So, I decided to go with the onedrop premium subscription because I do a lot of pricking and bleeding. Sure, it's expensive to start out with, at about $79 bucks for the meter, but I'm doing so much testing the "unlimited" strips seemed like a good deal, and will keep me from having to run to Wal*Mart to grab new boxes of strips.
After reading the instruction manual, it directs you to test the device with the control solution. Of course, they don't bother sending you a bottle of control solution to use when you first take it out of the box, so I contacted customer service and had them send me a bottle of the control solution.
However, I figure the must have just included that "do a control test" as legal mumbo jumbo and it'll get me close enough for knowing about where my blood sugars are.
About a week later (after about two weeks of using the onedrop meter), I get the control solution in the mail. I perform the control test 4 times, never once getting a test within the acceptable range.
So, I call the customer service line and let them know (as I'm instructed to in the manual). I give the guy the serial numbers off the meters, control solutions and strips. The customer service rep was nice enough, but when I asked if they could overnight me a new one, I was told that everyone has pretty much gone home for the weekend.
After I went and ate dinner with my family (a lovely zucchini lasagna), the rep called back and let me know he had already talked to management about the issue, and they wanted me to go through the control test with him on the phone. So, I do the control test two more times, and neither of those come back within range.
Of course, when I ask him if they could overnight me a new one a second time, he again tells me he doesn't think it's going to happen.
Luckily, I still have another Relion meter around that should get me through the next couple of days, and it's not like it's difficult to get a new meter from Wal*Mart even if I didn't, but it's still a pain in the butt because I've been using the Onedrop to help me figure out what is and is not spiking my blood sugar by specific amounts (Type 1.5 LADA, not on insulin yet), so I'm guessing I can't actually rely on any of the last two weeks of data I've collected on myself.
So, I think the lessons here are:
1) Onedrop should package some control solution with the Onedrop meter, since they say right in the manual that you should do a test before you use the meter. IF YOU SPEND 80 BUCKS ON A METER, AT LEAST GIVE ME A BOTTLE OF CONTROL SOLUTION. I wonder if every meter is supposed to be calibrated, and just no one does it.
2) If you use a Onedrop meter, call and ask for the control solution, because you might not be getting accurate numbers at all.
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