(04-03-2017, 04:31 PM)Hydrangea Wrote: Speaking of rentals... I'm not quite sure what DMEs do with rentals that get returned. My dr/DME looked panicked and furious that I would return my rental (it was less than 30 days, come on now!). I got the impression that he didn't know what to do with it... which made me think 1) will they pass it off as new to someone else?, and 2) not many of their rentals must get returned.
Not sure about how things work in other countries compared to Australia.. and no doubt there are differences in the service given by different companies/suppliers.
The company that provided my machine for my home trial after my sleep study gave me a "rental unit" for a month at a reduced fee while my specialist assessed how well the machine was treating my apnoea, and also allowed me to try different masks (the mask frames where rentals as well, but the cushions/pillows where brand new out of sealed packs).
Once it was decided that the machine was working for me with settings deduced from variations over the month, my specialist said he would sign off on me getting my commercial driving status reinstated conditional to ongoing CPAP use and compliance to certain hours and AHI numbers.
I then decided to purchase a brand new machine identical to my rental/test unit from the same clinic/company.
The clinic I dealt with then took my rental unit back (after extending the loan period for two extra weeks at no cost due to a health problem I had that meant the data I needed hadn't been compiled at the end of the month's trial), they then provided me with a brand new Dreamstation in an unopened box.
When I returned the rental unit and picked up my new unit they also set it up with all the identical settings that I'd been on, and I got a complete brand new F&P Eson mask the same as the loan mask I'd had.
The clinic also downloads my data to give reports to my specialist as required for free as well.
From what I saw the clinic I dealt with actually just uses the machines as true rental units, available to people who need a unit to do CPAP trials or ongoing personal hire, then if you purchase a new machine they give you a genuine brand new one boxed from the factory.
I preferred the carry bag that the previous model came with, rather than the one that comes with the new model Dreamstation, so they even swapped the carry bag over from one they still had in stock for me without a problem.
customer service.
Sounds like some suppliers and clinics elsewhere could take a lesson from where I went.