Pod failures + interminable wait times for customer service = decreased stock price
Insulet (NSDQ:PODD) shares are off some 4.5% since the end of last week, after a JMP Securities report of increase adverse event reports and rampant customer complaints for its OmniPod insulin management device.
http://www.massdevice.com/news/insulet-slides-report-increased-adverse-events-customer-complaints
Wow. I've been hoping to start using this pump for a few months now. However, the news that my extended health insurance (in BC-Pacific Blue Cross) won't pay for the pump, only the insulin, coupled with people's recent problems with the new edition has turned me off...tell me it's worth it! Or not?
Hi RJ, my daughter has been on the new pods for over 2 months now and we've had 6 or 7 pods fail, but I wouldn't change to a tubed pump. And the wait times for customer service seem to have decreased drastically. While I also experienced long wait times on a few occasions, the CSR was always polite and helpful. I've never actually received bad SERVICE.
I think Insulet did a poor job with the rollout of the new pods, but I also think (hope) they will work out the kinks. In fact, when you report a failed pod, Insulet sends you a free replacement along with a box to return the failed pod, so I'm assuming the engineers inspect the failed pods to learn what happened so they can fix the issues they are having.
Have you done the math on the cost of the various pumps? We have insurance, but it seems like Omnipod might be cheaper out of pocket than the others, esp when you factor in the cost of infusion sets required by tubed pumps.
Bottom line, we wouldn't switch to another pump and I'm confident that Insulet will figure out the issues.
Great service here in the UK. I've had the pods since the beginning of July with just two failures (one of which may have been my fault!). We don't even have to return the pods to have them replaced over here - they just request the serial number and replacements are sent the same day. My PDM, pods, batteries and all supplies are funded by the NHS - we are so lucky to have that in the UK. I have held off having a pump for several years as I couldn't face the tubing, so once I saw the Omnipod it was all systems go! I love it!
I live in Ontario Canada, and the service here is good. have never had to wait more then 5min for CS and they are always polite. I have been on the old pods for about 2 months now, no failures yet. not sure when we get on the new system what the pods will be like but have had no issues so far all is great.
the new ones will roll out early 2014 in canada, then we can see how customer service goes.
Typical investor style news. Outdated and overstated.
Reading the full report though shows Insulet did hit a 52 week high just before the drop, so overall they are very much moving up.
...Denhoy maintained Jefferies' "buy" rating and $38 price target on PODD shares, according to the note.
Insulet, which logged a prior 52-week high of $37.96 just a month ago on its 1st quarter of positive cash flow, won 510(k) clearance from the federal watchdog agency in December 2012 for the latest iteration of the OmniPod.
PODD shares were trading at $35.82 as of about 11:15 a.m. Sept. 25, up 0.2% on the day, but down 5.1% since Friday's JMP report.
The 52-week high was the day before the JMP report, Sept. 19. The stock was 30.18 as recently as Aug. 7, so a pullback is not surprising. The report was just the catalyst.
I use and believe in the Omnipod. My portfolio reflects that :-)
One can drive themselves to suicide watching short term fluctuations for any stock. Tubeless/wireless is the future in this type of device, and PODD has quite a head-start. Pioneers don't always make it long-term (say to yourself, "Netscape"), but many do and go on to make gazillions for their early investors, (say, "Microsoft").
I too had the Dash PDM for about 2 weeks. Had nothing but problems with it. Consistently high glucose and 2 failed pods. Finally switched back to the previous pdm and previous model pods.
Unfortunately my bad experience with this company does not stop there. Today I have tried at least 15 times to call their customer support phone # and the connection is so bad that the representatives can not hear/be heard. They keep saying “their phones have been having issues all day”
Broken pods
Broken PDM
Broken customer support
Anyone have alternative options to walk away from Insulet, Omnipod?
I like the tubeless option too much to switch. There is a tubeless other brand from China now(I don’t remember the name) but I definitely have heard it’s not that great yet.
But I have been having more of an issue with my regular pods (non dash) lately and called 3 in at once to Insulet and did have to wait on hold. But once I connected they were very nice about replacing them and compensating for the insulin used. 2 of the 3 were from the same box so I am wondering if there were issues with the lot.
I think I have called in about 5-6 over the last 4 months, versus maybe 1 for the 6 months prior time. It’s aggravating because you wonder if you are having a site issue with certain areas or if it’s a pod production issue.
Hey, the link is broken. Anybody got it?
The original post is from 2013, long before Dash was available, and I would imagine it refers to first-generation pods. I’m not surprised the link is no longer valid. Lots has changed since then.