Comments on: NewsFlash: OneTouch Ping Meter Product Recall

By: liz

liz — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 14:56:13 +0000

i know thi comment was from a long time ago, but i wanted to ask if you wre able to resolve your isses and to warn you against medtronic/minimed. they lied to me to get one of their pumps, and it has been nothing but a headache and the customer service is always nasty when you can get them to answer the phone… i have pumped for over 12 years now. and i am looking into a pump for my daughter, who was just diagnosed. hope pump issues did not effect job. being brittle sucks.

By: TyAnn Walters

TyAnn Walters — Sun, 23 Jan 2011 00:37:25 +0000

Is there anyone out there not satisfied with the way the Ping holds up? My son has had the ping for three years and we think its a peice of junk. The markings for the arrow buttons and ok button wear off, the black rubbery parts around the buttons wear thin, right now his is down to the metal, the silver coloring of the pump scratches off and the face gets scratched terribly. Animas always calls these cosmtic issues and claims they only do one cosmetic replacement. His cell phone, which he probably touches as much or more than the pump looks brand new and he has had it for years so whats the deal with this $6000 pump? I have searched the internet for others who have experienced the same issues but don’t see much. Surely we can’t be the only one!

By: Mark Strain

Mark Strain — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 22:56:25 +0000

My Finance has the One Touch Ping and it needs to be trashed, it’s always giving error codes because the tubing is kinked from the factory. Since they send you 50 at a time you won’t know they are all bad until you get past the 30 day return period. The Company policy says it’s your problem and we don’t care because we will loose money if we fix our problem. So, far in the last 10 months the actual pump itself has been replaced and we still have problems, the tubing is kinked on every set that is sent but, you can’t send it back because the Government Law states you can’t get refunded the money, this is what Animas is telling their customers. We asked for something simple like, when they send out another tubing set to replace the defective one to send the sticky adhesive with it and they said that is something you have to purchase. So let me understand, you “WASTE” the sticky to trying to attach a defective tubing set so technically both should have been reimbursed. We are the customer (consumer) and we are just being served a non-caring product, service and support. DO NOT BUY FROM ANIMAS UNLESS YOU WANT TO WASTE MONEY, YOUR TIME AND LIFE BEING UNDER OR OVER DOSED, GET THE RUN A ROUND WITH TECH SUPPORT, BE FRUSTRATED EVERYDAY AND NIGHT. There have been many nights and mornings she has woke up and the tubing is either kinked and she has not received any insulin, the tubing has come loose from the connector, the actual site has come off the body, the canula in inside the skin is kinked, the insulin still being accounted for but not actually being used. This system is supposed to make life easier but she spends $1000′s more per year and hours fighting with this device. She spent $6000 for this system that is a piece of junk, Don’t buy Animas, currently we are searching for a good alternative to Animas….

By: Fred

Fred — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 18:25:09 +0000

Animas had a special introductory price if you wanted to switch from your old pump to the Onetouch ping. You could get it for $900 or if you sent your old pump to them for $200. I have an Omnipod so I bought the new color screen PDA for $149 and sent my old Omnipod PDA to Animas. For $349 I now have both pumps.
I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes 27 years ago and I’m using a lot of insulin, I had to change the Omnipod every 2 days.I also found it very uncomfortable to sleep with(could only use it on one side of my body because i sleep on the other side) and had many errors and occlusions
so I decided to try the Onetouch ping.
The only thing I like about the Onetouch ping is the infusion set, the fact that I can refill it and no more occlusions.
The things i don’t like:
1:They try to do everything with an up, down and OK button and if you select something you get this black blinking cursor over your selection that makes it very difficult to see (Nothing wrong with my eyes).
2: If you are in one of their menu’s to get back to the main screen you have to click the down button like 10 times to get back.
3: No timer to suspend insulin delivery, it keeps on playing a tune.
4: The remote control is very slow and takes 10 to 15 seconds to turn on. It is not a long time but if you have to do it 100 times a day it is a big issue.
5:The remote or the pump will not give you an error when for some reason you did not get a full bolus, It will flash a red light and then you have to go search through their non user friendly menu’s to find the problem.
6:The remote screen is very deep and the glare of surrounding images makes it very hard to see.
7: You can only check the status and give a bolus with the remote. You can not make any other changes including suspending insulin delivery .
8: If you give yourself a bolus with the remote then you have to wait for it to finish before putting it down and walk away. If you walk away the bolus will stop and then just give you the flashing red light as mentioned above.
9: To get your last BG reading and last bolus you have to go find it in the menu system.
10: The revision numbers are on one of the menus, why not hide that from us and take it off our menu, Trying to find something and wasting a click to look at a stupid revision number that has nothing to do with how i control my BG is a waste of our time.
I can go on and on about this Pathetic 3rd world pump and the way this pump works gives me the feeling that it is a 1990 technology that does not get used anymore.
The Omnipod menu system ROCKS, Animas should maybe look at them and learn.
I guess that’s what you get for $200

By: Consearned Cousin

Consearned Cousin — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 16:33:46 +0000

My little cousin was overdosed with the ping and ended up in the hospital for a few days, 2 times. Does anyone think this could be a glitch in the program? He is 11 years old.

By: SamR

SamR — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 09:50:28 +0000

I am using a loner pump to check PING out now that Cozmo is gone. In a week’s duration I have had this problem with EZBG three times. The transmitter gives me the same error message. I have to reprime and go thru the whole process. Possible this transmitter has a problem but most likely it is a software error. Fortunately I haven’t ordered the pump yet. The system has several other minor problems. It is definitely too slow or too fast in entry of BS readings and in confirming bolus amount.

By: Kay

Kay — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 14:35:15 +0000

I want to go back to my old pump. I HATE the Ping by OneTouch. It is constantly having problems so I had it replaced. It is still frequently giving me error codes that say it is not primed. I have to stop what I am doing to disconnect in a clean environment, prime it and and fake filling the cannula. This means that I am wasting insulin that costs me $50 per month because of faulty equipment.

It is not just an inconvenience. It stops my insulin from pumping and I am getting inconsistent dosing. I am an intern at a hospital in the radiography department and they have become concerned that this pump is unreliable and a big distraction from my job and that I can’t be healthy – which translates to me not getting hired!!!

I can’t just stop working with my patients and go find somewhere to privately disconnect my pump to take care of it. If I don’t, however I won’t get any insulin until I can take a break – my only break is lunch or when I go home – I can’t survive on getting my insulin twice during the day!! I am a brittle diabetic which is why I am on the pump to begin with!

I have never had such an unreliable insulin pump! Is this pump highly sensitive to radiation?? I work in x-ray but I had no trouble with the old pump.

In addition, I have tried calling several times and waited more than ten minutes to get to a live person. I have called during the evening and on a recent holiday and no one would answer the phone… the answering service is NOT answering. I had to try calling in the morning and no one would answer the phone until after 8:00 am — I had to ask my husband to keep trying because I can’t be on the phone when I am working.

It is a serious problem if people cannot reach anyone when you claim you have staff 24 hours a day and our lives depend on that.

My pump was also telling me the battery was low when I had put in new batteries that tested full. I had to keep replacing lithium batteries from two weeks apart to just a day.

Also, I cannot return the pump Animas replaced because DHL does not pick up and deliver any more… they are going out of business. I have tried several times to call about that too and no one is answering after 5:00 pm when I am able to call. I have wasted many, many of my alloted minutes on my cell phone plan listening to recorded messages about how someone is available when in reality no one wants to answer the phone. (I don’t have a land line)

I don’t know what happened to Animas, but I am not at all happy with the ‘service’ or the new equipment. I wish I had gone to another pump provider now.

By: Michael

Michael — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 22:11:04 +0000

Correct Tracie, but why would you use the EZcarb from the “meter” and not be paired to the pump..

By: Tracie

Tracie — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 12:23:30 +0000

Its very easy not to have the meter and pump paired. My sons meter stays home when he goes to the sitter so its not lost or damaged.

By: Michael

Michael — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 01:34:13 +0000

Hey,

I currently use the Ping management system. I don’t know why you would have a problem. My pump and meter are always paired when giving insulin using the ezCarb method. So this problem must be effecting very few Ping users