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Ever try to call Philips Respironics for tech support?
#1
Ever try to call Philips Respironics for tech support?
You simply go into an endless loop in which if you are a patient you are instructed to call your home care provider for answers to any question you may have. Heck, if my home care provider could and would answer my questions I wouldn't be calling in the first place!

I have a PR BiPap machine and like it just fine, but so far I haven't needed any support. But this inability to talk to a rep is one of the reasons I prefer ResMed masks. I can have a patient care rep on the line in just a couple of minutes.

Just sayin'.
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#2
RE: Ever try to call Philips Respironics for tech support?
Hmm... what if someone doesn't have a home care provider? That's the case with me at least, and I suspect anyone else who used an online supplier. Seems like they really do believe that the end customer is the DME, not the patient.

By the way, I had sent a message to ResMed last week using their online form. I was expecting to get an e-mail back a few days later, but to my surprise I got a phone call from a live person. Now they might have been calling from the west coast because to them it was still business hours but to me it was dinner time... but it was thoughtful nonetheless.
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#3
RE: Ever try to call Philips Respironics for tech support?
Hi old dude,
When I first started with CPAP therapy, I had a Respironics DS200S, (BRICK,) and I tried to call them for a question I had and I was met with the same thing. The one time when I did get someone, they didn't act the least bit interested in what I had to say, after all, I was just a lowly patient, )Ha-Ha).
trish6hundred
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#4
RE: Ever try to call Philips Respironics for tech support?
If you check their website, you'll see that they consider their customers to be the DMEs and not the actual patients. I had tried to contact them in January 2012 when I was trying to determine why their new machines whistled so badly. They wouldn't respond to my inquiries but they did answer the (online) DME's questions - sort of. Their answer was to try another new machine!
INFORMATION ON APNEA BOARD FORUMS OR ON APNEABOARD.COM SHOULD NOT BE CONSIDERED AS MEDICAL ADVICE. 
ALWAYS SEEK THE ADVICE OF A PHYSICIAN BEFORE SEEKING TREATMENT FOR MEDICAL CONDITIONS, INCLUDING SLEEP APNEA.
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#5
RE: Ever try to call Philips Respironics for tech support?
(09-09-2013, 05:12 PM)PollCat Wrote: If you check their website, you'll see that they consider their customers to be the DMEs and not the actual patients. I had tried to contact them in January 2012 when I was trying to determine why their new machines whistled so badly. They wouldn't respond to my inquiries but they did answer the (online) DME's questions - sort of. Their answer was to try another new machine!

Yes, I noticed it was not very patient-friendly.

It's their business and they must do very well, but it seems to me to be very short sighted to not have patient interface reps available, especially with equipment that involves something as serious as apnea treatment.

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#6
RE: Ever try to call Philips Respironics for tech support?
I think they rely on the fact most people, like sheep- just take the machines they are given, hence their real need is to sell to the actual decision makers in machine selection - the DME's.

the few of us that actually take ownership are not significant in their world view, at least not significant enough to devote any time energy of promotional effort on.

At least that's my conclusions from observed behaviors

BTW - do we have any numbers/estimates around how many people with OSA vs how many are active in their treatment?
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#7
RE: Ever try to call Philips Respironics for tech support?
(09-09-2013, 02:20 PM)Paptillian Wrote: Hmm... what if someone doesn't have a home care provider? That's the case with me at least, and I suspect anyone else who used an online supplier. Seems like they really do believe that the end customer is the DME, not the patient.

By the way, I had sent a message to ResMed last week using their online form. I was expecting to get an e-mail back a few days later, but to my surprise I got a phone call from a live person. Now they might have been calling from the west coast because to them it was still business hours but to me it was dinner time... but it was thoughtful nonetheless.

I agree with you about Resmed. I had a machine that quit working. The DME couldn't figure it out so I called Resmed. I got the information that I needed to instruct the DME to return my CPAP to them and to give me a new CPAP machine. They also gave me a list of 5 issues that caused the problem (which I passed on to the DME who didn't know about this) and I followed those suggestions and I never had another problem. The biggest one is to keep your power supply on the floor or at least not on the same stand with your CPAP machine. I wish it hadn't been 2 years ago when this conversation took place and I would have been able to remember the other 4 things they told me. Resmed said that they usually deal with the DME but they were very much interested in helping me even though I was the patient! Love Resmed's customer service
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#8
RE: Ever try to call Philips Respironics for tech support?
(09-10-2013, 01:26 AM)me50 Wrote: The biggest one is to keep your power supply on the floor or at least not on the same stand with your CPAP machine.

What is the rationale for this? The only things I can think of are heat issues or some sort of stress on the power cord. I suppose if you kept the brick right next to the CPAP device, the EM field from the transformer might interfere with the electronics, but that would only be an issue if their design was deficient in simple EM shielding.
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#9
RE: Ever try to call Philips Respironics for tech support?
(09-10-2013, 07:49 AM)RonWessels Wrote:
(09-10-2013, 01:26 AM)me50 Wrote: The biggest one is to keep your power supply on the floor or at least not on the same stand with your CPAP machine.

What is the rationale for this? The only things I can think of are heat issues or some sort of stress on the power cord. I suppose if you kept the brick right next to the CPAP device, the EM field from the transformer might interfere with the electronics, but that would only be an issue if their design was deficient in simple EM shielding.

I will go back and see if I can find my notes in the next few days and see if I can find out why they said this. It was 2 years ago and I cannot remember the details now. I know I used to keep my power supply next to the CPAP machine and I had problems with my machine and now that I think about it, I had this problem twice and they replaced the CPAP both times. I don't like the power supply on the floor but I had to put it there b/c I doubted they would replace the CPAP machine again or that it would fail right after the warranty expired. Since I put it on the floor, I have never had that problem again.
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#10
RE: Ever try to call Philips Respironics for tech support?
Philips never talk to patients instead they like to ask patients to call their provider where is provider does not know anything about dreamstation cellular modem configurations, Resmed is nothing diffentlly treat their patients
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