We received this message from Oticon at our clinic:
Dear Valued Partner,
Thank you for your patience over the past several months as we addressed issues with the ZPower rechargeable battery system for Oticon Opn™. We are pleased to share with you new developments that will enable you to again order the ZPower rechargeable solution for Opn with confidence that the kits and the battery drawer modules will operate with the quality and dependability that you expect from Oticon.
Oticon Takes Over Production Process
Our analysis of the issues with the ZPower rechargeable system revealed that while the ZPower battery was performing as expected, in a number of cases, the rechargeable kits and battery drawer module were no longer living up to Oticon quality standards.
In February, our staff went onsite to the ZPower manufacturing facilities to monitor the production process. We were able to quickly identify the issue, and we immediately put an action plan in place to solve it. At that time, we also made the decision that Oticon would take full control of the ZPower production process. The Oticon team has remained onsite at the ZPower facility to continue to monitor the production process and to prepare for the transition of production of the rechargeable kits to Oticon.
We will soon be manufacturing the electronic components of the battery drawer module. In October, the improved production process officially moves to Oticon production facilities for all future kit production.
Many thousands of the ZPower kits and battery drawer modules produced with the improved production process have already been delivered. We are pleased to report that based upon feedback from many Oticon customers and Opn users, the ZPower kits and battery drawer modules are performing well – fully living up to Oticon’s internal quality requirements and standards.
Timely Delivery Back on Track
The continuous high demand for the Oticon Opn with the ZPower solution and the replacement battery drawer modules occurred while the rechargeable solution production process was under review and preparing to transition to Oticon control.
This change-over meant that we have not been able to maintain our timely delivery standards. With the production process now functioning smoothly, we are back on track to deliver the ZPower rechargeable system for Opn and replacement battery drawers according to our usual delivery standards.
We greatly appreciate your patience as we worked to resolve this issue. We are confident that we can now deliver rechargeable Oticon Opn, a unique combination of outstanding audiological performance, 2.4 GHz connectivity and a flexible rechargeable battery solution, with the quality and reliability you expect from Oticon.
It is our pleasure to serve you and we thank you for choosing Oticon.
At the end of the email:
ZPower warranty reset
Now that we have fulfilled our backlog of orders, we’re in the process of ramping up our stock so we can consistently fulfill all new orders as soon as they are received. We will also be automatically re-setting the warranties for ALL ZPower kits sold by Oticon since the product was launched.
This new, full warranty period will begin on August 1, 2018.