Spencer. Automatic Pill Dispenser Review.

 

I had seen an ad for this Canadian company called Spencer, they make automatic pill dispensers. They have their own pharmacy that works with your doctor to automatically refill and fill prescriptions, pack them and send them to you to insert into your Spencer medication machine.

This is the machine:

This also comes with an app, I read it puts you in contact with your care team, which so far have been really friendly! They also have bluetooth connectivity for tracking medication and progress AND they the machine has video conferencing for you to get in touch with your doctor or pharmacist which is also handy.

I thought this was amazing, I'm sick and tired of refilling medications by going to the pharmacy multiple times each month AND each week packing my pill box, this was driving me insane! I saw this product and thought I need to try this out.

I input my info and got a call from a nice young lady not even 20 minutes later, about the Spencer and she answered various questions I had and told me based on my circumstances the Spencer would only cost me 19 bucks a month instead of the full price of 100 something bucks, depending on your age and circumstances it may be free for you, they will give you a quote.

Today is now January 13th, she called and we discussed my medications being ready for transfer and that she would now go ahead and contact my pharmacy to do the transfer, she also explained to me that she can send along a bottle of my "as needed" medication that is not on a schedule but that if I took it regularly they could still put it into the Spencer, I dont take it often enough to need that but that is an option for those that do.

Today is now January 25th 2022 and my Spencer has arrived! 

This is the Spencer:

I plugged it in and it automatically turned on, I didn't have to push any buttons during the set up stage but this is what it looked like, it was very quick:

The bottom tabs are: health reading, medication list/ schedule/meds to go, support/appointments and tools (where you'd find settings).

Here is the tools tab and settings options:

Here is the health readings tab:

Here is the medications tab:

If you'd like to make changes to your schedule you may contact the pharmacy and change it for your next fill, I called them to change my 9:30am pills to 10am, as it would better fit my life schedule but for the time being it will be 9:30am, I hope I don't miss any doses as you'd again have to call the pharmacy for further instruction.

After a period of time, not in use during dispensing or other uses, the screen goes black, I'm very happy with that, as I didn't like the big print and lighted up screen to always be lit and disturbing me while I work, as I don't have kitchen space for it, so it sits next to me at my table.

Today is now January 28th 2022 and it is 9:30am, time to take my medication, the Spencer will let out an alert sound (that you can change the volume on in the settings menu) and the screen will prompt you to dispense the medication, in which you click the button to dispense, wait for the screen to say READY, to remove your medication pack.

Here is a photo of the prompts:

You remove the pack from the slot in the bottom, it will look like this:

The pack will have the medication in it, and will state the date, your name and the name of the medication.

They state in the video tutorial to rip along the arrow to open BUT I did not see an arrow anywhere on the pack so I just found at the top it was easy to rip, opening it there. (Remember to cross out or scribble out your name before throwing the pack away, as your full last name will be printed on the pack.)

I want to mention the very helpful video tutorials, that will teach you about settings, taking meds on the go, how to insert medication refills and much more; consult them or call the pharmacy if you have any questions.

Today is February 5th 2022 and I got an email with a 50 dollar Amazon gift card from the Spencer company, to thank me for joining their program. I used it right away and I want to thank them for the generous gift!

I wanted to make note their pharmacy is not open on the weekend, I wanted to let you know so it doesn't come as a surprise, like it did for me.

For monthly payment they will send you an email regarding payment invoice and instructions for auto-payment if you wish OR interac etransfer for payment, they also give you options to pay in installments but I pay upfront.

It's now May 3rd 2022 and I have been using my Spencer every day and I wanted to give my thoughts and "final" review.

So I am overall happy with my Spencer. The reminder each day to take my meds and take them on time is great but it doesn't work for reminding you to take them once you take your meds to go, that's then on you and I often forget to take my afternoon medication while I'm out but I guess I'll never be fixed of that haha.

I find it's easy to use the Spencer and very educational, if I have further questions the pharmacy is a call away and always helpful.

One issue I have is most times it's not easy to rip the medication package, I often struggle to open the package or need to use scissors; I guess it's not a big deal but where I have my Spencer set up it's not the most convenient for me.

Overall I recommend Spencer to others and would likely buy it all over again. I rate my overall experience and how I feel about the Spencer a 4/5.

Note: I will want to update this again down the road if I come into changes like changing medications, adding or stopping medications or changing doctors but I can't review this currently as I have no current medical changes to report for review.

Note: I wanted to mention, twice when I've used it the Spencer when dispensing makes an awful sound, this is when the pill package is stuck, I got an error. I just took the refill box out of the machine, fiddled with the stuck package and then put it back in. This has happened when it's usually at the end of the refill or near the end, or just stuck for no reason.

Update: I have been using my Spencer for almost 10 months now and I have to admit, they have a poor billing system. They dont give me invoices "on time" BUT I still get my medication. I am being invoiced for a few months at a time IT SEEMS, so I'm not invoiced and billed each month like you would a regular pharmacy, like I did prior to this. BUT I am most peeved that they once called me for my first invoice but not a single call since then, I MYSELF had to go out of my way to call the pharmacy and request an invoice on what I'm owing. In the first email (and second invoice) I received the woman wanted me to confirm if I've paid it or not, she had no idea about my first and prior payment or that I hadnt yet paid the second one, I had to go looking into my bank statement to confirm that I had not paid for the second invoice yet, so I JUST NOW paid both the second and new third invoices. (Note I always have the money, Im just not being billed properly until I reach out.)

I currently rate the Spencer experience a 3.5/5.

Update: Since my complaint about their billing system, I was contacted with an invoice on their own accord and I didn't have to reach out, which is great. We will see if this keeps up.

Update: I've been using the Spencer about a year now and their billing continues to be inconsistent. 

Update I've been using the Spencer for a year and 8 months, I continued to request my invoices but today I was emailed they are finally caught up and I will no longer need to reach out unless it doesn't arrive by the end of the mon month but that invoices should now be sent out in bulk. I will give it some time and see if this actually happens.

Note: I had forgotten to mention, a few weeks ago I had difficulty receiving my medication, it normally arrives Tuesday night but after waiting on it and calling the pharmacy twice, the driver delivered it by Thursday night. I had such worries they would not arrive in time to take them Friday. This has happened maybe once before but it depends on who is the driver, one of them calls if it's arriving another day, this was someone new, so I had no idea where my meds were for 3 days. I got my medication but I was mad for days. Last week it was my usual driver and he arrived on time, he's the one who calls me anytime there is an issue, he's great.

Update: I got my first invoice since the last update and I did not need to request it, it arrived on the 12th, for the month's prior invoice. I hope this continues, so I don't have to reach out anymore.