For Newbies who have gotten stuck with a brick

This happens often enough that if you didn't find our forum until AFTER you got stuck with a brick (meaning a machine with no data capabilities), there may be a way to deal with it.

Take a look at my new blogpost at http://maskarrayed.wordpress.com/2011/0 ... h-a-brick/

Remember that time is of the essence! As soon as you realize you got stuck with a brick, you should be contacting your DME to see if you can get it changed out. Your best chance is within the first month, ideally within the first week. After that it becomes MUCH more difficult, and eventually impossible.

Janknitz

A great addition to the blog! Add the link to your sig too,

Of course, the real, permanent fix for the brick problem would be for Resmed and PR to simply NOT make them in the first place.

Anybody know: Are there ANY CPAP manufacturers out there that make NO bricks?

As usual, this is very helpful! I'm actually going to meet with the respiratory therapist with my DME tomorrow afternoon. I've fired my first DME for giving me shifty information about my benefits. I should have gone with the second DME in the first place since they called me within 1 business day of receiving my info from the sleep lab and they're getting me in one day after calling me. They also explained my benefits to me without stumbling over details that sounded fishy...they were thorough and clear about what is or isn't covered.

Thanks Jankintz!!

This newbie gave back the brick on the 25th day thanks to all I learned here on the forum. THe DME sent out a billing to me for my part and my insurance company for their part of a second month. I got a notification that insurance paid their part. I didn't, I sent the bill back alerting the DME to the fact that I no longer had the machine. I called my insurance and they put me on hold while they talked to the DME. I was apologized to several times while on hold since it was taking so long. My representative eventually got back to me to say that the DME had retracted their billing. I was thanked for alerting my insurance.

Keep all your receipts and remember, when the DME dropped the brick on you, you had untreated sleep apnea.

Peg