Melba Ketchum Has a History of Failing to Deliver DNA Results

Dr. Melba Ketchum's DNA Diagnostics Better Business rating is an "F"

Disappointed by the delay in the Bigfoot DNA results? Get in line. A Post by Michael Merchant, of the Team Tazer Bigfoot Fanpage, linked to the Better Business Bureau® rating for Dr. Melba Ketchum's business DNA Diagnostics, Inc. Unfortunately on a scale from A-F, Melba's company gets an F. Why? Failure to deliver DNA Results. In these cases it is horse, cat and dog DNA results.

Under the additional complaint information header on the BBB page was this paragraph.

DNA Diagnostics has developed a pattern of complaints and has failed to correct the underlying reasons for complaints. Consumers claim have paid for services that have not been delivered or have not been delivered within a reasonable time. Further, they have not received a refund when services were not provided.

To be fair, we do not know the percentage of unhappy DNA Diagnostics consumers, we do know there have been 19 complaints submitted to the BBB and 18 are due to "delivery issues". 7 of the complaints were resolved with the aid of BBB, 8 did not get resolved, 3 have not even been responded to by DNA Diagnostics and 1 was determined as a good faith effort to resolve. Click the following link to read the entire details of every BBB DNA Diagnostic Complaint.

Here is a brief of each of the 19 complaints

1. 04/19/2011 - Extremely poor custstomer service and communication. [Resolved]
2. 09/01/2010 - Missing Feline DNA results. Pre-Paid. No results   [Resolved]
3. 08/23/2010 -  I ordered 5 tests from Catgenes (Dna Diagnostics) and none of them were ever completed.   [Resolved]
4. 08/04/2010 - Service not done. I purchased testing and sent in samples, which were received, and never got results.  [Resolved]
5. 07/23/2010 -  I ordered DNA tests to be completed in the beginning of March, and have not recieved my results or had any phone calls/emails returned.  [Resolved]
6. 04/14/2010 - I paid for a service (feline DNA testing) and never received the results.  [Resolved]
7. 03/12/2010 - Provided a sample to be worked, they have not worked it and will not provide a refund or assistance.  [Resolved]
8. 12/16/2010 - I submitted hair for a DNA test with Shelterwood Lab. almost a month ago and they have cashed my check but they have not returned calls or emails.  [UNResolved]
9. 09/03/2010 - I ordered $320 worth of DNA tests in Dec., 2009. Results were promised in 3 weeks. In March, 2010: received incorrect results.  [UNResolved]
10. 08/20/2010 - I sent samples to be analyzed & included full payment. Have received no results and almost no response to my inquiries over the past 12 months.  [UNResolved]
11. 08/02/2010 - I submitted a request for an equine paternal test at the end of March 2010. It is now July 1, 2010. I still have not recieved test restults. [UNResolved]
12. 08/02/2010 - Paid for a service in Feb 2010, and have not received test results.  [UNResolved]
13. 07/30/2010 - Sent DNA in on two horses last week of March. Still no report on these. Have called numorus times . No responce.  [UNResolved]
14. 05/17/2010 - I paid for services they did not give me.  [UNResolved]
15. 05/13/2010 - For 2 1/2 months have been told at least 10 times I would recieve results of DNA test in 1 -3 days.I ask for a refund today and they say no refunds.  [UNResolved]
16. 11/01/2010 - Sent samples with full payment in April 2010. I have recieved no results to date and have tried repeatedly to contact them for a refund. [Biz did not Respond]
17. 06/25/2010 - Sent dog DNA in for testing 1/23/10 no results...  [Biz did not Respond]
18. 07/20/2010 - Delivery Issues  [Biz did not Respond]
19. 03/31/2010 - They have not provided me the diagnostic service as promised from June of 2009. [BBB Determined Biz made good faith effort]

We are not blind to the irony of the complaints. Most of them categorized as failing to deliver DNA results on time. Bigfooters have been waiting for Melba's DNA test results for a while too.

Again to be fair, some of the complications arose when Cat Fanciers Association.(CFA) stopped using DNA Diagnostics and continued to test with another DNA testing contractor. Why CFA decided to go with a different lab is unknown to us.

To put this in some further context. According to the BBB there are 19 other businesses in the BBB category of  "Laboratories - Medical" serving the Tyler & Longview TX area. None of them has had complaints within the last 36 months.

Another independent source also expressed frustration with Dr. Melba Ketchum. A company called International Genetics has this on their page.

April thru July 2008     Melba Ketchum became very tardy in extracting PinPoint’s DNA samples. This was the first period of delays that caused severe customer service problems. We then came to an agreement with Texas A&M to handle this process as well as the PID testing.

April 2009     The 2nd lawsuit was filed and this was the final straw between Dr. Ketchum and InGen. Due to Dr. Ketchum’s failure to properly research certain tests that are allegedly protected by patent, InGen was drawn into another lawsuit which eventually led to the early termination of the contract between InGen and Texas A&M. InGen severed its relationship with Dr. Ketchum which was the best thing that has come from that suit.

We attempted to reach out to Dr. Melba Ketchum for a response regarding the BBB rating and have not yet heard back from Dr. Ketchum. If she responds we will update this post.

We truly hope for the best, there is a good portion of people who sent samples to Ketchum that have good standing in the community. We would love to have all of our concerns proven to be baseless.

A final thought: when the press release comes out before the evidence, that press release might as well be a red flag.