AirLiquide and their approach to customers
Tempted by their innovative pump, I got it when I was due an upgrade. (Previously, I used Medtronic. I was generally happy and their customer support was good, even replacing the pump when it went through the x ray at an airport.) However, its becoming clear to me that I made a mistake and should have stuck with Medtronic.
AirLiquide's Customer Support is appalling, and if you're 'lucky' to speak to Melissa from that department, be prepared that she has an answer for everything and that you're not going to win, no matter how much you try.
The pump had failed on me once, in the middle of the night at 2am, but they said it was a resettable issue so just told me to reset the pump. I expect no such issues from medical devices and I became very anxious that the pump might fail again. No matter what, they'd not replace it.
Furthermore, my order for consumables is sent to me once every three months and with Christmas coming up, and the fact that here in Scotland, there are more back holidays around that time, I was worried that I'd run out of sets (it's now the start of Dec and I have two boxes left, with me changing sets every two days upon the advice of the nursing team). They'd not send the order earlier, and when I asked what they want me to do when I run out of sets, they said I should start using insulin pens instead.
I've now requested to speak to a manager as I find that kind of approach unacceptable. I'll report back, but so far, I'm not impressed with their approach and will go back to Medtronic when I'm due to get a replacement device.
Another matter is how much these companies charge for the privilege to use their software, given the fact that I have diabetes, which is not self-inflicted. This is not to say that they shouldn't charge at all, but to charge £500 for a firmware upgrade and then £3,000 annually for sensors and transmitters, given how cheap plastic is and how cheap it's to make electronic devices, to have a closed loop is shocking. The pump itself is round the £3,000 mark if not more. I'm not surprised the NHS is in crisis, but I'm very grateful to the NHS for the opportunity to use the pump.
4 December 2024
Unprompted review