I have just trialled my 2nd pair of HA’s at SpecSavers and decided I prefer In the Ear as opposed to RIC’s but the Audiologist informed me the maximum number of HA’s I could trial was two and that I would get a full refund and would need to look elsewhere for my HA’s.
This has absolutely shocked me are SpecSavers being unfair or is this standard practice across all Aud clinics?
Just for clarity I trialled Specsavers Advanced Elite - Which were ITC Phonak Paradise Equivalents - Unitron brand I think (or is that transformer lol) and then Phonak Lumity 90 Lifes - They let me switch to Lumity 90 RH (the hearing loop one) but when I found out it did not include the battery charging case I rejected them… (and nor could you get one for this model).
It is shocking, you shouldn’t be limited to just two, of course you should be able to trial/choose others, just as you would with other things in life, take their advice and shop elsewhere, any Costco nearby?
@tenkan Many thanks for the early response, no Costco nearby and I am not sure that Costco in the UK do Hearing Aids, but irrelevant because none nearby anyway.
I just spoke to Specsavers customer services and to be fair they were very good and advised that each Specsavers franchise (UK) sets there own limit to the number of trials that you can have.
They advised that I could go to another Specsavers store outside the area I am currently in but warned me that obviously they all are limited to the standard Hearing Aids they have all have listed.
I think I just need to come to terms with the fact that for my hearing loss if I want the best quality of hearing I need a RIC rather than an ITE… Although watching YouTube videos I think that you can get Ultra Power Receivers in full shell ITE aids but obviously they will be very visible. Maybe go for Black so they looks like ear pods.
I was thinking the same thing. So taking a random guess at an hourly cost professional services, they maybe provided ~$1000 of free service to this person.
I don’t know that two trials and a cut-off is the right approach, but surely the field as a whole hasn’t figured out what is yet.
I don’t think it matters in a simple first fit for a trial, which can be done in 10mim, even pre done before the client shows up, but Specsavers /Costco have a different business model from your normal brick and mortar store as you know.
I’m aware Specsavers has a more ‘splash and dash’ approach to the fitting process than elsewhere, but looking at it from the outside as someone who runs a few hearing centres, I can see why they might have this type of thing in place.
You run on low % ‘partnership’ margins, you’re in hock to ‘Doug Almighty’ for your business loans, your store upgrades and everything in that space down to the staff name badges. The corporate office sets your pricing and offers, tells you how much you’re going to be squeezed for this month and what your current ‘efficiency rates’ are.
Then you’re faced with Customer X, who wants a little more time/handling/demos that doesn’t quite fit in your ‘sheep dip’ client processing strategy. You’ve got two choices, either roll with it and get the complaint from Corporate that your numbers/fitting efficiency has gone down or bump the client and chalk it up as a ‘probably not buying anyway’. Then use the next fitting slot for someone who is ready to pull the trigger.
I’m not saying it’s right, but I can tell you that Pareto does hold pretty firm for most of our clients too. Being ‘outed’ as one of the of the 20% that needs the 80% of the work isn’t ’nice’, but if you consider the net losses to the client vs the net loss to the shop, it’s obvious who’s come out ahead in this one.
@Um_bongo
Price for Lumity Life Ultra Power x 2 with custom moulds was £2895, including power case… The price would be the same for whatever Lumitys you buy, or for that matter the Virto Paradise…
That’s pretty much your answer. You’re burning through their £6-700 margin having cost X hours, ordering and re-stocking charges. If you choose a supplier that runs on the basis of a ‘no frills’ service, that’s what you get.
If you were in any doubt, it literally says so above the door (for glasses, obviously).
So @Um_bongo is there no way forward for the difficult case to get what his hearing is capable of?
It obvious from your track record that you are prepared to go the extra mile but what hope for the average punter out there, how do we find your equivalent?
Very possible to get audiologists who will endure a longer fitting/trials process, but it just costs more. In all honesty people get snarky when you say the ‘top end’ is now £4595 (Oticon Real1 RIC), but that allows us the latitide to do free demos, take time on fittings with Speech Mapping and not restrict follow-up visits.
Not everyone needs it but it’s great for peace of mind if it’s there.
I’d try your local AIHHP member as a starting point or a personal recommendation. Though I’d also recommend Lisa Binns if she’s got a place near you.
Neville, I have chosen to respond to this post but could have been others.
Assuming the business model includes $1,000 of customer care within the pricing of $5,000 for aids (numbers for illustration), one customer may walk in, get aids, get them fitted and walk out after 30-45 minutes, job done. Another may require a number of repeat visits.
The book value for care is $2,000 but not dispensed evenly. A bit like an insurance policy. The company guesses that X customers will not make a claim and spreads the claim cost from Y customers across the whole client base.
This discussion is very interesting hearing it from the business model point of view.
But from a customer point of view there like everything else in life now, there is so much more information out there. Maybe there always was.
All I know is that apart from the shear power of my new Lumity Life RIC 90, my 7 year old Virto V90 ITC are better at adjusting to things in all situations and including the compilot they were cheaper from a premium seller than my the Lumity.
However I do realise I spent a long time getting them right, but also the programming from my V90 were transferred to the Lumity and the new ones became a lot better and now I may just need to do a bit more tweaking…
