Resmed policy - important to Snowbirds

[cpapernewbie]

This is Resmed policy on product return. A case tudy is the case of a friend, a CPAP user.
He bought Airsense 10 in Florida early January. Having problem with the humidifier chamber, the water gets murky after 1 or 2 days despite using distilled water. He did not do anything while in Florida, thinking this will go away after using this for 1-2 months.
Early this month - he returned back home and contacted Resmed. He was told to contact any local DME on this matter. Unfortunately -the DME refused to handle the water chamber quality problem and told him to return this to the DME in Florida.
Then he called Resmed again, got another service person and was told the same thing.

The message for Snowbirds is clear: Do not buy Resmed products in USA. The warranty is not applicable when you return home

[Sleeprider]

How is it that any manufacturer or DME should be liable for the negligence of a user to change the water in a humidifier chamber? It's not like the contamination is coming from the equipment. Are the conditions in a humidifier chamber conducive to biological growths when not maintained? Could be.

[Wulfman...]

This is Resmed policy on product return. A case tudy is the case of a friend, a CPAP user.
He bought Airsense 10 in Florida early January. Having problem with the humidifier chamber, the water gets murky after 1 or 2 days despite using distilled water. He did not do anything while in Florida, thinking this will go away after using this for 1-2 months.
Early this month - he returned back home and contacted Resmed. He was told to contact any local DME on this matter. Unfortunately -the DME refused to handle the water chamber quality problem and told him to return this to the DME in Florida.
Then he called Resmed again, got another service person and was told the same thing.

The message for Snowbirds is clear: Do not buy Resmed products in USA. The warranty is not applicable when you return home

What do you mean by "the same thing"? To contact ANY local DME on the matter OR that it had to be returned through the one he bought it from in Florida?

And, that problem with the water getting murky after a couple of days sounds weird, too. I would think that unless the machine is spewing something (like shredded parts) into the water, it wouldn't be a "machine" problem. Did it do the same thing when he returned back home? If not, then the location or water source would seem to be suspicious. Anything (like insects?) that could get behind the filter to deposit "something" that then got blown into the water?


Den

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[palerider]

The message for Snowbirds is clear: Do not buy Resmed products in USA.

well, this is stupid.

[Wulfman...]

The message for Snowbirds is clear: Do not buy Resmed products in USA. The warranty is not applicable when you return home

well, this is stupid.

Which part? Buying ResMed products or the warranty part?

I'll believe the "buying ResMed products" part is stupid.


Den

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[palerider]

The message for Snowbirds is clear: Do not buy Resmed products in USA.

well, this is stupid.

Which part? Buying ResMed products or the warranty part?

I'll believe the "buying ResMed products" part is stupid.

pretty much the whole thing.

[grayghost4]

Objection your Honor, this is hearsay evidence ... the jury will disregard the previous statments

[ClayL]

That sounds like a DME issue rather than a Resmed issue.

We lived full time in our motor home for 11 years. The DME was Lincare. I went with them because they had offices in my legal domicile state of SD and we were in CO at the time. Medicare was okay with the Lincare office in Grand Junction CO supplying the CPAM machine since Lincare had offices in both places.
When my machine died while we were in ID, Lincare CO sent me a loaner and I had to ship my machine to CO for repair. They shipped it back when it was repaired and supplied me with a shipping box and prepaid FedX label.
Once while on the road my machine died in Moab UT. The Moab office brought me a loaner to the RV park in Moab, took my machine and shipped it to the Grand Junction office. We were in Grand Junction when the repaired machine came back and the Grand Junction office sent the loaner back to Moab.

My machine was a Respironics but it would have made no difference what the brand was. The issuing DME office was responsible for handling the machine.
When you travel or snowbird it helps if your DME has lot of offices because depending on their policies they may be able to help with loaners, etc.

[Hose_Head]

It would have been huge help if you could have described exactly where "home" is! It might even be a relevant fact. Resmed does not allow shipment of it's products from USA to Canada and if it so happens that "home" is in Canada, then maybe the complaint is that the Canadian DME is not honouring equipment purchased in USA.

Not enough facts have been posted to determine the merits of the case. The admonition not to buy Resmed in USA is wasted. Truly, there are lots of reasons not to buy Resmed if you're a Canadian, (or Philips-Respironics for that matter). But there's nothing added by this particular complaint.

[chunkyfrog]

I would definitely stop buying distilled water from wherever he was getting it.
I would also CLEAN THE DANG TANK!

[Janknitz]

This has nothing to do with ResMed. The issuing DME is responsible for service and maintenance, and if they think it's a warranty issue then the DME deals with the manufacturer. (Remember, we are not the manufacturer's customer--DME's and insurers are). That's a Medicare thing--part of the reason DME's get paid more for CPAP's is that they are agreeing to maintain and repair them during the capped rental period and beyond.

So the DME in the other state gets paid nothing and has all the liability for fixing the unit from Florida. Your friend should contact the DME in Florida and work with them on how to get this taken care of--maybe by mailing it back to Florida to be looked at and worked on.

Tough luck. This is what happens if someone moves during a capped rental period too. It's our convoluted Medicare system, not the manufacturer's fault.

[Wulfman...]

This has nothing to do with ResMed. The issuing DME is responsible for service and maintenance, and if they think it's a warranty issue then the DME deals with the manufacturer. (Remember, we are not the manufacturer's customer--DME's and insurers are). That's a Medicare thing--part of the reason DME's get paid more for CPAP's is that they are agreeing to maintain and repair them during the capped rental period and beyond.

So the DME in the other state gets paid nothing and has all the liability for fixing the unit from Florida. Your friend should contact the DME in Florida and work with them on how to get this taken care of--maybe by mailing it back to Florida to be looked at and worked on.

Tough luck. This is what happens if someone moves during a capped rental period too. It's our convoluted Medicare system, not the manufacturer's fault.

So, why did ResMed presumably tell him........"to contact any local DME on this matter"?
Or, was it some "dipstick" on the end of the phone at ResMed who didn't care?


Den

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[chunkyfrog]

Since the OP has not provided the answer to, "Where's home?",
I can only guess that his friend is Canadian, and is just now learning how things work, internationally.

[zoocrewphoto]

It seems to me that it really comes down to whether the local DME will work with a machine they did not sell. I fired my DME about 6 weeks after I got my machine. They lied to me about the headgear I needed, so I went elsewhere. What happens if my machine has a problem? I'm sure that place won't help me. I am currently not using a local DME as I can buy supplies cheaper online than buying locally during my deductible phase. So, there is no local DME who will recognize me as a loyal customer. I have a backup machine, so if something happens, I will not be desperate, but I have no illusions that it will be easy to walk into a place and get help with a machine not purchased there.

[palerider]

sounds to me like the 'friend' needs to stop being a whiny little snot and just change the water in the humidifier.