I was just told on the phone that omnipod will no longer replace pods that have Occlusions and the support rep was awful this was the first I have ever had any issue with their support but I am good and mad now!
That’s awful!!! Will they only replace pods that error while priming, now?
CS Rep said occlusion is a “site” issue not a pod issue that I must be putting the pod in a bad place and proceeded to lecture me on how to put a pod on even though I have been using it for a year now!
This is what they’ve always told me about occlusions. You scared me for a minute there! I think this has been the policy all along for occlusions. If you’ve gotten any of these replaced you’ve been lucky!
Way, way back they would replace occluded Pods, but for quite some time they have taken the position that an occlusion is not a Pod error and therefore not replaceable. I have heard, however, that they want to know about them so that they can be tracked in order to help with any prescription refills that might be necessary because Pods did not last the full three days assuming that is what is prescribed.
If thats the case I will be going off the pod as I seem to have 2 occlusions a month thats 60 dollars it will be back to shots and dexcom for me! I also feel like for what it costs they need to make a better cannula as I can put a pod in the same place with no issues and the next time it has an occlusion. I still feel this is a failure on the design
I’m wondering if your prescription could be altered. Caleb’s prescription originally called for it to be changed every three days. I had it changed to “as needed” and we get enough Pods to allow for those occasions when we need to change before three days - like today when the Pod was hanging off him and he didn’t get his dinner bolus - joy.
Maybe so but it still seems abit silly to pay for a product on a hope and prayer that it will work correctly when I use the same procedure every time with different results. So with no guarantee there product will work im upset about it. If the occlusions happened at the same site every time and were not just random I might consider the fact I was doing some thing wrong. So 2 out of 10 pods I use have issues thats 20% failure rate.
I understand your frustration. We actually never get occlusion errors even when the cannula is occluded and not delivering insulin properly. I can remember two occlusions in the more than two and a half years Caleb has been using it. The first was the 2nd or 3rd Pod he ever used and the second was the one and only time we tried his arm. I’m surprised by the number that you get. I realize they seem random - could there be anything related to the occlusions that may just not be obvious? Would it be worth tracking it, or are you already certain that there is no common denominator?
We got a pod replaced after my son wore it more than 24 hours, and it occluded on Christmas day. I had to read all the days numbers back to him, but it was replaced.
I have only been on the Pod five months, and in that time I have had two “bad” Pods. One did not prime correctly, and the other one occluded. When I reported them, I was told that I would get two “extra” Pods with my next regular shipment. They actually sent me three extra Pods! Just last night I had the third incident when again the Pod failed to prime correctly. I am wondering now if I should even bother calling this one in since I do have the replacement they accidentally sent me last time. Maybe I will just let this one slide… although I am curious as to how they will treat me if I call. I have always had to put up with the “20 questions” routine, but I suppose they have to do that to avoid having dishonest people trying to scam them out of expensive Pods. I agree with you, though, that the lecturing tone-- especially with someone who has been successfully using the Pod for a year – is uncalled for.
Maybe you just talked to a person who was really *!$$#@ off that he or she was stuck working New Year’s Eve. You have to ask yourself if one rep is enough for you to abandon a system that gives you freedom from multiple injections each day. The decision is yours, but personally I like the lack of needles and the better control I get with this system. Rather than MDI, could you consider another brand of pump?
I hope that your New Year is going better than the last day of 2009. Better health to all of you in 2010.
Maybe it was the rep in a bad mood but he told me this was a new company policy. I have found I have less failures with priming when I go the a bathroom at the far end of my house and do not take any electronics such as dexcom or 2 different cell phone I have or wireless routers. we have tons of electronics in our house we are computer techs. I believe the cell phones disrupt the pod some how as all the priming issues always occurred when my phones were in my pockets no failures when I do it in a closed electronic free room. As for the occlusions I cant find any rhyme or reason for them.
I have never tried to get Omnipod to replace the pods that fail due to occlusions. It never crossed my mind that they would replace them as they are not a product failure. I have had trouble with occlusions in certain places- sometimes it is from over use of a certain area or in an area with a lot of blood vessels. My endo wrote my prescription for a new pod every two days instead of three so they always ship 5 boxes instead of 3 (which is a typical 90 days supply) so I have never worried about thowing away a pod here or there. My endo also writes my insulin prescription for 200 units a day so I always have extra if I do throw a pod full of insulin away. Overall it means I have about ten boxes of pods and 20 extra bottles of insulin in my fridge but I guess it is better to have more than not enough. (as an aside my insurance covers my pods at 100% and I have a $90 dollar co-pay for a 90 day supply of insulin no matter how many vials I get)
Sorry ot hear this…
It’s true…
I have gone through 5 pods in a day and a half. I had 3 alarms while priming and 2 occlusions within 20 minutes of putting a new one on. Major pain in the ■■■ couple of days!!! I have not had more than 1-2 occlusions since beginning on the omnipod 7 months ago. I called customer service yesterday to report the alarms and occlusions and was surprised to hear that they will not replace for an occlusion anymore because it is a user error. The CS person was excited to tell me that, “This is good news because we can give you tips to stop occlusions from happening"! I then had to sit through I swear, a 20 minute lesson on putting a pod on. SO ANNOYED!!!
I have found that in the beginning Customer Service was more friendly when you called, but it always seemed like they were reading from a script, and could not deviate from what they were reading. They give me usless information which really has not helped. I love the product, but I think the company needs to have some classes for their people in how to conduct calls WITHOUT reading a script.
I am not convinced that occlusions are not a pod failure as the pod seems to be working fine then out of the blue bam occlusion and it was fine sometimes for 12 to 48 hrs also it always seem random.
I agree with you. If the Pod has an occlusion within the first three hours of wearing it, then it MAY be operator error in where you placed it, or you did something wrong when you put it on. But… if the Pod has been functioning fine and your blood glucose is within normal range for 24 - 48 hours, then the occlusion is NOT operator error since it operated fine for all of that time. At that point, it is Pod error because the dumb thing just malfunctioned. I think that every customer service person at Insulet should be a diabetic who uses the system. Then maybe they would not sometimes be clueless. I know that some CS people actually ARE diabetics who use the system, and they always seem to be the most helpful. I guess it takes one to know one…
What upsets me the most is that out of a box of 10 pods, so far 5 pods have had occlusions. Not only am I going to be short on pods, but insulin too. As you have all said, they say this problem is my fault. I’ve been on the pod for a year but am not sure I will be on it much longer.