[ldj1938]

Wow! Has this ever been an education. $995 and get the second hearing aid FREE. Before you know it you will be fitted out with the very best and it will only cost $5500 minus your trade-in of $1500 even if you don't have a trade in. So $4000 later you think about what just happened!! Return? Well you have to talk to the owner and he is out of the country right now. We'll get back to you on the return.... So you better use a credit card or take them out of your ears before signing anything if you have any doubt at all.

As for me I'm still waiting to talk to the "owner" wherever he is, but I have already talked to the credit card company and have a credit waiting for a final resolution of the return!

[billethkid]

Paige Holt, she is the audiologist....a PhD in audiology...she will let you try what ever you and she thinks works best.
Prices range from $30 to $5000 for 2 hearing aids. 90 days to try....but pay when you get them. Return if you are not satisfied.
The bait and switch routine is prevalent in hearing aids with way too many here in TV.

At LEN&T you don't have to worry about where they are....they are there to serve.

btk

[Bryan]

A common ploy is to offer to "adjust" the hearing aids, sometimes multiple times. They keep doing this until your "30 day free trial period" expires and you can't return them. Best defense, write them (certified, return receipt requested) asking for your money back and offering, if they want to adjust and let you retry, you are willing but they have to state, in writing,t hat the free trial/return period clock starts over each time they make an adjustment OR ELSE give me my money back NOW, I am not satisfied.

[zcaveman]

Not all hearing aids are the same. When I went for hearing aids, I asked about the cheaper ones, the in the ear ones, etc. When the audiologist does the hearing test, he/she will find out what hearing range is your worst and best and try to fit you with a pair of aids that best fit your problem. In my case, I got the info from her and the recommended aids and went home and used Google to find articles on hearing aids in general and the ones she recommended. I then went back and got fitted. Yes they were $2000 each but they really improved my hearing and are now four years old and still going strong.

Since most of us have waited too long to get our ears tested in the first place, we are probably past the $900 aids.

You need to trust the audiologist as to what he/she has been educated and trained to do.

If you do not like the price, go to several other places for the free hearing test and see what the various audiologists recommend before you commit to a particular place, price, or program.

After that, you need to take the 30 days and really give the aids a workout. I made lists of the problems and questions and concerns and took it in every week after that until I got everything answered to my satisfaction.

I used the Lake County Hearing Clinic in the SS Publix shopping plaza and was very satisfied with my choice. You get free cleaning and adjustments for the life of the contract. Near the end of my contract they send both aids back to the factory for a complete overhaul. When these aids are no longer doing their job, I will probably go back to Lake Hearing for new ones.

Z

[ldj1938]

My opinion is based on my experience at "The Village Ear". They are not on my recommended list.

[ajakk]

Try Beneficial Hearing in Ocala if you don't mind the drive. They are a pleasure to deal with and very competent.

Beneficial Hearing
1847 Southwest 1st Avenue
Ocala, FL 34471-8167
(352) 629-4418

[barb1191]

Hubby first went to a hearing-aid store and found that they didn't seem to care about your hearing condition but more important was to sell you big bucks appliances.

He then went to an audiologist who was wonderful. They are truly doctors who put health above sales. The doctor questioned hubby if he had a military background; hub answered he did. Doc suggested he first attempt to be diagnosed by the military and may be able to get the appliances free.

Bill did sign up at the new VA Clinic near Mulberry. He was tested and GIVEN the appliances....no charge. I have much respect for the audiologist for their humane treatment.

Hubby is so very impressed with the VA Clinic and their efficiency. Most all of his medical treatments are with the VA Clinic now.

[bluedog103]

Keep in mind that a hearing aid dispenser is not required to be an audiologist. In Florida and most, if not all other states, an audiologist is a doctor of audiology, Au.D.
To be dispenser of hearing aids in Florida, one must have a high school diploma and take a 6 month training course.
If you walk into a hearing aid store, the salesperson might be an audiologist but probably isn't. They're not all crooks but some might be a whole lot more concerned with making a sale than improving your ability to hear.
Just like in any other business decision, ask questions, do your research and get everything in writing. I have had friends and relatives who have had horrible experiences
with hearing aid salespeople. All too often these hearing aids are not fitted correctly and end up in a dresser drawer, unused and worthless.
I, like another poster's spouse, am fortunate to get my hearing aids from V.A. There I usually go back several times to have new hearing aids adjusted. At V.A. your are encouraged to return until you're satisfied.
Twice the hearing aids never worked the way I wanted and V.A. ordered me different ones. That's over the course of 25 years or so. I can't say enough good things about V.A. Audiology, especially the last 15 years. They've really become good.

[g8torgirl]

be careful, they may be trying to put you off until your 30 day trial is up to then turn around and say too late. If you are having trouble getting a refund then contact the Department of Health, Consumer Services Unit in Tallahassee, FL 1-888-419-3456. I had a friend that had trouble and he said that another clinic gave him this number to file a complaint against the hearing aids salesman's license. Florida Law states that you don't have to given any reason to return the aids as long as they are returned within the 30 days. Soooo don't delay

[LittleDog]

I thought I'd post my hearing aid experience. Since moving to TV I have had my hearing tested twice and I knew that I had some hearing loss. I talked with a member of our concert band who wears hearing aids and has for some time. I asked him where he got his aids. He told me Zounds. I went there and was tested for my hearing which confirmed what the other two tests confirmed. Since I was having trouble with understanding some words on the TV I decided to purchase aids. Both of the aids were adjusted to my hearing loss by computer and I tried various plugs to see which ones I liked best. I noticed an improvement in my hearing. When I heard birds chirping outside it sounded like they were in the house. In addition to the aids I received a device that allowed me to alter the settings, change volume, and adjust bass and treble. These aids recharge at night so don't need batteries weekly. They were certainly expensive. Can't remember the exact price but $3500 comes to mind. I didn't get the feel that they were only out to sell the aids and the guy there spent a lot of time with me.

I have been back a few times, once to get a battery replacement for one aid which was free and after the warrenty. Another time I decided I needed another ear plug which was smaller and had the old ones replaced.

I can't say whether Zounds is the best aid or not but just wanted to throw this information out there of my experiences.

John

[Shimpy]

And this is my story. I'm on my third set of hearing aids. The first were fair. The second were not too bad except in noisy places, but one fell out of my ear one day after taking my motorcycle helmet off. I didn't notice it until a while later and when I looked on the ground had found I had stepped on it crushing it. My third set which I am wearing now I paid about $3000 each for are excellent and work very good in noisy places, which the cheap ones won't do. They come with a lifetime supply of batteries which otherwise would cost about a buck each. When I am low on batteries I just make a phone call and they send me a couple months supply. I use 2 batteries a week on each ear.
After spending about 3K each on these aids, I had one go bad after warranty and it cost me $200 to fix. They told me that it had ear wax in it and they had to replace the entire insides. This happened to me twice before I began to wonder, how can a $3000 hearing aid only cost $200 to completely replace? I then had a third one go bad and decided to get something else. Just for the hell of it I blew compressed air in the opening of the hearing aid and it start working again. I've done this at least 6 times in the past year or two, and It has alway restored the hearing aid to the original condition.
Sooo, in my opinion the mark-up on these aids is many hundreds percent. All three sets I have I used an audiologist. The end result is I enjoy almost normal hearing but have to put up with the expense, which is gouging.

[ldj1938]

Still no resolution of their refusal to take back the hearing aids within the test period. I've been back twice. I have filed a complaint with the BBB and tomorrow I will call the Fl State Consumer Service number. If that doesn't work I'm going the Lake County Sheriff's substation in The Villages to see if they can get their attention.

[graciegirl]

A person with a hearing loss is just thrown to the wolves. I think even the most reputable and decent providers are making at least a 80% profit if not more.

Two little amplifiers that are made for your hearing loss after ascertaining that loss (which becomes easier all the time)....Those two little amplifiers cost me two thousand dollars each. They fit them to your ear after putting some gunky substance in and sending that away to make the containers for the amplifiers....how expensive can that be?

You can buy a huge flat screen TV for far, far less.

I wish we seniors with hearing loss could rise up and change this whole industry. It isn't ethical and it isn't right and it isn't fair. We are at their mercy.

AND if you think about it, a full page advertisement in the newspapers cost a bundle. I see those all of the time and lately there was four full pages. Manufacturers of hearing aids and the people who sell them are making too much money off of us.

Who wants to march?

[ldj1938]

Finally received a call from the owner of The Villages Ear this morning. It seems that he has been away, came back to work, and now is ill. Of course none of this information was relayed to me. His policy is to find out why you want a refund and what could be done to improve their sales system.

O.K. I'll buy all that, but it seems that Mr. Malone could have passed that information on to me. When you have no personal knowledge of the people you are dealing with and they have $4,000 of your money I get very nervous.

Communication with your customers has to be a priority. Mr. Malone said that he will instruct his employee at the 441 store to refund my $ today.

Problem resolved. Too bad it took all this to fix the problem.

[LittleDog]

Another point I want to add. With my controller there is a setting for "party" which turns off the back speakers. I complained to the guy at Zounds that when I did this I still heard a lot of backgound noise. After thinking about this for awhile I finally figured it out. Since my hearing is not all that bad without aids I figured that I was still hearing the background noise with my regular hearing. If I were fairly deaf I don't think I would be able to hear this noise.

John