My local audiologist is completely independent and she makes a living taking care of her patients, many of whom are elderly. I’m a business owner, who has spent a lot of a time as a VAR (value added reseller) and I have empathy for her situation. I don’t think she is taking advantage of her customers. She provides a lot of ongoing value, often with no charges for it, and she bares a lot of risk, burden and overhead. What she charged me over time was competitive with others in this region, but frankly I didn’t do a lot of shopping, other than deciding that I didn’t want to buy what my ENT was pushing and that he wasn’t the only game in town. I’m better educated this time around.
The marketplace is changing, and her way of doing things maybe headed for extinction, but I say that with some sadness, and there something missing in a purely commodity based world. Ultimately, as a customer, I have a choice, and I will need to do what’s best for me (in this case financially), but I would hardly place the blame on the small local independent audiologist.
Just my two cents.