Does anyone buy their pump supplies through Liberty Medical? I’m looking for a new source for pump and dexcom supplies because the distributor I’ve been using won’t let me make a payment plan until I meet my high deductible. Animas is willing to work with me, which is great; however, Dexcom is not.
Liberty says they will work with me and they would carry all the supplies that I use for both my pump and dexcom in one place. The girl I talked to at Liberty about the payment plan said not to worry about it, when I get my bill call them and they’d make a payment plan. Anyone who has used this supplier and knows how they do business, I’d love to know. It kinda seems too easy. Thanks a bunch.
I only ever ordered from them once & I will never order from them again!
When I placed my first order for cartridges, it took over 3 weeks for them to process the order. I called several times about it. Before they got shipped, I also started my Dexcom order. They told me to start that process 2 weeks before I needed them.
Someone from Liberty called me late afternoon on a Thursday that they had the cartridges ready to ship. They screwed that up because I ordered enough to change my cartridges every day and a half. They sent my doctor paperwork for 3 day changes and then told me that the doctor would have to sign different paperwork. They knew when I placed the order so they should have sent him the right paperwork.
Later that night, I was concerned about my Dexcom order so called Friday morning. The first person I talked to told me that they did not do anything with that yet. She put me thru to a supervisor who assured me that she would personally take care of it and it would get shipped that day and I would have it on Monday. I saw the UPS guy in my development and he did not stop at my door so I called Liberty. The sensors were not sent. A supervisor got on the line and she told me there was no record of me talking to a supervisor on Friday. She claimed they were waiting on paperwork from my doctor’s office. I called my doctor’s office and they told me that they never received anything about the Dexcom supplies (I have a friend who has to use Liberty because of her insurance and she said that is a common line and her doctor also never gets the paperwork).
I called my old supplier and order the cartridges. On Tuesday, the supervisor from Monday’s Liberty call called to inform me that my insurance doesn’t cover Dexcom sensors. That is funny that they paid for the Dex in April and sensors in July. They also paid for the October order from another company.
They needed some form signed by me in order to bill my insurance. I sent it back and a couple weeks later, they called. She said she would send another one. I sent that one back. A couple weeks ago, I get a certified letter from them with the stupid form in again. I am not paying to send it back certified. I was going to send a copy to my insurance company with a letter about them but wasn’t feeling good that week so did not bother to do that but if they send a 4th one, I will.
I would suggest if you call them, record everything because you will be told different stories every time you call!
I thought it all sounded too good to be true. They were like, we’ll ship your supplies and when you get the bill just call and we’ll make the payment arrangements. Okay…thanks Kelly, I’ll just get my pump stuff through Animas and once the deductible is met, I’ll order sensors again. Thanks for your always helpful and frank information. I sure don’t want to mess up my working with Animas and then have a nightmare to deal with at Liberty, lol. If it sounds too good to be true, it usually is.
I am in supply h*ll myself today! I would stick with Animas for your pump supplies. You might try Liberty for the Dexcom stuff - if you are going to go without anyway, if they screw up, at least you won’t be any further behind than you thought! I wouldn’t trust them with the pump stuff though.
I order from Liberty Medical and they do a great job for me. However, it took me about a month to really get set up with them - and it took a number of phone calls in which I asked to speak to a supervisor. I found that once I got them to really listen, and made sure a supervisor was involved, they got it together and have been just great ever since. Sooooo…I guess it depends on what you’re willing to do to get set up. I should also add, however, that I don’t pay out of pocket so I can’t speak to their payment plans.
Thanks Cheri. I’m thinking I may get set up and just order my Dexcom stuff like Kelly suggested. I did talk to my doctor tonight and he says he has patients who use them and they don’t complain. Of course, not everyone tells him everything and gets his input on stuff like this, lol
Yeah, I still use Animas for my cartridges, but since I don’t use their infusion sets, I get everything else through Liberty. I don’t have a Dexcom, so that doesn’t figure in for me. Here’s hoping you get the “supply chain” all set up. It causes such stress when things aren’t flowing!
I’ve been using Liberty for my supplies for about a year (after they bought out the company I used to get supplies from). The best thing I can say about Liberty is that:
They do seem to be a bit cheaper than other suppliers.
They DO send you what you order EVENTUALLY. I’ve run into a massive case of “the right hand doesn’t know what the left is doing” several times. TWICE, they’ve sent me the wrong test strips (“Liberty” strips…despite the fact that I specifically requested One Touch Ultra strips). They did EVENTUALLY send me a pre-paid label to slap on the box the wrong strips were mailed to me in, so I could send it back at no charge.
They DO NOT pack their supplies well. TWICE, I’ve received boxes that were crushed and/or had a hole in the side. The supplies are just tossed in the box…absolutely no padding or protection of any kind. If you order from them CHECK YOUR SUPPLIES AGAINST THE PAPERWORK THEY SEND to make sure you get the quantity you ordered.
Wow, that’s your best, lol. I really don’t want to fight for the correct supplies. I’ve been ordering diabetic supplies for almost 10 years from the same company. Never a problem. Now with the pump and Dexcom, I’m having to search for a new supplier who will work with me. It’s very frustrating. Thanks for the great info.
Animas sell both Animas and Dexcom. There number is on the back of your pump. They also have strips and lancets. They are good to work with as far as Flex Spending is concerned.
Thanks Jay. I did talk to Animas and they will work with me. But, they told me they didn’t have the Dexcom sensors. I was just trying to get all my supplies at the same place, if possible. I’ll call them again and ask about the sensors. I’ve definitely decided to go directly with Animas. Thanks for the help.
Jay,
Just so you’ll know, I talked to Animas this morning. They do not sell the Dexcom supplies. Though they are partnered with Dexcom, they don’t sell their supplies. :o(.
I recently rec’d what will be my last order with Liberty, my third. Now this is an easy decision for me to make because my daughter has become so allergic to the tape on the sites we use that we need to switch to something else, but I would probably break away from them anyway.
Here’s my problem: They’ve been backordered each and every time, and they seem to have no system for keeping up with this. I have to call back to check when, when, when. Ironically, each time the problem has been that they don’t have the tubing length we want - sometimes we’ve taken longer and sometimes we’ve taken shorter - but it’s a conversation I have to start with them, rather than them working to solve my issue. The last time a manager handled my situation, and she said she would call me back as things progressed, and she did, which was nice. There call center is in the US, which is also nice.
We have been using OrbitMicros. If you’re using a different brand, this might not be a problem, and if they say they’re willing to work with you and you need their flexibility, give them a whirl. Just expect that in return for their flexibility, you’re going to need some too.
I have a call into one of their territory managers to see how they do business here in my state. I know a girl who used to work with them and she promised the manager would be honest with me about how they handle things. I did order my pump supplies yesterday directly from Animas. I’m try Liberty for my Dexcom sensors and see how they do. If it becomes a problem, I it will be okay for those supplies because I have some right now and I don’t use my dexcom every day. Also, if it’s a problem, I won’t use them again. Thank for your input.
Jay, I will bite on how I prepare for an emergency. I live in the NE and have been thru numerous blizzards the past 27 years – too many to even try to remember. I have been thru power outages and road closings. I know not to run down to my last drop of insulin. I also keep a box of Levemir & Apidra pens in my fridge in case of a pump failure – and in the short time I have been pumping, I have already had to break into those pens.
That being said, the only way someone can truly prepare for a 9/11 emergency type situation would be to get a frio pack and carry a month’s worth of insulin in a backpack with you wherever you go. I doubt too many people would be willing to do that. I know I wouldn’t do that. Even if you keep stuff at both work & home, if it happens while you are on your way to work, you would not have your stuff. Look at how many people said that they were late for work the morning of 9/11 for different reasons or they would have been sitting at their desk when the planes hit.
Even if you had stuff in a fridge, would you be in a position to get it before you get out of the building? I was in the middle of moving once and my mother was cleaning the kitchen while the movers were moving my stuff. She pulled the stove out to clean behind it and when she went to push it back, the gas hose snapped & started a fire. The last thing I thought about was grabbing my insulin – I ran like everyone else. Last winter, my microwave started spitting out a ton of smoke. The kitchen was full of smoke and I called 911 & went outside because I did not know what was causing it. A fireman that lived closed was the first one here & came in and decided it was the microwave. When I walked outside, I did not take my insulin or my CGMS that was sitting on my desk. If bombs start dropping, you are going to run. You are not going to be worried about getting insulin out of your fridge.
I can prepare for the little annoyances like power being out for a week and stores aren’t open. If planes start crashing into buildings or bombs start dropping, unless I am in the right spot, there is not really much I can do about that. If my time is up & God wants me to die, it is not going to matter whether I have a backpack full of insulin or not. If I am meant to live, I will find a way to survive. I am not going to lose sleep worrying about stuff that I have no control over.
This would be an interesting topic for a separate thread but I’ll reply here. I live close enough to Mt St Helen’s that we’re in a volcano evacuation zone where there may not be time to grab everything and get out. Actually for most people the best evacuation plan is on foot so you also have to think about what you can carry. So there’s only so much that is practical in terms of planning ahead for this type of disaster.
We also tend to have prolonged power outages where I live. It’s rural and a small pocket about 1000 homes only are on our grid so we’re the last to be hooked back up. During the inaugural day storm and the ice storm we were without power for 5 days each. Other power outages can run 3 or 4 days.
Basically I try to stay a month ahead on supplies and rx’s if I can by refilling promptly and using autoship for Dexcom and pump supplies. I also tend to grocery shop in bulk so I usually have canned foods etc around. We can cook on the gas grill if need be and we have wood to heat the house. I keep syringes in my meter case. Other than that I don’t do anything else. I think I will put together a small kit of insulin, syringes, meter, and supplies for a few pump changes to keep at my inlaws though so I’d have options in case Mt St Helens blew or we had a major earthquake. If we know a storm is coming then I’ll make sure the gas tank is full. For the most part what we would be lacking in a disaster would be water at times as I don’t always keep bottled water on hand. I’m comfortable with those preparations. Also disasters aren’t something I worry about or dwell on but feel these precautions aren’t too far outside of what I do anyway and aren’t hard to manage.
After Katrina even here in Washington state there were evacuees here who literally fled with only what was on their backs. (Relatives lived here so it was easier for them to come here than to an evacuation center once it became known it would take forever to clear up). Anyway I heard about it because I work in healthcare. A fair number of patients in Washington were calling their dr’s asking for samples or medical care/supplies for relatives displaced by Katrina. I had forgotten about that till you mentioned disasters.
