That has been my experience with Costco as well. Inconsistent. Some are GREAT, but some are AWEFUL. But honestly, the same could be said about the private practices. Just a couple of thoughts… Hearing aids are not like cell phones. Some work better than others. Any of them require a fitter who know what they are doing and how to verify the results. It always bugs me when people say, “A hearing aid should never cost more than…” because you don’t know what the costs of operating a business are in areas other than your own and you don’t know necessarily know what kind of expenses that fitter has. I just bought a practice from a guy who said, “Hearing Aids should never cost more than $4200/pair.” And a lot of people spent $4200/pair with him. And they are all wearing the cheapest Starkey hearing aids they could get and they are all very disappointed with the results. So now they have a negative opinion about the capabilities of hearing aids. But when I put the best hearing aids on them, they start crying because they are understanding so well…
Hearing aid business from large to small are closing down all the time trying to sell based on low price. Why? Because the customers do not come back a second time. Why? Because they don’t provide either the same quality of products OR the same quality of service. In my market, I am the highest priced practice, but my patients are the happiest. 5 practices have closed down in the last 2 years that were all “low price” options. So ALL of their patients who were left are unhappy. HearUSA filed for bankruptcy and they were nationwide partner of AARP… You would think that would be a gold mine. But their model of “discounted” hearing aids DOESN’T WORK in the long run. It costs what it costs to run a successful practice.