Scott,
I would deal with the local Starkey rep. I think your chance of a refund isn’t to good but the worst they can say is no. I think you have a better chance of getting a different HA out of them because of all your troubles. The final and least attractive option is taking them to small claims court and as long as you have all the documentation as to office visits, remakes, etc. you probably have a good shot of winning a judgement. See what the rep can do for you first. Good luck!
I know with Phonak, you can trade in your HA/HAs if they are less then a year old and it does not work for you anymore and you can get a certain amount of money off another Phonak HA or HAs, normally a good amount. All HA manufactures should do this, I would say 
Uh, your pro needs to put his big-boy pants on and call Starkey. They will (most likely) not deal with you in any way and will just direct you to go back to him and work with him.
I would never, EVER, ask a patient to contact a company for me. This is completely unacceptable and unprofessional. It is his fault for not recognizing what was going wrong sooner and doing everything possible to remedy the situation.
I have, on a couple of occasions, had to go to Phonak and tell them that circumstances have either changed or that I allowed things to go past when we’d normally be allowed to exchange things (thankfully I can count these on one hand) and because we have a good relationship, they have accommodated me. But I’M the one with the relationship and the one who, ultimately, has the responsibility to fix whatever the problem is…NOT the patient.
I would recommend that you inquire about switching to a RIC hearing aid, either a Wi series or 3 series with the surflink remote (if they let you). Once you get the hearing aid, you can go elsewhere for services. A poorly fit ( physically and sound wise) hearing aid is useless and you are better off getting the exchange and going elsewhere.
Thanks a lot for your advice and help.
I asked my HIS and he says he dosen’t have a local Starkey rep. (We are in SLC Utah). He says he only calls the company directly.
AuD1234, you suggested,“Once you get the hearing aid, you can go elsewhere for services.”
Aren’t my “services” kind of tied to who I buy it through? Would I have to pay extra for another person to do fitting and honor warranty etc?
I’ve got to do something this week. I’m tired of not hearing…
Boy, who would’ve thought it’d be so hard to get hearing aids to fit right?
Scott
As to that first part…that’s a load of BS. There are always reps…even if he calls the company they have an inside rep and an outside rep…methinks someone is trying to shirk their responsibilities in the matter. I hardly ever deal with Starkey and even I have an outside and inside sales rep.
As to the second part…yes if you go somewhere else there will most likely be office visit fees, but they do still have to honor the manufacturer warranty. They can’t tell you that Starkey is charging them anything as long as it’s under the original warranty but they can (and most likely will) charge you office visit fees. Sometimes the fees are reasonable ($30-$75/visit) and sometimes they are excessive (>$100/visit).
This shouldn’t have been nearly this much trouble…and if your pro had handled the situation appropriately the first time, it wouldn’t have.
Normal I wouldn’t encourage a patient to get “hostile” with the professional they’re working with (often the professional is doing the right thing and is just doing a poor job conveying that to the patient), but I think in this case it might be justified.
The conversation between your professional and Starkey should go something like this:
Him: Hi Starkey, can I get someone in customer service?
Starkey: Let me transfer you.
…
…
Starkey: Hi this is such and such in customer care.
Him: Hi, this is _____, can you tell me who the outside and inside sales reps are who cover Utah?
Starkey: Sure, it’s such and such…
Him: Okay, can you give me my inside sales rep’s extension and then transfer me to that extension?
Starkey: Here is the info and I’ll transfer you now…
Either he’s intentionally being evasive about getting things handled (seems unlikely since I think he’d prefer to have you leave happy VS badmouthing him to others) or he’s not used to dealing with company sales reps directly and doesn’t realize how easy it is to get one on the phone and how helpful they can be.
Edit: Worth pointing out that most of the pros on this forum are probably a little more engaged in the process than your average professional might be. Those less engaged (especially those just starting out) might be used to their boss handling calls and interactions with the manufacturers and not as comfortable or familiar with making those calls themselves.
You can definitely take the HA’s somewhere else for service, but you will probably end up paying a fee for service, etc.
Your HIS is totally incorrect. EVERY territory has a trainer/manager/rep who can help with fittings, issues like yours, and so on. It is their JOB to make sure that when people have difficult fittings or issues (like you are having), they come out and see what they can do to change things or help.
As previous posters have stated, there is NO REASON there wouldn’t be a trainer/rep in that area. Starkey has a positively massive training and sales force in all areas. It is as simple as your HIS making two phone calls, it sounds like he is lazy or hiding something. I would be concerned about the lack of transparency.
I’m sorry you are having such a terrible experience. I hope he gets the trainer in to fix things up for you.
So I called Starkey yesterday. They took my information and looked at my account. She agreed that I have had the HA’s sent in quite a few times.She took my HIS information and is going to call him directly.
As far as my HIS specialist goes. He’s a great guy who really is doing what he can to help me. He’s been very patient with me and willing to keep trying to get them to work.
After all the whining I’ve done here about my aids and them not working with me. I hope I haven’t “bad mouthed” him or made him sound incompetent with all hearing aids etc. I think it may be that “IIC” ha’s are somewhat new to him. I appreciate all your comments and advice all. You’ve all helped me immensely.
I’ll let you know when I hear from him after he talks to Starkey.
If you’re this easy maybe you are also part of the problem…
HE SHOULD HAVE BEEN THE CALLING STARKEY NOT YOU. among a host of other things already mentioned.
You shouldn’t have had to call Starkey. And not to sound harsh, but as willing as you say he’s been to help, he hasn’t actually done much other than continue to kick the can down the road. Doesn’t matter how nice he is (gee, how swell) he’s dropped the ball in a number of ways. Doesn’t matter if he’s new to using IIC’s…if he’s that unfamiliar with them then he should get more experience working with them before fitting them or be willing to call the Rep in at the first inkling that he was in over his head.
Mic is spot on. For you to need to call Starkey is 100%, unequivocally unacceptable. Being nice doesn’t matter…he dropped the ball. Doesn’t make him look incompetent, it shows that he doesn’t really care about the after-care and making things right.
Wow. Ok the tables turn and the patient is the problem. (I’ll need to think about that one) I don’t know anything about how the hearing aid business works. How am i supposed to know that im not the one to call the company? I’m not backing down or rolling over to what ever he wants to do or doesn’t. I’m just trying to hear, and protect my investment. Thats why I’ve come here, to this forum, for help and advice and to learn how the business part of this works. He’s the specialist and the one that has my thousands of dollars.
I’d like to be able to keep some sort of relationship here with him if I’m going to need to be going to see him at his home office for warranty and adjustments for the next few years. Maybe I am too nice, I guess that’s just how I roll. And…some times it works,against me. I’m learning.
BTW Starkey wants to do one more mold for each ear, and send it to a ha fitter that specializes in hard to fit aids, or something like that. If that doesn’t work, they’ll let me try CIC or go to a BTE.
Again, thanks for the teaching.
I am sorry to hear that this issue still hasn’t resolved. I partly agree with the other posters on the fact that a patient should never HAVE to call the manufacturer directly in order to get what they need. Your HIS or audiologist should always make the contact and do everything in their power to make things right. The hearing aid business, in my opinion, is very service based. Good service/programming/competency is more important than the actual hearing aid (technology wise).
While I do think your HIS is doing the best he can, he is not able to meet your needs at this time. You should never have had to do something that is his job.
I strongly recommend you go elsewhere, even if you have to pay an office visit charge.
Thanks for the advice. I’ve learned a lot. Starkey has given me some options. I’ll go back to him with more understanding of how things “should” work and with more resolve.
If things don’t change, I’ll sure take the idea of going somewhere else as a solution.
Scott