Completely frustrated with MiniMed

[Erin]

Oy! It has been a while, and I'm sorry to poke my head in to vent, but I am so frustrated / angry / upset I could just spit. Made a supply order on 9/14. Started getting antsy last week (I'm very zen I figure they'll send the stuff when they're good and ready, slow service doesn't bother me, until I start getting short on supplies). I call up the 800 number and find out that they've not got a valid prescription and that they faxed the doctor and did not receive a response.

Well -- shouldn't you contact the patient, your customer, to find out why their doc is being a flake? NOoooo, narry a word from them until I call.

Turns out they'd been faxing my CDE, who... well... let's just say the no response thing makes a bit more sense. but come on.

Now, 3 business days later, I've still not received my supplies. I KNOW if the fax reached my doc there would be no problems. Just went to a 3rd party vendor and ordered a box of sets. I am down to my last two, and getting really worried.

Any advice on how to handle this type of situation? I can't hand deliver the prescription, as much as I'd like to. I am just beyond aggravated that they claim no responsibility towards getting the prescription. Don't they want my money?

[telizas]

Have you actually spoken to your doc to make sure they sent the fax BACK?

Sometimes I have had to be in the phone with people saying, OK I just sent the fax, please stay on the line and let me know when you have it. Sometimes hand-holding is in order. :(

[GeishaGirl]

Right now I'm just mad at them because they're on my *** about returning the bad lot sets, but THEY HAVEN'T SENT ME ANY OTHERS!! I'd rather a potentially bad set than NO set. They sent me a 30 day supply on August 3. I just got another one yesterday. Let's see, that's...2.5 MONTHS out of a 30 day set? When 2 of them didn't stick right and had to be thrown out? HAH! Keeping the "bad" sets until I get my standard order back.

[SCC]

Not to say that MM isn't at fault (I had to call them because for "some reason" they had not shipped my next allotted 30 day supply (and why are they still so short on those???) but why didn't your CDE contact you to day she/he got a call from MM?

It just seems like a frustrating story because NO ONE stepped up. I'd be mad too!

[Lilly164]

Do you need a prior authorization? Some insurances, mine included, have their doctors in a Medical Association. This groupe coordinates medical benefits. No strips will be sent, nor will Minimed supplies be shipped, if the insurance company uses a company to coordinate medical benefits.

Unless you already know, I suggest calling your insurance company to ask.
Lilly

[Russell A.]

Erin:

Not sure if you are having an insurance issue or just MM problem.

My advice is to get away from dealing directly with MM. They are a royal Pain in Azz!

I order my pump supplies from Liberty Medical and if you call your insurance company they will provide you a list of 3rd party vendors who will sell you supplies and work with your insurance.

BTW-When I purchased and started using a MM, they verbally told me I would not be responsible for anything above what insurance covered for supplies. Over a year went by and never got a bill from MM. So figured everything was cool. WRONG!

I got a bill for over a grand. I called irrate and they claim they never said that and they had computer billing problems for several months. But never bothered picking up the phone to let customers know. Thier billing department s-cks!:( In my opinion a very disorganized company overall.

Russell

[Erin]

Hey all,

Thanks for the words of wisdom. No this isn't an insurance issue, it's just poor customer service on the part of MiniMed. I would go through a different service provider, but now i'm kind of in the middle of this order with MM, so I'm going to wait until re-order time to go through a different company. I'm seriously considering switching away from Mini Med entirely and getting an omni pod or something, just to not have to deal with this company ever again.

Today I got a call from my doc's office. Apparently they did receive the first fax, not sure if MM got the # right or the CDE forwarded the paperwork to them. AND they faxed it back LAST MONTH.

MM has been harassing them, via fax, about not returning the fax, which the clerk at the doc's office says he's personally faxed to MM three times at this point, but no one at MM will answer the phone or return his calls when he tries to confirm that they got the fax.

Mind you I never called my doc (it was next on my list of things to do, it's just easier to call MM, because they are on the west coast so they're still in the office when I get off from work) and the doc's office called me to explain this delay with no prompting! At least my docs office is taking this seriously (I didn't doubt that they were, they are kind of hands off but very efficient.)

The clerk also let it slip that MM was doing this with one other patient's order as well, and that he wasn't going to go home today until he got someone at Mini Med on the phone.

This just drives me insane! The truly frustrating part is that I work in customer service. If I ever did this to one of my client's i'd get fired. I can't believe that this is being allowed. I'm feeling a letter to Medtronic corporate coming on... :)

[Gordonm]

I never rely on anyone to do things like this. You must follow up on this and be persistant. I have had a few dealings with MM and have had good results with them. I am persistant though and it takes a few phone calls. The Drs offices are a joke. My wife used to work at one that was quite bad about these things. Most of the time they just let it slide until someone keeps pestering them, as I said be persistant. The squeaky wheel gets the oil. I got a few free sets from MM because of them not sticking and I returned my bad sets and they replaced all of them. Not right away but they came in stages. Never had less than 1 box.

[butterflykisses]

Erin, sooo sorry you're having such a time getting your sets. Very frustrating! Hopefully they'll get it together sooner than later.

[Erin]

Well, the guy at my doctors office had success! Mini Med has shipped a portion of my order (due to low supplies or something??!)

BUT They left my apartment number off of the shipment so UPS is holding the package hostage until MiniMed calls and gives them my apartment number (for a fee) or I go and show 2 types of ID at their center. Which is no where near my apartment, which is in a neighborhood I hate, and which takes me over an hour to get to (public transit)

I am going to loose my mind over this order. Can anything else go wrong?

[Mystae]

Yipe, this sucks!

I'm new to the forum here, but have been dealing with MM for nearly a decade, and can say with complete certainty that what Gordonm said about the squeaky wheel thing is absolutely true. I have had no issues with MM until the last five or six months, but even with the problems that I have had, I've been able to get most everything straightened out fairly easily, it just took time on the phone and insistance. At times, LOTS of insistance.

But I have gotten emergency supplies overnighted to me three times at no cost to me in the last few months (screwy Lot 8 ****). I bet if you call up there and tell them that you will wait on hold while they CALL the UPS office and get someone on the line so you guys can have a conference call, you'll probably be able to get the issue resolved. Or just insist that they overnight you a new box of supplies, with the correct address on it.

I've found that sometimes impatience and frustration can be your friend. Especially in regard to medical supplies. Being the b**** is sometimes the best thing I can do to make sure I get what I need. I hate that because I'm pretty laid back about this stuff, too (usually).

Good luck to you. And if you seriously can't get anybody on the phone with MM who will get this issue resolved, let me know. I have the extension of someone I am working with there (trying to get the CGM) who has been able to work wonders for me. Perhaps he could do the same for you. :O)

[butterflykisses]

I hope you got your supplies. :( But be careful about asking what else could go wrong...cause a LOT can! ;) I'm sure its the recall that is causing so many problems and hopefully they'll get their supplies caught up SOON for yours and all the others out there stressing over having enough supplies.

[poodlebone]

Well, the guy at my doctors office had success! Mini Med has shipped a portion of my order (due to low supplies or something??!)

BUT They left my apartment number off of the shipment so UPS is holding the package hostage until MiniMed calls and gives them my apartment number (for a fee) or I go and show 2 types of ID at their center. Which is no where near my apartment, which is in a neighborhood I hate, and which takes me over an hour to get to (public transit)


If you know the tracking number (you can find it in your order history on the Minimed store site) you can call UPS and correct the info over the phone. You can even have them ship it to a different address. I've done this several times when someone has shipped to my apartment and not my job, which is where I have all of my packages sent. Takes an extra day or two to arrive, but you won't have to deal with going to the UPS place yourself.

I was due for my regular 90 day shipment early September and it didn't arrive and there was no record of it in my store account, so I called them. I also needed to order sensors and would have had to call anyway. They told me that (1) my sensor prescription had expired so they would have to get a new one from the endo and (2) I would only get 1/2 of my sets (2 boxes) and it would take 2-3 weeks because they were low on ALL sets thanks to that Quick-Set disaster. They shipped the two boxes of sets (1 of Sils, 1 Sure-T), IV Prep wipes and 2 boxes of sensors on 9/25, a little under 2 weeks from my call. I had enough Silhouettes to last awhile but was running out of Sure-Ts so I really wanted them. Now it's 10/15 and I'm not sure when they'll ship the remaining 2 boxes of sets. They obviously got the sensor script from my endo since they shipped them.

I still had enough supplies so it wasn't an absolute emergency, but they did say to call immediately if I was very low and they would overnight a box. My set prescription was still good, so I'm not sure if they would have done the same for you if you had asked.

[Erin]

Thanks for all the words of wisdom guys!

Apparently, per the person I talked to at UPS, you cannot legitimately change or correct the address anymore without an info notice number (this is different from the tracking number, it's the one from the sticky note the driver leaves if they are unable to reach you) Not sure if this is a national rule, or just in New York because there are so many people / so many opportunities for fraud. They basically said I was SOL unless MiniMed called them.

I called MiniMed and got a really nice and competent customer service agent (forgot her name, I would really like to send some kudos her way). She got UPS on the phone, fixed my address, and then put them on hold and told me they needed a signature for delivery, would I be home on Monday or should they ship elsewhere, and then she got back on the phone with UPS and switched the address to my office.

If the package gets onto the truck I will have my sets on Monday (It is always the same driver, so even if there is some weird issue with the address he should know where to bring the box). I'm going to use my office address from now on. Usually my apartment address is fine. They leave packages with the superintendent of the building and I get them in the evening. After this debacle I am going to ship to my office.

I tend to prefer to just order well in advance so I don't need to be the squeaky wheel. Usually folks figure this stuff out on their own if given enough time. I'd rather wait than have to deal with this sort of thing. But this time they didn't figure it out, even with 1 month + so once it became time-sensitive I started making calls. Hopefully this is resolved now. I'll know on monday.

[sugardaddyppt]

Thanks for all the words of wisdom guys!

Apparently, per the person I talked to at UPS, you cannot legitimately change or correct the address anymore without an info notice number (this is different from the tracking number, it's the one from the sticky note the driver leaves if they are unable to reach you) Not sure if this is a national rule, or just in New York because there are so many people / so many opportunities for fraud. They basically said I was SOL unless MiniMed called them.

I called MiniMed and got a really nice and competent customer service agent (forgot her name, I would really like to send some kudos her way). She got UPS on the phone, fixed my address, and then put them on hold and told me they needed a signature for delivery, would I be home on Monday or should they ship elsewhere, and then she got back on the phone with UPS and switched the address to my office.

If the package gets onto the truck I will have my sets on Monday (It is always the same driver, so even if there is some weird issue with the address he should know where to bring the box). I'm going to use my office address from now on. Usually my apartment address is fine. They leave packages with the superintendent of the building and I get them in the evening. After this debacle I am going to ship to my office.

I tend to prefer to just order well in advance so I don't need to be the squeaky wheel. Usually folks figure this stuff out on their own if given enough time. I'd rather wait than have to deal with this sort of thing. But this time they didn't figure it out, even with 1 month + so once it became time-sensitive I started making calls. Hopefully this is resolved now. I'll know on monday.

Sorry to here about your problems with minimed...most of the folks that replied seem to enjoy that sort of service from minimed...i'm a little different when it involves my health and well being that type of service will not do!!!! I wear a Smiths (deltec) Go ahead and snicker I know they are no longer on the market...but even after going off the market I never received poor customer service. I have also worked extensively with disetronic and have had zero problems with customer service...After talking with several people that use mm you issues don't seem to be isolated events. Sorry to say it.

[zakksmom]

Oy! It has been a while, and I'm sorry to poke my head in to vent, but I am so frustrated / angry / upset I could just spit. Made a supply order on 9/14. Started getting antsy last week (I'm very zen I figure they'll send the stuff when they're good and ready, slow service doesn't bother me, until I start getting short on supplies). I call up the 800 number and find out that they've not got a valid prescription and that they faxed the doctor and did not receive a response.

Well -- shouldn't you contact the patient, your customer, to find out why their doc is being a flake? NOoooo, narry a word from them until I call.

Turns out they'd been faxing my CDE, who... well... let's just say the no response thing makes a bit more sense. but come on.

Now, 3 business days later, I've still not received my supplies. I KNOW if the fax reached my doc there would be no problems. Just went to a 3rd party vendor and ordered a box of sets. I am down to my last two, and getting really worried.

Any advice on how to handle this type of situation? I can't hand deliver the prescription, as much as I'd like to. I am just beyond aggravated that they claim no responsibility towards getting the prescription. Don't they want my money?
My son is a newbie D and we contacted Minimed 4 times to check out their pumps as we want to interviewthe top 3- we have yet to get a response to even purchase their pump. After reading your thread I think I will go ahead and go with Animus..

[SoldiersWifey]

Right now I'm just mad at them because they're on my *** about returning the bad lot sets, but THEY HAVEN'T SENT ME ANY OTHERS!! I'd rather a potentially bad set than NO set. They sent me a 30 day supply on August 3. I just got another one yesterday. Let's see, that's...2.5 MONTHS out of a 30 day set? When 2 of them didn't stick right and had to be thrown out? HAH! Keeping the "bad" sets until I get my standard order back.

I know that feeling.
I'm just now getting my supplies back.
They're really being unprofessional about the whole thing.:mad: