Monday, June 14, 2010

How to waste almost an hour on hold . . ..


I mentioned in passing that I recently upgraded my Minimed pump to the new Revel model.  I began using it on Monday night.  Saturday morning I got up and had some breakfast with my husband.  He left for a haircut and I went into my yarn room / home office to play on the laptop a bit.  And then it started.

Beep BEEP Beep

Pump alarm.  I pulled out the pump to see what the error message was, but no error message was found.  No alerts, no open circle (which is the alert icon).  I shrugged it off and continued trying to catch up on blog reading.  Fifteen minutes later . . .

Beep BEEP Beep

Still no error.  All pump settings looked fine.  Even though there was no Non-Delivery message, I disconnected my tubing and did a prime to make sure insulin was flowing.  It was - but better safe than sorry, right?  I decided I should call Minimed in case something was wrong with my new pump.

As always, they were experiencing high call volume.  Why does every other pump user decide to call Minimed at the exact time I need to talk to them??  Fast forward through 45 minutes of mind-numbing on-hold music and Beep BEEP Beep errors every 15 minutes.

MM: Hello this is "B", how can I provide you with great customer service today?
Me:  Hi, I just upgraded to the Revel.  For the past few hours my pump has been beeping every 15 minutes, but there are no errors or alerts.  It's the same beep you get every hour when a temp basal is set.  But I have no temp basal set, and it's beeping every 15 minutes.

He took all of my customer and pump info.  He asked if I had an open alert icon on my pump.  (I didn't.)  Then he asked if I still had my old pump.  My heart sank as I told him that I did.  I predicted he was going to tell me to send the new pump back and use the old pump until a replacement Revel arrived.

MM: Okay, can you get your old pump please.
Me: Sure, it's in a box right behind me.
MM: Does it still have a battery in it?
Me: Yes, I haven't taken the old battery out.
MM: Are there any error messages?
Me: Yes, there is a Low Reservoir warning. There is no reservoir in it, of course, but the pump doesn't know that and it thinks it's out of insulin.
MM: Have you cleared the error?
Me: Yup, I cleared it when you told me to go get the old pump. About a minute or so ago.
MM: Okay, what we often find is that an old pump is beeping with an error, and customers think it is the new pump beeping. Actually nothing is wrong with your Revel, you were just hearing the alarm from your old pump.
Me: Oh my goodness, I am an idiot.  Now that you mention it, the beeping started after I came into the room where my old pump is.  I'm such a dope!!!  Ummm, thank you for your help.

Okay, pass me the dunce hat!!!

14 comments:

  1. OMG! Karen the very same thing happened to me except I realized what it was before I called MiniMed! :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. The same exact thing happened to me 4 yrs ago when I had a problem w/ my old pump and got a replacement!
    LOL!!
    kelly k

    ReplyDelete
  3. Oh - I'm still laughing...!!!
    Aren't you nice to "fess up."

    ReplyDelete
  4. HA HA HA HA HA!!!!!!!!

    So happy your new REVEL is in top notch form :)

    If it's any consolation....a couple weeks ago I...uh....actually put my phone into the dishwasher and washed it. WHAT?????

    Talk about distracted!

    ReplyDelete
  5. The EXACT same thing happened to me! Except the error message on my old pump said my battery was dead. I felt like an idiot. And, yes, it was an hour on hold with MiniMed. I had the same reaction. "OOpps! I'm an idiot!" I'm so glad I'm not the only one and someone else was willing to write about it!

    ReplyDelete
  6. that's too funny. it says something when customer support knows about the problem - you're clearly far from alone.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Oh, goodness! We have the same problem here, except it's because my 3-year-old daughter and I both have insulin pumps. So does one of my sisters. Whenever we all get together, there's a lot of fumbling around, trying to figure out whose pump is the one beeping!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Ok, this made me laugh pretty hard. BUT, the good thing is that since he was able to tell you this..it was written on his little screen...WHICH MEANS...it's happened to other people.

    ReplyDelete
  9. That is hilarious! My husband has called the help desk for his work computer a few times because he password didn't work...and it was all because the caps lock was on. :) We all have those moments!

    ReplyDelete
  10. :) You shared a good laugh...and "alerted" the rest of us to check for this when we change pumps.

    ReplyDelete
  11. I'm sorry you were on hold for 45 minutes but that totally cracked me up! :)

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for your comment!