I have been a Dexcom user for many years, and I have been thrilled with the Dexcom’s products. However, I am gravely concerned about the U-turn that Dexcom has taken on the customer service front. Here’s what I have experienced in calendar year 2019 alone:
I received my last order of sensors from Dexcom in December, and I submitted my request for a Dexcom G6 upgrade (via their website) in early January. My customer service representative was not exactly dedicated to my cause, and would go dark on me for weeks at a time (no, I am not exaggerating) during the upgrade process.
During my previous upgrade experiences, Dexcom reps took care of everything for me – contact with my physician, insurance company, DME provider, etc. This time, I was the one who had to make every single phone call to my insurance company, DME provider, doctor’s office, etc. to get paperwork, Rxs, etc. into the right place. The best I can tell, every inch of progress was because of my efforts. Long story short, it took TWO MONTHS (no, I am not exaggerating) for the upgrade process to go from start to finish. Well, maybe that’s being too optimistic because my upgrade is now in the “processing” and “quality control” stage, which I have been told will take an additional 10 business days.
So now, I am out of sensors. Each time I have called Dexcom to plead for a bridge stock of G5 sensors, I appear to be shuttled off to an incompetent offshored call center that seems to have the compassion of Kim Jong Un. On Friday (3/15), I begged for a complimentary sensor. I was promised a sensor would arrive on Saturday (3/16). It never arrived. I called again on Monday, and was promised a complimentary sensor on Tuesday (3/19). It never arrived. I called again and was promised a sensor today. No FedEx tracking number, nothing. My FedEx account shows that there is nothing en route from Dexcom for delivery today.
The offshored call staff have “apologized for the inconvenience”, which is pandering nonsense. I am relying upon the Dexcom CGM to feed me data to make quick decisions about my insulin delivery 24 hours a day. Dexcom’s incompetence is not merely “inconveniencing” me – it is F^$%ing with my health and my life. Am I overstating the value proposition of CGM in my life? Not really, because…
Kevin Sayer, Dexcom’s leader (https://www.dexcom.com/dexcom-leadership/kevin-sayer) says on the Dexcom website: “I want to create a world where CGM is the first tool in treating diabetes.” Well, if you want to create that world, Kevin, perhaps you should take a hard look at the dumpster fire that is your customer service department. Because right now, Dexcom is depriving me of that “first tool” that I have relied upon for years in my diabetes care.
My insurance company recently restricted its subscribers to a one-month supply of sensors, meaning that I now need to call Dexcom’s Kafka-esque customer service department to reorder sensors EVERY SINGLE MONTH. I dread this, given my recent history with Dexcom. There’s a huge part of me that just wants to cancel my upgrade to the G6 (heck, they can’t even get me my old G5 sensors, either) and consider the competition.
As an additional note, when calling Dexcom’s reordering department, I am often told by a recorded on-hold message that my wait will be “over 20 minutes”. Are you kidding me?
It never used to be like this at Dexcom. Are others experiencing this type of frustration with Dexcom customer service? How are you managing monthly reordering with Dexcom, and how is that going? And are other CGM companies treating their patients with this level of contempt?
I make no apologies for the rant because it’s all 100% true. Thanks in advance for any feedback you might have to offer.
I would talk with your doctor. If you see an endocrinologist, they may have a DexCom representative/accounts manager that can help you. (I don’t know if a family physician would have though. If you see a family physician and they don’t have a DexCom rep then they could always try calling a local endo office and seeing if they have the information for the one in the area).
Our local DexCom rep is FANTASTIC!!. She makes things happen!!
(On a side note, you think DexCom hold time is bad…Try calling CVS Specialty pharmacy, nearly 30-45 minutes every time. It used to be, at most, 5 to 10 minutes).
I started the approval process for the G6 in July knowing full well that my insurance would cover it. Like you it was a constant back and forth with me driving the bus. Just when I thought it all got sorted out at the end of August. Right after Labor Day I received a call saying that my insurance company no longer allowed Dexcom to service me directly and they were sending my file to USMED. I was irritated, but shockingly enough they were pretty quick to finish processing the file but the doctor had to sign the paperwork over again on USMED forms. It shipped quickly after that, they called me a week ahead of the shipment of the first refill which was received on time. I have another month to go for my next shipment.
Any way you could go through a 3rd party supplier?
Fix for long hold times: call when they open in the morning, if you can. I recently posted that I got through in less than 15 SECONDS to the orders department. Typical hold-times for me are under a few minutes. I’ve called Dexcom quite a few times over the course of 18 months with a fair number of calls in the last 6 months. You just have to know what time of the day to call–just like knowing when you should shop at Costco.
My suggestion is don’t make things difficult for yourself by calling at peak times.
so while I was posting my previous comment, my wife comes into my office with her receiver not working! She had lodged a complaint about a black screen some time back and Dexcom won’t replace them for the first occurence. It’s up to her to make the call to tech support today, if she wants them to replace it. I’ve had 3 receivers replaced for black screens that last up to about 15 minutes. She has had, IIRC, 2 receivers replaced so far. Hers was black for about 10 minutes today. I’ll post later how long it took her to get someone on the line…
I guess my wife lives in the same alternative universe as myself, as it took her just 4 minutes to get a tech on the line, and then when they concluded their business with her receiver issue, he transferred her to the orders department–that took less than 1/2 a minute. (Her call was initiated at approx 8AM Pacific time, quite some time after the orders department opens for the day)
well, no problem here for either of us on the ordering side, other than they never can keep to a 30-day per order schedule but that hasn’t impacted our “stash”.
I use Medicare and they have the same restriction. I found that you can restart the G5 that I have and I can create a short stockpile. I have more problems with the Pump infusion sets which sometimes fail due to things like they don’t stick, the tubing is very tight and the whole thing falls apart when you pull.
You may already know this. If you stretch a few days, it is usually sufficient.
Occasionally I have a problem with a sensor and I call. Very prompt service. I haven’t had to call technical service, so I don’t know how good or bad they are.
@Jeff21 What pump and more importantly what sets? I’ve been pumping since 1996 and only when I used some popular, but IMO, crappy sets, did I have issues like you just mentioned. Maybe I can help,.
Just more to add on Dexcom’s blistering incompetence…
I called customer service, and after a long wait on hold, they promised to send me some complimentary G5 sensors given that their lengthy delay processing my upgrade to the G6 system have left me without any sensors. I’m back to test strips, baby.
So I received two sensors today. (Never mind that they were supposed to arrive days ago.) And they were G6 sensors, which are useless to me as I have yet to upgrade to that system.
My endo put me in touch with a Dexcom rep when I decided to try Dexcom. That process was frustrating cuz rep did not respond to me. New rep was decent and performed a cost comparison utilizing my insurance and observed I’d benefit from using a medical supplier. Solara was horrific in the beginning, requiring lots of follow up from me. Now however, reordering via texts is terrific! I started with G5 and upgraded to G6 without too much hassle.
