Alzibiff
Well-Known Member
The 4 year warranty on my Medtronic Veo runs out at the end of May and contrary to what I was told when I first went onto the pump after 42 years of MDI, I have been told by my consultant and DSN that the PCT will not be replacing it. I have yet to get a reply to my letter asking about support arrangements post-warranty but I believe that at the four year point, the PCT do some sort of MOT on the pump and if it passes - things carry on as they were ..... apart from not having support from the manufacturer.
This is worrying.
Over the last year, my pump has been replaced twice by Medtronic. The first time because I reported a crack in the plastic case close to the battery screw-in cover. This was by no means an emergency but the pump was dispatched on the same day and received by my PCT at one of their hospitals the day after. (For some reason, my PCT insist that all pumps are delivered to themselves so that they can be tested). The second replacement was three months later which makes me think that replacements are NOT new pumps but ones of a similar age which have been repaired. (Makes commercial sense). The second time was more dramatic as when I came to replace the infusion set, I got a "MOTOR ERROR" which could not be solved over the telephone at 8am on a Saturday morning by the very helpful offshore Medtronic team. Problem - back to syringes, drawing up insulin from the vials which I use for my pump. (I didn't have any Levemir as I didn't think I would ever need it again!). Thinking that the weekend would be a total disaster and that I would be faced with more telephone calls come Monday morning, I was very pleasantly surprised to get a call from Medtronics in the UK a couple of hours later. Big smiles and total relief when I was told that Medtronic were going to send me a replacement pump by courier and that I should have it within 6 hours. WHAT BRILLIANT SERVICE! The replacement pump duly arrives four hours later and the broken one collected.
This is how it should be shouldn't it? As said, I am waiting to hear from my PCT what support will be available once the warranty has expired but for goodness sake, my current pump will need replacement at some stage - why not once the warranty has ended rather than waiting for the pump to fail and cause all sorts of problems and kerfuffle? Yes, I know the PCT are strapped for cash but I doubt that anybody has actually done the sums and calculated how much such a policy is going to save if they take into account the extra costs of dealing with an inevitable emergency let alone the loss of peace of mind and worry.
Alan
This is worrying.
Over the last year, my pump has been replaced twice by Medtronic. The first time because I reported a crack in the plastic case close to the battery screw-in cover. This was by no means an emergency but the pump was dispatched on the same day and received by my PCT at one of their hospitals the day after. (For some reason, my PCT insist that all pumps are delivered to themselves so that they can be tested). The second replacement was three months later which makes me think that replacements are NOT new pumps but ones of a similar age which have been repaired. (Makes commercial sense). The second time was more dramatic as when I came to replace the infusion set, I got a "MOTOR ERROR" which could not be solved over the telephone at 8am on a Saturday morning by the very helpful offshore Medtronic team. Problem - back to syringes, drawing up insulin from the vials which I use for my pump. (I didn't have any Levemir as I didn't think I would ever need it again!). Thinking that the weekend would be a total disaster and that I would be faced with more telephone calls come Monday morning, I was very pleasantly surprised to get a call from Medtronics in the UK a couple of hours later. Big smiles and total relief when I was told that Medtronic were going to send me a replacement pump by courier and that I should have it within 6 hours. WHAT BRILLIANT SERVICE! The replacement pump duly arrives four hours later and the broken one collected.
This is how it should be shouldn't it? As said, I am waiting to hear from my PCT what support will be available once the warranty has expired but for goodness sake, my current pump will need replacement at some stage - why not once the warranty has ended rather than waiting for the pump to fail and cause all sorts of problems and kerfuffle? Yes, I know the PCT are strapped for cash but I doubt that anybody has actually done the sums and calculated how much such a policy is going to save if they take into account the extra costs of dealing with an inevitable emergency let alone the loss of peace of mind and worry.
Alan
