Just returned my Rexton/Siemens/Sivantos aids for refund

For the first time I’ve taken advantage of the 6 month refund-no-questions-asked policy and returned my new Rexton CIC aids. Got them only in August, my second set of aids after having worn Siemens CICs since 2010. Never thought I’d do this, but a series of failures led me to bite the bullet and dump them.
I should add I got these through Costco, who have been very supportive and in no way are in any fault over these issues.
The problem is that when I press the mute/unmute button on my controller, instead of the pleasant little jingle playing quietly, it would randomly go off like the bells in Big Ben, making me jump out of my skin in shock and surprise. Got the same reaction whether I used my controller or my smartphone app, making it clear it was the aids, not the controller causing this.

My audi tried a bunch of things, but none of them worked, and I concluded this was a hardware fault. I met the Rexton rep, who agreed I should return them for repair, which I did. I did say that in my view the volume of the ‘jingle’ rose and fell according to the ambient noise, but was told that no, it is always the same volume. I was given a replacement ‘one-size-fits-all’ pair of aids on loan, and they were fine, and i was able to prove definitively that the volume of the ‘jingle’ is ambient related, putting paid to the rexton rep’s denials.

A week went by, and back they came, with a note to say they replaced the microphone/speaker assembly, on brand new hearing aids, with no comment at all about the reason for return that there was an erratic fault. Annoying that it wasn’t addressed in anyway. I got home, and realised that the pull tags in the CICs to allow easy removal were 4mm longer than when I sent them in, sticking out like in “My Favourite Martian”. Really annoying, showing that the Rexton repair people didn’t make any note of how they received my, and I mean my aids, not theirs, and randomly stuck in any old sized tags they had laying about.

Enough to claim a cash refund? No.

But this was just another in a long string of similar failures by the Siemens/Rexton/Sivantos repair centre suffered by me over an 8 year period, where the only reliable thing about them is their failure to take care, so i thought here we go again, I’m so over it, bugger them, I’ve had enough, I want my money back. I am not prepared to put up with their incompetence for the life of these new aids, even though the sound quality otherwise was excellent.

So I returned them 2 days ago, instant refund by Costco, and got ear canal impressions taken for some GN Resound CICs. Should be ready in a week , so I’m hopeful that they have got their act together better than Rexton.

Curious, did they fix the jingle volume issue?

Yes and No. Still played at a large volume if the ambient sound was high-ish, such as a vehicle engine running nearby, which made me realise that the chances of them rectifying it were minimal. Whether they fixed the erratic and random nature of the high volume jingle I’m not sure, as the issue above swayed me to pack it in.

It seems to me that the processer chip is the component that would have the smarts to set the volume levels, not the speaker and microphones, and that they were grabbing at straws thinking they better replace something than nothing. It was that kind of decision making that really put me off.
Best to cut loose whilst I could.

Any reason you are not trying RICs? If needed they can take custom molds and are not very noticeable.
With RICs they have more physical space for better electronics.

I wore CIC aids for many years before switching to RICs. I was impressed with my demo of the Kirkland Signature 8 aids I tried at Costco last week.

I do a lot of dirt bike riding, and I can pull my helmet on and off and wear dark glasses at the same time and not have any interference with CICs, something I doubt BTE styles could do.

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I wear ITE aids for the same reason

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I ride a motorcycle with full helmet. No issues with my hearing aids. That’s with BTE and with RITE aids.
I find the BTE/RITE aids to be much hardier than ITE/CIC aids…which I have had both.(CIC very short time…not enough power)

And I have had the opposite results. My BTE rites were always being returned for repairs and my ITE half shells have always been there for me. The BTE aids just are not that comfortable to me. I take my glasses off and my aids would fall out. A windy day and my aids would blow off. And I was having issues with moisture with the BYE aids too. No such issues with my ITE aids

Those cannot have been well fitted. Wind blow off an aid!!! I have glasses too. I’ve never had these problems as a matter of course. Might be my big ol ears… :wink:

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With CICs I forget they are there. No consideration for glasses/helmets/wind etc. I’ve even forgone bluetooth connectivity this time, as I just never felt the advantage, given I could hold my phone up to my ears in the same way everyone else does, and not have those connect/disconnect moments every time and email or Facebook wanted to send a beep.

My last pair lasted since 2010, with 8+ days being average for the batteries, so longevity is demonstrably up with anything else.

My issue singularly revolved about the second rate support that Rexton/siemens/Sivantos here in Australia provide. I don’t care what claims they may say about their level of service, my repeated experience over many years is that they are slapdash, too slack to note the condition of what they received in for repair and attempt to return it in the same way.

I started with ITE aids and I will stick with them until I am told that I cannot be fitted with them

You mean ITE (In the Ear) or ITC (In the Canal). ITE are rather large.
(images “borrowed” from Costco)

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In the ear hearing aids

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Interesting the different terms for what I thought were universal. I wear Completely In Canal (CIC) which I suppose could be also termed as ITE.
Either way, it is the small one on the right.

Actually that one is ITC (In the Canal). CIC is smaller again. Here is ITC vs CIC. I have had both, at different times.

A couple of companies tried smaller again and used the term IIC (Invisible In the Canal).