My Resound Linx 3D’s are almost 3.5 years old. I have custom molds with the receiver in the canal due to the severity of my loss. I had to take them for repair today, even though they were still functional. The wires from the receiver, that connect to the mold, were pulling away. It was only a matter of time before the wires broke. When I called the audiologist yesterday, they told me that it was going to cost $150 per aid for the repair. When I took them there, they said they couldn’t do the repair so they would have to be sent out. Now, the cost is $325 per aid. Does anyone know if this is the normal cost for this type of repair?
If it’s just the receivers, that is high. I take it back. That’s high no matter what. Lloyd’s hearing aids will repair an aid at $175 per hearing aid with a year’s warranty. Not sure if that would include new receiver
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Oh man, I hope I’m not funding my audi’s early retirement. I am assuming that the repair will be done by Resound and not elsewhere. These are $6500 aids, I do not trust just anyone else at this point. It would be comparable to getting a car repair from a dealership as opposed to just anywhere. Yes, the cost is higher, but the manufacturer should stand behind their repairs. I’ll have to search Lloyd’s on this site. Maybe I’ll have a better feeling about them if there are good reviews.
I’ve never used Lloyds, but I’ve heard numerous good stories about them and nothing bad. I know people have called them about items/services not listed on their site and they were able to help.
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I used Lloyds 4 or 5 years ago and was truly impressed with their business ethics. If they replace the receivers, it should be with exactly the same receiver that the manufacturer uses.
I find it hard to believe an audiologist is not willing/able to change the receivers. It is pretty much plug and play repair.
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I certainly feel better about the prospect of calling Lloyd’s in the future. Since I use a custom mold and not domes, I think it’s more than a plug and play fix, otherwise the audi would have probably been able to fix it in their office instead of sending it out. It was only a matter of time before the receiver wire detached from the mold. The wires are in plastic and the plastic is what came away from the mold. If I felt that super glue would have adhered to the mold and the plastic, I may have given it a shot instead of having to pay $650. I have not had much luck with super glue sticking to some types of plastics.
I have seen a couple different types of earmolds with the receivers in them. One is built at the factory that has very small wires and parts inside the mold. This style would be very difficult to repair at the fitters office. The second type has the standard one piece receiver that see on most RIC and RITE hearing aids inside the mold. This second type is very serviceable at the fitters office or even at your home.
The second type receiver in the mold is the type earmolds I have gotten from Lloyd’s. Something to remember is that receivers with different power levels are physically different sizes. So once an earmold is made for a particular power level receiver, that earmold is tied to a particular type receiver.
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I have the same aids. My audi says hearing aids are designed to last 5 years. New hearing aids come out, as a rule, every three years. So far the current models do not appear to be significantly better than my current aids. I plan on waiting for the next round of improvements to buy new ones.
Once my dog chew up the case on one of my aids. That cost $300 for the replacement. I also sent my aids in to be evaluated just prior to their running out of warranty. Resound replaced both receivers. Even though your aids are out of warranty I would pay the repair price for now and wait another couple of years for the next upgrade.
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I wore the Resound 3d for 3 years with custom ear molds. I replaced the reserves 3 or 4 times myself. The VA supplied them to me, but they are available on the web around $50 or so. My custom molds were also made by resound and the receivers were easy changed. I have now switched to Phonak Paradise The resound aids were replaced twice in 3 years also for defects. I was not a happy customer. Sarge
Not sure about Resound, but I would guess it would be the same as my Phonaks. When I got my custom molds I wanted acrylic. The acrylic would not work with my ear canal so we went with soft molds she said one advantage of the soft mold is they could be removed from the reciever like a dome whereas the acrylic is molded into the reciever.
It turns out in my case the reciever for the mold is the same as for the domes - since my molds came with new receivers I now have spares!
Long story short that may be why your aids can’t be fixed in house.
Jim