Although this seems to be a thread for long threads (and a long extinct one), I’ll stick to the OP’s question. Over the past 25 years, I’ve had four sets of HA’s, one analog ITC, two digital ITC’s, and one digital BTE. Starkey & ReSound. Every pair went back under warranty (sometimes multiple times), and the last set of BTE’s was so unreliable, inconvenient, ugly & uncomfortable that 5 years ago, I decided to put them in the dresser drawer & learn to live with hearing loss.
“Hearing aid” is a synonym for “rip off,” especially at the prices & with the level of service. I’d say they are comparable to Italian sports cars more than 21st century electronics.
I have two Hi Health Innovation BTE Aids The left one broke down twice and each time they tried to blame it on getting wet. I live in Florida and if its not raining then you’re perspiring and the last time they refused to replace it without paying postage. Being that I did nothing to the Aid and put it in a moisture cup at night, I am concluding that (from what they have said about moisture) that this AID does not weather well here in Florida! Both aids were under 6 months old! Plus the company is out of state, even though they have a representative here, which makes it harder to get service here!
After reading much of this thread, I have one great big consumer’s question for all the manufacturer’s reps out there:
HA manufacturer, Please tell me again:
Exactly why is it that the consumer feels he/she is getting “ripped-off” when he/she is forced by his/her disability to purchase a “medical device” at a price of $6000 and said “medical device” has a life expectancy of 2-4 years. (At best, that’s $4.11/day of life expectancy for the hearing aid. Heck, even a fancy new automobile only has a cost/day of around $8.00 and you can’t tell me that a HA costs half as much to build.)
Better still, said hearing device will be deemed as “obsolete technology” by you, the manufacturer, in less than 18 mo. so the customer will be “more than ready to do it all again in short order” rather than pay for a repair to an “obsolete item”.
As for the demanding environment in which a hearing aid must function; I don’t suppose you call the environment in which an automobile has to function a demanding one? Exposure to road salt, temps as high as 120F and as low as -50F, exposure to road vibrations that put a jack hammer to shame, routinely getting doused by full blown rainstorms that would float an ark, and even a good dousing with a mud-bath occasionally. " Oh, but you say a hearing aid has delicate electronics." To this I say B.S. Exactly how many delicate electronic components do you think the modern car has in it?
Let’s see, why is it that you feel threatened by the onslaught of these things called PSAP’s all of a sudden? Why are you so afraid of such changes as Hi-Health Innovations? If your profit margins are so thin, and your target market is so small and delicate, why then is it that every one of you manufacturers are scrambling to open retail outlets which put the independent retailers out of business? Is your little world about to collapse upon itself? I think so. Especially, if you don’t listen to the music! A big change is on its way!
I bought Starkey Soundlens almost 3 years ago. Came with a 2 year warranty. Needed a repair 2 months ago - $475 (new 6 month warranty on that). Need the other one repaired - same price. I called an online company looking for a new backup pair, told them my story and they said that when the aids went off warranty, I could have purchased a 2-year extended warranty for $300 covering both aids. The audi never mentioned this needless to say. I feel like I’m getting ripped off…am I?
I would certainly bring up the warranty issue with your audi and let them know your not to happy. As for repairing the HA, You could send them to www.DirectHearingAidServices.com for repairs if you want to deal with someone who won’t rip you off. They are located in Garden Grove, CA and they all worked for Starkey until Starkey moved everything to Minnesota a few years back. These guys fix all brands and are fast and reasonable; I’m sure it won’t cost you $475 and you will have the HA back in about a week. If you want to call them there # is 1-714-534-3277. I have used them after several times after getting ripped of by my audiologist who charged me several hundred $ just to put the HA in a box and send it off for repairs. Good luck!
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I would certainly bring up the warranty issue with your audi and let them know your not to happy. As for repairing the HA, You could send them to www.DirectHearingAidServices.com for repairs if you want to deal with someone who won’t rip you off. They are located in Garden Grove, CA and they all worked for Starkey until Starkey moved everything to Minnesota a few years back. These guys fix all brands and are fast and reasonable; I’m sure it won’t cost you $475 and you will have the HA back in about a week. If you want to call them there # is 1-714-534-3277. I have used them after several times after getting ripped of by my audiologist who charged me several hundred $ just to put the HA in a box and send it off for repairs. Good luck!
I bought my HA’s from a private Audi. My physical needs are far more important to me than my transportation needs. Even at the price I paid my HA’s will amortize on an annual basis to way less than my car insurance costs here in NJ.
You don’t HAVE to pay $6000. The prices of my hearing aids range from $1400-$6800 (with available options) per set. You should pay what you can afford to pay. You were breaking it down on a day to day basis…you should be using your hearing aids every day almost all day long. If you think of it that way you can’t compare it to a car that you may drive only minutes to an hour per day.
As the other guy said…2-4 years is not accurate. I give my patients accurate information. Hearing aids can last as long as you need them to last. I say on average 6-8 years but you are going to need 2-3 repairs on average in that timeframe, more frequently as they age. I would say on average my patients get new hearing aids every 5-6 years though because they want better technology.
2a. Speaking of repairs, I saw above this someone paid $475 for a repair. That is too much. I would call that a clear rip-off. I don’t know how they can justify. I send my repairs back to the manufacturer (not 3rd party) for repair and they come with a 1 year warranty. I charge $250.
Who is calling your hearing aids obsolete after 18 months? If my patients have purchased our $6,000 set 4 years ago, I routinely advise them the technology is still great and relevent, as it is. Can it directly connect to iPhone? No. Is it capable of other improvements that have been made over the past 4 years? No. But it is not obsolete. If they want to uprage for the new technology, that is a choice they are free to make. I tell them what they would gain by doing so. But I never advise against repairing a 4 year old set of $6,000 hearing aids because of “obsolete technology”.
On this one you are wrong. These are delicate electronic components. If you exposed your car radio components daily to ear wax, sweat, and rain they would encounter the same problems a hearing aid does. Today’s hearing aids are amazingly resilient to these things if you ask me, when I think about what they go through on a day to day basis.
No one in the industry feels threatened by PSAPs. Why would we?
I am not afraid of changes such as Hi-Health. I am embarrassed by them though. If you trust a health insurance company to your hearing care more than your audiologist or hearing instrument specialist that is your choice. But their model is AWFUL for the hearing impaired community. The only reason Hi-Health exists is to allow United Healthcare to claim they have hearing aid coverage, while that really isn’t the case at all. You still have to pay for the hearing aids (your “hearing aid benefit” is a “reduced” price), which are extremely cheap…and you get no service. I simply do not agree with that model at all.
I recently had an audiogram done at my ENT’s office. Afterwards, I was quoted ~$7000 for a pair of Opn1 hearing aids. My previous Phonak hearing aids were easily half the cost.
I was shocked at how expensive they were, and opted to wait. It’s good that I did, since my insurance now covers hearing aids.
I did inquire about getting adjustments done at my ENT’s office with hearing aids purchased elsewhere, and was quoted $300/ear.
My ENT made a one-time $75 fee for an adjustment and didn’t bill me thereafter. Seeing he has an insurance claim when I make an appointment, it a good deal for him.
Charging $7000 is at the higher end of cost for a premium aid that can be found in a clinic – often at $6200 which includes adjustments and batteries for 3 years. Online, the same aids can be purchased for a bit under $4000 with limited supplies. It’d be $2800 at Costco with lifetime support/supplies but no free batteries. There are happy people with all 3 choices.
Your last aid was probably the entry level model which are typically $3200 or so. Mid grade aid bounce around the $4800 mark. Those are prices that have adjustments and batteries included.
If you got on well in noise with the old aids, going with the same level aid again is a choice. The mid-level step up would give better noise result – slightly below the premium.
I try to support the few Canadian independent clinics that are left and educate consumers through my website hearingclinics101.org. However, if independents want to truly survive the ongoing manufacturer takeover they must adapt drastically and quickly to the new marketplace. There’s no escaping the fact that they must become more price competitive and lower costs. That’s easier said than done for a longstanding clinic. The benefit we in Canada have is that, by observing the U.S., we can see exactly what is in store for markets that fail to adapt.
The Starkey branded audiologist said that Starkey will not repair any Starkey aids over 8 years old due to new technologies. I would buy a new aid thru audiologist or HIS and buy a used pair of aids on eBay as backup.
I had a Hearing Aid Specialist try to convince me to get a loan of $10,000 USD to buy a pair of Beltone HAs to replace my previous Beltone HA, which were bad. I said no and left them. I later found out the average price of an HA and basically said no to anyone who tried to sell me HA above the average price.
Found out most Audis or Hearing Aid Specialist were profit takers and were not concerned about my hearing loss. I took the initiative to take it upon myself to correct and manage my own hearing health. Found wonderful Phonak Audeo M90R and been happy ever since. Every local Audi where I live has been profit takers. Online Audis were more concerned about my hearing quality than what I have seen in person. Thank you.