MIRAGE SWIFT LT QUALITY POLL--THE RESMED CHARADE???

So after all that, here is the outcome statement from ResMed, copied in full:


"We understand your complaint is that the replacement cushions are softer than the original

· People prefer a range of pillow stiffness for their individual preference. Some replies to ResMed indicates that some customers find the pillows too flexible, but others are finding the pillows should be more flexible. ResMed has balanced the stiffness range for all population where the majority of our customers are happy with the current design.
· The Swift LT is designed using double wall pillows that require lower headgear force than the original Swift and should not be over tightened to seal and stabilize as indicated on our user guide and related section of the Flexible Active Seal Technology (F.A.S.T) section on our web. This improves comfort and is a strong selling point for the Swift LT.
· Swift LT pillows are made from silicone which has a natural variation of stiffness from batch to batch and the material characteristics of the silicone will change during use according to user conditions such as skin type, cleaning regime, usage of any facial cream, etc.
· Added to this we have several multi-cavity moulds making each size of pillows
· The result is that the stiffness of pillows varies between samples but all pillows including return samples are within the design specification range.
Thus, we hear the concerns of our customers and have established a program to reduce the variability of the pillows in early production cycle. This program will further help to minimize the difference noted by our customers when moving to a new pillow. This program will take some time to complete and for parts to replace stocks in the field. However, when any new pillow is used, the mask will require headgear readjustment to optimize the fit to suit the new pillow to prevent over tightening as indicated in user guide.

Thank you for your patience and I hope this has helped alleviate your concern.

Jennifer Baum
Product Manager- Masks
ResMed Corp.


Edit: Had trouble with updating the subject line, but it did work after all.

plr66 wrote:First of all, feeling_better, this was not a “par for the course” process in any sense. ... I have never in my life had such committed and non-defensive responsiveness from a company about a product issue.

plr66, I am only pleased that you had a an excellent outcome. If you go back and read this thread, you may notice that I was one of the few who thought there was nothing wrong with the product! As for my previous statement, I see that most of their response lines are templates from 'sales, marketing and customer support' text books. Perhaps some of the lines came from my earlier posts Peace!

When I called them several months ago to complain about the headgear cutting into the top of my ears, they acted like they could care less.


JeffH

Tonight I received the scheduled conference call from the ResMed engineering team in Sydney, including Phil, Menduh, and Sue, as well as US Product Mgr Jennifer. This was the outcome processing call of their entire investigation of my originally registered concern followed by this forum poll which I hoped would provide additional input, and which I am sure they followed closely.

To sum it up, they report that after studying all the pillows under microscope, and the different outputs from different moulds---they have indeed now modified their "target range" of firmness of the pillows, and also tightened the range of variation in the production process. This addresses exactly the concerns that I originally expressed. Was never asking them to produce a product to just serve my preferences, but asking them to address the apparently marked differences in the quality of the pillows with regard to firmness.

I will receive the new and improved replacements next week for all of the pillows I sent to them, and the engineering team is asking for feedback on those. I will post one last time concerning the outcome, when I have been able to use the new pillows sent to me.

I again have to say that this has been a gratifying and remarkably positive experience. There are those who must apparently remain cynical. And I am amazed, quite frankly, that of the 800 some hits on this thread since I posted the original reply 4 days ago, only 2 comments have been posted. What does that say? I have no idea. But it is a bit sad to me that so much energy is invested on this forum to the complaints and begrudgements and mistreatments we experience...but so little affirmation for the positive outcomes of our concerted positive efforts to have an impact on the manufacturers and clinicians who are involved in our world of cpap therapy. IMO, this is one of those remarkable outcomes.

Edit: I totally goofed up by editing my last post to change the date, and accidentally eliminated the post I wrote on 6/13/09. If anyone knows how to retrieve that post to keep the thread intact, please let me know.

plr66 wrote:I am amazed, quite frankly, that of the 800 some hits on this thread since I posted the original reply 4 days ago, only 2 comments have been posted. What does that say? I have no idea. But it is a bit sad to me that so much energy is invested on this forum to the complaints and begrudgements and mistreatments we experience...but so little affirmation for the positive outcomes of our concerted positive efforts to have an impact on the manufacturers and clinicians who are involved in our world of cpap therapy. IMO, this is one of those remarkable outcomes.

I think it's terrific that the company took your concerns to heart and responded with genuine interest and a desire to investigate the issue you raised. That says a lot, especially in this day and age, when corporations seem to feel like the little guy (and real customer service) isn't an important factor in the company's success or failure.

I'm sorry I hadn't commented further since you posted the update a few days ago. I was waiting for the outcome, and I'm pleased with it, since it means I can continue to use my Swift LT without fear that future pillows won't measure up to what I've received in the past.

Thanks for going the extra mile, on behalf of all of us.

plr66 wrote:Tonight I received the scheduled conference call from the ResMed engineering team in Sydney, including Phil, Menduh, and Sue, as well as US Product Mgr Jennifer. This was the outcome processing call of their entire investigation of my originally registered concern followed by this forum poll which I hoped would provide additional input, and which I am sure they followed closely.

To sum it up, they report that after studying all the pillows under microscope, and the different outputs from different moulds---they have indeed now modified their "target range" of firmness of the pillows, and also tightened the range of variation in the production process. This addresses exactly the concerns that I originally expressed. Was never asking them to produce a product to just serve my preferences, but asking them to address the apparently marked differences in the quality of the pillows with regard to firmness.

I will receive the new and improved replacements next week for all of the pillows I sent to them, and the engineering team is asking for feedback on those. I will post one last time concerning the outcome, when I have been able to use the new pillows sent to me.

I again have to say that this has been a gratifying and remarkably positive experience. There are those who must apparently remain cynical. And I am amazed, quite frankly, that of the 800 some hits on this thread since I posted the original reply 4 days ago, only 2 comments have been posted. What does that say? I have no idea. But it is a bit sad to me that so much energy is invested on this forum to the complaints and begrudgements and mistreatments we experience...but so little affirmation for the positive outcomes of our concerted positive efforts to have an impact on the manufacturers and clinicians who are involved in our world of cpap therapy. IMO, this is one of those remarkable outcomes.

Edit: I totally goofed up by editing my last post to change the date, and accidentally eliminated the post I wrote on 6/13/09. If anyone knows how to retrieve that post to keep the thread intact, please let me know.

I'm glad you got their ear. I didn't, and stated such. Since you DO have their ear, mention that several on this forum have complained about the headgear cutting into the top of the ear. If not for Karen @ Paddacheeks, I would not have been able to use the LT.

JeffH

To be honest, the response from ResMed that you posted on June 13 sounded like just so much public relations hot air.

The conference call tells a different story. ResMed has examined the situation, found a problem, and has implemented a solution. And they are sending you some of the new production. For that, ResMed is to be commended.

Hopefully the new pillows will be good for the vast majority of Swift LT users (myself included.)

Thanks to PLR66 for all the work.

I've been using the Swift LT for 3 weeks now, and the pillows have seemed to be a bit on the soft, floppy side.

If ResMed is going to change the pillows, have they indicated when the "improved" version will be available? And how can the new version be distinguished from the older version? I wonder if they would be willing to swap old pillows for new ones?

Again, PLR66, thanks for seeing this through.

I had some trouble with my pillows for my LT sealing well for a few weeks, but the problem went away on its own after that, it seems.

I have now used the same pillows, the ones that came with my LT, for a little over 6 months. As long as I can make them work, I will keep using the same ones. I just want to see how long I can make them last, as much for the fun of it as anything. If I can make them last for a year, then, hopefully, due to plr66's fine work, my next pair of pillows will be within spec and do me just as fine.

Anyway, I didn't have any input, myself, since I am still using the original pillows.

Thanks, though, plr66!

BleepingBeauty, Macawber, and JNK, I do thank you for responding with such positive support. And I am a little embarrassed since I intended to be clear that I am not seeking any accolades for myself, but instead for ResMed's response. This has been an amazing experience, and I have no special clout or influence or power to have brought this about. I guess I have learned that I think what we have to say here does have some credibility and impact. Thanks for everyone's thoughtful input to have helped this happen.

plr66 wrote:I am a little embarrassed since I intended to be clear that I am not seeking any accolades for myself, but instead for ResMed's response.

I didn't see your earlier statement as seeking accolades, plr; I praised you simply because you took the time and made the effort to contact the company about your concerns and then saw the matter through, with positive results for all of us who love our Swift LT and want to continue using it. Ya done good!

Now, take a bow! (Or should we just throw money? Perhaps our extra nasal pillows?)

BleepingBeauty wrote:

plr66 wrote:I am a little embarrassed since I intended to be clear that I am not seeking any accolades for myself, but instead for ResMed's response.

I didn't see your earlier statement as seeking accolades, plr; I praised you simply because you took the time and made the effort to contact the company about your concerns and then saw the matter through, with positive results for all of us who love our Swift LT and want to continue using it. Ya done good!

Now, take a bow! (Or should we just throw money? Perhaps our extra nasal pillows?)

Money and extra pillows would be good. For any reason whatever!! Thanks BB.

As some of you may remember, I opted for an Opus instead of Swift LT because of the pillows issues. I may try the Swift LT next time around, based on this new info.

Since we live in world of soundbites and text snips, it is understandable that the people who want to solve the technical problem in Resmed have to have their reply filtered by PR; We consumers have to learn to read those texts between the lines -- that's the equivalent of Kremlin watching in capitalist societies..... So I waited for further info.

The further info from Resmed was impressive. Kudos to the company for a proper response (no matter how it's worded) and to you Peggy, for gathering and presenting the info in a way that helped the company become aware of the problem.

Resmed's response to this issue if far far better that Respironics' "no we don't have missing data".

Keep it up Resmed -- and do make your software more easily available!

O.

On 6/24/09, I received 8 replacements for the 8 Medium pillows that I sent to the ResMed engineers at their request for study. I wanted to use the new pillows for a week or so, to give a fair report. Here ‘tis.

I’m glad to report that right out of the bags, every single one of the refined pillows the engineers sent to me felt just like my “old faithful” which lasted 9 months. The inner nasal cone feels stiffer than the outer one, and the entire pillow has a more substantial feel than all those “newer” ones I sent to them. No over-reaction on their parts. No marked or over-done stiffness. Just an absence of that flimsiness and too-crushable feeling that ruined at least this user’s AHI for the entire month that I had to use one of those 10 newer ones I had painstakingly collected.

On the other hand, the newest one I have been using requires a lot of fiddling-with to get seated right, and I never had that problem before. Strange.

The overall results are good, but curious. With all other things remaining equal from the months of use of my original LT pillows (pressure, headgear, humidity, taping, hygiene, etc) my AHI has this past week ranged from 0.2 to 1.7 while using one of the refined pillows sent to me. (Specifically: 0.2, 0.3, 1.7, 0.8, 1.5, 0.9. 1.4). This is fairly comparable to my previous AHI of about 0.2 to 1.5 for many months, though on the higher end of my typical numbers. The weird thing is that the leak rate moved from an absolute constant of .24 with my old pillows, to .30 (using pressure of 10) with the refined pillow just sent. I’m told that the engineers are looking at this.

As I have said several times previously---I am impressed with this entire experience and ResMed’s response. Guess I should add the usual disclaimer that I have no vested interest in this company and no other motivation than to request a study of their quality control for consistency in a product I consider to be outstanding and want to see continued at its highest level of effectiveness.

The disappointing side of all of this is that ResMed Product Mgr Jennifer has informed me that those who have issues with their pillows being among those flimsy ones needing to be replaced, should contact their DME to explain what they are requesting for replacement. I did register the concern that DME’s don’t have a clue and that most of our experience is that DME’s will not bother to put forth such effort to seek the higher level of refinement. (Witness one of our members recently having a DME bring out a pillow apparantly from their dregs, in the palm of her hand without any packaging). Unrealistic response, but Jennifer says that they need to place the DME’s first in the chain. UGH. I have no desire to turn this into anything like an adversarial position with ResMed. But that is where it was left at this point.

"The disappointing side of all of this is that ResMed Product Mgr Jennifer has informed me that those who have issues with their pillows being among those flimsy ones needing to be replaced, should contact their DME to explain what they are requesting for replacement. I did register the concern that DME’s don’t have a clue and that most of our experience is that DME’s will not bother to put forth such effort to seek the higher level of refinement. (Witness one of our members recently having a DME bring out a pillow apparantly from their dregs, in the palm of her hand without any packaging). Unrealistic response, but Jennifer says that they need to place the DME’s first in the chain. UGH. I have no desire to turn this into anything like an adversarial position with ResMed. But that is where it was left at this point."

And there you have it. They took care of you and feel they've done their job. Screw everybody else. I couldn't even get my former DME to send me the right Swift pillows, much less replace a specific one...LOL.

I think I'm using one of the bad ones now....it's chewing up the inside of my nose a bit. It seems less sturdy than the one before.

JeffH