But, how is this different from moving far away from the provider that sold you the hearing aids? Surely other clinicians would see this for what it is, an opportunity to gain a new customer, no?
Just my thoughts…
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Thanks for this input, @MFAUD. On my OPN 1, I’ve had to get one of the aids serviced twice during the 3 year warranty period, one due to the mic condensation issue, and another occasion due to some crackling even with a new receiver replaced.
This is not counting a number of occasions for on the spot (at the HCP’s office) receiver replacements as well. But I don’t worry about receiver replacements because they’re relatively cheap and you can just buy them new from eBay and replace them yourself. It’s the replacement or repair of the actual aids that I worry more about because that can’t be done yourself.
Then near the end of the 3 year period, my HCP simply asked me if I wanted to just get brand new replacement for them just because the warranty was almost up and if I had brand new replacement, the chance of them going bad soon after the warranty expires would be smaller than if I had kept the original (almost) 3 year old aids. So of course I said yes and I got replacements for them.
So that’s why I want to understand better the issue of warranty repair when buying remotely from eBay. It may still be worth the gamble, but if the warranty coverage option is very limited from an eBay purchase, then that should be factored into the price discount you’re getting because there should be a value attached to the warranty service as well. If it’s a $2K savings like the OP was able to get, then it’s probably worth it. But if it’s only $500 or $1K saving, then the value of the warranty service should probably be considered more seriously.
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My HA guy in Germany said he’s only had an issue with buyers, here in the states, and that was with ReSound. In the case he took care of the issue himself. The man sells hundreds/thousands and has a great feedback score of 100%.
Are you able to tell me the username of the eBay person?
I’ve been buying hearing aids off eBay since 2011 and have never had one fail on me. Bought both brand new, still sealed and second hand hearing aids.
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I’ll save some time. The first post has the link Items for sale by new-hearing-quality | eBay.
Scroll down on the left to see the seller information.
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@Zebras I can send you his name and WhatsApp in Private Message if you want. He’s good at answering questions. Let me know.
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sure thing…I will do it now.
I tried. Your account won’t accept Direct Messages. If you want his info, you’ll have to change the settings!
Oh I’ve been getting private messages for years and have recently changed anything.
I’ll take a look.
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I just want to point out that usually issues that arise on eBay and taken care of are up front issues related to things that go wrong upon receipt or shortly thereafter, prior to when the feedbacks are given. Once the buyers are happy with the transaction and things work out, they give good feedbacks and those feedbacks are final if I understand it correctly. I don’t think you can go back and change your feedback on eBay a year or two later on, can you?
So in terms of servicing the items during the warranty period, maybe within the first year for international warranty, or within 3 years for local warranties (maybe if the buyer is local in Germany?), the feedback score on eBay doesn’t reflect how well that would be because feedbacks are usually given shortly after a sale and not a year or two or three later, so we just don’t know.
In terms of how often hearing aids need repair/servicing, I’ve worn hearing aids long enough (30 years) to form my own personal experience that the failure rate is not insignificant for me. I’ve also seen plenty of mentions about of hearing aids failure on this forum that need warranty service.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m a DIY guy on HAs and I intend to buy my next pair of HAs (most likely the More 1) from eBay. So this tip about this Germany seller is very valuable to me and I may go this route in the future. On the other hand, I still want to point out, however, that there should be some reservation about the warranty component, which I think is important for HAs. So make sure you ask the seller in details how or if they do service in-warranty failures so you can factor their answer into your purchase decision, based on their pricing and warranty service policy and your level of comfort in accepting the risk of failure of the HAs while still in warranty.
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You are absolutely right. If you want? You can ask him yourself. He gave me permission to give out his phone number in private message.
Thanks, I’ve got him as a “Saved Seller” on my eBay list now, so I’ll contact him about a purchase when I’m ready. For now my OPN 1 (the new replacement pair before the warranty expire) still work so I’m not in need of a new pair yet. I assume that his phone number is a Germany number so it’d be a long distance call, right? I can always communicate with him via eBay to begin with anyway.
I text him free using WhatsApp. I suppose you can call him too. With WhatsApp you call free throughout the world. No Long distance charges
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Unfortunately that’s not the case. Hearing aids do attract full VAT at both wholesale and retail stages. The ‘service’ (fitting and aftercare) portion does not; that’s why your receipt will not show it as a separate item. As a proportion of the overall final sale price, the rate is deemed to be circa 8-10%.
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Thank you Stephen…. Going by my own experience, and the “HM Government Customs Website” I have not incurred “VAT or indeed Import Tax”, perhaps I have been, just very fortunate? But, TBVH I think HM Customs apply their rules on a “Ad hoc” basis, I think it is a very grey area, but my interpretation after reading up on HM Custom’s website, is you don’t pay either for Hearing Aids or ALD’s? But then again, unlike yourself I am no expert…. For instance, this year, I bought a Roger Installer new from South Korea, probably classed as a “Medical Device”? No VAT or Import Tax was requested, at a guess, I think much depends on what is said on the sellers “Customs Declaration”, and anything I have bought in the past from mostly Asia, and this is usually not in English, via their declaration…. In fact, the only time I have ever paid Import Tax, was when buying from USA…. Usually prepaid, prior to shipping. Suffice to say, after your post, I am somewhat confused…. And for me, that’s fairly easy 
Cheers Kev 
I’ve always been told that any equipment for disabled people aren’t taxed either but not sure of VAT.
I have bought a lot of HA equipment from America over the years and have never paid any taxes or fees on them entering the UK.
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Yeah, tis a rather confusing subject @Zebras…. I buy a few things from Connevans, tis all mostly disabled hearing aid equipment, but some of it incurs VAT, and very similar items don’t, which in turn leads to some confusion, as to what is exempt, and what is not…. Cheers Kev
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Please tell me more about the hissing/white noise sound? I have had this going on with traffic noise for months now. My AuD hasn’t been able to fix it. At our last adjustment, she said the compression values all looked good. I am going back in a couple of days for another adjustment. She said she is going to recreate my general program and make changes in that, rather than change my main program. Did the AuD in Germany remove the compression values altogether? I’d love to be able to suggest something for her to try.
If they were ‘mistakenly’ labelled as health-care products then you might have been lucky.
If you manage to lobby the government to make them drop it, that would be good too; hearing aids aren’t luxury devices, they’re essential for people; it’s a bit criminal that they aren’t VAT exempt.
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