Lessons leaned from Respironics service on RemStar Pro 2

[twillson]

Hi All,

I don't know how many of you have needed to service your XPAP at the manufacturer, but I wanted to let Respironics users know how positive this experience can be - even out of warranty.

Two months beyond the warranty period my REMstar Pro 2 with heated humidifier fell off the night stand and developed a serious fault that caused it to throw an error code and shut off when it was plugged in but not moving air. After a great deal of hassle between my insurance company, primary care physician and DME (none of who where involved in my original diagnosis or prescription 2.4 years ago) I was able to send the the unit back to Respironics for a full service.

I just want to relate to the group how unexpectedly positive this part of the ordeal was. My thanks go out to Respironics service department for their outstanding handling of my machine.

1) I was told I would have to cover the shipping cost for the service and that the rest would be billed to my insurance company. I did pay my DME for their shipping cost, but Respironics covered return shipping and they actually ate the cost of the repair. They charged insurance for normal wear items like filters, but all the internals were replaced at no cost - just as if it were under warranty.

2) They replaced the faulty circuit board (as I was told they would need to do) but also replaced all of the tubing in my unit. I don't have the invoice, with me but there were at least 7 other internal items they replaced at no cost.

3) ***AND THIS IS IMPORTANT***

It turns out that Respironics has redesigned the water reservoir of its Remstar series heated humidifier. This is actually the second redesign, but I assume most of you already have the second, which featured a plastic "splash guard" (my words, not theirs) that was supposed to prevent (or at least reduce) the chance water would get back into the main unit. This was pretty ineffective, if you ask me.

The new design uses a one-way silicone "flapper" valve to separate the reservoir from the main unit and is much more effective. Respironics replaced my old reservoir with one of the new models, and provided two of the new valve assemblies, which also replace the silicone ring that you used to use to adapt the main unit to the reservoir.

The bottom line is that this is an upgrade you should probably look into for your Remstar series humidifier, because it works well and may save the electronics on your unit in case of an upset. (Or in case you just happen to overfill the reservoir once too often.

4) When the unit was returned it was cleaned and repackaged like new. BUT they had retained all of my settings and usage data. The overall service took less than 2 weeks including shipping both ways, so I am sure they were able to do all that work within a day or two of receipt.

Now they could have saved my a LOT of grief by just being willing to fix my unit under warranty, but short of that, I don't know how they could possibly have done a better job with this.

[jasper]

It's good to hear a positive story. In many cases you can get a good outcome if you go in with a positive attitude.

Thanks for sharing.