Has anyone else had a difficult time when calling Insulet? I started on the Pod in September. I LOVE the Pod. It took a little time to get all of my settings worked out, but life on the Pod has been a billion times better than MDI for me. But I’ve had a heck of a time with Insulet.
When I was due for my first refill shipment of pods, they called me to tell me I was due. I confirmed that I wanted them, that they should bill my insurance, and asked to be put on auto refill. The day after that conversation, I got another call from Insulet, telling me that I was due for refill. I went through the whole thing again. I just figured there were some wires crossed.
Well, the next time I was due for refill, I never received any Pods. So I called. Somehow, I never got put on auto-refill, despite having gone through the drill with two Insulet reps on two successive phone calls. The girl I spoke to placed my refill order, assured me that I would have them within 3 days, and also confirmed that I had been put on auto-refill. Seven days later, when I had not received Pods and was having to give myself shots, I called again… the guy I spoke to had no clue what I was talking about. In the end, after speaking to a supervisor, I got Pods two days later.
Fast forward to last week, when I called to have some faulty Pods replaced. When I was trained on the Pod, my Insulet trainer/rep told me to save up those bad Pods and all them in as a group. When I did that last week, the Insulet person was just short of hostile with me. She told me that most of the Pods probably couldn’t be replaced since they had been saved and I couldn’t tell her all of the information she needed. I now understand that they need certain information in order to try to isolate issues with pods. But I was simply doing as I was instructed by Insulet’s own rep. What bothered me most was the sheer rudeness of the service rep that I was dealing with.
I am perplexed by the poor service I have encountered with Insulet. And disappointed beause I love the product so much. I don’t want to reach a point where I feel like they wont’ support it. Has anyone else had bad experience with support or is it just me? Thanks,
Cindy
Cindy…I have not experienced bad service…the customer service people have all been very courteous and seemingly eager to please. I am not due yet for my first replacement shipment however, so hopefully will not witness your scenario. It sounds as if somehow you might not be in their system…
Your report is very articulate…I’d bet your Insulet rep and the customer service supervisor would like to see it. Your doctor and CDE having the info might be effective as well. Do you have email addresses? I would hope they are looking to rectify these types of issues.
I have not had bad customer service, but I have been on the pod since October and have not yet received a bill. I have asked on four different occasions for them to send me a bill and have yet to recieve one.
I love the pod as well and if they want to give it to me for free, I’ll take it. I just do not want to get into a situation where they want all of the money at once or refuse to send out a shippment because I have not paid them. It takes forever to get someone in billing and if you leave your number for a return call, you never get it.
I’ve only had one that was a little short with me. I hung up, called back, and got hold of someone who was a lot more helpful.
No problems with the auto fill so far (knock wood!).
My own experiences with Insulet’s customer service have all been excellent. I’ve been on the pod for over a year now, and have probably called about a half-dozen times in that period. I do remember once getting duplicate calls about a shipment due, but nobody was rude or made things worse; they just explained that sometimes they don’t get real-time updates in their “system” or something like that. I chalked it up to a computer glitch that more than one person got me in their work queue to call.
As for replacing pods, I do report them in batches of 2 or 3, and I’ve never had a problem. I put a sticky-note on each one when they failed to remind me of the date and what happened. Was it that you could not tell exactly how each one had failed, is that why they would not replace them? Honestly, if that’s the case it actually seems pretty reasonable to me. I suppose your trainer should have told you to keep notes about the failures for that reason.
As for the billing, my first bill came at the end of the first calendar year (2008) that I was on the pod (I started in March 2008 and got a bill in December 2008). Since them I’ve received the next two bills very promptly. I don’t know if maybe that is how their accounting system works or what…
From what I’ve read, there does seem to be a certain amount of variability in the quality of Insulet service reps. I hope you don’t continue to have the bad luck of getting a poor one; like Leigh says, try hanging up and calling right back to get someone different.
I have had nothing but courteous customer service…however their advice regarding failed pods has been inconsistent–send in failed pods…don’t send in; but, report failure. They have however replaced pods.
As for billing. Since my first shipment in December, I haven’t received a bill. I have, however, received my first replacement shipment which is on auto-ship. The insulet Co. HAS submitted a claim to my insurance carrier just last month. As Robin mentioned, I don’t want to be a situation where they will be expecting all of that money at once…but, I am setting aside funds just in case that scenario occurs.
Janice and Robin,
They probably WILL bill for everything at once, so be prepared for that. They might have some installment payment options (most medical companies do), so it would be a good idea to contact them to find out. If you can’t reach the billing/accounting department by phone, try sending an email AND contact your sales rep (the person who initially contacted you when you “signed up”) to see if he/she can help.
I’ve been on the Omnipod since December of 2008 and I received one shipment in March of 2009 in addition to the original shipment. Since I had not signed up for auto refill I called them and got a very courteous service rep. who explained that on the original “order” for the pod from my doctor he had indicated automatic refills for me. I have the same concerns regarding billing and payments for the pods as the rest of you. I called my insurance company and was told that usually it is about 2 months after I receive the shipment that it is paid for by the insurance company. I can access my insurance account online to see claims and activity. Sure enough the original shipment I received was paid for in late February of 2009.
As for the service reps I think it depends on who happens to answer the phone when you call. I’ve been lucky to get nice people to talk to, but if I didn’t, I would hang up and call back to see if the next one to answer was more polite.
When I think about the work that Insulet probably put into designing and producing the new PDM, I can’t get worked up over the cost to get it, whether it’s $50 or $150. Sure, there should be some fair rules for determining who pays what amount. I feel lucky that there is even a tubeless pump available to use against what is the truly unfair part–the disease itself!
Yes, my local rep said that is exactly the case. If you look at it that way, you’re getting a backup (albeit an old one) for just $150 instead of the normal $300.
I’m still having problems receiving my bill. I need the bill to request a reimbursement from my insurance. When I call to ask for it at the billing department they told that the bill will take a few more weeks. I was like WHAT??? a few more weeks? That’s impossible, I just paid $1200 up front to receive my starter kit and I need to get a refund from my insurance. Their answer was that there’s nothing it can be done, I’ll have to wait. After waiting for the receipt, finally got it, but the receipt content was:
Thanks for your $1200 payment, any question please communicate to the Billing Dept., When I took that to the insurance they told me that receipt was more like a thank you note, and it didn’t state the type of service nor description of the service and the equipment that I received from Insulet and is no good! Now I call the billing dept and no answer, I faxed a letter asking them for a new receipt and the information requested, one week and haven’t heard anything from Insulet, Customer care knows nothing about the situation with the billing department and they stated that I have to just keep waiting!
I’m frustrated, They are very quick to process your payment. I hope this is not a reflect of my future relation with the billing dept every time I order pods.
I haven’t experienced poor customer service or rudeness from Insulet yet. The only problem I’ve had is getting the billing department to follow up on an insurance issue and call me back. Well, I guess that is poor customer service. Anyway, still wrangling with that one.
I agree with the poster who finally received an Insulet bill and it wasn’t descriptive. I’ve received only two bills from Insulet since I’ve had the Omnipod (April 2008). Both say “account statement” on them, not the more typical “invoice”. Symantics, I suppose. But yes, they do bill you all at once.
