Has anyone else had issues with Animas' customer service recently? I am very disappointed in my recent contact with them, & their customer service was the main reason I switched to Animas from MM. First, it took numerous attempts to contact them abut ordering a new pump when I received a letter that my pump was out of warranty, which was the only time they had notified me that the warranty was up. Then on Friday morning, my battery cap malfunctioned & the pump wouldnt work. I contacted them about getting Sat delivery where I was (out of town), not only did I not get an answer for Sat delivery, the order for the loaner wasnt even put in until Monday! Then it wasnt even sent overnight but next day, so it took 5 days to receive! I emailed thru the website (the only contact info I could find) Monday that I had received no contact back nor had received the loaner since sending the form in Fri morning. I got a call from the person responsible for my order apologizing that he didnt make the loaner order on Fir (no big deal right?!) & assuring me that the loaner was overnighted, which turned out to be a lie.
It has taken over 1 month for my new pump approval, when it has never taken this long before. So NOW I am concerned about the customer service of Animas. Anyone else having issues, or am I just the lucky one?
I do remember awhile back (several months?) there was controversy about Animas changing their set amount policy and many of us had to go to our doctors and increase the number that our prescriptions were written for. If I remember correctly it was pressure they were receiving from insurance companies to be more compliant.
Other than that I have had good experiences with Animas (although not the excellent customer service I had heard about before I got my pump in 1/11). The only problem I find is that ordering on the website is not reliable. I've ordered a couple times and then called when it kept saying "in process". The person on the phone told me there were issues with the website, and recommended phone ordering. The only time I had a quasi emergency was when I miscalculated and ran out of sets and they did do an overnight as requested (though I paid for it). I would definitely be upset if I asked for a loaner and had to wait!
Hi All: Well, Animas did issue extra sets via mail and sent a letter about it. I forget what the letter said, but they had made folks unhappy and (I still dont think the government or the insurance companies had anything to do with their limit on supplies)they did send out some extra sets.
By then I had ditched them entirely.
My MM supplies come whether I order online or via their postcard program with No issues, and four box limit. Sometimes they actually come too fast.
I think there are problems with any company, and often the area you live in or call from seems to make a difference.
I would always suggest getting to an upper level management person if you are having issues, because that's really sometimes the only way to get help. And yes, Animas also told me to never order from the Estore because it 'had issues.'
I have been with Animas for years, this is my 3rd pump. I had always had great customer service until recently. Now the customer service people have been rude and condescending. Having this disease is hassle enough, it really doesn’t have to include dealing with their unhappy employees.
I know Animas must monitor these boards - it would be just good business. So, to Animas, great your act together cause this long time customer won’t put up with it.
I haven't had any problems with Animas customer service. My customer service experience was a factor in considering the Animas pump rather than the MiniMed, although the MiniMed is a great pump as well. I had one glitch in January when I needed supplies, because they had a mix-up with my insurance company, but after a phone call to my insurance company, my supplies were sent the next day.
Fact of the matter is, all these suppliers are sending very expensive merchandise to their customers. They want to be sure they will be paid. I think the problem in customer service is more with the way insurance companies handle claims, rather than the supplier's ability to deliver the goods. If everyone paid cash for their supplies, they would be sent much more quickly. Of course, that doesn't happen, so we really need to thank our suppliers for jumping through the insurance company hoops so we don't need to do it. We are all in the same boat. I just hope I do not need to go back to the syringe for a few days while waiting for my supply order.
Be well.
Brian Wittman
Well I finally spoke with a supervisor yesterday. The person that handled my account both for my new pump & the loaner has not been doing what they were supposed to NOR what they were putting in the computer. Maybe I was just lucky enough to get the lazy sales rep. But I gave the supervisor an earful & told him the attitude of "Oops!" was not OK when they are dealing with people lives. The only saving grace for Animas right now is the fact that I have only had this 1 pump failure, compared with yearly failures with MM. Hoping this gets corrected & that Animas quickly prevents other reps from being this sloppy & lazy!
Brian you make excellent points and I agree that our insurance companies can make things more difficult. The difficulty I recently experienced with customer service had nothing to do with insurance and everything to do with nasty staff.
Kathy - good for you, I should have gotten names and let management know myself. I will do that if it happens again.
One final update, I received a call yesterday from a new case manager. I dont know if something happened to the previous one or if my case was just reassigned, but she called to let me know where my new pump order stands & promised to give me timely updates from now on. So hopefully they did listen to my concerns & it is being addressed.
I have my Animas pump supplies sent to my pharmacy, and I pick them up there. It's slightly less convenient than having my stuff sent right to my front door, but I have to go to my pharmacy to pick up insulin anyway.
For now I don't have to deal with Animas at all, although to be hoenst I never had a problem with their customer service.