Thanks to Insulet

Diabetes Technology Insulin Pumps
1

I just wanted to use this public forum to thank Insulet for service above an beyond during our vacation crisis last week. We flew to Hawaii on vacation. On the plane I changed the time on my son's PDM and handed it back to him to put in his bag. He was playing a game and put it in his lap instead. Then, he promptly forgot about it. We leave the plane after collecting what we think is all of our belongings, get out to the baggage claim, only to realize that he does not have his PDM. Rushed over to the HA service counter and explained the situation. They tried to get someone one the plane but no answer. All we could do was file a claim.

We have never had a backup PDM, given the expense - lesson learned! Frantically called Insulet when we got to the hotel in the hope that there might be a trainer in HI that we could get a PDM from. We knew it was a longshot. The representative at Insulet was very helpful. She told me they would check first thing Monday (this was Sunday night) to see if there was a trainer nearby and if not, they would overnight PDM to us at our hotel. There was not a trainer in HI, but we receive a replacement PDM by Tuesday afternoon!

I cannot say enough about our appreciation that they did this! In an era where customer service is lacking, Insulet should be commended for serving their customers well.

2

You should check with your clinic or doctor and see if they have any loaners . Ours has a few they give out when going on holidays

3

Yep. As I said, lesson learned...BIG lesson :-) We go next week and I do plan to ask. Funny, we have backups of everything else. Murphy's Law.

4

I was actually having issues with the it draining even the good batteries extremely fast and Insulet sent me a new PDM overnight. Just got it today. I called yesterday late afternoon.

5

We have also had issues on vacation. My son's PDM was having issues, and they overnighted a new PDM to our hotel.

6

I was happy to read about your experience with Insulet as I just switched to the pod last month. I had read and heard many good things about their responsive customer service.

I plan to take an extended trip to Hawaii this fall and after reading your post, I will take my old Ping pump for backup.

7

Kids!!! They always keep life interesting.
Glad to hear everything worked out well. My experience with Insulet has always been great!. They've always been extremely helpful and kind. One thing that I can highly recommend to do, and I learned this from experience, is to have all of your pump settings and basal rate settings stored online somewhere. (Google "Documents" or Yahoo "Notepad") That way if you ever have to reprogram your PDM or program a backup or loaner unit, the information is readily available wherever you can access the internet. It can definitely save some additional heartache and stress. Hope this helps.

BTW, what did you do about insulin delivery until the PDM arrived?

8

Yes, also a good point. We did not have our settings and I was prepared to call the doctor’s office for the last settings they captured.

We had his Novolog pen with us ( of course, the extra pen needles were also in his PDM case). So after a quick trip to the pharmacy for more pen needles, we had an insulin source, fortunately. his control was not as good, but at least he had insulin.