Hi,
For reasons posted on another thread, and others… I was just wondering. If I sell my hearing aids to someone else, would the warranty transfer to that person? Would it be up to Starkey, the brand, to decide? Or, is it up to the actual Hearing Aid sales/fitter/owner that fit me with them to decide how the warranty for the hearing aids is applied? I’ve had them for 6 months and can’t get a good fit. I’m thinking of going back to BTE’s, if I can. If not, I’ll try to make these work.
Thanks for your help!
Scott
Other post with some of my story:
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I’ve been fighting with my soundlens for 6 months. I bought them after the trial, even though they weren’t working right. My HA guy said that Starkey would make as many adjustments as needed to get them to fit right. Well…they have had them (with the waiting and shipping times) longer than I have been able to use them. When I do have them, they slip a little and don’t sound right. My HA salesman, doesn’t really know how to program them either. It’s really like he’s guessing every time I need them adjusted for fixing the sound of them. I hear about the great sound they have, but I haven’t been able to experience that yet.
Two things I’ve learned: 1) Make sure they fit- physically 2) Make sure your audi knows how to use the program to make the adjustments and get the most out of them.
Since I own them now I’m really hoping these work out. When I first put them in, before they slip out of place, I LOVE the way they feel. I hardly notice them. If they would stay there and the sales guy would adjust the sound right, I would be in heaven. I like that they are in there and “out of the way”. I think with the right person helping you, they really are a great choice for the “invisible” look.
>>>>>>>>
Basic answer is no.
Wow. So, I’m stuck with something that’s not working for me? I guess i’m now the poster child for the…“make sure it fits and you like it, don’t be swayed by promises that they’ll get it to work” life lesson.
Thanks.
If someone has better/different news, or suggestions, please let me know:)
Scott
ps. Sorry, don’t mean to “kill the messenger”. Just feeling a little hopeless after a big investment…
Why don’t you contact Starkey and let them know your issues. I’m sure they will refer you to an AD in your surrounding area for they don’t want their brand tarnish.
For them it’s creating customer service and goodwill. If it only 6months, you can still do it. Contact their customer service or email them.
Btw, whenever our household products crap up(don’t know about medical device), we contact the company and we always have 100% response from them. At times, we get brand new replacement.
Work it out first before dumping it…or donate it co’z someone out there will benefit it.
SrSearle, I have to give you the detailed version of the bad news you recieved previously. Unfortunately based on reading about your woes, it seems as if you were poorly qualified for an IIC hearing aid.
A hearing aid is a prescribed medical device that is built and set for your needs and your hearing loss. Therefore it is unlawful and unprofessional for us as dispensers of medical devices to refit them. Matters of complexity become evident moreso if third party payers like insurance, VA, or otherwise were involved.
However, all that said, why don’t you work something out with your dispenser? I know you have had numerous remakes due to jaw movement kicking your hearing aids out of your ears. Have your dispenser and Starkey change the style from an IIC to perhaps a ITC or even a RIC? You may have to push the matter a little, but I am sure something can be done for you.
Thanks for the advice. I’ll give it one more try and then go down that road. I got the feeling from my dispenser that Starkey wouldn’t help change to a different style if we couldn’t get the fit right. If this next “tweak” dosen’t work. I will try contacting them directly if he won’t contact them for me.
Thanks again.
Scott
Scott,
If he promised you he would get it right and hasn’t been successful, I would think professionally and ethically he’s bound to make it right one way or the other. You can always go to small claims court and plead your case, the more documentation you have the better. Good luck!
I had a patient with a soundlens that had issues on and off for over a year and I contacted Starkey and they offered him an “upgrade” to a better technology/RIC hearing aid for 300/ear. So, while it was not free- it was something that made the patient very happy and he is now thrilled with his hearing aids.
Warm regards,
Audiologist with Hearing loss
Moderate to severe (profound at 8000 Hz) mixed hearing loss
RIGHT/LEFT (air) RIGHT/LEFT (bone)
500 Hz 55/50 30/45
1000 Hz 60/65 35/50
2000 Hz 65/65 55/60
3000 Hz 70/80
4000 Hz 75/90 35/50
6000 Hz 75/85
8000 Hz NR/NR
Thanks, AuD1234, that’s a very encouraging thing to hear.
Does anyone know if Starkey actually has local sales/training people that you can talk to, or do you have to just call the 800 number. It seems my dispenser has talked about someone stopping by his office to show him new stuff.
I wonder because it might be helpful to get some advice on how to help my dispenser fit/program my ha’s to see if it helps or maybe the soundlens is just not going to work no matter what we do and it’s time to move on and try other possibilities.
Thank you all soo much for your comments and help. This forum/community is really helping me get through this frustration with trying to use hearing aids.
Scott
All manufacturers have local trainers and they will almost always be able to accommodate you. You will (I am fairly certain) need your Audiologist to set that up but it can be very helpful to talk to directly about your issues with someone who essentially lives and breathes Starkey.
The old “I can’t do anything because the manufacturer won’t let me” saying is the lazy fitters excuse, IMHO.
I’ve had 2 or 3 patients who, for whatever reason, needed to switch to a different style hearing aid, WELL after the typical 60 or 90 day period they provide for returns and they did it without really any difficulties (only had to get authorization of area manager). Now, it’s only happened a few times and it’s been with a manufacturer I do a lot of business with and have a very good relationship with but once the change was made I had very happy patients.
Ask you pro to ask the manufacturer if they’ll change the style and if the pro says ‘no’ then find someone else.
To second what DocAudio said, there’s no reason for you to be “stuck.” I’ve routinely performed model changes for patients outside of the 60/90-day trial period when there was a good reason to do so and it sounds like you have a pretty good reason. They were even quick to offer it as an option with a patient I’d fit 2 years ago who was running into frequent repair problems due to new work-related moisture issues!
All the professional you’re working with should have to do is call their regional sales rep and their request will most likely be approved. Sales reps don’t want to piss us off (they’re hoping we’ll recommend their brand more frequently). It can get a little dicier to get a refund from them after the trial period is over (without prior approval), but usually they’re okay with models changes to the same level of technology (or especially to a higher level if you’re willing to pay the difference to upgrade).
At this point I wouldn’t expect them to give you a refund, but it would be very reasonable for you to expect them to perform a model change at either no charge, or passing along any manufacturer’s model change fee to you.
Thanks all for the great comments and advice. It’s great to not feel like I’ve just hit a dead end with aids that aren’t working for me.
I went to my dispenser last night. He offered to make one more mold of the offending ear canal and try one more time. I’m good with that.
I brought up the subject of, “what if this doesn’t work either”, and I think he’ll try to work with me. I had to mention some of the great advice here about contacting Starkey ect. - and he was hesitant but open to it.
I don’t think he’s had to work with a pair of HA’s, his first IIC, this much before.
Anyway, it usually takes two weeks to get them back from Starkey, so I’ll let you know what happens.
Thanks again everyone,
Scott
was hesitant
insist he have a Starkey rep there when you oick these up… that’s what Starkey rep’s get paid to do. why would he be hesitant? maybe should have had Starkey rep take the mold.
Well, I got them back…
I can’t believe what’s happening!! They finally got the shape of the aid close to correct, 2 changes ago. Instead of an oval shape, it looked kindof like a molded tootsie roll. This is just my left ear. With the more of an oval, when my jaw would move the aid would rotate and cause a lot of discomfort. The rounder version didn’t “roll” in my ear, but it would slip out very easily. (They didn’t include a canal lock on it again. It seems every time they would may a physical change, they wouldn’t put the canal lock on. So back it went…again).
So it came back with a canal lock. The lock was a very odd elongated shape and curved to the middle of the aid. I put it in and it did absolutely nothing. My HA specialist said to try it for a week anyway. I did, wrote my original post, went back to him and asked. “Could they just please have the canal lock curve so that it actually makes contact with my ear? I think that’s all that needs to happen to keep it in place”. Since my right aid had a very short retrieval line, I have to really dig to get it, it went back to have 2mm added to the line so it matches the left.
So…the aids have returned from Starkey.
The right ear, although it hasn’t ever fit right it is the better of the two, now has correct line length.
The left “problem” aid: is back to the more oval shape. (why did they change it back?? We didn’t ask them to, and the other shape was fine). The line is so short I have to dig to even make contact with it. HA specialist says, “try it for a week and see how it works”. So about a half hour I notice the uncomfortable feeling in my ear, I go to pull it out. First the line is so short it’s very hard to get hold of it. Now, the HA is so hard to get it out, it needs a pretty hard constant pull and is VERY painful to remove. So much so, that I put my little finger in to see if it’s bleeding.
This is turning into quite the Soap Opera. Each time Starkey gets my HA’s, it seems they change things that we don’t ask them to and so it’s hard to narrow down what works. I don’t know if it’s my fitter, or that fact that I’m part of the 80% that IIC’s won’t work for, but since I paid for them last May, I’ve never been able to enjoy the use of Hearing Aids, except for the moments when I push them up in and they stay where they should. If I don’t move [U]anything[U] they’ll work. The moment I begin to breath, move, etc. out they slip, everything is occluded, the feedback (when I eat, yawn, blow my nose) is so bad, after a few hours I’ve got a headache so bad I need to pop an aspirin.
I know I need them, but this is getting very tiring. I’m ready to go to my HA guy and give them back. I don’t want to be out the several thousand paid, and I want to hear. But these are not working and I’m just tired of trying to get them to work satisfactorily. I’ll see what he’ll d Starkey o for me. I’d like to have some info. going back to him to give me some options.
Does Starkey have a small BTE, with a remote maybe, that I could try to get into?
Any suggestions would be VERY much appreciated.
Thank-you all for you kind help.
Scott
Scott,
Are they doing new impressions or have they ever done new impressions to see if maybe they were working with bad ones from the start? If Starkey is willing to let you move into a BTE do it and talk them into a good deal on the Surflink mobile for all the trouble they have put you though. Good luck!
He’s done a few impressions. I keep reading that for this type of HA you need just a very thin “thing” on the end of the string and you need to get it down next to the eardrum. My HA guy keeps using a little piece of foam on the end of the string. I brought up the idea that maybe the putty wasn’t getting deep enough, but he corrected me and told me it was fine. He’s never worked with a IIC before.
Maybe he’s doing it right, but, from what I’ve read, it seems it should be deeper. Millimeters seem to count here.
Scott
Starkey’s preference (at least when the IIC was first released) was for deep impressions (well past the 2nd bend) with cotton oto-blocks, but a deep impression with foam oto-blocks should work as well.
It sounds to me like you really have three choices:
1: Keep getting remakes done and see if they can get it right. I know the back and forth can be frustrating, but if they can get it right and you really want that style it might be worth the extra legwork. It may seem random, but there usually is some method to their madness.
2: Get larger hearing aids made. A larger size like a full-shell won’t go as deep in your ear and is much more likely to stay in the ear without popping out.
3: Model change to a BTE or RIC model. Will likely be more comfortable than the aids you’re working with and should solve the retention problem.
Thanks for the thoughts.
I’m meeting one more time to see if the HAS can help me narrow this down. I really do like the style, so I may just do the extra leg work. Then, if it doesn’t work…onto a RIC, if they’ll work with me.
Thanks again,
Scott
Well. I’ve met with my HA specialist, and he agrees, it doesn’t look like I’m going to be able to get these to fit correctly. After many (8 plus. I lost track) re moldings, I’ve given up. (see posts above). I talked to him about my options. He didn’t seem to have a good idea. I brought up the posts here, and he told me I could try if I wanted to.
So, I need some advice.
My first choice would be a refund. Even if I needed to pay Starkey and my HA guy some money for time etc. I feel I need to make a clean break with this HA specialist and find someone that can maybe help me a little better. I don’t want to '“throw him under the bus” at all. I just feel maybe I need someone up on the latest tech etc. (As a side note. His office is about 30 mins from my house. I’ve been traveling there 3-4 times a month for the past 7 months.)
My second choice would be to see if they will let me trade to another type of aid.
I know my first choice is probably a long shot, but I think I may have some good reasons for them to consider helping me out. I also realize I am totally at their mercy and good will.
My questions: Does anyone know the best way to contact Starkey? Or who to contact?
And, how to, not manipulate at all, but to state my frustrations and the inability for me to get a proper fit to even use these aids. After so many months of really trying to have them redone to get an acceptable fit for just normal use.
Like I said, my HAs has kind of left me on my own at this, so any help or advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks so much for the past help too.
Scott