ComplaintsforEmbark Vet

Genetic Testing

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Initial Complaint
07/26/2024
Complaint Type:
Sales and Advertising Issues
Status:
Unanswered
The business failed to respond to the dispute.
I had email conversations with an employee there. They don't have a phone system. I recently was made aware of that they will give your dog(s) health information out to others. Which is concerning the amount of information I found out was shared. In their policy it strictly says they wouldn't unless they have my permission, which they didn't. Emails were evasive and dodgy.I also found that their tests aren't reliable when trying to download reports. The reports aren't legible/consistent and can change. My overview appeared fine one day and couple weeks goes by and a health concern pops up after I already viewed the data. Overall, I wouldn't use them again. The employee was rude and dismissive when I had issues. When I provided proof I didn't make edits, I was accused of altering their report. Overall experience was terrible. The lady had to send me a copy thay was correct because now my report for that one dog don't download at all and she closed out the case regardless of my complaints.
Initial Complaint
07/12/2024
Complaint Type:
Product Issues
Status:
Answered
The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
We had our rescue dog DNA tested through Embark. When we received the results we were confused and dumbfounded. This company did not provide an actual breed or breed breakdown of our dog, rather they provided us with a colloquial/slang term called American Village Dog. Through extensive research into The American village dog it is a term that is distinctly funneled to their websites algorithm as a dog breed. This is not a breed recognized by any accredited kennel club or by any veterinary organization. This company tried to disseminate this information scientifically sound. I asked for a refund and was given no recourse or an actual answer to why this breed was acceptable as an outcome. They didnt even offer to rest.Our dog isnt a pure breed or from a breeder this is why we entrusted this company to help us determine her genetic makeup. She is obviously made of a many other dogs which should be scientifically distinguishable DNA. I was saddened to know that with all the medical, technological and diagnostic advancements that are highlighted and advertised for this DNA test that this is the outcome. We just dont want others to make the same mistake as us and entrust this company.
Business response
07/17/2024
I'm sorry to hear that you are disappointed with your dog's results. I understand how these results can be surprising! A Village Dog result means the majority of your dog's DNA doesn't come from any purebred dog breeds. Village dogs were around long before modern purebred breeds (which, remember, really only started having closed populations in the past century or so), and there are still a lot of dogs in the world today who have little to no ancestry from breeds. If you'd like to learn more about village dogs, we recommend this resource: **********************************************************************************************************************
As per our policy, we do not offer refunds.
Initial Complaint
07/04/2024
Complaint Type:
Service or Repair Issues
Status:
Answered
The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
I had an interaction with ******** who accused ******* fellow Vietnam Veteran of being the same person.The content of her emails to both my ********** had unprofessional accusations which could be considered defamatory.After reviewing this issue over the last few hours and researching my options of being defamed, I find it appalling her attitude on this issue.I'm elderly & my friend is older than I. She treated us like criminals.My **********, we're both vet's, risked our lives for freedom she enjoys as we celebrate TODAY!!! My friend is older than me... He can't work a computer.I've helped him before with other "online only" issues and NEVER had anyone accuse us as criminals! I would like my money back if this is the way you treat your customers Veterans or NOT. WE ARE NOT CRIMINALS No one deserves this abuse...
Business response
07/08/2024
Hi *******
We reviewed your interaction with ********. She did not accuse you or your friend of fraud. Our system flagged that the code was being used by the same person. With that being said, she offered to extend the refer a friend discount to your friend if they are still interested in this offer, please have them contact our team directly for assistance.
Thank you.
*******
Initial Complaint
06/19/2024
Complaint Type:
Service or Repair Issues
Status:
Answered
The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
Its clear an original DNA test was done wrong and has in correct results Ive tried over and over to get the company to retest the dogs in question and I cant even get a reply If they refuse to retest these dogs I want a full refund for tests bought as a breeder The faulty tests were originally on a breeding stud and breeding female these faulty stud results have affected breedings in a negative Context Specific example they say this stud does not carry a Lh **** (long coat) so he was breed to a dog that did have that **** ** do not want full LhLh dogs in our breeding program so this ShSh male was bread to a female with a LhSh we should NOT have gotten any LhLh in that liter yet we got a lot of them.This created a COSTLY negative affect on our breeding program
Customer response
06/30/2024
I have not heard from the business in response to my complaint.
Business response
07/09/2024
We are responding to this customer directly. Thank you.
Customer response
07/09/2024
Better Business Bureau:I have reviewed the response submitted by the business and have determined that the response does not satisfy or resolve my issues and/or concerns in reference to complaint # ********. Please add your rejection comments below; if you do not provide any details, your complaint will be closed as Answered.
[this Business keeps saying they will contact me but they never do, I get a ticket number but never a reply I get told upper management will email me but I never get an email, this is an ongoing delay tactic to try to avoid giving me a refund or retesting the dogs in question or both now.. .]

Businesses and Customers should be civil, courteous and polite in their responses to complaints. It is important to remain professional and productive when participating in the BBB complaint process.

FAQ

Regards,
******

Business response
07/30/2024
We are responding to this customer directly.
Customer response
07/30/2024
Better Business Bureau:I have reviewed the response submitted by the business and have determined that the response does not satisfy or resolve my issues and/or concerns in reference to complaint # ********. Please add your rejection comments below; if you do not provide any details, your complaint will be closed as ******************************************* is trying to blackmail me into signing an NDA because they know I will be putting the inaccurate DNA test results into a docuseries Im creating they want me to sign away my LEGAL RIGHT to honestly and publicly review their product I just want my money back for REAL money i spent with them.
they think they can threaten me with legal action if I review their product and the way their employees provably acted. Knowing I am an ****** resident they are trying to prevent me from getting a refund by demanding I appear in ************* in order to do some arbitration that I supposedly have to pay for ]

Businesses and Customers should be civil, courteous and polite in their responses to complaints. It is important to remain professional and productive when participating in the BBB complaint process.

FAQ

Regards,
******
Initial Complaint
06/17/2024
Complaint Type:
Service or Repair Issues
Status:
Answered
The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
I purchased an embark testing kit through Chewy (a business that sells the testing kits). I received the kit and followed the instructions for activation and mailed back the tests. They have lost the test results and have asked for my proof of purchase, which I have provided in many ways and many emails and they will not send me a new test kit and they do not seem to be interested in resolving the issue in any way.
Business response
06/20/2024
Hello and thank you for reaching out. I apologize for the delay in getting this issue resolved. I have escalated the manner internally and a team member will be in touch with you today.
Initial Complaint
05/31/2024
Complaint Type:
Product Issues
Status:
Answered
The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
Embark Vet regularly updates their testing funded by the people who purchase their test kits. They have updated their testing protocol 2 times so far this year and refuse to update existing test subjects with new data. The initial breeders kit is $99 there after each kit is $159. I have tested more than ********************************************************************************* to pay $99 to retest each dog claiming that is the best they can do. It is hostage marketing. They are taking your money and not providing thorough results. Dogs who received their tests even 1 day before they offered the Copper Toxicosis update will not be updated and after investing so much money to help further their testing they think a repeat test when most of the basic information is already there is an acceptable of a cost of $99 per dog is the best they can offer. They are stealing people's money through us providing their data base.
Customer response
06/11/2024
I have not heard from the business in response to my complaint. I requested a supervisor contact me. I was told that they wouldn't give any different response. I then requested the email of **************** who is the *** of the company. *********** is using hostage marketing to extract additional money from it's existing client database by updating their testing protocol to include potentially deadly diseases and requiring an additional $99 dollars after paying $159 for the initial test. They would only be providing an additional 2% information. It is unrealistic for current clients who have tested more than 30 animals to be required to pay this much when 98% ofvthe test data is in their database and will not change. I have tested 13 animals since January. 5 were tested in May. On May 30th, June 4, June 7. These results were within 6 days and 3 of the dogs do not have all the testing information as the newest 2. No supervision contacts you back. They do not provide information to contact anyone higher then customer service. Their is no way to locate information on the internet.
Business response
06/13/2024
Thank you for reaching out and sharing your feedback. I'm sorry to hear about your disappointment. Regretfully, we are not currently able to automatically add new results to previously tested dogs. We are looking into this though as a possible future enhancement that we can offer our customers. As you noted, we do offer the option to retest your dogs in order to receive the latest conditions and traits for a discounted price of $99 per kit. This is to cover the processing fees for your sample(s). Regarding the current new health conditions, I see that you have reach out to the Customer Experience team and a specialist is working with you directly on a resolution. Thank you.
Customer response
06/18/2024
Better Business Bureau:I have reviewed the response submitted by the business and have determined that the response does not satisfy or resolve my issues and/or concerns in reference to complaint # ********. Please add your rejection comments below; if you do not provide any details, your complaint will be closed as Answered.
[You must provide details of why you are not satisfied with this resolution. If you do not enter a reason for your rejection, your complaint will be closed as Answered.]

Businesses and Customers should be civil, courteous and polite in their responses to complaints. It is important to remain professional and productive when participating in the BBB complaint process.

FAQ

Regards,
*******
Initial Complaint
05/22/2024
Complaint Type:
Service or Repair Issues
Status:
Answered
The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
I purchased an age test from embark to see how old my rescue dog was; there was an 18 month window her birthday could fall in, and I was okay with that. However, upon receiving her results, I knew they were false. The 18 month window overlaps with some of the time my dog was in the shelter, so she was alive and accounted for when embark claimed she was born. When I reached out to embark, they sent a link to a page about being disappointed with results. According to embark, my dog is younger than she is, which is no reason to be disappointed. They did not respond when i inquired further about a possible mistake. I wrote a review for their website, but it was never posted despite other reviews written more recently being posted. I opened another ticket with embark asking for a refund, since they clearly werent going to help any further, and were not willing to listen to the fact that theres paper record of my dog at that time. They declined stating their test is scientifically accurate. I understand these tests arent 100%, and Im okay with that, but this is 100% wrong, and they wont do anything to fix it. I even confirmed with her shelter that she did not come in as a puppy, so the results are WAY off.
Business response
05/28/2024
I'm sorry to hear that you remain disappointed with your experience with Embark and your dog's age test results. The results provided with the Age Test are an estimate of your dogs age and birthday. It cannot (yet) pinpoint the exact birth date because methylation technology has not yet come far enough to predict age with that level of specificity. The results you received for your dog is a range of dates that are likely to contain your dogs birthday, also referred to as a prediction interval. The estimated birthday in your dogs results is the midpoint of that age range. However, it is possible that your dogs birthday is on a different day but is still within this prediction interval as 90% of dogs have a true birthday within that range.
With the Age Test, 90% of dogs have a true birthday within 18 months of their estimated birthday. In other words, there's a 90% chance that *****'s birthday is within 18 months of the date we provided.
I hope that this explanation provided further clarification on how our Age Test works and what information is included with your dog's results.
Thank you.
Customer response
05/29/2024
Better Business Bureau:I have reviewed the response submitted by the business and have determined that the response does not satisfy or resolve my issues and/or concerns in reference to complaint # ********. Please add your rejection comments below; if you do not provide any details, your complaint will be closed as Answered.

This is the exact message embark sent me when I first inquired about incorrect results. As you can tell per the reply, embark still has not acknowledged that there is a 0% chance my dog falls outside of the 18 month window despite attaching her medical documents to everything. They continue to deny factual evidence
[You must provide details of why you are not satisfied with this resolution. If you do not enter a reason for your rejection, your complaint will be closed as Answered.]

Businesses and Customers should be civil, courteous and polite in their responses to complaints. It is important to remain professional and productive when participating in the BBB complaint process.

FAQ

Regards,
********

Business response
06/13/2024
I'm sorry to hear that you remain disappointed. As it's been previously stated, we stand behind our results and, per our policy, will not issue a refund.

Customer response
06/17/2024
Better Business Bureau:I have reviewed the response submitted by the business and have determined that the response does not satisfy or resolve my issues and/or concerns in reference to complaint # ********. Please add your rejection comments below; if you do not provide any details, your complaint will be closed as Answered.
[You must provide details of why you are not satisfied with this resolution. If you do not enter a reason for your rejection, your complaint will be closed as Answered.]

Businesses and Customers should be civil, courteous and polite in their responses to complaints. It is important to remain professional and productive when participating in the BBB complaint process.

FAQ
The results embark stands behind are factually false. They can be proved 100% false. According to embark, my dog was either spayed under 4 months old or born spayed; both of these options are impossible. Ive attached the record of her spay surgery occurring in October 2017
Regards,
********
Initial Complaint
03/05/2024
Complaint Type:
Product Issues
Status:
Answered
The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
Jan 2024 the kit was sent in. Result on Feb 16th The test was the premium version of Embark and key was to find the breed of my dog. They sent the results as 100% European Village dog. I sent in the picture of my dog as she is a Bichon Maltese. Their results were 100% village dog with traces of other dogs, NONE of them Bichon Maltese.Email sent multiple times and they close it as solved without responding. They seem to have to answer and just avoiding.They should reply and give a scientific answer and if they cant then they should refund the money
Business response
04/02/2024
Hello
I'm sorry to hear that you are disappointed with your dog's results. As our Results Specialist explained, sometimes looks can be deceiving and while your dog can look like a specific breed (or breeds), their genetic make up tells a different story. Our team reviewed your dog's results and found to be consistent with the **************** Village Dogs in our reference panel.
If you have any additional questions or would like more information about how our testing works, please feel free to reach out to our team directly.
Thank you.
Initial Complaint
02/23/2024
Complaint Type:
Order Issues
Status:
Unanswered
The business failed to respond to the dispute.
I ordered a new Rmbark DNA testing kit. They sent one that is expired. The company knowingly sends bad kits and states that they are, in fact, less functional and degraded. They expect customers to take the garbage they send instead of the degraded kits that were paid for. They refuse replacements or refunds until pressed multiple times. They replace with equally expired kits, refusing to honor h the e contract we made or issue replacements or refunds. They are defrauding customers in a large scale and have written a response in their website FAQ which states that they expect customer to try the kits on the off chance they might work. They are knowingly stealing from customers.
Customer response
03/05/2024
I have not heard from the business regarding their policy of scamming customers.
Initial Complaint
01/24/2024
Complaint Type:
Service or Repair Issues
Status:
Answered
The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
Hello,I purchased an Embark dog test on 12/26/23. I am writing to express my concerns regarding the accuracy of the test results I received. The results I received have raised some significant doubts. Specifically, her age. I adopted **** on September 16th, 2017. At this time, several vets had confirmed she had puppies within the last month. I am not an expert, but what I have seen online is that in some rare cases, dogs can be impregnated at 6 months, but most of the times, with Staffys, It will be at least 1 year old. The gestational period is about 2 months. This means she was at MINIMUM 8 months old when I got her if she is an outlier... but likely, she was 1 year 2 months when I got her, probably older.. I ordered the kit to see if maybe she was 8, 9, or 10? But, unfortunately, the number you gave is impossible, as it would have her giving birth to pups at age 5 months, meaning she would be impregnated at 3 months... unless she's a medical mystery, I am unsure if you should be selling this product to be this inaccurate. Basically - mathematically, the test is not accurate. It cannot be true - and your response of "oh it's +/- 18 months" was NOT advertised and is misleading. I am more upset as I believe you pull a random number and it's a scam not scientifically verified.
Business response
01/30/2024
I'm sorry to hear about your disappointment. The product page for the Age Test states that the test will return a result within 18 months of the dog's estimated birthday 90% of the time. This information is not hidden and is accessible on the product page on the website as well as within the results themselves.

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