Paying for office visit after warranty repair

Hearing Aids
#1

One of my Oticon Real 2 aids died after six months. I dropped it off to be sent in for warranty repair, and got it back about a week later. I got home to find that it had apparently been reset to defaults and was still unusable to me. The audiologist advised me that I’ll have to pay for an office visit to get it set again.

  1. Is this a common practice? That a user should have to pay for an office visit stemming from a warranty repair? (No, my insurance will not cover it, as my deductible is sky-high.)

  2. Can/should I program it myself instead? I think it would cost me about the same amount. I have my audiogram and Oticon Genie 2. I would just need to buy a Noahlink Wireless.

#2

It’s not that common, but it just shows how outrageous this clinic can be, it’s good in a way that it happened, because now you can turn your back on them and program it yourself, but be aware that it’ll have to be from scratch, because it’s in a “factory reset” state.
You know it wouldn’t even take 5min to load the settings from genie software into the HA, it’s pathetic really, it just drives customers into DIY.
If for whatever reason, you do decide to let them do it, make sure to get your money’s worth, make them go through the whole shebang!

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#3

When I get my Oticon aids replacement back from warranty service, despite both replacement aids having different serial numbers (completely new aids), they had my latest programming settings in them. I knew that my HCP didn’t have to reprogram them, because they just took them out of the shipping boxes and handed them right back at me without doing any reprogramming themselves. I also know that my HCP couldn’t have reprogrammed them because I’m a DIY person, and the settings were exactly how I had them, not where my HCP had them in several versions earlier when she programmed them last for me.

This tells me that when the factory got my aids, they uploaded the settings in my hearing aids into a temporary file, then grabbed the replacement hearing aids and downloaded the settings in this temporary file back into the replacement hearing aids.

So I see 2 issues with your situations:

  1. The factory didn’t save your hearing aid’s settings first in order to restore these settings back into your replacement hearing aid (like they did with mine), which would have eliminated the need for your HCP to have a chance to fleece you by doing the reload ofthe settings back into your aid.

  2. Your HCP should have restored the settings for you into the aid free of charge if the factory didn’t do the save/restore themselves. But this really depends on how you setup the service payment with this HCP. If it’s an a la carte setup, then maybe they’re using that as an excuse to fleece you some more. If it’s an all-inclusive setup, then they should not have required you to pay for this service. But then you’re not asking for new adjustments/programming, you’re just asking for the aid to be functional like before. The non-functional aid (FOR YOU PERSONALLY) is not a complete repair, even if the aid works just fine because it’s a brand new aid. The factory should have returned you aid fully functional for YOUR use, not in a generic state. If they failed to do that, then perhaps they should pay your HCP to restore it to the functional state because it’s their failing to return the aid in a non-functional state for you.

If I were you, I would probably not do any business with this HCP in the future anymore.

You can try the DIY route if you want, but you’re not going to be able to do the REM like how your HCP did it for you, IF they did it for you. But if they didn’t do REM for you, and you didn’t have any (or too many) adjustments done after the first fitting, then you may be able to get back to pretty close to where you were simply through an initial first prescription.

If you’re skilled enough in DIY, then even if the first initial prescription is not anywhere close to how you had your settings before the replacement, you may be able to get there after multiple incremental adjustments. But if you don’t have confidence in being savvy enough as a DIY’er, and you know it took you many office visits for adjustments to get to where you’re happy with your aid, then it may be best to pay them to get your last settings restored as the baseline before switching over to DIY going forward.

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#4

Thank you. I’m not sure if she did REM. I think I am going to cancel my appointment, get the Noahlink Wireless, try DIY, and see how it goes. I can always go back in afterward if needed.

Come to think of it, I’m not even entirely sure that the HCP sent it off to Oticon. They may have pulled the battery or otherwise reset it themselves to fix the “system error” it was having.

2 Likes
#5

Here is the crux of the matter. Was support not paid for, initially, beyond the fitting and maybe one or two visits, or was some period of time for on-going care promised? Maybe @Dissident got a “good deal” not realizing lack of support for free down the road. Those that don’t need a lot of support down the road can save a bundle of money. But you may need to part with some of it later like in this case. Really, @Volusiano is right about it being a pretty quick fix. Maybe there are practice constraints that prevent the HCP from “doing the right thing.”

I guess whether I did business with them again would depend on how our relationship was founded contractually. If they are just sticking for their end of the bargain, see if you can’t negotiate a lower fee because you’re not asking for fitting assistance, just reprogramming to what they did originally?

WH

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#6

Pretty sure I’m in the “a la carte” camp. Paying ~$3,100 for a pair of Oticon Real 2s. Doesn’t feel like a great deal. Had several visits for the fittings which I didn’t pay extra for, but was informed that cleanings every six months were advised and would cost per-visit.

Any way you slice it, I should not have been handed back an aid that was at defaults. They should have, at the very least, told me I’d need to pay for reprogramming. But no, I was given the thing and found out the hard way that it was still useless.

Anyway, it’s moot at this point as I just canceled the appointment and ordered a Noahlink Wireless. Don’t think I will go back to this provider, come hell or high water.

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#7

I just got one of my Widex Moments back from a warranty repair. It was not behaving as it did formerly so I took it back to my local clinic and they reloaded the old settings onto it. I was with the audiologist while he did this and it took about 5 minutes, most of which was my explaining the problem. There was no charge so your clinic is being exploitive by charging you $, given the time it takes.

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#8

Well, it looks like I wasted a bunch of money on a Noahlink Wireless and now I have to waste even more money going to the HCP. I got everything loaded up in Genie but I have no clue what I’m doing in there. I can’t even figure out how to apply the ******* basic audiogram stuff.

I honestly regret buying hearing aids in the first place. It has seriously been 80% frustration and expense.

#9

Patience grasshopper.
DIY is not for everyone but with effort it’s very rewarding.
Help is in the DIY forum area.

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#10

It is a learning process. Results don’t come all at once. Frustration is indeed an enemy of finally getting it done. But when you get there it is very rewarding. Fortunately I have an audi who supports my efforts at DIY and has offered to help via text and phone. I wish all audis were that supportive.
Ray (only part way to getting it done)

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#11

Nobody ever said that hearing aid DIY is a piece of cake. Before rushing in to buy the NoahLink Wireless, you should have just downloaded the free Genie 2 software and play around with it first in simulation mode without actually connecting to real hearing aids. Once you’re familiar with the software (it begins with being familiar with getting help on the DIY section of this forum) and decide that you know what you’re doing and feel comfortable with DIY, then you buy the NoahLink Wireless and get into the game for real.

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#12

Hello Rick. Nice to see you still here. I have not been into this site for a long time. It popped up as a link in my new mail. Are you still the same? I hope so.

I am well, but old as dirt. Resound hearing aids still working the same and I am content. Sold my car to my son, but I know I will never see a nickel. I just was not driving much anymore and insurance and garage rent made no sense. I have mostly all I need and want in my senior living apartment.

You be well, and I hope your hearing does not get any worse.

Anita

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#13

Hi Anita, great to hear from you.
From your post it sounds like you are doing well and life is moving on.
My hearing is actually very good with cochlear implants. Glad to hear your Resound aids are still doing the job.
I hope to see more posts from you.
Rick

#14

Hi Rick. Thank you for your so soon reply I am happy for you that all is going well and the implants are working.

I still am missing a lot in conversation, but being, I am living in a senior building a lot of people are in my same rowboat. Then there are others several years older than me who are sharp as a tack with exceptional hearing. Unless one is in this situation and another person does not realize how tiring this is, what I mean by that is straining to hear and understand all the time wears you out.

Oh well there are a lot of worse things than being hard of hearing. But the brain retention going bad is the worst.

Take care and be well and most of all just care for your physical body As it is the only one we have.

P.S. again, yesterday someone mentioned that loss of Hearing causes dementia. I had heard that years ago, but I think it was refuted. Have you heard this and if so, do you think that is accurate? Maybe hearing loss is catching from blood relatives. Heh heh.

Anita

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#15

Untreated hearing loss has been corrollated with cognitive decline and there’s some very early evidence suggesting that hearing aids are an effective intervention in the population of people at greater risk for abnormal cognitive decline. That’s a much milder statement than saying hearing loss causes dementia.

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#16

I think of it more along the lines of if your hearing loss is causing you to interact less effectively with others your ability to interact with others will decrease. This could be seen as a form of cognitive decline or some would call it “dementia.” If your sole activity is interacting with spreadsheets, hearing loss is unlikely to impact your ability to do so. This is a “common sense” approach, not based on research. There are dangers to this approach (common sense is often wrong) but my hope is that it makes sense to people and doesn’t come across as scare tactics.

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#17

I also tend to think of if as a “use it or lose it” function of the brain. When you are constantly trying to compensate for not hearing well, you are using excess cognitive reserves that could have been used for other things while at the same time the auditory system is falling into decline. Wearing hearing aids keeps the auditory system functioning more optimally and takes the pressure off of other systems that can be used for other jobs.

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#18