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Do NOT trust your DME - my story
#41
RE: Do NOT trust your DME - my story
A recent comment from a user of our local sleep clinic, so not just me then.

What a complete waste of time the Sleep Clinic was today!! After many questions from a very strange doctor who kept making a really loud throat noise while writing with a pen in between his little finger and his ring finger!!! he suggested me not to drink Tea after 6pm and not to get into bed till gone 2am!!! Mmmm!!! Ok then!!
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#42
RE: Do NOT trust your DME - my story
I've had much better results by just doing the compliance meetings with my sleep doc. After talking to the doctor, I talk with his respiratory techs about any problems or questions and. I'm much happier with the results of my visits since I started doing this.
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#43
RE: Do NOT trust your DME - my story
What I’m doing which is working well is using my family doctor who has been our family doctor since we moved back to the U.S. 12 years ago.  He knows me to be careful and knowledgable and I get advice here, then get his “approval” which has worked well.  My sleep clinic technical staff were GREAT- doctors and admin staff not so readily available is why I’m using our General Practioner.  I do this so DME or Sleep clinic wob’t Argue or whine with me in full control of my CPAP/APAP settings.
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#44
RE: Do NOT trust your DME - my story
Hi,
I’m interested in which branch of Keene Medical you had the negative experience with as they have 4 branches in NH/VT that I know of.
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#45
RE: Do NOT trust your DME - my story
(10-13-2017, 05:41 PM)Spy Car Wrote: I just picked up my new ASV Dave. I think they were a little sensitive when I asked to see the actual usage hours myself, but I tried to mollify them.

Zero hours.

Bill

Congrats on that.

Cleaver
INFORMATION ON APNEA BOARD FORUMS OR ON APNEABOARD.COM SHOULD NOT BE CONSIDERED MEDICAL ADVICE. ALWAYS SEEK THE ADVICE OF A PHYSICIAN BEFORE SEEKING TREATMENT FOR MEDICAL CONDITIONS, INCLUDING SLEEP APNEA. INFORMATION POSTED ON THE APNEA BOARD WEBSITE AND FORUMS ARE PERSONAL OPINION ONLY AND NOT NECESSARILY A STATEMENT OF FACT.
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#46
RE: Do NOT trust your DME - my story
(10-16-2017, 08:19 PM)Jagzoo Wrote: Hi,
I’m interested in which branch of Keene Medical you had the negative experience with as they have 4 branches in NH/VT that I know of.

They actually have 12 plus HQ. I went to the Lebanon one.
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#47
RE: Do NOT trust your DME - my story
(10-09-2017, 12:37 PM)CZOscar Wrote: Today was the start of my therapy so drove 35 miles to my new DME to get my new ResMed AirSence 10 AutoSet.

There were several new boxes piled on floor but he pulled one off a shelf that was in travel bag.  I checked the power cord and machine and it looked used.  I asked him 3 times if machine was new - he said yes.  I asked him if he checked clinical menu “about” for time and he pretended to not know what that was.

I needed a good mask fit so went through process testing under pressure with me ending up with ResMed P10 nasal pillow.

Went home plugged in the machine and went into clinical menu and bingo machine had 1,359 hours on it.  I immediately called and he said “it should have been new, must have been a mix up with machine in backroom, he will bring me a new one.”

Hell with that I drove back and traded after verifying I had a brand new machine.

It was no mistake - he lied and tried to give me a used machine with lots of hours on it.

Thanks to this forum and help on my first post that gave me the knowledge to be educated and not allow fraudulent DME cheat me & Medicare.

Thank you and warning to all new users.

Not sure how Medicare works:  I have a high deductible insurance plan, so I buy my CPAPs online and pay out of pocket to avoid dealing with both the insurance company and whatever DME they recommend I use.

If Medicare is paying (and it sounds like in your case it is), there is probably some fraud reporting hotline you can use.  It might have been unintentional, although it doesn't sound like it, but the guy you dealt with might just not have known it was anything other than a unit that someone else had pulled out of a box to show another customer.
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#48
RE: Do NOT trust your DME - my story
(10-16-2017, 09:40 PM)KSMatthew Wrote: Not sure how Medicare works:  I have a high deductible insurance plan, so I buy my CPAPs online and pay out of pocket to avoid dealing with both the insurance company and whatever DME they recommend I use.

If Medicare is paying (and it sounds like in your case it is), there is probably some fraud reporting hotline you can use.  It might have been unintentional, although it doesn't sound like it, but the guy you dealt with might just not have known it was anything other than a unit that someone else had pulled out of a box to show another customer.

Not unintentional at all. This is a common experience with DME's. It happened to me, too. Used with 544 hours on it. I knew to check because of this board. The salespeople were pretty shocked! They lied to cover. Then I overheard the boss in the hallway saying, "Just get her to sign....Just get her to sign the papers."

I've written a professional note to the president of the company (it dominates the VT/NH market) reminding him that the state of VT is very persnickety when it comes to ripping off seniors.
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#49
RE: Do NOT trust your DME - my story
(10-16-2017, 09:57 PM)HalfAsleep Wrote:
(10-16-2017, 09:40 PM)KSMatthew Wrote: Not sure how Medicare works:  I have a high deductible insurance plan, so I buy my CPAPs online and pay out of pocket to avoid dealing with both the insurance company and whatever DME they recommend I use.

If Medicare is paying (and it sounds like in your case it is), there is probably some fraud reporting hotline you can use.  It might have been unintentional, although it doesn't sound like it, but the guy you dealt with might just not have known it was anything other than a unit that someone else had pulled out of a box to show another customer.

Not unintentional at all. This is a common experience with DME's. It happened to me, too. Used with 544 hours on it. I knew to check because of this board. The salespeople were pretty shocked! They lied to cover. Then I overheard the boss in the hallway saying, "Just get her to sign....Just get her to sign the papers."

I've written a professional note to the president of the company (it dominates the VT/NH market) reminding him that the state of VT is very persnickety when it comes to ripping off seniors.
I'm all for giving someone the benefit of the doubt that there was an honest mistake.  But when THAT happens, you pretty much know that they've already had a 2nd, 3rd, 4th, ..., chance.  Might as well call it in to the State.
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#50
RE: Do NOT trust your DME - my story
(10-16-2017, 10:34 PM)KSMatthew Wrote:
(10-16-2017, 09:57 PM)HalfAsleep Wrote:
(10-16-2017, 09:40 PM)KSMatthew Wrote: Not sure how Medicare works:  I have a high deductible insurance plan, so I buy my CPAPs online and pay out of pocket to avoid dealing with both the insurance company and whatever DME they recommend I use.

If Medicare is paying (and it sounds like in your case it is), there is probably some fraud reporting hotline you can use.  It might have been unintentional, although it doesn't sound like it, but the guy you dealt with might just not have known it was anything other than a unit that someone else had pulled out of a box to show another customer.

Not unintentional at all. This is a common experience with DME's. It happened to me, too. Used with 544 hours on it. I knew to check because of this board. The salespeople were pretty shocked! They lied to cover. Then I overheard the boss in the hallway saying, "Just get her to sign....Just get her to sign the papers."

I've written a professional note to the president of the company (it dominates the VT/NH market) reminding him that the state of VT is very persnickety when it comes to ripping off seniors.
I'm all for giving someone the benefit of the doubt that there was an honest mistake.  But when THAT happens, you pretty much know that they've already had a 2nd, 3rd, 4th, ..., chance.  Might as well call it in to the State.
That's what demos are for: showing other customers. Not cracking open boxes, discarding the box, and putting it on a shelf somewhere, and then pretending to a new customer that it was just taken out of the box, or he "thought" it was new.... Very unlikely to be an honest mistake: consult the almost identical stories in this forum.
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