Survey for Abbott customer service

[ecs1516]

Did anyone else get a call from Boston with a survey for Abbott's customer service? I did yesterday. I answered the questions favorably for the customer service representative but mentioned the backorder of items such as the sensors are unacceptable. How can I recommend a product when the company cannot even supply replacement sensors or receiver/transmitters when broken???:confused: They asked me if this was our first CGM . I said yes but it may not be my last... I find it inexcusable that a company ships product to their suppliers but do not even keep any for themselves in backlog to service their customers. If this keeps up I might look toward Minimed when they replace their CGM with an updated model. I wondered about calling Marisa's contact she listed on Florida to find out what the backlog problem is related too. They should also give the customers updates (like calling them!) when their product is backordered or when it finally ships!!! Outrageous.:mad:

[buggle]

I've been worried about Abbott customer service for the Navigator, because their customer service for regular glucose meters is the worst I've ever come across. So far, our experience for the Navigator hasn't been the greatest. Abbott sat on our paperwork for ages and weeks later, called to say the authorization form wasn't sent. So, I called our center and had that faxed again. Then ages later, I had to call to find out if they'd ever gotten approved by insurance, because they never bothered calling me. They had and didn't call. So, I had them place the order with Edgepark and waited and waited and no one ever called. So, I called Edgepark and Abbott had never sent them the order. Supposedly everything has been approved and they've charged us for the order, but I still don't even have a receipt.

I hope the rest of it goes well. With all the problems you all are having with Navigators, I'm getting a little concerned about the whole thing. argh.

[ecs1516]

Well, I must say that I still like it enough to keep using it. I think that Abbott has a different situation than Minimed because Abbott is using supplies rather than distributing them themselves. This allows problems I think. That being said , Abbott only gets 'prior approval' . It is not until I actually placed a order with Edgepark that I got the letter in the mail from United that they have approved it. Abbott just upfront checks your benefits. Edgepark is new to the CGM distribution thing too. When you place another order for sensors it will get 'held up' by a RX needed flag in their computer system. A person has to manually release the order. I bet Minimed doesn't have this problem. I love the Navigator system though. I haven't had any prior problems with Abbott sending me replacement meters. I must have had about 5 or 6 over the last 8 years. The CGMs are still new and I hope these problems get worked out. One thing to remember is that Abbott has only been releasing the system to the public since early August(not including study people).
We haven't had either child's Navigator quit working yet.. Knock on wood.

Buggle, I am curious. You are still on MDI. I would think it would be harder to make the changes you will see on the Navigator on shots. I use the IOB on our pump to reduce the insulin when giving corrections. I 'treak' their basals with the info from the graphs. Do you plan to go on the pump soon?

We didn't get a receipt until we received the Navigator system.

[ccclubb]

The ADC resource center is worthless. My order took 4 months to complete and I only received it after ADC gave up and let Edgepark handle the insurance.

I suggest letting the supplier handle everything if not going directly to them altogether. I don't believe the ADC resource center serves any real purpose. Other than delaying the process.

[buggle]

We go to a big center, so we followed their process. But, we should've just had the paperwork sent directly to Edgepark. Abbott got things completed, but they never sent it out, so what's the point? We had issues every step of the way... repeatedly. I just hope we receive it and can figure out how to use the thing. It would've come in handy last night, when we checked Brendan every few hours.

Buggle, I am curious. You are still on MDI. I would think it would be harder to make the changes you will see on the Navigator on shots. I use the IOB on our pump to reduce the insulin when giving corrections. I 'treak' their basals with the info from the graphs. Do you plan to go on the pump soon?

Carol - No, we don't have any plans to pump anytime soon. When Brendan isn't unpredictable and fluctuating all over the place from coming out of his honeymoon, we're able to keep him pretty tight with MDI -- from the limited info we have from fingerpokes, anyway. We use a split Lantus dose, that seems to keep his basals pretty steady. He's just coming out of the honeymoon and went through another series of highs the last few days, yet we were able to keep him between 115 and 120 all night. We checked from 8PM to 7AM every few hours. We also tweak bolus insulin by using Novolog and Regular in various ratios -- I:C, as well as Novo:Reg. I think with info we'll get from CGM, we can get him fairly tight. His honeymoon swings are really settling down. I think we're about to the end of it -- I hope, anyway. He's up to 11 units of Lantus, which is about avg for non-honeymooning kids according to Marsha's formula.

We have no plans to move to the pump, unless we can't keep him in good range with MDI. So, we'll see how we do after we have CGM and the honeymoon-ending craziness settles down. Of course, he seems to be on a continuous growth spurt too...