Medtronic Inc

I suppose this is the correct business — it shows the same ZIP code as the address stamped on the box for the Medtronic Patient Programmer I was given, following the operation to implant the Medtronic Neurostimulator device in my lower back last fall.
This day, 18 May 2016, I went to meet Medtronic’s rep. at the office of Dr. Hayyeri, who did the surgery on me last November, here in Phoenix, AZ.
Previously I had met with a rep, named Bruce, there, once. And one time he chose not to make the appointment — telling me on the phone that the doctor knew everything he knew about the device — which is certainly not true.
The problem was for OAB, urge incontinence, dribbling, failure to void the bladder completely, nocturia
It seemed that it was working, somewhat, for a short period of time about the end of January, i.e. the symptoms were better — nocturia down to once a night.
But recently it has seemed that these symptoms has recurred almost as bad as ever — and I am back to taking several herbal supplements.
So I got a kind of coordination among the the VA, the agent, TriWest, which gets paid to schedule treatments to veterans to doctors outside of the VA, and the urologist and the rep from Medtronic, here in Phoenix.
Medtronic’s rep, Tatum, told me there was good and bad news. (I hate that cliché — I just want to know wtf is happening, not the nonsense): (1) the interstim device she got to work, using her computer thing (Meaning it had been TURNED OFF — for much of March, April and May, as she found on her computer)
(2) It was programmed to cycle ON and OFF regularly at intervals (this is a direct contradiction of what the previous rep, Bruce, had told me — that he had set it to NEVER TURN OFF, as I had read in the manual and asked him about.
Tatum speculated that there was confusion between Bruce and I because the device was set up to go on and off — and so that may have to do with the fact that it had been OFF for much of this past 3 months. What kind of nonsense is this?!?
Today I find on YouTube, that other patients have had trouble with this interstim device or the programmer for it not working properly — or at all — in contradiction to these reps’ claims that there had NEVER been any cases of of it failing to work.
And I read — on YouTube — that the device DIES out after 30 days of being in the OFF mode. I don’t know if this is true.
I do know that the Medtronic’s reps are uninformed about this product and unconcerned with the patients who receive it — and one of the reps LIED TO ME about specific questions about the device turning OFF.
Medtronic guarantees their product — but they don’t stand behind their warranty since they hire incompetent reps to tell people lies about the device.

Exceptionally smart, quality employees. Responses could have been faster but all in all a dynamic company!

Great products! Horrible customer service all around! Way too many layers to deal with. Field reps were awful. I ordered some very expensive equipment 2x and each time I had to wait literally months to fill my order once I requested it. It would have been great if someone had been keeping me informed of what was happening with my order, I was forever in the dark and had to keep emailing and calling. I filed a complaint and no one ever followed up. Unbelievable!
Recently I placed an order for some supplies and it was never sent and instead they sent something completely different. I called about it and they didn’t have a clue how that happened.
Many times when ordering supplies they are out and they never notify me. Great!

My ICD is supposedly a life critical monitoring device. ²⁴⁄₇ monitoring, etc.
Mine was out; incapable of sending report to whoever gets it. That was Feb 4. reported non-​functioning to medtronic – told to report to local pacemaker office; Said they would send replacement immediately.
Today 2.14.13 8:00 pm – still no replacement! So if this device is so medically, critical, can’t it have been over-​nighted or at least priority mail? Or did they know somehow it was not necessary for the 14 days/​nights (still counting) for maintenance of my twice open-​hearted valentine heart.