My Phonak M90 purchase from eBay

Hearing Aids
#10

That may well be what happened, but I did have 2 long and heated conversations with the parent company, one of them with the insurance company conferenced in. I got the impression from them that there were models that would have been under whatever “secret threshold” there was, but they preferred to sell the better models, and have the client pay the difference. As I mentioned, they even offered one of the lower end models.

When I went in, I specifically told the clinic the coverage was for “approved devices from an in-network provider” and that was what I needed. You could be right, but I really suspect it was bait and switch, along with puppy dog sale (take him home, see if you like him). It’s probably worth mentioning that the clinic told me that the parent company has changed hands several times in the past 6 years.

#11

Mm, for sure there are practices with predatory pricing and crappy service. But I also know for sure that figuring out what insurance covers is a daily struggle for American audiologists, and being over promised and undercut are the norm.

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#12

The insurance company doesn’t short anyone. The price between the insurance company and the medical office (regardless of the condition or service) is negotiated before hand and the medical office shouldn’t go back to the patient for more money. Or switch to a lower quality device.

I recently had surgery. The surgical center wanted $19,500. The insurance company and the surgical center negotiated an agreed upon price, which was less than the original amount and probably much less. The surgical center can’t come after me for the difference. There was an agreement and they have to abide by it.

So if the 100% the insurance paid for his HAs were less than the sticker price and the hearing center agreed to the price; then the hearing center can’t go back to the patient and demand the difference. It is something that happens on occasion and the medical center tries to take advantage of a patient’s lack of knowledge. And it doesn’t usually happen by reputable companies.

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#13

Just saying most posters here don’t have 100% insurance coverage to pick up the cost of hearing aids. If you had that great - though its a rarity. And most posters here don’t buy hearing aids off eBay. Time to move on.

#14

I have bought hearing aids off eBay for the past 11 years, all Phonak for self programming/personal reasons.
Call it lucky but all have proven to function as designed and 2 particular pairs I still have from back then still function as they should.
My latest buy from eBay is a set of Audeo M90 RT aids. They are just like new and function perfectly.
I do try to communicate with the sellers prior to buying just to get a feel for them.

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#15

I realize that most insurance doesn’t cover 100%, that doesn’t make my story any less true. As far as purchasing on eBay, I got the idea of checking eBay from this forum. Specifically this post:

Please also make note of the price the poster mentioned.

It probably goes without saying - your experiences, even the experiences of the majority, are not necessarily the same experiences of all.

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#16

They do. Otherwise American audiologists are just a pile of dummies who can’t figure it out and spend all day complaining to eachother about how hard the insurance companies make it to figure out what they actually cover. I don’t believe that; these people have doctorates.

We don’t have the same insurance set ups up here in Canada, so don’t experience the same issues. Even so, my province’s noise induced hearing loss workplace coverage sometimes rakes back billed money based on secret unpublished rules that we cannot get anyone to clarify and don’t seem to be documented anywhere. We don’t balance bill the patient, we just eat it.

#17

hparsons,
I think you will love the Marvels. Most do. My experience hasn’t been so positive, but then I am not your average hearing aid wearer. I have used mine a few times with my phone and they do pretty well. You can vary the amount of microphone gain when on a call. Unfortunately, this is done through Target, and isn’t easily user adjustable. One thing i have noticed when using mine is that since the aid microphones are used to send your voice, they puck up a lot of background noise. Every time I have ever used mine and talked to my wife, she always comments on what ever is going on in the background. I don’t hear it all that much. but she sure does.

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#18

That’s a negative I’m experiencing, and I hope it can be corrected some (from others, sounds like it can be).

That said, eve if it can’t be, I’m sure I’m going to like this setup better.

I’ve resorted to having the volume all the way up on my phone, and a program that automatically sets it to speaker when I answer. Even then, I sometimes couldn’t understand phone calls. It was so bad that once, when I took my six month old Samsung S8 I for an unrelated issue, the tech asked me “How have you not noticed the blown speaker?” I was embarrassed to tell her my hearing was bad I could barely even hear the speaker.

They fixed it under warranty, so it turned out OK. But this is SO much better. Now I’ve turned the volume down, and removed the auto speaker program, and can talk (and hear) normally.

#19

I can relate to your experience with insurance and " Recommended" audi’s. I retired last year but knowing I was going to I checked my Ins. at work for the “current” policy because over the years it changed several times. So at the time they would pay $3000. per set every 3 years if using a recommended clinic. I called in for a list of clinics and found 3 listed within 30 miles of me. As you did I called one of them and set up an appt. I won’t go into all of it here again but if you click my profile and look at the " I might have messed up" thread you can see a really similar story. So I for on do believe your “story”. Good luck to you in the future on getting every thing set up right.

#20

Glad that is working out for you. I too would like to purchase hearing aids from ebay. But how does one go about finding a local audiologist who would be willing to program hearing aids that were purchased somewhere else?

#21

Just a couple things you should be aware of. First, Hearing aids bought online, most of the manufacturers, do not honor warranties on their product sold over the net. So you should check to see if you have a warranty.Second, when you call an insurance company for coverage if they say any % , throw a number at them and make them tell you what’s covered. A lot will say 100%, but the part of the statement that they don’t tell you is “up to $$$” so you have to tell them $4000 for example so they will tell you the proper coverage. Good luck with your new aids, check the warranty…

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#22

I just wanted to add my two cents that if you’re in IT and more technically inclined, getting a Noah wireless and Target 6.1 will unlock further capability of your aids. Why? Because there’s so many options and you’ll be able to try them out one at a time. Just don’t mess with the actual fitting levels unless you’ve backed up the aid settings and you have an idea of what you’re doing.

I love having the noahlink wireless. Has made a big difference for me in my hearing journey

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#23

I’d add a caveat to being “technically inclined.” You need to be a pretty self sufficient problem solver. There is some help available on the forum, but nobody is going to hold your hand. I’ve seen multiple people who claimed to be technical professionals want a lot of handholding and seemed to have little ability to troubleshoot. It really isn’t overly difficult though.

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#24

Two years ago I purchased a Noahlink Wireless and have been programming my Oticon OPN ever since. It is fairly doable and you really just need to have a backup of your “original” setup in case you mess around too much. One thing I am very strict about is to keep the gain as close as possible to the prescribed gain suggested by the software - I fear that an extra gain could lead to hearing loss. Buying the Noahlink and DIYing was a great decision I made, second only to the purchase of the hearing aid itself.

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#25

To add to to others comments, self programming takes time to learn. Most people can not just jump in and figure it out in a short time. It’s one of those things that the more the more you learn about it the more you realize you don’t understand.

Self programming is also a bit of an art, not just science. Everyone’s hearing is different so what helps Joe might not help Jane. Each hearing aid manufacturer has their own software for programming their aids. Each manufacturer has different terminology for very similar things. It can be confusing talking about these things on the forum.

As mentioned about the warranty, buying aids off eBay pretty much gives up all warranties and also gives up all support from local audiologists. There might be exceptions out there but hard to find. Knowing this, you as a buyer need to buy name brand aids that you feel are quality made and reliable.

Good luck and have fun.

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#26

WOW - We’ve now gone from 100% HA insurance coverage (which a very rare thing), to buying HA’s on eBay (though no professional audi/ENT would recommend that), to now “self programing” your own hearing aids. WOW

Excuse me but when someone buys something as costly and complicated as a “adjustable digital hearing aid”, you leave the all the fine tuning, programming and recalibration to a trained Audiologist. Preferably with a PhD in front of their name. And last I checked a three year warranty was “free” from any reputable HA manufacturer - where if you buy a HA on eBay you get “squat”.

But of course someone who buys there aids off eBay, probably does their own HA self programing at home in the garage, while barbecuing a few steaks at the same time. Raudrive - you are just so multifaceted

#27

For what it’s worth, the PhD is usually at the end of their name

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#28

Jack of all trades, master of none.

My post is as true as I can get it, no nonsense, just the way it has worked for me for about 11 years now. No WOW factor.

The OP asked about buying hearing aids on eBay. The fact that doing this limits their resources for warranties and getting the aids tuned. But, it gives many the chance to own hearing aids when they couldn’t afford hearing aids from the brick and mortar businesses. In all my years of buying hearing aids I probably haven’t spent as much on everything from aids to the equipment to program them as some have spent on one pair of aids from a PhD audiologist.

As far as needing someone to program your aids with a PhD, that’s silly. As many have mentioned on this forum including the pros, programming hearing aids has little to do with a big college education. It’s an understanding of the software and great communication skills with the person wearing the aids.

Enough of my ramble.
Good luck

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#29

So…just out of curiosity…where do these Phonak Marvels on EBay come from? I am pretty sure they aren’t used and then put up for sale, or come from an authorized Phonak dealer. So, I’d doubt they come with any kind of warranty. Any ideas?