This is what happened to me. Phonak don’t have a world wide database.
They are Signia aids. Top of the line. Purchased in the USA from the USA.
I bought some new Siemens Signias online from a Canada seller. They were manufactured by Siemens Signia in Singapore. The Siemens Connexx programming software instantly recognized the serial numbers and worked perfectly.
When I went to my Canadian Audio and sent them Siemens for a colour change kit, Siemens in North America refused to work on them as they didn’t have a North American serial number.
Go figure…it would seem to be North American Siemens Signia has in-country protectionism from other country suppliers.
Both my Audio’s Programming Connexx software and my software worked perfectly with them. It would also seem that Siemens Signia International does not discriminate where the aids were manufactured or in which country they were initially sold.
PS. Later on, I obtained a colour change kit through other means and did the change-over myself!
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Closest thing to an answer I have heard so far. Thanks!
The aids could be from another country,
For example…if you purchase Phonak aids in Canada then come to the USA and have a dispenser call
Phonak in the USA, they will tell you they can not find them with the serial numbers you have.
They do not have info on Phonak aids from other countries.
This is true of many other manufacturers.
This answer is starting to make a lot of sense. Do you know any place/site to search serial numbers to find out what country a set of HA’s might come from? If there are fake copies of high end, name brand hearing aids out in the marketplace, we all need to know about it.
Have you ever seen or heard of any? Thanks!
No one is making fake aids that i have ever heard about.
Phonak, Oticon, Widex, Siemens and other brands are from Europe with offices all over the world.
They will not recognize any aids from country to country nor will the warranty be honored in a different country, from where it was purchased.
Phonak aids purchased in Canada will hot have an warranty in The USA.
When i get patients from Germany or England, they have no warranty on their aids in this country even though
it is a national brand.
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That sounds like a very good reason that my pair would not show up in the USA database.
In that case, I am still left wondering where they came from.
I like to know about these kind of things. Thank you!
This is Not True: All Phonak hearing aids and Roger gear have worldwide warranties, as does Sonova’s Advanced Bionics division.
Call Phonak in and ask them if they will honor a warranty on aids purchased in Canada.
They won’t.
And the serial numbers will not show up in their computer.
They MIGHT make an exceptions if the patient has a copy of the sales agreement showing where and from whom the aids were purchased.
Phonak’s phone number,…1800-777-7333
I can confirm that the serial numbers won’t show up.
I bought my first set of Naidas in 2011 from https://www.discountedhearingaids.com and the serial numbers didn’t work when ringing Phonak UK.
What format was the serial no and how is the pair finally working for you?
no formate just insert in fitting software if detect everthing like tecnology level model name firmware sn number etc then its genuine
I bought Siemens Pure Binax 7bx a couple of years ago. The price was $550. for the pair and that included receivers. I was very worried about the purchase because the price was too good to be true. I checked the sellers feedback going back for years. The seller sold maybe a few of them a month. Not one of them had a negative feedback. The seller had an occasional negative feedback, but never for a hearing aid. After a couple of weeks of trying to decide I finally made the purchase. Each hearing aid was in a sealed plastic bag that said “Made in Singapore”. The receivers were individually packaged and appeared brand new. I do my own programming and found Connexx software detected serial numbers. I programmed the hearing aids and they work perfectly. Because these hearing aids don’t have a warranty I decided to go ahead and buy 2 more pair at the same price. Get them while you can. One day in the future hearing aids might become prohibited on eBay.
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Thank you!
Months after buying my pair of Signia aids, I have decided that they are indeed real. I think that they are from Canada, or possibly even Europe.
That would be a reason that they do not show up in the US data base. Like yourself I am a self programmer.
I purchased a new in sealed box Connexxlink. It paired right up with my new aids. It all works great! At a huge savings too.
This has all been quite an adventure and learning experience. Would I do it again? For a savings of many thousands of dollars the answer is a resounding yes.
I could never have afforded hearing aids if the only choice was the conventional route of acquiring them.
Thanks to everyone on this site for your input on this subject.
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Signia(siemens) manufactures in Singapore.
This is most likely the correct answer. I’m not sure, but I think there are region-specific serial number databases that are accessible to reps in a given country. Happy to be corrected on this. I know in the past I have heard of international warranties being problematic for this reason…
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Thank you! Yes, the software is online for free. I purchased the programmer for $299.00 on eBay.
Brand new in a factory sealed box. What a great deal!
My bad. I read Connexxlink programmer as Connexx fitting software.