@kevels55: 
Thanks, Kev! I needed that laugh … however, every word is true! (That’s the sad part of the laugh.)
2 Likes
I tend to agree with this but generalizing is typically a fault. Not everyone in the hearing aid industry is corrupt. I suspect it’s a small percentage but have not researched this at all.
This is also why I went the self programming route. My first trip to a hearing specialist selling Oticon aids many years ago drove me straight away from the audiologist office. I didn’t have the money for those expensive aids. DIY has proven very good for some of us.
3 Likes
Re: Environmental issues- Simply keep your used batteries in a container until theycan be disposed of properly.
2 Likes
Wholly unsupported by fact, again. Stating an opinion as a fact, and then supporting it with more opinions, is something that would get you kicked off a 6th grade debate team. Your entire premise is one big logical fallacy.
Agreed @Raudrive, tarring everyone with the same brush is not on, my apologies… As Max Erhmann the great American poet (circa 1927) once wrote… This line from the Desiderata;
Exercise caution in your business affairs;
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals;
and everywhere life is full of heroism
Cheers Kev 
2 Likes
LMAO at that one @Dusty 
You don’t really know this forum, we have debated the cartel over many years 
2 Likes
I suspect for Kevel it’s more a matter of definition rather than logic. Making “excessive” money of off disabled seems to be defined as evil. The flip side is that the variety of hearing aids we have available wouldn’t be available if hearing aid companies couldn’t make money (comparable to what could be made to investments in other businesses.)
3 Likes
Put your evidence for “the cartel” right here.________________ You can have every poster in every forum for eternity agree with your opinion, but that will make it no more of a fact. Same with your claim of corruption.
Right, and there isn’t even any evidence that’s it’s excessive. Jeez, imagine if the justice system operated on anecdotes like the ones presented thus far. “Granny died before she could collect on the balance of her free trials, off to the gulag with the fitter!”
1 Like
Your on a slippery slope, but it’s a known “fact” they are a cartel in every sense of the word.
Are they corrupt, well it’s impossible to know what one is really “thinking” and then to try and prove it, but here’s just a little something for you ( I’m sure you’ve already read it, or at least some of this kind of stuff on the interweb over the years) to be so sure that all is above board in the industry.
1 Like
I think it’s pretty pointless to try to discuss unless we want to hash out definitions, assumptions, what counts as “evidence”, etc. I sure don’t. That said, I found the above article pretty “over the top.” I certainly don’t consider it objective.
1 Like
Well it’s not supposed to be “objective” as to my point of operating as a “cartel” and yes the industry is a little “over the top” the thing to remember here, is so much has been written about how the industry is run, and so many have seen it first hand and experienced it (including Audiology clinics) it’s really not that hard to believe it, of course there’s not a lot worth debating if one can’t “prove” what someone has written or thinks.
I hadn’t, but yes, similar stuff. Seems much like most big industries. Too much influence peddling for my taste across the board, but voters are too busy to do anything about that in general, on account of dancing to the tune of every form of grievance politics played to them. The article uses some loaded terms and is simplistic at times. For example, implying that Costco’s prices prove that HA could be sold for less by the independents. I’ve only visited one independent seller. The owner did not appear to raking it in. She could do better if she had Costco’s buying power but that’s irrelevant. I expect it’s like a lot of small businesses - many hours and a reward that often doesn’t justify the risk. She’d purchased the biz from someone else, and judging by the low traffic I can guess why it was sold. So cutting her gross profit is not the answer.|
I hate the bundling model. It’s based on making a lot on some clients in order to subsidize the time that goes into the more difficult ones. The obvious alternative is to unbundle, which effectively raise the price for the folks who need the most care, and reduces it for the ones who don’t. Doesn’t seem like that is going to happen much. Instead there’s Costco and OTC to bring HAs to more purchasers. OTC viability remains to be seen. And Costco’s model might be based on margins so small that the inevitable result is what’s going on right now between them and Sonova.
I wasn’t impressed by the argument about many brands being owned by single companies. Of course that happens, same as the auto companies. Sharing tech can decrease cost. I doubt that breaking them up would decrease prices. Also not impressed by the argument about different fitting apps being required. Sure, it would be nice if they’d standardize, but there’s no way that can be expected to happen unless the companies get together in pursuit of mutual benefit, which is apparently considered collusion and corruption by some.
Did you practice tactics like that in your working life? Seems like a recipe for low achievement.
At the risk of doing the ABOVE, I always feel compelled to chime in on threads comparing battery-operated aids to the newer rechargeables. I’ve worn battery aids for 30+ years, and now the rechargeables for the past year.
Pluses and minuses for both, but for travel, I’d definitely prefer the BATTERY. They enable a much longer day and that huge margin of confidence of not failing in an awkward moment unless it was the day they needed to be changed.
Rechargeables for me are beneficial in that I don’t have to keep spare batteries on my person or buy them regularly (pretty minor hassles). I actually think the charging base adds BULK to my travel kit, but since the Phonak Lumity Life is only in rechargeable form, I’m stuck with it.
I DO recall those Apple vs Android debates here, LOL. And let’s not forget the Oticon vs Phonak as a distant 2nd to that one. 
2 Likes
Funny
Don’t forget the Costco against everyone else.
2 Likes
Correct @MDB, at present, there is no totally conclusive proof of a cartel, just the odd wiff, rumours, and hearsay, that doesn’t mean there isn’t any collusion between the major manufacturers… In the UK, it is frowned upon to make “excessive” profits on the back of someone’s disability, every business has to make a profit in order to survive, but let it be an ethical profit, and not the objectionable profiteering on folks whom have no other choice…But buy!!! Cheers Kev
It’s all about money.
Phonak makes no money off disposable battery usage.
But rechargeable aid brings in the dollars.
Battery Charger cost $175 to 250 Kaching
Cost to replace rechargeable battery
(after warranty period). $35 plus Kaching
Repair issues (after warranty) $100 to ? Kaching
Travel Kit. ? Kaching
Electrical charging cost (annual) ? Kaching
Yea - its all about money
What $35 for factory repair? You just made that up as an estimated battery cost, right?
1 Like
Maybe they think that they can sell two pairs of HA that way. One to wear, one to be recharged. I tested recharable devices, especially a pair by phonak, 6 months ago. I’m streaming everything between online classes, telephone calls or radio almost all day long and especially the Phonaks didn’t hold up long enough for my days. To swap batteries takes only a minute. If others wear their devices anyway only when they leave their houses for lunch, go for it. But myself I‘m for good reasons not buying a pair of rechargables.
2 Likes