Good Canadian online retailers?

[tripman]

Does anyone have a recommendation for a good online cpap machine / mask dealer in Canada? I found many online but mostly when looking into them I find out that they are pretty shifty and have some very bad reviews. I'm not sure how it works online but I do need one that will take my prescription and use the government funding. I went to 3 local cpap dealers and 2 of them were very sketchy and the 3rd one sounded like a car salesman that hated his job. Not sure if that's my luck or that there are really a lot of unprofessional and unreliable cpap retailers

Since this is my first unit, how would I go about trying the masks or returning them online for test (if possible). The dealer (auto salesman one) I went to didn't allow me to try any masks unless I committed to buying from him.

[Julie]

Can you describe what you mean by "pretty shifty" and 'very sketchy'? And what gov't 'funding' are you talking about, ADP?

Have you tried Clinical Sleep.com? Or Cpapmachines.com?

Do you have a prescription? For what type of machine? And you need to ask re trying masks - each place is different. Cpap.com will let you try diff. masks x 30 d's, but charges a small 'insurance' fee, and can't send any made by ResMed to you directly, but Can. retailers (online or otherwise) will have them..

[Hose_Head]

Does anyone have a recommendation for a good online cpap machine / mask dealer in Canada? I found many online but mostly when looking into them I find out that they are pretty shifty and have some very bad reviews. I'm not sure how it works online but I do need one that will take my prescription and use the government funding. I went to 3 local cpap dealers and 2 of them were very sketchy and the 3rd one sounded like a car salesman that hated his job. Not sure if that's my luck or that there are really a lot of unprofessional and unreliable cpap retailers

Since this is my first unit, how would I go about trying the masks or returning them online for test (if possible). The dealer (auto salesman one) I went to didn't allow me to try any masks unless I committed to buying from him.

<see highlighted text>

For cpap machines, I don't know of any government in Canada that allows online purchases of equipment. In fact, many (most?) provincial governments don't provide ANY funding. If you are in Ontario, it is required that you go through a DME and the government provides a list of those who they will accept.

For cpap supplies such as masks, tubing, etc, you are on your own. No government funding is available that I know of. This is where an good online supplier is worth its weight in gold because they are much cheaper than your local bricks and mortar DME will ever be. Julie has suggested a couple in her post. There are others see (Clinical Sleep in BC is the one that I use and can recommend). If you insist on a Canadian supplier, always check where they are located because there is at least one that's US located even though it's name indicates that it's Canadian.

I could be wrong but in Canada, I think you only need a prescription for cpap machines, not for masks and other supplies. I've never been asked for a prescription to buy a mask from my Canadian online suppliers.

Finally, be aware that both Resmed and Philips-Respironics will not allow US suppliers to ship their products out of the USA. In other words, our host, cpap.com cannot sell and ship you these products. (you can use a US pick up point for purchases, if you have one)

[chunkyfrog]

@Julie; "shifty" and "sketchy" are other ways to express "bad vibes".
Sometimes it is a combination of minor things, or one wrong thing that sends up a red flag;
but we are wise to heed our instincts.

[Julie]

Chunky, with all due respect, I'm quite familiar with the English language as are most people in the British Commonwealth. I was asking what specifically was he referring to about those dealers.

[Duck]

Chunky, with all due respect, I'm quite familiar with the English language

Wow. Why so arrogant and easily offended?

[Julie]

Well, it's been open season on me for a long time by certain posters, so I might be a tad on edge, but Chunky's not usually part of the crowd so the note surprised me a bit.

[palerider]

Chunky, with all due respect, I'm quite familiar with the English language

Wow. Why so arrogant and easily offended?

are you Julie's new self appointed nanny?

[chunkyfrog]

Sometimes "bad vibes" are just intuition; maybe not specific things.
Of course, many of us would like to know exactly WHAT gave the bad feeling; for example:
--Sales people who seem too desperate, too starchy, cold, sweaty palms.
--Unwillingness to discuss prices (Oh, HELL no!)
--Showroom full of scooters and lift chairs. (Very scary)
--A suspiciously lush reception area . . . (What will this cost me?)

[Julie]

Chunky, I get 'vibes', but being up here too I was curious what he referred to (he didn't ref 'bad vibes' after all), and didn't just want to assume any or all of that stuff you mentioned... in fact assuming anything usually gets me in trouble, so I asked... but I get your meaning too. PR - you mean I don't need a nanny after all?

[palerider]

PR - you mean I don't need a nanny after all?

well, maybe, but you deserve one that cares, and isn't just rude and obnoxious.

[TonyG]

CPAP Clinic I find to be very price competitive for all supplies in Canada.

[tripman]

Thanks for the replies, I actually had a bad experience the 2 times I went to cpapclinic. I can never get a straight answer from salesman, can you give me a name for the salesman you used? I keep reading about people using cpapclinic but I've actually had an opposite experience. My wife went both times with me and we both thought he was extremely dry and unhelpful. Anything we said to him or ask him we had to repeat multiple times because it felt like we were talking to a brick wall trying to sell us snake oil. Maybe there is a specific sales man someone can recommend here.

Secondly, do I have to buy a mask at the place I get the machine with ohip? This is something this salesman wouldn't answer and kept saying I have to commit to buying before I decide to get a mask. He was always giving me a hard time with taking my time and choosing a mask, this was even before I tried putting one on. When I told him my trial mask was terrible and uncomfortable and that I need to find a new one, maybe instead of full mask try the nose models he let out this long sigh and my wife rolled her eyes with disbelief considering I have read everywhere, that everyone should take the time to find a proper mask.
Eventually I walked over to the mask display case and under each mask there is a label "I'm Clean, Try ME". So I asked him if I can try the display models since they're clean, here he was honest and told me I shouldn't do that because the display masks haven't been cleaned for months and he wouldn't recommend it because "who knows what bacteria they carry". I asked him why each mask has the I'm clean label if they are all dirty and he just shrugged it off. Another huge red flag for us.
The way he was trying to sell me the unit was very unprofessional, pushing all this information that you can find in any sleep apnea brochure but not answering any of our direct questions and ignoring most.
At the end of the chat with this salesman I felt frustrated, agitated and angry considering most of my questions were still unanswered.

This was my experience with the doctor too. He told me I have OSA, 30 day Trial didn't help with fatigue at all, when I came back after the trial he told me he can't help me and told me to go back to the family physician, I called the next day to get a prescription anyway (so i have an option to decide if I want one even though the doctor was unclear. So right now I am in a neutral state as I don't know if I actually need one or not considering I was first told I have OSA but later when I came back he told me he can't help me and sent me away without a prescription.

I found the DME list and will message 2 more tomorrow but cpapclinc has been a horrible experience.

[Julie]

You've asked about buying online, so why not ignore the people you met at the store and go online at least to first check out what you want and go to the dealer only once you have a good idea of what that is (we can advise on most machines and masks). And if you get lousy service, tell them and go somewhere else. They're businesses like any other, and if salespeople are unpleasant, don't deal with them.

You can buy any mask any time you want to anywhere you want to. Period. What's important is that if you're trying a full face (vs nasal) mask you must do it lying down because your facial structure changes a lot vs sitting up and you'll have a hard time adjusting to the masks otherwise. But you also should be sure you have the right size and that it's fitted (adjusted) properly... many masks have videos with info on doing it properly.

As mentioned before, Cpap.com will let you try masks x 30 d. for a small fee... and you can look at them first on the site - huge selection - where you can see graphics, reviews, lots of info on all. I don't work for them but appreciate their choices (and prices when I have ordered things).

[tripman]

You've asked about buying online, so why not ignore the people you met at the store and go online at least to first check out what you want and go to the dealer only once you have a good idea of what that is (we can advise on most machines and masks). And if you get lousy service, tell them and go somewhere else. They're businesses like any other, and if salespeople are unpleasant, don't deal with them.

You can buy any mask any time you want to anywhere you want to. Period. What's important is that if you're trying a full face (vs nasal) mask you must do it lying down because your facial structure changes a lot vs sitting up and you'll have a hard time adjusting to the masks otherwise. But you also should be sure you have the right size and that it's fitted (adjusted) properly... many masks have videos with info on doing it properly.

As mentioned before, Cpap.com will let you try masks x 30 d. for a small fee... and you can look at them first on the site - huge selection - where you can see graphics, reviews, lots of info on all. I don't work for them but appreciate their choices (and prices when I have ordered things).

I've already decided on the resmed autoset 10 with humidair, climateair. So the top autoset model. I had a full list of masks written down before heading to the store and my plan was to try them all out. But asking to try even one mask I got stone walled.
The masks I wrote down are the following:
swift fx
air fit p10
naunce pro gel
opus 360
mirage quattro