I think people put it down when they see someone leaving the store with a 50 gal. bottle of ketchup
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I did have the experience of a Costco HIS installing a left receiver on both aids. I inserted them and the right aid kept pulling out soon after I left. When I compared them it was obvious my right aid had a left receiver and was twisting the wire when I inserted it in my right ear. I didnt notice the error till the next day. When i returned to get the correct receiver. another HIS laughed about it and said, “how silly of her”. One reason why I self program these days
Re: Costco as a second rate HA provider: I will tell you it depends on the audiologist. At the Costco in West Springfield mass 8 years ago my audiologist was great! When it came time that my hearing needed more help than HA could give me, he suggested an ENT. I wish I could find as integral a ENT as my Costco guy. 3 of them treated me more like a potential sale than an MD who wanted to help my issue. Everyone’s voice sounds like "Donald Duck, including mine. This has been going on for 3 years and 3 ENT’s with more “Blow Offs” than problem solving. They just check your hearing and send you off to their audiologist, with narry an attempt to look into the problem. What’s interesting lately is that if I move my jaw open I hear cracking like a loud POP. The same if I move my jaw left to right and right to left as far as I can. I think it’s related to my hearing issues. Now all I need to do is find someone who has dealt with this issue. It’s not a Vestibular Therapy issue to the best of my searches either.
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It sounds like you are in the Springfield, Ma area and if so, check out Ent Associates hearing aid provider which has a separate office in the same building. Send me a private message for the name of my audiologist there and her phone number. I have been using her for ten years. She started at Mercy Hearing (a non-profit) and then when the new owners of the hospital closed it down, she moved over to this new practice. She is great.
I think the main issue, at least in my experience, is Costco doesn’t allow enough time per visit and frowns on patient’s with hard to fit loss or those that require many visits until they are satisfied. Time equals money and when they give the aids away at almost cost, something has to give. I will be the first to admit they do a great job for many patients, but I also personally saw how they would not allow the proper time needed for certain visits
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After having the hearing test Costco wouldn’t sell me hearing aids because of my results… too difficult for them I guess.
I have taken up a lot of audiologists’ time with many adjustments trying to even understand what people are saying, with not very good results with any of them. So I can understand why Costco didn’t even want to try with my loss.
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Can’t see why that is, nothing that a HA couldn’t help with, sure revise slope on your left, but nothing that couldn’t be fit, they have Brio 5 which would be helpful for you, I’d just find another Costco if you can.
Have you ever been evaluated for a cochlear implant? I’m guessing your word recognition scores wer pretty low and they didn’t think aids would help.
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tenkan, thanks for that idea! I hadn’t even thought of it, since I only live two blocks from our local Costco! For the next time…I will do that. It would be worth the drive into Tacoma.
But I think the Costco people were also looking at my WRS, which is pretty bad.
An ENT thought that would be a good road to go down, then COVID happened… and some of my family members are against a CI, so I’m just sticking with the hearing aids for now. Otter is a life saver!
Why on earth?..
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Fear of a bad result or infection.
Strangely enough @Neville, the Big D as they are known here in the UK (Pre-lingually Deaf) much prefer their children to be born Deaf like them, and most abhor CI, as they believe these to be a slow strangulation of their Deaf culture, and some will refuse point blank to have their Deaf children implanted…… You have to see it from their perspective, they honestly believe there is absolutely nothing wrong or strange about profound hearing loss, as sign language is their first language, and their preferred medium of communication, and they believe CI are destroying their culture, this culture goes back several hundred years…. I honestly empathise with them. Cheers Kev 
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I do empathize with the feelings of those who are part of Deaf culture, and I don’t think they are wrong that CIs are shrinking them. I just didn’t feel that that was the situation here. I suppose I understand when individuals themselves are hesitant to get a CI, but when family members push against it is seems stranger. . . like, not really their decision to make when the person in question is an adult.
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I totally agree @Neville…. I am aware that’s not the issue here, I was just giving an example of why certain folks might object to another family member getting an implant. Cheers Kev
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This discussion is very interesting! When I got my first HAs, I didn’t realize that Costco was an option. When I decided to replace my first set ~6 years later, I decided to go to Costso. I had a hearing test, and found the audiologist to be good, if a bit inexperienced. However I was left with the impression that Costcos hearing aids are much like their TVs - you can get a great price if you are ok with technology that is a year or two old. Maybe this is not the case? In my case, I was told at Costco that CICs that can stream do not exist (even though I already had that capability, albeit with the use of a surflink device, which I was looking to get rid of). She did suggest BTE/RIC but only offered me one option in each format (RIC/CIC), and I was left with the impression that ‘this is what they sell’ not necessarily that this is what would help me. I then decided to go back to my private clinic and had a completely different discussion. There are in fact CICs that can stream, however we talked about the pros and cons of different types, and discussed three different brands (and also discussed different typrs - CIC vs. RIC).
I would not describe my experience at Costco as negative, in fact I have recommended them to a friend who needs HA but can’t afford the price she was quoted at several private audiologists right now. It might just be my experience, I felt that Costco sold a limited selection and picked the best fit, whereas the private audiologist was able to help me compare different brands (not sure how many brands they sell, but we seriously considered 3) to make a more personalized recommendation. Is this worth the significantly increased cost? Only if you can afford the extra cost without sacrificing other things.
There are a lot of people who were born deaf who see themselves as special and not handicap. Good for them. I applaud their attitude. But to think thats how others should be especially their children is absolutely ridiculous. The people in this forum have experienced what it’s like to hear and what it’s like to lose their hearing. I don’t see anyone say they’re glad they lost their hearing. People deaf from birth have no idea what hearing is like so can’t really judge. They say they’re not handicap but let’s be serious. They are, as we are. Asking them how they feel about being deaf when they’re lying in the gutter because they didn’t hear that car horn. I’ve worked with a lot of deaf people. I respect their ability to adapt to their loss. But I’ve also seen a lot of near accidents because they can’t hear. One thing about the deaf. They see my aids and they come over and talk to me about it. It’s the hearing that make the rude and cruel remarks
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Hi @hass5744, I have always, or since I was very young, I have been fascinated with “Deaf Culture”, they do have some strange/peculiar ideas, that are very much indicative to their culture… Not surprising though, when they are cut off from mainstream society via oral language. For instance, in the hearing world, we pick up a lot of information just through conversations, or indeed just listening to others talking, some of this may register on our memory, these conversations tell us of folks personal prospective on any given situation, and usually what the outcome was… A simple example here, a friend & former sign language teacher, (My teacher) born profoundly Deaf, with sign language as her first language, a lovely lady, and very intelligent, with a beautiful sense of humor, well she had a small fire at home, which she managed to put out, and someone said, “Why didn’t you call the “Fire Service/Brigade”? (Fire Brigade here in the UK) Her response was, “But, who would pay”! She genuinely thought at around 70 years old, you had to pay if you called out the Fire Service! Now you and me would be very aware, via previous conversations, listening in or perhaps the news, that this is free at the point of service, but to a Deaf person, they might be oblivious to something that is so fundamental… That shocked me, It was an eye opener, to say the very least! Cheers Kev
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My mother used to say don’t call the fire dept because they’ll do more damage getting to the fire than the fire itself will fo. So who knows
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@MDB The jury’s still out for me on Costco as I’ve yet to be fitted there, but it’s certainly been my experience that some kinds of hearing loss are tougher to fit and some independent audiologists are better at it than others.
Not good ways I know of to find a good fitter other than trial and error. Maybe now that so many hearing aids are capable of remote tuning, a grapevine or recommendation service will develop so you can find fitters anywhere in the world who are good at working with a particular type of hearing loss. Assuming fitters would be willing. If part of the price you pay to an indy for hearing aids is long-term service that model may have to go by the wayside though and that might not fly.