My hearing aids journey ended with an eBay I want to tell you about!

Hearing Aids
#1

I’m new to HAs. Some of you have followed my progress and know that I ended up with the Oticon More 1s. BUT there is a relatively new twist that I want to share and I believe it’s important. At least it was to me. Here’s the journey and the twist.

  1. I tried the Eargo 6s. They were good but I returned them because of the feedback sound and the itchy feeling I had while they were in my ears. I also had to constantly put them back in because they would wind their way out of my canals. Additionally, sometimes I was unable to find the plastic string and I thought I lost them in my ears. One time my wife had to fish one out. Not pretty. Back they went.

  2. I had a bad experience with an audi who used to post on this site. I got the person as a referral from @DrCliffAuD’s site. The person gave me a story why I didn’t need REM. Well, that’s why I went to him, so I bailed, but not before trying the More 1s for a week or so. I did learn that I liked them a lot.

  3. I tried YesHearing and got the More 1s. I bailed on that too for a couple of reasons. 1) Price (which was very good for the USA, but still pricey. and 2) The tech set them up in a way that I would get constant whooshing as if the left ear was set on high volume. I was told I’d get used to it. I didn’t. Back they went.

Going on, I did some experimenting and looking around while I was still in my trial period. I had been on eBay before but discounted it as being too good (cheap) to be true and concluded I needed more specific and personalized handling and fitting, when I had previously considered eBay a couple of steps ago.

This time, I found a seller and struck up a relationship with.him. After going back and forth with him over the eBay chat, taking into consideration his 100% approval rating as well as his length of operation, I bought a new set of More 1s saving myself about 2k! I sent him my audiogram and he configured the More 1s to what I needed. I told him I was already used to the full targets so he fit the HAs to them. He also set up the HAs programs the way I wanted them. I am wearing them now. He’s got at least 15 years experience and has two stores in Germany. He’s a great and quick communicator on eBay. If something isn’t right (which didn’t happen to me) he makes it right. He told me that he looks after customers well after the return period to see that they are taken care of. I was very impressed. I’m wearing them now oh… and guess what… THEY DON’T HISS like the ones I had that cost 2k more! The reason? He told me my hissing was probably because the last tech used the “compression” function in the fitting. He told he didn’t use that because I’m a musician and we musicians are hard to fit and hard to please because our lives center around hearing and compression would be a no-no for me. He was right. No hissing and a great and natural sound at a great savings. Win-win.

This is the seller’s site. NewHearingQuality

If you’re looking for a great price on HAs with an experienced/great fitting, check him out. I did. I’m really glad I did, as is my bank account!

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Will audiologists reset hearing aids for a new user?
#2

Thanks for sharing your story here. Did you have to pay customs charges from Germany to the US? Also, is there any warranty after the 30-day return period?

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#3

  1. Customs charges: no.

  2. 30 day return policy: yes

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#4

Go to Costco and get the KS-10 for $1.399 and you will have the best.

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#5

Thanks for your suggestion.

I believe the hard parts of hearing aid selection are:

  • finding an audiologist with the skill I need
  • finding a way to make the HA’s affordable.

You’ve helped.
Dave

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#6

Delighted for you @Musician, 2k is a whopping saving, there are many reputable sellers on eBay whom strive for customer service & and ultimately customer satisfaction, on the other side of the coin, there are plenty shysters as well, but they are usually found out fairly quickly! Top eBayers, command higher prices, simply because they are trusted via their feedback ratings…. In truth, I sometimes buy from the lesser reputable eBay seller’s, this does unfortunately leave me having more returns, but with the eBay’s buyers guarantee, I eventually get my money back, if something isn’t kosher! I have had sellers say “no returns” in their blurb, but they will take returns if items are faulty or defective, eBay will make them take items back. And I get whatever at a knockdown price…. So in essence, if I am not requiring something urgent, I will take a chance on certain items from certain seller’s as the overall risk is very minimal. Cheers Kev :wink:

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#7

That was a definite option. I decided to go with the more 1 over the ks10/p90 due to the fact that I’m a musician. Ty.

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#8

Good post. Ty. Believe it or not? I got my More ones from this eBay seller in 2 to 3 days. That was from Germany! He did DSL expedited and boy was it expedited. The thing is he was cheaper than everybody else, but he had a higher seller ranking and longer longevity than everybody else as well. I consider this man a find. A good find! Highly recommended.

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#9

Yeah I will put him in my eBay favourite’s…. Unfortunately, Expedited Shipping doesn’t apply to UK Customs, it can wait days in “Customs” prior to being cleared, don’t know why, but I assume they are short staffed? But there is no VAT, or import charges on hearing aids, or ALD (Assistive Listening Devices) Cheers Kev :wink:

#10

Kev

I live in the states, so I’m not familiar with anything that would apply to GB. Cheers.

#11
  1. So there’s no normal 3 year warranty (like if you bought it local) after the 30 day return period then, I assume?
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#12

Yeah, I am aware that @Musician… Via your avatar :grin: I never had the pleasure of going to the good old USA, although, many years ago, I was offered, on more than one occasion to go live in Florida…. My friend offered me a good job, new car, and a house, all I had to do was get there, but I declined, as I would miss Scotland way too much, money has never really interested me, as long as I have enough to live a moderate lifestyle, then I am content…. Cheers Kev :wink:

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#13

They’re not the same aids at all. If Musician was looking for the Paradise, then this would be a suitable route.

@Musician - A nice find on your part! Glad you were able to get satisfactory results at a great value. I’m too far along in my purchase of my aids to consider this option, but for me, the cost wasn’t as big an issue and I’m quite happy with my audiologist. But I am happy you mentioned that ‘whoosh’ effect, because I definitely get it too. It doesn’t bother me too much, and it only occurs when there is a steady state sound around me, and I turn my head towards the source of that sound (and only in my left ear as well). As an example, I frequently walk a trailway that runs next to train tracks that has a lot of freight trains pass by every day. When they pass, it sounds normal as I’m walking parallel, but if I turn my head towards it for whatever reason, I get an initial loud ‘whoosh’ sound in my left ear as if something else fast just rushed by, before it tones back down to the normal passing sound effect. Another example is driving with the car window down, then turning my head towards the open window. I hadn’t heard of anyone else describe that effect until your post, so happy to know I’m not the only one.

But now I get to mention it to my audiologist in my next tune-up appointment and ask (as well as do a little self research) on the compression settings and effects it has, so thanks for sharing!

Out of curiosity, what would happen if you felt you needed some sort of adjustment, say, 6 months down the road? Is he able to do a remote fitting/tune-up?

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#14

Good decision, I was born in Florida.

It’s not really bad, lol, but it is a politically challenging state.

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#15

If I should choose costco/p90, my audiologist indicated she’d be more than willing to program and maintain them. It would cost $250, which seems more than fair given the time she’d already invested.

I actually asked her about this, she did not make any sort of sales push. I found that to greatly improve my trust in her. Could be an option here as well.

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#16

Seller indicates he’s never had a manufacturer dishonor their 3 year warranty. He did say that in going through a local audi will incur their service charge, which is understandable.

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#17

I’d likely have to go to someone here to get them adjusted, BUT my eBay person also sent me a Noah link wireless and will help me to learn programming. I’m very excited about this. I haven’t used it yet. I will tell you this though, that his programming was so comfortable for me it wasn’t funny!

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#18

I think I may have used the wrong word and I apologize. I had the white noise sound that you hear when you crank up the volume on the HAs on my left side. I’m sorry for the confusion.

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#19

Yeah, I’m not worried about the HA manufacturers not honoring their 3 year warranty. What I’m worried about is how will the warranty be serviced if something went wrong with your More 1.

I see a couple of options:

Option 1 → It seems that the eBay seller is implying (in the bold part above) that if something goes wrong with your More 1 during the first 3 years, you have an option take it to a local audi here in the US to get it serviced, although that local audi may require a service charge since you didn’t buy it from them. Well, I’m not very sure if any local audi would be able to send your More 1 in for service if you didn’t buy it from them, even for a service fee. There can be a number of issues there. Either they don’t want to, or even if they are willing to do it for a service fee, I’m not sure if Oticon would allow them to file for a warranty from a hearing aid that is not sold by them but sold by somebody else. Then I’m also not sure what the local New York state law says about turning in your hearing aid for service to an HCP who did not sell you the product, especially in light of the fact that the product was not bought from somebody else in the same state, but somebody else in a different country.

I wonder if anybody on this forum who’s had experience with this kind of scenario (sending in their HA for warranty service through an HCP who did not sell them the HA) that can chime in and share?

I know that if you bought a car from one dealer, you can bring your car to a different dealer even in a different state for warranty service with no problem. But I wonder if the same would apply to hearing aids.

Option 2 → if option 1 above doesn’t work, or if you don’t want to pay the service fee to a local HCP (whom you didn’t buy from) to send your HAs in for warranty repair, did your eBay seller in Germany say that you can ship your HAs back to them in Germany so they can send the HAs in for warranty repair, then ship them back to you in the US? I know that shipping cost back and forth (and who will pay for it) is not even in consideration here. But it makes me curious that if these shipping costs were negligible (although very unlikely due to long distance shipping), would the German eBay seller be willing to accept and send the HAs you bought from them in for warranty service on the Germany side, then ship back to you, if necessary?

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#20

If the aids are beiong sent to another country (not sure if the OP is based in the country they were sent from) then quite often the aids would only have a one year international warranty. In terms of finding a local clinician to service them / send them off for repair etc. would be luck of the draw. I’d say most clinicians wouldn’t be bothered but there would probably be some that would - Not sure what the fees would be though.

For purchases like the above if everything goes smoothly and there are no issues with the hearing aids then equates to a great saving of money. However, if there are problems with the aids, needing warranty repair and servicing I worry that it could quickly turn into a bit of a nightmare!

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