. “The first thing that we are asking the business to do is to respond to their complaints,” she said.

In an attempt to address these concerns, the CCC temporarily paused “further collection of patient specimens” on Jan. 14. According to a press release, CCC will use this time “for additional staff training in sample collection and handling, a refocus on customer service and communication practices, and ensure compliance with regulatory guidelines.”

Morgan Finke, Communications Director for Public Health Madison Dane County, says the health department has received eight complaints about the sites so far. PHMDC plans to hand-deliver a letter to the sites when they reopen on Jan. 22, detailing their concerns.

In the meantime, the advice: “[PHMDC] works with many reputable testing sites in and around Dane County and a list of those sites can be found on our website at publichealthmd.com/testing,” Finke said.

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