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11/24/2008 4:42:17 PM
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3-Putt
Posts 8
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Would like to hear of others who have had this problem. Do you think it is individual or does certain mfgs promote these things to increase sales?
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Gene
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11/25/2008 10:48:08 AM
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admin
Posts 372
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Most manufacturers do push their products, they want to stay in business. What type of unthical behaviour have you encountered?
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11/26/2008 5:24:46 AM
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3-Putt
Posts 8
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I don't know who I am the maddest at, a chain brand hearing aid distributor or myself for being gullible enough to let them to take me for a lot of money for a period of 20 years or so. It seemed that after every new set I bought from them they would go to pushing a newer model at me. What brought things to a head was when I went in to have the tubes changed in my btes and the owner met me in a loud belligerent voice and told me I needed new hearing aids, now these Apollos were only 2 years old. Push comes to shove and I spend the next 2 years traveling from one Audibel dealer to the next, having tubes put in at awkward angles, and the programing tampered with. I finally found an audiologist who was able to help me with them. In reality they had never been programed right in the first place. In my humble opinion after these experiences I believe this mfg promotes this kind of behavior.
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Gene
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12/1/2008 9:46:47 AM
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admin
Posts 372
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Gene,
That is unfortunately a typical problem. The manufacturer does not have any control over how individual clinics work. Audibel is a franchise group which gets all of their hearing aids through Starkey Lab. Compare their websites: http://www.starkey.com & http://www.audibel.com and you will see that they are the same group. Now Starkey cannot control how these distributers work or if they can even program hearing aids well. Personally, I wouldn't be buying new hearing aids every 2 years or even every 3 years as they should be lasting 5-7 years as long as you take care of them.
It sounds like the audiologist that you went to is going to be able to take good care of you. Now, only Audibel dealers can program Audibel hearing aids EVEN though they are the same thing as Starkey hearing aids. They have put a little chip in there so that only Audibel can program the hearing aids so that they can make sure you cant go to anyone else but them. How is this other audiologist prgramming the hearing aids or did you buy new ones?
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12/2/2008 9:27:07 PM
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3-Putt
Posts 8
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I understand how my previous post would be confusing as to how the audi was able to take the Audibels and work with them. At that point in time she was allowed to have them "rebranded" to Starkeys specs, a practice that Starkey has since ceased. As she handled Starkeys at that time along with other brands she was able to take them and reprogram them . This made a world of difference in the way I could hear leaving me to believe that either they were never programed correctly, or that the last Audibel dealer I took them to tampered with the programing. I have a folder full of correspondence to Audibel, no responses from them, with state legislators, and the state licensing commission for hearing instruments. The latter I found out is made up of primarily of hearing aid dispensers who summarily dismiss 98% or greater of the complaints they receive, going thru the minutes of the complaint subcommitte meetings is eye opening. Members of this board are members of a PAC along with numerous other dispensers and apparently carry a great deal of sway with our legislature. After all this I can only say that Audibel knows about all this and has done nothing thereby condoning these actions and two that we have the most corrupt state government in the nation. It just seems to me that the public needs to be aware that they are without hope if they go to a chain brand dispenser despite all the smiling faces, assurances, bait and switch ads, and "FREE" hearing test. I appreciate you allowing me to post ............and to rant.
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Gene
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12/1/2009 1:22:15 AM
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pramod bhabad
Posts 432
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Why sue WalMart for it?? That's ridiculous!
Same token, why not sue Walmart buyers for buying at low prices?
This is totally vague. Lets just start suing each other for buying stuff at Walmart and ignoring what walmart ignored.
Most of the stuff you get in Walmart is the same you'd find in any of the fleece-marts like Giant etc. It's silly to deride Walmart for selling crap, as if you get better stuff elsewhere that you can afford so easily.
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"BB Code" [ur1] [/ur1],  , , [1] [/1]
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12/14/2009 1:49:01 PM
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Gene
Posts 7
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pb you have wayyyyyyyyy too much time on your hands. What has my post had to do with Wallyworld? AND no where has anything been mentioned about bringing suit against anyone. This is supposed to be a hearing forum, if you have nothing to add about hearing problems, maybe your local high school has a forum more to your liking.
Gene
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12/18/2009 10:00:23 AM
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takatenamano
Posts 34
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Jeez.... pb posted this post in a wrong thread. It does not seem to connect on what's being discussed here.
This is the first time I've heard of a problem from manufacturers having that unethical behavior to those people who are in need of a hearing aid. The next time we encounter this kind of problem, I think it would be in our best interest to first have our audiologist examine the new HA being sold to us.
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12/19/2009 6:59:01 PM
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Gene
Posts 7
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The absolute best thing to do is to stay away from chain brand distributors and go to an audiologist.
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3/1/2010 4:27:17 AM
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wolschulze
Posts 31
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It seems to me that I had understood the problem. And I am completely agreeing that in spite of the desire to stay in business, the manufacturers must try not to forget the ethical part of the problem. We should be reasonable creatures first of all.
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3/1/2010 5:31:05 AM
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beavver
Posts 20
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If that's the case, I think its also the patient's responsibility to consult a doctor often specially when they have a new hearing aid gadget. Companies would do anything these days to gain a lot of profit from their products.
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3/1/2010 8:37:56 PM
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sherlock
Posts 103
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You have a point there beavver. You also consider your doctor's advices for changing hearing aids. These companies will endorse something new to you in order to take profit.
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3/3/2010 10:03:02 AM
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bernard
Posts 80
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I totally agree with you Sherlock. You should always consider your doctor's advices when changing hearing aids.
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3/3/2010 5:11:02 PM
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rhudder
Posts 22
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I don't think you have to find and buy yourself your own hearing aid. I think it would always be better if you would just see the doctor and let them advise you of what hearing aid to look for.
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3/10/2010 7:57:53 AM
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wolschulze
Posts 31
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rhudder wrote:
I don't think you have to find and buy yourself your own hearing aid. I think it would always be better if you would just see the doctor and let them advise you of what hearing aid to look for.
I completely agree with your point of view. It is much better almost in all cases to use the advice or the aid from the expert. I think that it is too much of the advertising materials today and unfortunately in many cases the information in the advertisements is not truthful.
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3/12/2010 12:11:06 AM
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rhudder
Posts 22
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Thank you. It has always been a rule for us. Always ask the doctors and not the companies. Because doctors care about your hearing and the companies care about your money.
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