IMPORTANT! Registered Users: Your Chance To Be Heard

Post by **forumadmin** » Fri Jun 10, 2005 1:02 pm

Greetings cpaptalkers,

A major CPAP Manufacturer would like to know what you think about the direction of Travel CPAP development. They've asked us to get your opinions on the matter.

Many of you have expressed your frustration at feeling ignored by CPAP Manufacturers. Here is your chance!

cpaptalkSurveys.php?SurveyID=1

A low turnout will speak more loudly than the survey results. I urge you to participate. Please use this survey to prove to the Manufacturers that cpaptalk.com opinion is to be respected and responded to with better products and policies.

This survey will conclude next Friday, June 17th. To ensure the integrity of our results, this survey is offered only to registered cpaptalk.com users.

Your participation is CRITICAL! Thank you for your support!

Johnny

_________________

CPAPopedia Keywords Contained In This Post (Click For Definition): CPAP

ozij · Post by **ozij** » Sat Jun 11, 2005 12:47 am

Johnny,
I just started reacting to the poll, and stopped in the middle.
I figure a CPAP manufacturer really interested in satisfying users would not force me to choose between options, but rather ask me to grade them.

For international users (they do exist you know) it might be good to mention weight and size in the decimal system as well the parameters were foreign for me..

How can they ask about a "brand best for travel" when at least one of them is not even sold yet?

Why don't they ask what mode is used more for travel - car or plane? Preferences might change, based on that.

Length of time you're away for home and use the travel machine?

I can see the manufacturer using the poll results: for ads: Buy our X, rated best for travel by cpap.com registered users.

...Please add me to the number of users who care - but found the poll impossible to answer.
O.

rested gal · Post by **rested gal** » Sat Jun 11, 2005 6:19 am

The manufacturer wouldn't be Respironics, by chance, would it? They have to even ask if people prefer a compact machine for travel??

I guess they weren't concerned when it was only one manufacturer (Puritan Bennett) with a neat small machine. But now that ResMed comes out with a smaller machine...and Aeiomed introduces built-in battery operation option... heheh.

I went ahead and completed the survey. But I considered it an exercise in futility -- for the same reasons ozij noted.

wading thru the muck! · Post by **wading thru the muck!** » Sat Jun 11, 2005 7:01 am

Johnny,

Warning! cpaptalk registered users may be more decerning than the average one choice poll.

I got a chuckle at ozij's post and rested gals addition.

I had some of the same thoughts. Hopefully they will get info that they need to make a machine that is what users are looking for. IMO that poll will not accomplish it though.

johnnygoodman · Post by **johnnygoodman** » Sat Jun 11, 2005 11:59 am

Howdy,

I suspected I would get an ear full from this.

This is how the game is played folks: you get a chance, its not ideal, you show up in force anyway and do your best with it, the company is pleased with the turnout and interest, they ask you to do another one, you say "sure, we'd love to, but here are some things you can do better than you did the first time". In this way, each one is better than the next one. You demand the best now, but what position are you in to demand it?

Less than 1% of all CPAP users get their stuff online and very few of those that do are active cpaptalkers. We go to conferences and tell Manufacturers that there's a new wave coming. That they better pay attention. My father is a wise and respected man and has been right many times in the past. This Manufacturer is betting he is right again with this move. My father and I are two, but we are many. Will we toss this chance aside, holding out for a better one that will not come?

Right now, you've got no voice and no power. You take what they produce.

Ozij, in normal situations I can understand how abstaining due to lack of a 'real choice' could be an effective tool. In this case though, they don't listen now and surely won't again if we don't come out in force. The time to abstain is when people are needing your opinion (ie. they don't want to product machines before getting feedback from cutting edge cpaptalkers) and you refuse to give it. This can cause problems and is effective. Right now, we need a change and we have a chance, and no matter how slim or poor, it's a start.

There have been an impressive number of responses so far.

THANK YOU. THANK YOU. THANK YOU.

By doing that, you give me a chance to help push for change.

I urge those of you who have not filled it out to do so. But moreover, I ask that each of you post to this thread with the changes you would like to see made before the next survey. I will get as many of them in place for the next run as I possibly can. In fact, if there are rumblings of more surveys, I will try to allow for a community preview of the questions, so that they can be marked up pre-survey. That may be farther than I can go, but we'll see!

Johnny

ozij · Post by **ozij** » Sat Jun 11, 2005 1:14 pm

Hi Johnny,
Thanks for taking the time to write such a detailed answer. I am taking it very seriously - and thank for the great job you're doing giving us this meeting place.
In case it wasn't clear from my letter: I am one of the international users, and never think in pound and inches - so I wouldn't know how to answer that question without a calculator....
O.

wading thru the muck! · Post by **wading thru the muck!** » Sat Jun 11, 2005 3:43 pm

Johnny,

You can be sure that many of us (especially the ones who have posted on this topic) take this very seriously. Probably too seriously.

We all appreciate the opportunity to participate, even as imperfect as it is.

The one suggestion that I would make would be to allow more than one answer. One "best" feature without some of the other lesser features makes a substandard machine. It's the combination of necessary features that makes for a superior machine.

Thanks, for your efforts in these matters. Your attention to the forum it very welcome and much appreciated.

texan27028 · Post by **texan27028** » Sat Jun 11, 2005 7:06 pm

Hey Johnny,

I went ahead and took the survey. What I would like to see in a future survey would be either a comment box after each question or an overall comment section that I can type text in. I answered the questions as best I could, however though I do travel often, I have yet to travel with my CPAP. I've only been on CPAP therapy for about a month and a half. I had to give a best guess on some of the questions.

Thanks for doing a great job with the forum.

Richard

glassgal · Post by **glassgal** » Sat Jun 11, 2005 9:52 pm

Hi Johnny,

Thanks for the opportunity to participate.

With that said, it wasn't much of a poll. I agree with the previous posters that more options, places for comments, etc are needed. Of course the manufacturers may get information that they don't want to hear!

The question about the most important feature was most annoying -- many of the features are important -- and the way that they are put together is most important. You have all heard me whine about the PB bag, but when push comes to shove, weight trumps bag issues. The frequency of travel was also hard to answer -- sometimes I travel a lot and sometimes not at all, and it is hard to pin down!

If the reps from the companies (or execs!) would just monitor the forum here they would learn SO much about what we want. That seems like a no brainer to me. There is a store in the Phoenix area called "What Women Want" which sells swimsuits. They provide all the things necessary to find a good fit (or custom make if no off the rack fit) and comfortable experience for a job that most women HATE! They have identified their customer and built their business accordingly. I have trouble understanding what customer some of the XPAP and mask manufacturers are selling to -- surely it is NOT the people who USE the machines, or they would be more comfortable and user friendly!

As a business owner -- customer service is paramount. Our company is in the enviable position of providing a pretty unique product, that most others can't produce with a reputation for high quality standards. Customer service is always at the top of our list. We do not advertise -- our customers know how to find us. We have been in the same location for 50 years and some of our customers have been with us for almost that long. We have a small web site, but adequate. We also have a valuable resource in my dad and our production engineer who are very innovative and can help a customer develop a new product. Life is good.

I cringe when I read the posts about people attempting to get help from a manufacturer and they are rejected, humiliated or get no response at all. That is inexcusable behavior.

CPAP.COM has wonderful customer service -- that is why we are all here enjoying this forum and learning so much. I will continue to purchase from them and recommend them to others.

Sorry about the rants -- I feel strongly about this stuff!

Great job Johnny!

IWannaSleep · Post by **IWannaSleep** » Sat Jun 11, 2005 11:54 pm

Once again this board is providing one of it's greatest benefits, presenting our faithful with an open forum to vent.

I just don't understand burning up so much negative energy over this. Someone asked you for your opinion on a few issues, end of story. You may wish they did a better job of asking the questions, or wish they asked you what you wanted to talk about, but they asked about what they felt they needed input on.

Let's not shoot them for asking, or shoot johnny for being the messenger.

Personally, I'd like to thank Johnny for putting out the effort to bring the survey to us.

Ron

rested gal · Post by **rested gal** » Sun Jun 12, 2005 8:02 am

If everyone simply went down through a survey checkmarking this and that, and never said a word about what's lacking in what's being asked, how does that help a manufacturer really improve products?

..."they asked about what they felt they needed input on." (emphasis mine)

Perhaps that's part of why the development of more comfortable masks and more versatile machines crawls along at a snail's pace. Too many times, when something new does finally come out, improvements that would be obvious to experienced cpap users are never addressed, or are handled poorly.

Getting input from actual users about what the users need...sounds like a good thing to me. That process, however, depends on what users are asked in the first place. And how open the manufacturer is to suggestions. I agree that it's a wonderful thing Johnny is doing in stepping forward to pass information along from users to manufacturers.

I don't see talking about the input process itself as burning up energy on negativity. I see it as constructive criticism that might, just might, give the manufacturer better insights into what the manufacturer presumably wants to know: Is there enough interest in a machine suitable for travel to make developing it profitable? If so, what would make such a machine attractive to that market?

glassgal made some excellent points about "customer service". The problem with cpap equipment and its development is that the end user isn't really the manufacturer's customer. The manufacturers' real customer is the Home Health Care supplier...the "DME". Too often, any input the DME could give a manufacturer would be about as useful as some of the masks they toss to new users. Although we usually use the term "DME" to refer to local bricks and mortar suppliers, Johnny's cpap.com (and all the other online cpap equipment sellers) are home health care suppliers, too. cpap.com is a much better "DME", of course, than most local DMEs, imho.

Johnny is the real point of contact between us (the online buyers) and the manufacturers. The more input he gets from all of us, the better. When the input is occasionally accompanied by a few BB pellets, I believe Johnny is big enough to not feel like he's been shot. He's probably used to hearing from exasperated, sleep deprived people... as well as his many satisfied customers. I'm one of the latter.

ozij · Post by **ozij** » Sun Jun 12, 2005 8:33 am

Thank you Rested Gal for putting things so clearly!
O.

glassgal · Post by **glassgal** » Sun Jun 12, 2005 1:41 pm

RG -- my thanks also -- I was pretty tired and grumpy when I wrote that! Once again you have clarified and clearly stated what I meant!

Iwanna -- I certainly was not "aiming" at Johnny -- just frustrated with a system that does not seem to work well. CPAP.COM certainly DOES have good customer service and is obviously caring about their customers to provide this forum and ask for our input. I apologize if I came off lumping our hosts in with the "evil DME's". That was in no way my intention!

Mary · Post by **Mary** » Sun Jun 12, 2005 5:51 pm

At least someone is willing to look at what we have to say about a product that could make a big difference in our lives.

johnnygoodman · Post by **johnnygoodman** » Mon Jun 13, 2005 11:12 am

Greetings,

Thanks for all the replies. If you have not taken the survey, I urge you to do so.

Johnny

IMPORTANT! Registered Users: Your Chance To Be Heard

IMPORTANT! Registered Users: Your Chance To Be Heard

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