Lines Tangled, Mashed, Kinked/Poor Quality Control?

[Black]

Anyone else having trouble with tangled, mashed and kinked lines?  Sometimes the lines are so tangled and mashed it takes several minutes to unwind and uncrimp them to the point of being useable for prime.  There seems to be periods of time when the lines are good and just shake out, and then a spell when every cartridge has lines which are horribly twisted and kinked. 

They used to pack the catridges so they sat upright on their bottom edge; now they're packed lying flat and the bottom cartridge is sometimes barely useable.  The thinner plastic they are using to mount the lines on is not as sturdy and will not withstand the abuse UPS gives those boxes during handling, so they move all around inside the bag during shipping, and the bottom cartridge takes the most abuse.

And what is with those tissue paper thin plastic bags?  We used to be able to reuse the bags for disposal; now we're lucky to get the cartridge out without the entire bag tearing completely apart and I suspect they may already have tiny tears just from the box being handled during shipping, which makes me question the sterility if a connector is loose.  Which reminds me -- is anyone else finding that the lines are connected but the screw on collar is not screwed on?

Is no one observing the packing process?  Are they letting untrained people on the assembly line or are some of the employees just stupid and/or uncaring?

I still LOVE NxStage, but these quality control issues are troubling.  Sure wish they had a means of giving feedback on things like this.

[silverhead]

Could not have stated it better.....

[Adam_W]

This is one of my biggest complaints, along with the occasional horrible rinseback (I've been fortunate to not have any leaks-YET). I almost always have to spend time working kinks and tangles out of the lines. I don't want to send any of them back to NxStage, though because I'd be sending them all back, and I wouldn't have any more until they send replacements (and those would probably have the same problem). Pretty much the only thing keeping me from switching to a different machine is not being able to take a full-sized machine on the weekend trips that I like to do with friends. It's reaching the point where I'm feeling that the Fresenius 2008K@Home (or most other full-sized machine) is superior to the NxStage in almost every area. I'm going to stick with NxStage, though because I do trust that these problems will eventually be resolved. It's just a question of when.

Adam

[Zach]

Didn't I read somewhere on this site that DaVita bought a small percent of NxStage?

[cev]

Our newest batch of cartridges, except one has been better in way of not so tangled lines and we haven't had a leak (yet).  They are now packed in the old baggie so we can use for trash.  hopefully NxStage has turned the corner on this cartridge problem

[BigSky]

Didn't I read somewhere on this site that DaVita bought a small percent of NxStage?

Yea Epoman had brought it up.

Seems like the company has grown too fast for itself and its quality control and manufacturing are taking the hit because of its fast growth.

[Black]

Opened the first case of the replacement cartridges today and they were in the more sturdy bags we can use for disposal, and all of the lines were in very good shape - not kinked, tangled or crushed!   

[Bill Peckham]

And I bet the peanut is back.

[Black]

Yep, so I now have a hundred and one. 

[skyedogrocks]

We had a kinked line in the warmer 2 weeks ago, talk about a PITA!!!!

[silverhead]

I have found a "fix" for the kinked small lines, I take the cover that is on the "spike" and using a sharp box cutter, cut off the closed end and the ring on the other, then being VERY careful split it down one side, it slips over the damaged line and then can be taped over to fix the kink, solved several alarms I have had until they get their quality control in order......

[jbeany]

I had my training nurse send me a couple of those connectors so I could flush the drain lines since I didn't have any, and then the next case of cartridges I opened has one in every cartridge. 

Feast or famine!

[Bill Peckham]

I have found a "fix" for the kinked small lines, I take the cover that is on the "spike" and using a sharp box cutter, cut off the closed end and the ring on the other, then being VERY careful split it down one side, it slips over the damaged line and then can be taped over to fix the kink, solved several alarms I have had until they get their quality control in order......

Nice fix, I bet you are a fan of the tv show MacGyver silverhead.