I have been on a Minimed paradigm 515 for the last 8 years. I switched to Omnipod about 20 days ago. most of my pods have failed. In my first box of 10 six failed. Three of these while I was on the phone with technical support. The pods would not acknowledge with a beep that there was insulin or the PDM errored out (no wizard for 3 hours). I do love having a pod on my arm or leg without the tubing but am scared I will run out of pods before insurance will allow more. Any support will be greatly appreciated.
I hope you saved the pods and sent them back to Insulet with a description of the errors. They should send you new ones to replace the defective pods. Call them and tell them exactly what happened. Good luck.
If they failed legitimately, which I assume they did, you should have no concern about running out. In my 2 yr experience with the Omni, they have always made good on replacements. But they do want you to note several details surrounding the failure such as where it was placed, when it was activated, etc. But if they are failing as you try to activate them, I would think that would be a legitimate failure. Sounds like you got a bad batch. I don’t always hear the beeps when filling the reservoir with insulin, I still click thru the menu and let it prime and haven’t had any problems. I was on the MM for quite some time too but I am really glad I switched and after the initial break-in phase, I have had some of my best A1C numbers and I don’t miss that tubing at all. Stay persistent with technical support and they will talk you thru it and work with you.
Sorry to hear about your series of bad pods! As Janet mentioned, I’d definitely call Insulet and have them replace all of the defective pods.
In the past some of the members have mentioned getting these errors related to a few items:
–if they had used insulin straight out of the frig (not room temp)
–if they filled the pod too quickly (just my guess but maybe when they do this they are damaging the sensor that lets it know it’s been filled, preventing the beeps? just a guess). To prevent this you might try counting to 5 or 6 seconds as you fill it (assuming you’re filling 150-200 units)…this may seem slow, but if it prevents the pod from throwing an error, I think it’d be worth it 
–PDM issue (for some reason there’s been an issue w/ the user’s PDM and they eventually have to trade it out for a new one)
It sounds like you really like the pod (if it weren’t for the issues you’ve had). I hope you can get some good answers that will help resolve this stuff in the future (b/c I really think it’s a great pump!). Keep us posted on your progress!!
Thanks. I really do like the pod and I will try all of the suggestions.
I have been on the omnipod for 9 months, and a month ago would have told you I only had one fail. I think you and I must have gotten a box from a batch of badness, I had 4 fail in one day, and I KNOW this is not normal. If they did not tell you they would replace the ones that didn’t beep, call again. Usually, I think they replace them at your next order. In your case, if you don’t feel you will make it to the next order, call and see if you can arrange something, or call your local rep.
Along with Bradford’s suggestions, I would add to make sure the pod you are activating is not close to any other pods, as this has caused people problems in the past.
Good luck!
I agree with all the posts here, stay in touch with Insulet, and in fact, I hope you kept the contact number for the rep who trained you. If not, ask Insulet for the name of your local rep, get to know him/her, I have done this and it makes all the difference in my peace of mind. If I ever get down to 1 or 2 pods and havent received a package from insulet yet, I just call my rep and she comes straight to my house, with serveral pods. She tells me that this is standard practive for all insulet sales/training reps, so do it…Good Luck and PEACE
I just talked to Product Support yesterday (pod failure) about this topic and talked to a different Product Support rep last week (pod failure) as well. We have had a couple failures and a few pods have fallen off lately (as though the adhesion was bad). They assured me that “batches” of pods do not fail. If you look at the lot numbers and sequence numbers, the lot numbers may be the same but sequence numbers are very different–Insulet randomizes the shipping so you don’t get a batch that was made at the exact same time.
Not saying this is your situation but here is what I think happend with us.
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Not sure exactly how this happens but sometimes when you deactivate old pod, the new pod can deactivate (yes, even though you didn’t activate it yet). The old pod had fallen off and was sitting on the table next to the new one. We got a long beep after filling rather than the double beep. Insulet will replace it.
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On the pods that are falling off, my daughter is running cross-country and although it doesn’t look like much, she is just sweating more than normal. The sweat and the movement is dislodging them (we will go back to adding a strip of tape or other adhesive).
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Sometimes when the adhesive starts to come off, the pod has movement. That makes the canual go in and out and it is more likely to get an occlusion causing a failure.
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As someone else noted, the insulin must be at room temperature or will cause a failure. I also wonder if there is an air bubble if it would cause a failure?
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Even the slightest bump of the table while you are priming can cause a failure a few minutes later.
Don’t give up yet. Try to figure out what troubles are truly unexplained pod failures and what pod problems may have to do with the process of filling and adhesion. It doesn’t reduce the frustration or cost but for us, knowing that we have only actually had a few real pod failures gives us some confidence in the reliability. We just need to eliminate some of the other factors (like smacking the pod against the car door or having a little sister hit the pod!).
Ditto on all the posts. A failure while priming is a legitimate failure per Omnipod and if you call them and give them the Lot number and serial number and some details about the failure, they will send replacements. I too in my 17 months of using the pod got a bad batch with many failures, but that has only been in one shipment. I had a lot so i was worried I would run out and I called Omnipod several times and demanded they expedite the replacements to me (okay, I was stressed, but my perserverance paid off.) It wasn’t the easiest to get them to expedite, but they eventually did. I’d try it! Good luck, and hang in there. I know it stinks with so many failures, but once you get this straightened out, give it another go! I still do love my pod