Poorly designed machine defeats cool science
I’m sure there is some very cool, very advanced science happening behind the scenes in this machine, but the machine itself is horribly designed from a user’s perspective.
The Cue machine is battery powered, but you can’t actually turn the machine off to conserve battery. If the machine is too low on battery, then it can’t run a test until the machine is sufficiently charged. The ultimate effect is that you spend 20 minutes every time you want to test just waiting for the machine to charge so you can run a 25 minute test. The machine can’t be moved while a test is in progress, so it’s unclear what advantage being battery-powered even offers.
Then there are the cartridges. This is probably where most of the magic happens, so they are pricey. However, the failure rate is stunningly high. It’s like flushing $50 down the drain. Sure, they offer to refund you (usually), but by that point, you’ve spent nearly an hour charging your machine and running a test, all to get nothing. And unless you keep a sufficiently high inventory of tests, you could easily run out of them and be stuck with no tests and no results.
The Cue machine is battery powered, but you can’t actually turn the machine off to conserve battery. If the machine is too low on battery, then it can’t run a test until the machine is sufficiently charged. The ultimate effect is that you spend 20 minutes every time you want to test just waiting for the machine to charge so you can run a 25 minute test. The machine can’t be moved while a test is in progress, so it’s unclear what advantage being battery-powered even offers.
Then there are the cartridges. This is probably where most of the magic happens, so they are pricey. However, the failure rate is stunningly high. It’s like flushing $50 down the drain. Sure, they offer to refund you (usually), but by that point, you’ve spent nearly an hour charging your machine and running a test, all to get nothing. And unless you keep a sufficiently high inventory of tests, you could easily run out of them and be stuck with no tests and no results.
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Customer Service Horrible
On top of the membership being expensive you have to buy the test separately. I think since Covid has come down, the membership fee has changed but for those that originally purchased a membership I am currently paying $44 a month. I purchased an additional set of test and unfortunately they all expired, and there is no way to use them when expired. They will find a way to charge your credit card even after you cancel. I even changed my credit card number and they still found a way to charge my new card. The machine itself is pretty nice. Easy to use.
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Ok but could be more reliable
For others who may be facing this: Just upgraded my iPhone to the latest model and the app kept crashing when I tried to log in. I had to delete the app from my App Library and reinstall it.
Otherwise, some notes about Cue is that the cartridge seems to have a very high fail rate of ~30-50%. It’s worked perfectly on the first go sometimes but I’ve had a few occasions where two tests were canceled and the third one worked. This is really frustrating especially when the tests take much longer than antigen tests.
Otherwise, some notes about Cue is that the cartridge seems to have a very high fail rate of ~30-50%. It’s worked perfectly on the first go sometimes but I’ve had a few occasions where two tests were canceled and the third one worked. This is really frustrating especially when the tests take much longer than antigen tests.
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Good replacement test kits
I got a box of 10 test cartridge packs and they were defective. The app detected that something was wrong and allowed me to order the amount of failed packs for free! So far for me, Cue Covid testing has been accurate.
Totally Unreliable
About half the time, you wait the full 30+ minutes to get your test results only to be told that there was a problem with the cartridge and the test was cancelled.
Why does it take so long to detect an issue?
It makes the device completely useless, because unless you have 90 mins to spare for a cancelled test or two you won’t actually know if you have COVID.
Why does it take so long to detect an issue?
It makes the device completely useless, because unless you have 90 mins to spare for a cancelled test or two you won’t actually know if you have COVID.
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Terrible software
This company has major software issues. The app often takes forever to load. Sometimes it just hangs on the splash screen and never actually loads. Many times when I try to tap into the store it just crashes. Same thing when trying to get free replacement cartridges for failed test. Now I can’t log in. Every time the app starts to log in it crashes. Same issue just using their site and a browser. I try to log in and it just hangs forever.
Awful software and awful service. The kind where you contact them and they just blaim it all on you telling you to reboot un-pair and re-pair your reader. Never actually listening to your problem or accepting they have issues on their end.
Awful software and awful service. The kind where you contact them and they just blaim it all on you telling you to reboot un-pair and re-pair your reader. Never actually listening to your problem or accepting they have issues on their end.
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Impossible to cancel subscription - WARNING!!!
This product works as a described however there are many other lower-cost or free options. I did subscribe to their terms of a one-year contract and upon wishing to cancel the process is nearly impossible.
I am unable to cancel by email through chat on the online service nor through the app itself despite what the tech-support team tells me. This is a very deceptive business practice and I would warn you before entering this long-term contract with them.
I am unable to cancel by email through chat on the online service nor through the app itself despite what the tech-support team tells me. This is a very deceptive business practice and I would warn you before entering this long-term contract with them.
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Too many failed tests
Too frequently, it takes 2-3 attempts to get a valid test result. It’s no fun asking your child to redo a swab every 20 minutes after each failure 20 minutes into the test, due to “defective cartridge.” Sure, CUE ships a free replacement cartridge, but spending hours retrying a test is not a good experience. Also, sometimes it takes many MINUTES for the app to be able to login.
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Beware: Membership is deceiving!!!
We signed up for their Cue+ membership because we needed a proctored exam for travel. We figured the one month subscription price was worth it. However, when you sign up for the subscription you are committing to an entire YEAR of monthly $80 payments. They only mention this in the fine print and do not let you cancel. So we’re now paying $960 ($80 x 12 months) for a single proctored test. This company should be investigated by the FTC. Beware!
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Easy to use!
This app makes testing for COVID so much easier! I love being able to test and get my results directly to my phone! Great for family gatherings
