I’m late to the discussion I know…
but re. the trials
My audi sent me home with a pair of oticons for a week… no strings, timeframe was loose. I had a week long vacation planned for the week after that…she was fine…no big deal…keep em till you get back.
I’m android and had been curious about the phone connection box…but she didn’t have one so she ordered one in… I was also interested in comparing with Phonak, so she ordered in a trial pair of those too.
my memory is fuzzy now, but I think it went something like this…
approx 2 weeks with the oticons with a visit or two to tweak the program
then a week or so with a pair of Phonak aids
then another week or so back on the oticon’s…this time with the phone connection box
I decided on the phonak’s so I think I stayed in the oticon aids till mine came in…
That service is a big reason why I was willing to pay the package price without a lot of comparison shopping
Anyway, would you get a trial period like that with Costco?
Now that I’m “experienced” I certainly wouldn’t need that much for my next pair…maybe that’s why some suggest seeing a private audiologist for the 1st pair.(?)
Your experience is certainly possible with a private audiologist, but I’m not sure how common it is. I’m guessing more common in smaller cities. At Costco there are no “free trials.” You pay for a pair of aids and have up to 180 days (in the US) to return them. I believe some people have bought two pair to be able to compare them.
I had a similar experience back in April of this year - 1st time HA user and appointment with private audie.
Went in, discussed for bit about different styles. Called me back saying some papers needing signing. Second visit came back, signed document for ordering Oticon HA’s. I was thinking the audie knew best what brand I needed. Trial period for them was awful - exchanged for Phonak’s HA’s. Trial period for Phonak was great and kept them. I think my audie mainly uses Oticon, as he wasn’t as familiar with Phonak’s products. My insurance only covers Costco for 50%, but private audie was 100% covered. It’s been quite a learning experience for me over the past 6 months but am happy with the final result - better hearing. I would definitely recommend seeking out an audie you enjoy working with.
Since 2007 I am now on my fourth pair of HA’s. The first I bought online at a place called America Hears, before digital aids were common, because I could also buy the programmer, so I did adjust them and play with various settings myself.
Second and third were Kirklands. I liked the Iphone connection, my fitters seemed ok. They did do REM. I could easily get another appointment for adjustments, and if I was just shopping at Costco I would stop at the front desk to get a quick cleaning or new domes. 180 day return policy, great pricing, good hearing aids, just may not have all the bells and whistles.
Just yesterday picked up my More 1’s from an audiologist. Went through my insurance this time, as they were completely covered at a cost of $2499 each, but had to pay out of pocket for the ConnectClip. Audi did REM at fitting. As soon as she put the Mores in my ears, I could hear the difference! I had thought I was having trouble with hearing speech because I also have constant tinnitus , or maybe the Costco fitters never did the best job, I don’t know……but so far speech is much improved. I have a 45 day trial, looking forward to experiencing more situations with these new aids.
Sometimes health insurance gives you very good coverage because there’s one caveat → it’s for the type that comes with very high deductible, so they don’t expect most people to be able to burn up their deductible fast enough in that year to get the hearing aids covered near 100%. And the coverage may differ greatly between in-network vs out-of-network providers.
I had a health insurance that provided 95% coverage for in-network with a 5% co-pay, but only AFTER I have satisfied my very high deductible ($8K). So if I had only satisfied $1K deductible that year, I’d have to fork out up to $7K before the insurance would cover the balance for the hearing aids. Luckily I was able to satisfy my deductible for that year completely for some other stuff, so I was able to get 95% of my hearing aids cost paid for, but only for that year.
I just received a set of 10.0T aids from Costco. The audiologist there was absolutely the most talented, caring and knowledgeable I’ve ever dealt with in 15 years of wearing hearing aids. He spent over an hour making certain everything was as good as it can get. The fidelity of the aids is actually satisfactory for streaming music. This is a first, my Resound aids never sounded this good. These Cosco aids also work perfectly with my Android phone. I can answer calls with my phone nearby within 40 feet or so. My voice goes to the phone from my aids. I am blown away with what $1400. bought. This is less than 1/3 the cost of previous aids that didn’t come close to the functionality of these aids.