got It! Thanks. Looking to upgrade my Resounds. Any insight to the benefits of the new Resounds microphone/speaker in ear? Feedback would worry me.
I haven’t heard any reports of people being wowed by the benefit of the microphone in receiver. Does seem like feedback could be an issue and I’m pretty sure they would be more expensive to replace.
I was less than 60 days into my trial with the KS9.0 aids. I have really enjoyed them. This is my first time wearing RIC hearing aids. I have been wearing hearing aids since I was 13 and I am almost 50! It has always been OTE for me. The only problem was the custom molds. I had a relatively inexperienced fitter and she had not done many custom molds. So I never really got a good fit. Luckily for me she wasn’t available to do a new impression so I got a new fitter and he is really good and experienced. I was waiting for my new molds to come in when the announcement was made so I went down to my Costco and asked about the return and they were happy to do it. We decided to wait until the new molds came in and do the fitting all at once.
They came in yesterday and let me tell you with the way the new molds fit and the new aids… I am hearing sounds that I haven’t heard since I was a kid! I love that the 10’s work with my partner mic and the TV connector and I can be connected to my cell phone and my work phone at the same time.
If you are thinking about an upgrade or you are in your trial at Costco. Don’t hesitate to make the upgrade!
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Let us know if you notice any difference in wind noise. I have new KS9.0s and the wind noise is obnoxious.
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Yes, I’m also very interested to hear reports on wind noise with the KS10s as it’s the one area where I find the KS9s unsatisfactory (and my Costco audi even called Phonak and implemented everything they said would help - it didn’t). I wear headbands on windy days and that takes care of it, but it would be worth getting the KS10s just to be free of that need if they’re better in wind.
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Another thing that can help is Ear Gear. Costco gave me a pair.
If you are correct, the KS10’s may have the poor wind noise performance of my new KS9.0s. Too bad.
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My wife purchased a KS9 a few months ago and we just heard about the KS10 release and we are so eager to get KS10 (we all know there’s great improvement on many aspects). It seems to us that we could either upgrade to KS10 (returning the KS9 of course), or return it and then purchase KS9. So we went to the Costco where we made the original purchase.
To our surprise, we were rejected and the hearing specialist claimed the following:
- You can’t upgrade.
- You can’t return and then purchase KS10, no Costco will sell that KS10 to you because of your return.
- It’s unethical to return a good KS9 (there’s some bluetooth connection issue though, so it’s not perfect) just so you could purchase a KS10.
- KS10 is KS9 with rechargeable battery (we all know KS9 is based on Marvel and KS10 is based on Paradise, so this is a big lie).
For 1, I kind of okay with it, as there’s probably no official upgrade channel.
For 2, this is outrageous. We were told that we could return it in 180 days without any question asked. We in fact asked a different specialist (the one who gave us poker face is not the same as the one from whom we purchased the KS9) when a few months ago if we could return if there’s a new generation because at that time, we knew Costco was about to release a new one. We could have waited for a couple of months if they said no in the first place.
For 3, this is the worst part. I am just following the rules. Costco doesn’t come with a trial period and I guess that’s why they have this 180 day policy. But if there’s a better option, why on earth as a customer i couldn’t exercise my right to get a better one?
For 4, I felt insulted. The specialist just lied to me. I guess the specialist must have thought that we didn’t do any research and just want a new product for no reason.
Anyways, I am sharing my experience in case you want to do the same. If you have similar thoughts, I hope it could help you.
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Dr. Cliff has something to say about this on this YouTube video of his:
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Yeah, we watched the video yesterday and that was why we went to Costco today, but sadly it didn’t work out.
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I would ask to speak to the store manager about it. That’s because you specifically asked a different specialist about the situation of returning within the return window in case there’s a new version later and were told that it would be OK to return the old and buy the new. There are only a few HIS at each store so ask the manager to call out the HIS that stated this to you, because if the store policy was misrepresented by this employee, causing you to make the wrong decision based on what this HIS said, then the store need to rectify the situation for you and honor what this HIS said.
Another option is to go to another Costco and told them about your situation, that you bought the KS9 at the other Costco, not happy enough with the fitting so far, so you’re thinking about switching to the KS10, but want to get the KS10 from this new location so that you can try a different HIS/fitter as well, beside the new HA version.
If the new place is OK with you doing this, you can also ask if you can return the KS9 there first (instead of returning the KS9 at the old place). If they said that you need to return the KS9 at the old place, then make clear your intention that you will do that as long as they will agree to sell you the KS10 nevertheless (meaning that you’re not blacklisted from buying the KS10 at any Costco).
To be double sure, you can purchase the KS10 at the new place first, then return the KS9 either at the new place (if they accept), or return the KS9 at the old place (if the new place says you need to return the KS9 at the old place).
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Thank you for the advice. I think indeed this is a very good strategy. We will do that next week. Hopefully everything will work out.
Actually I contacted the manager of that particular location. They manager didn’t reply my call directly but asked the specialist to call me back. She still doesn’t want to sell us the KS10 but she said we could return the current one and get a new one from a different location. We are okay with it and will get KS10.
I guess the most sad part about the whole experience is that the HIS lied to us. She could have just said: I don’t like what you are doing but by the policy you can do that. But because I don’t like your action, I don’t want to work with you anymore (again, we didn’t work with her, we worked with another HIS, so even if we were allowed to purchase KS10 from the same location, we wouldn’t work with her anyways, so that wasn’t really a concern for her) so don’t buy KS10 from me. Instead, she made up all the nonsense about KS10.
I found both the Costco employee and Dr. Cliff to be pretty over the top. I also thought Dr. Cliff was wrong to tell people to take their KS9 back to exchange for KS10. Costco’s warranty isn’t for free upgrades. It’s if you’re unsatisfied with the hearing aid. I’ll take Dr. Cliff at his word, but I’m pretty sure most hearing aid providers wouldn’t tell patients to bring their old hearing aids within the trial period in exchange for a new model. We complain about high prices and then promote behavior that makes it harder to have low prices. My personal experience with Costco is that they have always been gracious.
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I think there’s semantics, then there’s real life. We can argue semantics all day long, but at the end of the day, real life is the bottom line.
I’ve been a Costco members for almost 25 years now. I remember before they wouldn’t allow price adjustment if the price of an item you bought went down (or now has a rebate). They told me that I would have to return the old item and buy the same item again at a lower price. And that’s what I did, within reason of course, depending how recent I bought that item, and if the price difference is worth the hassle.
Well, now they changed their policy and allow for price adjustment if your higher priced item was bought within 30 days of the lower price. They must have gotten bit badly enough by the high amount of return and repurchased that they finally wised up and figure that giving price adjustments within a reasonable period is a better way of doing business. Heck, that’s how most other stores do it.
But if you want to play semantics, being “unsatisfied” with the hearing aid is deliberately vague BY COSTCO, not by their customers. I can argue just the same that I’m “unsatisfied” with my KS9 that I just bought because a newer better version just came along, within the return period of my older version. That is LEGIT dissatisfaction. I’m not being unethical here, I’m just playing the game that THEY set up.
What Costco should have done is to make it abundantly clear and unambiguous in their policy so no misunderstanding can incur. “Yes, you can return your hearing aids if you’re not satisfied, as long as it’s not because you want to upgrade to a newer version within that window because we won’t allow it” There, problem solved.
If anybody promotes behavior that makes it harder to have lower prices, it’s Costco, not the customers. They’re deliberately vague at times to promote more/faster/easier sales, which is in their favor. “Just buy it without a second thought because you can depend on our generous return policy.” But then sometimes you find out that they’re not THAT generous.
I’d rather they make it clear so that I would think twice about making my purchases. I’m sure not just @ybjqx3340, but a ton of other people, would have waited up to 6 months for the KS10 if they think that it was going to be released within 6 months. I’m also sure that Costco doesn’t like to see their HA sales plummeted next to nothing every 6 months before a new release. So they set up the game to keep the sales going, hoping that not enough people will call them out to make them pay for this game of theirs. And when some do, why, those folks may get bullied into submission.
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The most important thing is what’s on your receipt or any contract you signed. I learned a long time ago in NYC in getting some body work done on my car that it’s not what anyone says to you orally that counts. It’s what’s on a piece of paper (on an Internet site these days) that states what the conditions of sale and returnability are. If you can talk someone into doing whatever, that’s great. I’ve had similar problems with people working on my house, so I always try to get signed written estimates in advance. I’ve learned the hard way that “my word is my bond” doesn’t always work out.
Edit_Update: BTW, with the body shop work, I was so mad, I took the company to Small Claims Court in NYC where an arbiter decides the case. I had all my paperwork, the body shop was a no-show. The arbiter decided in my favor and a legal notice was sent by NYC (IIRC) to the body shop. They decided to pay rather than risk further legal action and further penalties for inaction on their part. I wonder if anyone has ever taken Costco to Small Claims Court and what the cutoff amount/nature of legal breach handled there these days is?!
I think real life is that if one pursues this, one will be able to get a refund and purchase a KS10. I think some of the Costco employee behavior is off the wall too. To me, Dr. Cliff telling people to take their hearing aids back to exchange for KS10 appeared to be just trying to hurt Costco. I’ve listened to another video of his recently about insurance companies and he seems frustrated and angry.
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That’s for sure. But what’s not on the receipt is the “bullying” part -> we will NOT sell you the new version if you want to return this old version just so you can get the new version.
I really don’t think you’d need to take it to court. I really think with escalation to higher level management that it would work out. I think that small claims court limits may vary by state. Yep. Here are the limits by state: State Small Claims Court Dollar Limits | Nolo
The body shop wasn’t Costco or a chain. It was an independently run shop down the street. I think that I was talking to the highest level management available to me. Since they got a legal notice to appear in court, the “management” could have contacted me to avoid a court appearance but other than getting a check from them after their no-show in court, I never heard anything from them (I’ve forgotten whether I wrote them a letter - it was easily 45 years ago). I had to pay what they charged to get my car back, found the work was inadequate and not what they promised on the bill of sale, and they just stone-walled me after that. So to get back on topic, if the folks here who are disappointed about Costco return policy get stone-walled by Costco, I am suggesting Small Claims Courts as an option if the senior management option, etc., doesn’t work and the plaintiffs feel that their paperwork clearly entitles them to a refund. Thanks for the Small Claims Court maximum claim amounts in different states. Looks like the KS9’s fall without the $$$ amounts that are dealt with in Small Claims Court in most states.
I was sloppy with “you.” I meant “one” and was referring to Costco. Yes, small claims court is always an option.
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