Has anyone else had appallingly bad service from Dexcom sales? I’m not talking about their tech help, which has always been fine. Or their interpersonal manner on the phone which is fine (but which I don’t particularly care about it if it’s not linked to effective action). But this is the 4th time in a row I’ve had difficulties working with their sales staff to reorder my transmitter (and at least 2 times, that led to days without my Dexcom). Part of it is that insurance is complicated, but it’s amazing how consistently Dexcom drops the ball on any sort of follow up or communication and how much time and effort I’ve had to put in to get these reorders done. It’s to the point where if they had any sort of reasonable competitor (the Libre doesn’t have the functionality I need), I’d absolutely leave them in a heartbeat. I don’t think it always was this bad with Dexcom, but it seems like they have rapidly grown without growing their sales infrastructure and staffing to match. Also this issue is entirely of their own making—if they weren’t imposing artificial shut-off times on their transmitters so they stop working leaving such a narrow reordering window, it wouldn’t require such a fast turnaround that they are apparently not competent enough to pull off consistently. Last time this happened and I escalated things until I was talking with someone fairly high up in the company, they admitted to me on the phone this has been a widespread problem and that they had just implemented a new system they hoped would resolve the issues. But now I’m several weeks into trying to figure out what’s going on with my transmitter reorder and once again needing to hunt them down after they promise to do things and contact me back, and I am not encouraged…
It would be the unusual insurance that only provided coverage to order direct from Dexcom and did not also allow a distributor to be utilized.
If ordering from Dexcom is causing problems then try a distributor.
Hmm, I assumed most people ordered directly from Dexcom—that’s how I’ve done it across two insurances… it used to work great, but then started being a problem I think once they switched to G5 and had the tighter turnaround on transmitters. I’ll ask my insurance about other options. Thanks!
If you use xDrip you can extend your xmitter usage.
I have an iPhone, so I don’t think I can use xDrip. I know there’s Spike or something now for the iPhone, but haven’t had the time to set it up, but I may soon, since Dexcom is eating up enough time that could go into that.
Yes, Spike will run on the Apple iPhone whereas xDrip is for Android.
Is xDrip for G6 and G5 or just G6?
Can spike restart the transmitters after their shutoff date?
We do not use Spike (we stick with the official Dexcom G6 Mobile app on the iPhone) but I have read a bit about Spike and assisted a relative in getting Spike installed and functional on their iPhone.
Current version of Spike is listed as Spike v 3.5.3.
Reading through the version change log (link below) shows Spike v 2.2.4 has this update listed:
FEATURE: Dexcom G6 support! No 10 day sensor expiration, no transmitter expiration, ability to skip warm-ups, ability to reset transmitter, ability to use refurbished transmitters, etc. G6 is set up in Spike exactly the same way as the G5. G6 still requires calibrations although after the first 2-3 days there’s no need to calibrate every day. If the sensor is healthy you can calibrate 1-2 times a week, or even less. Ability to have G6 without calibrations will come in a future update. (Miguel)
A very good resource is the Facebook group for Spike:
(Be sure to read the pinned posts as they cover a ton of information)
Current (easy to read) listing of changes in the versions of Spike:
Nice YouTube video by Nerdabetic that really has a great overview of Spike:
(This video is almost a year old so there has been a good amount of change but certainly this covers a huge amount of information anybody new to Spike would likely be asking - just keep the date of the video in mind)
xdrip is used with many CGMs, including G5 and G6.
My Dexcom supplies get ordered from US Med as they’re a vendor for my insurance company. That being said, I understand your frustration as I started the process to get a CGM with Dexcom directly and just when I thought we had everything situated they punted me over to US Med with zero communication until after the fact.
@Cardamom
Sensor or Transmitter?
I haven’t had to go through a transmitter replacement yet, but where I’m at, I have to get it through a distributor and if I had to, I can go pick it up!
if sensor
Restart G6 sensor
The thread is on the man page for now.
Aaron2 posted very simple instructions, no aps needed.
Entering the code did work…
Tried another G6 restart method that worked. This time I waited for the current 10 day session to expire before trying to restart, because I knew I did not have time for the full two hour warm-up before expiration. For this one, you obviously lose continuous reporting of numbers during the restart. But that’s OK because we are on the last sensor and the next shipment is in the mail.
- Let your sensor expire.
- Start a new sensor session and choose “no code”. You do not need to remove the transmitter.
- Let the warm-up session start and run for about 15 minutes. I set a timer on my phone.
- After 15 minutes, STOP sensor. It may warn that you cannot start a stopped sensor, but this is not true.
- Start another new sensor and choose “without code”. (You will need to calibrate with this option, but the sensor will still restart.)
- The sensor will warm-up for two hours and start giving readings after
That’s it. It worked. I understand that if you have a code, You can enter it only for step 5 and it will still work, I just didn’t have my code so I used the no code option. Happy resetting.
Before I retired I was getting my CGM and Pump support directly from Tandem and Dexcom. I NEVER had a problem with either. Then came Medicare and I was forced to use a distributor (USM), I would be delighted if I could get back to directly dealing with both. (Working on it!)
Here is a video about resetting transmitters in Spike: Dexcom G5 and G6 transmitters reset - YouTube
Here is the link to download the Spike app: https://spike-app.com
I have reset a transmitter several times in Spike and then gone back to using it with the Dexcom app.
Transmitter, not sensor. I always have plenty of extra sensors, since I use mine for way longer than a week. I don’t understand why I would need a workaround for the sensor though—is that a G6 thing? One more reason not to upgrade, ugh. I’m using the G5 and plan to as long as I’m able, so I have no trouble extending sensor life without any workarounds.
I may try the Spike app if it comes to it, thanks. It’s still absolutely appalling customer service that if Dexcom is going to enforce a shut off of their transmitters that they don’t have excellent sales services working to get things turned around very quickly within the short window they have artificially created in which you can reorder sensors before they can no longer be used with their app. A number of other people on FUDiabetes reported having similar difficulties with poor service from Dexcom (and declining service quality in particular in recent couple of years), so it seems like it’s not just me.
“iphone only” leaves out a lot of the population.
Apparently iOS is easier to develop apps for, which is why many developers start there. But I think the point is Spike addresses the need for an xDrip equivalent for iPhone—non-iPhone users already have xDrip.
This agrees with you regarding iOS being easier to develop for. Android vs iOS: Which Platform to Build Your App for First?
I share with you the exact same experience. The reorder specialist Joell U. dropped the ball and never called me to setup a reorder. I called her when I found out about my shortage on transmitters a few days before my transmitter was “supposedly dying”. She never answered and never replied back to my voice message. So I called Dexcom sales and got my order in place only to find out a couple of days later that it is still processing although they has all the paperwork in terms of approvals/prescriptions/insurance. When my sensor session ended I tried to start a new one with a new sensor but Dexcom now forces the transmitter to “die” although the transmitter is still functioning. It is hard for me to believe that is in any way justifiable. I definitely wish there was competition in the market as that always drives companies to improve. Dexcom has definitely taken a huge dive with their customer service and I really hope they get their act together!
There absolutely is competition in the USA marketplace with cgm systems.
The Abbott Freestyle Libre is a valid choice. We do not use it but many people do. Abbott is certainly a direct competitor with Dexcom.
Senseonics is just starting in the USA so it will take time to see where that goes but that has the potential for competition although with such a completely different system that it is unlikely to be head-to-head competition.
Medtronics clearly has their own cgm system although I have no reason to speculate it is widely used outside of Medtronic pump users.