Penalty for returning hearing aids

Hearing Aids
#21

If you do not know that, why are you even fitting aids??

Hearing aid performance is not perfect and the results for the user are very subjective. Of course, if you are a conscientious professional, you already know that and your question is just flame-bait.

Are you saying I should have kept one of the sets of Phonak aids I tried last year? I do not think that AuD. could program them satisfactorily if her life depended on it! I could maybe see charngin for custom ear molds, but this person did not, probably because they were not sure whether state law would permit that. I went to them looking to replace my 7 year old aids, not as a trial.

I am now reasonably happy with a different brand of aids from a HIS who calls for help if he thinks it is needed.
You know cellular phones have a mandated no-cost trial too, because of the variability of experience.

If you have an issue with the law, please find a different profession!

#22

I think this was more a post out of frustration in dealing with the types of patients detailed at the bottom. It is very frustrating when you have someone who comes in and expects 5-star service but then refuses to accept that services aren’t free.

I had a patient where we held her check (something we usually will not do) until she decided she wanted to keep the hearing aids even though I told her we’d refund 100% back to her. We switched devices and I didn’t tell my receptionist, who deposited the check (like she was supposed to do - this was my mistake). Well she returned the hearing aids (very unrealistic expectations) and we refunded all her money to her, and she still got angry. She said her financial advisor (who knows nothing of the HA industry) said since she didn’t purchase the devices she shouldn’t have had to pay for them. Well, she actually DID purchase them (she signed a purchase agreement) but chose to return them. And she DIDN"T pay anything…we refunded her the entire amount. I was a little baffled why this was an issue. I asked her if she’d be able to walk into Macy’s, see a pair of pants she liked, and expect to take them home and wear them for a month and then return to pay for them when she decided she’d keep them. She said “that’s not the same”. No, these are $4000 pieces of electronics…not a $45/pair of pants. It’s people like this that can make what I do very frustrating at times. Thankfully this rarely happens…but I can understand where Wallen is coming from.