Medical Supply Co. Problems

New to the board, been using a BiPap for 3.5 years. Want to know if anyone else has this experience.

After going thru sleep studies and working with my doctor, I was prescribed my machine and picked it up through a medical supply co. close to my house. About 18 months later, my job moved my family and I about 1100 miles away. In doing so, we changed insurance companies. The Med Supply Co. informed me that they do not honor that insurance, which surprised me greatly seeing as it was a well-known carrier, before telling me I had to buy the machine outright for a ridiculous price. When I balked, I told them I'd send it back which is the last thing they wanted to hear. The owner got on the phone and shouted me down. From that point, they were as dead to me as I was to them. I mean, their gravy train of milking the insurance co. was ending, and they were none too happy.

Now I have a technical problem with the machine. The manufacturer (Respironics) initially directed me back to the supplier, who I can't & won't contact. They recommended several local, 'authorized' locations for maintenance, but they claim they don't do repairs or won't unless they were the original supplier.

All this just seems like a scam to me. If they can't milk the insur. co for service or repair, the consumer is useless to them. I'll pay for repairs myself, or have my current insurance provider cover it but no one I've contacted is willing. And I live in a fairly major city.

Any insight?

would be helpful to know exactly what machine you've got... there's a company that's been posted before that'll do service... but I don't know if they'll do everybody's.

Editted to add repair company info... http://www.acbio.com/index.htm

Gustavo:
Click on the User Control panel and select the equipment you are using. It's better if you select TEXT mode because the images for Respironics mostly look the same for some of their lines.

You can call there repair facility in Pennsylvania and ask to speak to a patient representative to find a distributor close to you to handle the transaction. Their number is (724) 387-5200.

You may be able to find one closer by going to http://www.respironics.com/locations.asp

The important thing is to get to the patient representative and ask them for a referral for maintenance purposes. Respironics won't accept equipment for repairs directly from the patient.

Your local guy's problem may be the shipping and other overhead costs. Ask them if you can pay for the shipping and suggest that you would like to sign up with them for replacement supplies - masks, filters, hoses, etc. If they see some $$$ coming in, they might be more amenable to dealing with the problem. If your machine is 3.5 years old, in not too long your new insurance company might be willing to replace it. In 3 and a half years, the technology has changed tremendously to a new machine would be good.

Interesting. Resmed also requires that your return a faulty PAP under warranty or not to "the" local DME provdider, or "a" local DME provider. But they also require the locals to handle the warranty/repair procedure whether they were the provider or sold it to you or not. If the local refuses to do so you contact Resmed again and they refer you to a "center" that does - and supposedly takes steps to "shake up" the refusing provider a bit.

I don't know how PR handles this but I would certainly let PR know about any local DME providers you encounter who refuse to handle your repair problem.