Oticon warranty repair over 7 weeks so far

Hearing Aids Manufacturer Support
#1

One of my Oticon More 1 HAs died at the beginning of April, provider sent it in for repair/replacement. Still no word! IDK if this is normal? If an Apple laptop breaks on Monday, you get it back by Wednesday. It seems like some kind of better service should be possible. Do they have an enormous backlog of broken devices? I just don’t understand how it can be this bad for something so potentially important as a HA.

I can imagine if my hearing were worse than it is (which I assume it will be if I live long enough) I would not be able to cope with support this bad and would need to use a different brand.

I hadn’t considered support as a consideration for choosing a HA brand before this spring, but now I see it is one of the things we need to think about.

#2

That is unusual, I have been getting my aids from the VA, and wearing Oticon aids for the last 12 years and if I had repairs I had my aids back in lest than 2 weeks

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#3

I would check with your provider. If they haven’t heard anything, have them check with Oticon. Things fall through the cracks sometimes and somebody usually has to bug somebody to get things going again.
I have made it a habit to ask for a time estimate including when it’s reasonable to check back if I haven’t heard anything. When I was working I voluntarily gave an estimate and encouraged people to call back if they hadn’t heard from me.

4 Likes
#4

I have a feeling that it is because of Chine COVID at the moment.
I had new moulds made, and I was told they would be late coming from Chine (6 weeks).
My new HA’s are also in for repair, thank God I have a backup pair, so I am not holding my breath on the quick turn-around that I use to get prior pandemic.

#5

Oticon at least for the VA clinic here uses 3D printing and it is done at their lab in New Jersey. It is also where my aids were sent for repair. I have never been without my aids more than 2 weeks

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#6

@ha11 and @cvkemp: FWIW, I have had a couple of tickets with Oticon’s repair lab go to 3 weeks without my aids being returned, however, I think 7 weeks suggests a problem other than the typical Cover excuse. Have you considered phoning Oticon or emailing them directly? They don’t like that, because - as Chuck has pointed out in the past: we are not the client; the audiologist is! - but my experience has been that the end-user contact gets the ball rolling again.

My $0.02/FWIW/YMMV

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#7

Yeah, I’ll try Oticon directly tomorrow. I left a message with the provider last week or so, but I didn’t hear anything back. The provider is a local medical center. I love my audiologist there. The repair person though only works on Wednesdays. The way it works is you call and leave a message, can set up an appt to come in on a Wed. So every Wed I think I might hear from them.

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#8

I just counted on the calendar. By this Wed it will be nine weeks!

#9

That is sad. I would be all over that audiologist of yours

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#10

:scream: THAT THOUGHT, Mr.Kemp @cvkemp , scares the hell out of me!

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#11

8 years in the Navy and dealing with two presidential administrations will harden a person.

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#12

@cvkemp: Yeah, but did they teach you to puff up your chest and call people “Bud” to intimidate them before doing battle, like they taught us in the Army?

#13

I was an electronic technician they kept me back in the bunkers, the only time I was on the front lines was when I had to confront one of the president’s staffers, then I had to show them who was really boss.

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#14

@cvkemp: The Navy had electricity?

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#15

Not electricity, electrons. We ruled the world with the aircraft carriers

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#16

@cvkemp: Electrons - isn’t that what Scotty used to use on StarTrak?

#17

Well all of our bodies are made up of them

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#18

New to Oticon having used Widex for about 4 years before buying the More’s. Customer service has been poor with Oticon, particularly compared to Widex. It took 6 weeks to get custom domes, then they didn’t fir right. Another 6 weeks for new set and still didn’t fit right. Contacted customer service about a warranty issue and got the same line as others, “the audiologist is our customer, not the end user!”. Quality of the streaming is very poor compared to Widex. The only good thing is that I find speech is clearer with the Oticon’s, which of course is very important, but otherwise they’re not worth the cost. If you don’t have severe hearing loss, try another brand.

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#19

@cvkemp: (Chuck, how come you know all these things?)

#20

Education, and self education

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