Stelo Reviews 202

About 5 days into the 15 days...the readings seem to "flat line" at a minimum of 130ish. I'd prick my finger and get a reading of 98, 102...and the app says 138. Was told "compression" could be the issue when I sleep on my side. They replaced the first one....good for them...but it happened a second time and they for unknown reason didn't replace it. I could still see what spiked and didn't spike my readings....but the actual numbers were bogus.

My experience is that this sensor is unreliable, inaccurate, and backed by awful customer service. I write this review as I wait for a supervisor to help figure out why it's been two weeks since I filed a product complaint with Stelo, actually three complaints, which have not been resolved.

I’ve been using this sensor for eight months, and honestly, the only thing consistent about it is its consistently poor performance. What’s most frustrating is that these problems aren’t one-offs—they keep happening, over and over, despite my best efforts to make this product work as promised.

Reliability and Sensor Failures: Time and again, the sensors fail long before the advertised 14-day lifespan. I’ve had them stop working after just a few days, and even receive some that were dead right out of the package. It’s maddening to pay for something that doesn’t even make it halfway through its expected life.

Accuracy Concerns: The readings are all over the place compared to my finger-stick tests. Sometimes they’re noticeably higher, other times much lower. This isn’t just annoying—it’s dangerous. I rely on accurate glucose readings to make decisions about my health, and this inconsistency creates constant uncertainty and anxiety.

Poor Customer Service: Dealing with Stelo’s customer support is almost as bad as dealing with the faulty sensors. Reaching a human being feels like a miracle. The chatbot is useless, the responses I get are generic, and follow-up is rare—if it happens at all. I’ve had to chase them down for replacements, and even then, the process drags on unnecessarily.

Connectivity Issues: Just when I start thinking a sensor might last, it starts dropping the connection to the app—especially toward the end of its life. I’ve had to restart the app, re-pair the sensor, and sometimes just give up entirely.

I wanted this to be a reliable tool I could trust. Instead, it’s been a constant source of frustration, wasted time, and unnecessary stress. For a product that plays such a critical role in health monitoring, this level of failure is simply unacceptable.

Stelo is a nightmare! No customer support AT ALL ON A PRODUCT THAT HAS A 2-WEEK LIFE SPAN. It wouldn't pair on the 1st one-in the trash after 5 days. The 2nd one lost signal with 8 days left and no customer support would help me. I just went round and round with a bot and got nowhere. Finally threw the 2nd one out today. ALL I GOT WAS HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE...FORGET ABOUT GLUCOSE! I bought through Oura to use with my ring. Biggest mistake ever!

Customer service is awful. Chatbot is useless. First biosensor worked well. Second biosensor failed after 2 days. 2 case files created with a promise to have an email re failure within a few business days. 2 weeks later, nothing. This is a surprise from Dexcom company. There is no place on their website to leave a review.

I ordered a Stelo subscription for my father to try out the sensor, but unfortunately the device stopped working properly partway through the first cycle. Because of this, I canceled the subscription before the next shipment was even sent.

Despite the product failure and my prompt cancellation, I was still charged for a second shipment — with no advance notification of the renewal. When I contacted support, they were completely inflexible, stating that all sales are final and they could not issue a refund or stop the shipment, even though it hadn’t left the warehouse.

I was hoping Stelo would stand behind their product and show some understanding given that the device didn’t work and the subscription was canceled in good faith. Instead, I was met with a scripted response and no attempt at resolution beyond connecting me with tech support — for a product I no longer want.

I’m disappointed in the lack of customer care and transparency. Be aware that once you're charged, there’s no recourse — even if the product fails or you cancel before the next item ships.

No customer service. Last lot/shipment i received will not pair and there is no product complaint line just an AI Bot thet is less than useful. So I'm out almost $300 for defective product. Canceled the subscription. They are good when they work but they fail often and the Quality Control appears to be non-existent.

The sensors mostly work. Sometimes they quit a day or two early but mostly I get the 15 days.
The problem is their customer service and their software. I’m tired of their runaround and being treated like a moron. First zero order, then two, now I’m back to zero. AND they claim I have two accounts with the SAME email! How does that work? Like I said, a software problem.

There is zero customer service when an issue arises. I do NOT recommend this company.

The readings from the Dexacom did not match the readings from the glucometer. There were many interruptions when it would not connect to my phone.
Also be careful when you have the subscription. It says it is a 3 month subscription but they renew after 87 days which I did not realize. I canceled before 90 days were up but I am still going to be stuck with another 3 month supply; I did find a customer service number and called, the lady told me that somewhere on the website it does say it's 87 days which I had not seen when I signed up, my fault. But they would not cancel my order even though it had not been shipped yet!

Pros: When the sensor(s) worked, they were fairly accurate compared to finger stick. The app is basic but gave me the info I needed to watch for spikes and track food. Paired with Apple Health and Carb Manager apps.
Cons: Reliability is not good. Two failed sensors and one application where filament did not embed. Customer service is through a bot - but approval for replacements was nearly immediate. Then the shipping wait - 5 days on average. That is NOT acceptable for someone with out of control hyperglycemia trying to manage glucose and learn.
Overall: Had Stelo sensors been more reliable and the shipping for replacements been expedited, the system would have been good. After the last sensor failed 2 days after application, I switched to Libre Lingo.

When they work, they're great. I have been using them for about 7 months and have observed an increasing fail rate. Either they lose connection temporarily, permanently, or session ends early now about 50% of the time for me. The last three meters stopped working 4 days in, 8 days in and 5 days in respectively. To Dexcom's credit, they have replaced all but one of the failed meters. At this point, though I love Stelo when they work, I think I am going to try Lingo. Today's failed meter has me considering completely parting ways with this product.

I have tried 2 different Stelo monitors and especially towards the end of the their life with 5 or so days left it always lost connection. It would go hours before connecting. Luckily I don't have diabetes but I would be very concerned using this product if I did. I haven't been able to get a reading for 12 hours.

Deceptive Subscription Practices and Unhelpful Customer Service

I’m extremely disappointed with Stelo. When I purchased their CGM, I was not clearly informed that I was being enrolled in a subscription. There was no reminder or heads-up before the next order—just an unexpected email saying a new order had been created.

I immediately contacted customer service—twice—and was told both times that the order couldn’t be canceled. That’s unacceptable. The product hadn’t even shipped, and yet they refused to stop it. This feels like a deliberate tactic to trap customers into unwanted recurring charges.

Stelo’s lack of transparency and rigid, customer-unfriendly policies are deeply frustrating. A company dealing with health products should operate with integrity and respect for its customers—not make it difficult to manage subscriptions or cancel unwanted orders. I will not be buying from them again and would caution others to read the fine print carefully.

I am not diabetic but I thought Stelo OTC glucose sensor would give helpful info for a month or so. I made the mistake of signing up for auto-ship to get the better price.

I didn't install it right away, so by the time I started using it, I got another shipment about a week later. I used the first package (2, covering the first month) with few issues, except that they seemed wildly inaccurate. At first, my baseline glucose was in the 70s, but by the end of the 15 days, my baseline was in the 90s, with no change in diet. And they disconnected a few times, leaving several hours in between with no readings. I at least was able to see what foods caused spikes, relative to whatever baseline was showing at the moment. My husband wanted to try it, so I would let him use the remaining two.

Then another auto-ship box showed up. Customer service said there are no returns, and that it's stated on their website, which I should have read before I ordered them. Strike #1.

So now I had 2 boxes of two devices remaining. I decided I would just go ahead and do another month, while my hubby was also doing his. We both installed them. Mine (#1) connected. His (#2) never did connect, after numerous tries. So we pulled that off and installed a second one on him (#3). That connected and he's still using it. My first one failed after about a week. So I installed the last one (#4), and put support tickets in on the first two that had failed. I had happened to not throw away those first two, so I still had the serial numbers.

They sent a replacement immediately (#5) for the first one I had used. They sent a "thank you for submitting your ticket" message to the claim I submitted for my husband's, but then I never heard another word. So I finally demanded to chat with a live agent from the chatbot. That girl finally called me.

She said the ticket I had submitted for my husband didn't go anywhere, because they wanted a record on the user, not the purchaser. (But of course they didn't tell me that until I called). So she had to resubmit that ticket under his name. Several days go by, still no response to that. And btw, most stores only give refunds or do customer service with the original purchaser. How would anyone know that Stelo/Dexcom requires someone else (user) to create the support ticket? If my kid uses my car and it breaks down on them, does my kid file the warranty claim? No. So this line of thinking by Stelo wasted at least a week of time waiting for their response -- in which time, I threw away the old dysfunctional devices!

In the meantime, my second device (#4) also failed after a few days ("ended session early"). So 3 out of 4 were defective. I called customer service immediately to get help with both issues. She looked up "my husband's claim" which the first girl had resubmitted, and said, "Yes, yes, I see what happened." And she resubmitted it again. Again, only got a message: "thank you, we'll be back in touch in 1-2 days."

On my second device that failed (#4), she asked for the serial number and the exact day it was installed. I said I didn't have the device any more, and couldn't remember the exact day, but it was over the weekend. She said you're supposed to hang onto them for the full two weeks, in case they fail! That's how confident of their own devices they are, people!

Why wouldn't they have a record of the serial numbers they sent me? And why wouldn't their app have a record of the serial number of the device, and the date I installed it? There has to be a record of it somewhere! But they won't replace them unless YOU give them the number and the date installed.

The Stelo agent said the person reviewing the claim might be able to see the info, so she submitted the claim for me anyway. But now I've received a message: "sorry, the info you submitted is incomplete and we're not replacing your device." And they STILL have not responded AT ALL to my husband's original device (#2) that never connected from the first minute.

I paid for 4 devices (about $200), and only one of them is working. They've replaced only one (#5 - which I've now inserted). I am owed two more devices, which they are either ignoring or refusing. I'm not confident they would even work if I received them, but they should at least replace them and let me try to get some value out of it.

Overall, their devices are hit-or-miss. Their customer service is terrible. If they truly don't keep records on who has what devices, that is an egregious lack of data on their customer base, in an era where keeping that kind of data is a simple programming thing. And if 3 out of 4 don't work - and if they refuse to replace them, based on said lack of data - they actually cost about $200 each. And the company is going to go bankrupt anyway. So good luck to everyone is this endeavor!

I wish I would have read reviews before purchasing because then I wouldn't have. I had an allergic reaction to the either the adhesive or to the monitor. It was reported to the company after a struggle of finding out how to do it. They don't make it easy to talk to a human being and it had to be done by chat. I was impressed that a nurse from the company called me to see how I was doing. She was going to have customer service reach out to me about a refund because this was money down the drain. Of course, no one has reached out to me.

They need the get their act together. I subscribed to get the $10 discount. Twice the monthly order was delayed, leaving me without a CGM for several days. But what happened today takes the cake. Their bot couldn't help me. I asked if I could call someone. They don't have a way to do that, but I was able to chat with a live agent who wrote very much like a bot. I was told to cancel my subscription and then subscribe again. They said the new website was having issues. I asked how long it would take to get my first order. They suggested I buy it once from Amazon to get it faster than I could from them. Ridiculous. It was going to cost me an extra $10 to solve their problem and they didn't even have a promo code for me.

I solved the problem myself. It turns out that you can get the same subscription that Stelo offers through Amazon. So I subscribed there and cancelled my subscription at Stelo.com. The sensors will arrive in two days. I strongly suggest using Amazon. Stelo.com really needs to get its act together.

As a non-diabetic interested in tracking glucose trends, I was initially excited about the Stelo. The concept is great for understanding how your body responds to different foods, and my first few sensors worked reasonably well.
The Good:

Useful for learning food reactions and glucose patterns
Good educational tool for understanding your body's responses

The Bad:

Reliability issues: Sensors became increasingly erratic
Premature failures: Many sensors stopped working after just 1-2 days instead of the promised 14 days
Accuracy concerns: Required frequent finger prick calibrations, defeating the convenience factor
Terrible customer service: Cases remain unresolved for months despite promises of 1-3 business day responses. Staff is polite but completely ineffective.

Bottom Line:
At $100/month, this is only worth trying for 1-2 months maximum to get a general sense of your glucose trends. Don't expect precision or reliable customer support. The declining sensor quality and useless customer service make this impossible to recommend for long-term use.
Note: This review is from a non-diabetic user focused on general wellness tracking.

Insurance won't cover my stylus wish they would had some of my stylist replaced due to the problems no reading great price for when you're paying cash cuz insurance don't cover the stylus because they do not take insurance for it yet wish they would hurry up and get it where insurance company will pay for the stylus

At first I thought it would be great to be able to manage my blood sugar and learn about what makes my blood sugar spike. However, the sensors cost $50 each which are suppose to last 15 days. I’ve been using the sensors for 4 months and several times the sensors stopped working early at around 7-8 days. It is very disappointing that I trusted these to help with my blood sugar and spent a good amount on them and they failed to work properly.

If I could give a lower rating, I would!
I used the Libre 3 and it turned my life around for the positive.
When Dexcom offered the Stelo, I jumped on the bandwagon, as the price was terrific. After purchasing several, and using several, I’m not impressed at all. I kept giving it “another shot” and each time, the device was defective. Incorrect readings were constant, and 75% of the time, I couldn’t even get a signal/reading.
I’m going back to the Libre 3, and I sure hope that Dexcom gets their issues corrected for the folks who can’t afford a better quality device.