Don’t worry, I printed this all off first thing this morning, before you had a chance to modify it. It is not often I get to read psychobabble this good.
dsm wrote:
For many months there was an unfortunate hate campaign levelled a Resmed. Anyone who denies
this took place is in a different planet to the one I live in.
I don’t see anyone denying that fact, it was all well-deserved criticism if you ask me.
dsm wrote:
The vitriol was intense & some of the arguments here were quite unfortunate - the case against
Resmed was that they were increasing their prices & putting in place an anti-online policy. 'Ripping
people off' was the common sentiment.
Ripping patients off, I agree with that part.
dsm wrote:
The company announced in their recent press releases that they wrote of approx $25 mill (I am
assuming US $) in advance for the past quarter to cover this recall. Their shares dropped from
about $48 to about $42.
Get your facts straight, it was $59.7 million NOT $25 Million, big difference. It is right in their press release. Note: unlike your posts, once they release a press release they cannot come back and “modify” it.
Abstract from SAN DIEGO, April 23, 2007
As described in a press release issued concurrently with this earnings release, ResMed has announced that it will conduct a worldwide voluntary recall affecting approximately 300,000 of its S8 flow generators. The Company is currently in discussion with the US Food & Drug Administration, and other regulatory authorities, regarding this action. The estimated cost of this action is $ 59.7 million which has been recognized as a charge to cost of sales in the consolidated statement of income and accrued in the Company's consolidated balance sheet as of March 31, 2007.
dsm wrote:
The details of the problem were that Resmed contract out to a third party the manufacture of the
power board. They have (from my own pulling many machines apart) used a very similar power
board since their S6 models thru the S7 models & the Vpap IIIs and S8s. This makes economic
sense in that it reduces cost of manufacture.
The major difference that occurred between the other models & the new S8 was that the power
cable connector changed from the large 3-square pin computer style power socket connector to the
now familiar 2-round pin plug (what I call the shaver power cable power connector).
When Resmed contracted this work out they obviously expected the same reliable manufacture of a
near identical power board as the previous models (except for the switch to the 2-round pin plug).
It seems their contractor let them down big time. They appear to have used an inferior method of
mounting the new round power pins and on some machines subjected to heavy use (moved a lot,
power cord flexed a lot), some of these pins worked loose & were then able to cause arcing
between the pin and the land pattern on the power board power input socket. I have closely
examined the power supplies in all Resmed models from the past 5 years (have done the same
with Respironics and Puritan Bennett as well as Fisher & Paykel units).
You are NOT a company spokesperson, so WHY are you trying to make excuses for this company? Why
Should we believe you? First I read it was a “power cord” from one of their Dealers, but that wasn’t true either.
You are covering up for them only because they are an aussie company? Years ago Ford made a Pinto automobile that would explode when rear ended in a car wreck. Same thing with the S8 I guess you could say. But there have not been 300,000 other “recalls” from these other manufactuers. Again, you just want to shift blame and cover up for them any way you can.
dsm wrote:
It is quite clear to me that Resmed has known of this problem for many months. I say this based
on logical deduction ... Resmed didn't just learn of this last week. They wrote of the $25mill in this
past quarter in order to cover this situation which means their accountants and auditors have
looked into how the company could handle the obvious recall and how they could protect
themselves financially. So, by deduction, when did they know ?. By further deduction it seems to
me that they have been preparing for this unfortunate (for them) recall since 2006. It is obvious
the evidence mounted slowly, then at some point Resmed knew they had to 'bite the bullet' and
act. But such action takes a lot of thoughtful planning.
So now we have a logical reason why Resmed, needing to be financially responsible to its
shareholders and customers, had to devise a way of honoring the recall and protecting their
business. This clearly involved putting in place some unpopular policies re pricing & sales They
needed accurate figures for estimating how long it would take to recover the losses) but then the
muck hit the fan here in cpaptalk. Some people here just went ballistic others lept in and pounded
Resmed with gay abandon. The attacks offended some of us but were supported by others who
clearly liked joining in attacks on well defined targets. If we defended Resmed we got accused of
being Resmed employees (a dishonest fabrication repeated against a number of people who used
to post here regularly - it certainly happened to me more than once - most recently I publicly
denied it and it only goes to show the level to which some unfortunate posters will stoop to make a
hollow point).
oooooohh, I bet wall-street Investors would love that “inside-track”. So they KNEW about this recall back in 2006?
and raised prices to cover this huge recall? Interesting theory, I wonder what the SEC would have to say about
that theory. Again, you have no idea what you are talking about.
dsm wrote:
So lets look at how responsible Resmed was ?. They have made an unqualified offer to replace any
machine that had the problematic power supply. The reason I am so impressed with this offer is
that I purchased my S8s in the US & brought them to Australia.
tell them the truth, the only reason you bought them HERE was because they were cheaper and you could get the autopap with the software already installed. Why didn’t you buy them in your own country where you would pay a premium?
dsm wrote:
BUT, Resmed has now told me they will replace these two US machines (one new unused & one slightly used) with two new local ones without any debate as to where & how I bought them. That impressed me immensely & told
me how responsible Resmed was being in regard to this recall.
In fact, today I felt a good deal of sorrow at what garbage they have had to put up with from some
people (you know who you are) who were so convinced they had proof Resmed were just plain
bastards out to rip everyone off when in fact Resmed were doing what they could to protect their
business so that once they had, they could do the honorable thing and announced a general
*unqualified* recall.
I joked earlier in the thread on the S8 recall that they wouldn't take my machines back because I
bypassed their local sales outlets & bought overseas models. I was so wrong. They didn't quibble
!!! even when I told them how & where I bought them !!! (they may have had good reason to
believe I bought dumped machines - that is what they now look like to me - I never could
understand why such new machines were on sale at such low prices. Mine have been just great but
they were cheap).
I am not embarrassed to say that I am so proud of them as an Australian and them being an
Australian company. They were willing to do the honorable thing for their dealers and customers.
This company are heros to me and I can say that I am somewhat miffed at the dishonest remarks
and some lies that were spread about them here while the price controvesty raged. Some people
went so far over the top in their anti Resmed rants that I believe some humility is in order (but I
doubt it will appear by way of any contrition - perhaps just more vitriol).
Anyway, I am saying that Resmed is a company I will be proud to do business with in the future &
I wish them well.
Doug Marker
(I also am stating that I am totally uninvolved with Resmed the company or any part of their
business - just a cpap user who started off with a great Remstar Auto & who regards that as a
classic machine but who now also greatly respects Resmed)
Thanks for the great laugh, my side has been hurting all day. You have the right to your opinion (even if you don’t understand what goes on in the real world). And I’m sure you will go cry about this post as well. But it is pretty hard to hide the facts.
But for all the newbies, that don’t know what Resmed did going back in 2006 when it implemented their new internet price controls, they had just finished one of their highest revenue producing quarters in history ending March 31, 2006. Being a greedy wall-street company as they are, they decided that record quarter wasn’t enough, having gotten a few complaints from their brick & mortar “Dealer” network that internet vendors where selling their products too cheap and customers without insurance where not buying their machines at inflated $1700 prices the Resmed dealer wanted. They wanted EVERYONE even those without medical insurance to pay $1700 for a POS sub $200 machine. Figure it out, they took a $60 million dollar charge to replace 300,000 machines. If you had/have insurance what did the invoice say that your insurance paid? Next time don’t bitch about the cost of medical insurance, because you are looking at the cause of it above.
But if you don’t know of Resmed’s pricing policy, go back to these links and read:
viewtopic.php?p=98895
You will learn that Resmed jacked up prices back in 2006 to protect their Brick & Mortar Dealer base and shafted us USA patients without insurance in the process. It is why most of us that buy our own equipment outright think that Resmed sucks, and they continue to suck in my book.
So your theory that Resmed jacked up internet prices only to cover this $60 million recall is completely ridiculous and you have no idea what you are talking about. There is nothing wrong with having pride in your country, but if you want to be seen and portrayed from the outside as ignorant, I can't stop you from shooting yourself in the foot.
As for their machines, I won’t buy another one. I haven’t bought a single Resmed product since before their price increase last year. I refuse to pay $239 for something I only paid $149 (or less) before their price increase. I’ll buy another brand (and have) before I’ll spend a dime on a Resmed product. I’ve purchased 3-4 machines and 3-4 masks since their pricing policy went in effect. Unfortunately for us uninsured, the price we have to pay for other masks is also higher all because of Resmed’s policy. They no longer have a reason to lower their price, but thankfully other manufacturers will see this opportunity like Somnotech and bring in their machines and masks to make up for the loss. From what I can tell, their stuff is better anyway.
someday science will catch up to what I'm saying...
