Hearing Aids....

Colleen

Colleen

Senior Member
Location
Pennsylvania
My husband wears hearing aids that we purchased from Miracle Ear about 8 years ago. They have been good and he doesn't have any complaints about them, but for the past couple years he's noticed they aren't helping so much and he has to keep getting them adjusted. He has always kept them clean and doesn't wear them when he showers (haha) or when he trap shoots or when he's working in the yard so moisture doesn't get in them.

Then last week, he noticed a piece was broken off on one of them and we went in to Miracle Ear yesterday and it has to be sent to their lab to have it fixed. It's going to cost at least $300. The warranty has expired and the doctor asked him if he'd consider buying new ones because they are "older". We paid $3000 8 years ago and I don't want to know how much they will cost now!

What I was wondering...if anyone on here wears hearing aids...what kind do you wear and would you recommend them.

I'm going to do some research online and read some reviews for other hearing aids other then Miracle Ear.
 

I wear Oticon hearing aids. I purchased them from Total Hearing Care. They cost almost $3000.00 each. This is my second set. The first time I got a great warranty with them and batteries for the life of the aids. They adjusted them when needed. After 4 years one went bad and the cost to repair it was astronomical. Then they really put the pressure on for me to purchase a new set. After many so called discounts and batteries for only 2 years the price ended up to be the same as the last pair. Batteries are doled out like they were gold. Heaven forbid you need a few extra if you are traveling. I'm not reminded to have them adjusted like the last pair

They wanted me to bring in my hubby when I had mine adjusted so he could speak the words. They said it was more effective. What they really wanted was for him to have a hearing test so they could get another customer and when he didn't show up they were really upset.

Next time I'm really going to shop around. You just have to make sure they are really aids and not just amplifiers. Also check how long the batteries last. Mine last a week. One women who I spoke to in the office waiting room said hers only lasted 3 days. She wasn't told this and they wouldn't give her extras for traveling. They said they had offices in the area she was going.
 
Good hearing aids are expensive but luckily I get mine and the batteries free through the VA.....they are behind the ear Phonak Bolero V-90M's and they work very good.

Everything is dull / muffled when I don't wear them and I can't hear things like birds chirping when outside without them so I should probably wear them more than I do but normally I only wear mine around two or three hours a day inside to catch the morning and evening news unless there is something good on TV that I want to watch but that is rare.
 
Here's the update on my husband's hearing aid "repair". The one that needed to be repaired (for $300+) was sent to Miracle Ear's lab in Phoenix on the 18th. We hadn't heard from our local office so we stopped in yesterday while we were in town to check on the status of it. The gal that works there is very nice...BUT, she's not too ambitious and had no idea what it's status was. She got on the phone and called Phoenix lab. They told her they couldn't fix it so they sent it to another lab in MN. She never got a notification on that???? So, she calls the lab in MN and they tell her it's been fixed for a week but they won't send it back to her until Miracle Ear pays the bill on it. I'm not sure what that means other than Miracle Ear isn't very good at paying their labs when repairs are made. Again...she didn't get a notification on this either????

So, she told us she would have to find out how to handle this and she would call us. A few hours later, we got a call from her and she said it had been taken care of and the hearing aid was being overnighted so it should be in today. Haven't heard from her yet.

My husband asked her how much it was going to be and she said her boss had a note on my husband's account that it would be $350!!! She said she would ask her boss if he could discount it some because it was so screwed up.

The thing is...we bought his hearing aids 7 years ago when we lived in PA. We moved to AZ 4 years ago and they have been nothing but problems since we got here. My husband only wears them if he's going somewhere and at night watching TV. He does not wear them out working in the yard or when he goes trap shooting. Also, the Miracle Ear guy here is so snotty and rude, we hate to go in there. He's never said anything about re-checking his hearing or doing another hearing test. He just keeps "adjusting" his hearing aids. He's always been rude about us buying them in PA and not from him.

I don't know what we're going to buy next but it won't be another Miracle Ear product and we certainly wouldn't give him the business anyway.
 
Thanks for the update. That's a pretty sorry way to do business. I wonder what would happen if you wrote Miracle Ear Corporate (feedback@miracle-ear.com) about your experience. I know I would.

Don
 
Grampa Don said:
Thanks for the update. That's a pretty sorry way to do business. I wonder what would happen if you wrote Miracle Ear Corporate (feedback@miracle-ear.com) about your experience. I know I would.

Don
Click to expand...

That's exactly what I'm doing. I doubt anything will come of it, but at least I'll get my 2 cents worth in :) Whatever happened to integrity and customer service?? I remember from years ago that Miracle Ear was a very popular brand but not any more. My husband told the gal yesterday that we'd never do business with Miracle Ear again. She just looked at him with a blank look on her face.
 
Good for you, Colleen. You're probably right that nothing will come of it, but they may surprise you. There is a lot of competition in hearing aids now. That woman probably doesn't really care if your husband comes back. She's just getting paid by the hour and most likely has very little concern for the company. Employee loyalty is rare these days. It reflects companies attitude toward their employees.

Don
 
Here's the next chapter in the continuing hearing aid drama!

My husband's hearing aid was supposed to have been Overnighted on Thursday (the 27th) and the gal at Miracle Ear said she would call on Friday when it came in. You guessed it...she never called because it never came in.

I got an email back from ME Rep in MN this morning and he said it had been shipped but it would not be in until Wed. (Oct.3rd). He also said it's a "very old" hearing aid and that's why the delay and my husband needs to get new ones and they have the very best technology and prices on the market....blah, blah, blah.

I told him we'd never buy from that office and we wouldn't buy from ME again.

It just irks me that they've had it for 2 1/2 weeks and we got the royal run-around. Someone lied about when it would be shipped. We hung around the house today just to get the call that it was supposed to be in today. Today is my birthday and we had plans but we canceled them just because of a phone that wasn't going to come. Would it have been too much for the gal in the office to give us a call and say, "Sorry, but your hearing aid has not shipped and won't be in until Wed."?????? No customer service with this place and yet they want us to spend $4000 for new hearing aids.....I don't think so!
 
Colleen, I'm sorry you've had so much trouble.
Warranties are usually good for 3 yrs. After that there is a charge.
Aids within 5 yrs old should be repaired at the company's lab. After 5 yrs they are usually sent to an independent lab that works with the hearing aid company.
If they are ITE (in the ear aids) the repair usually would be the amplifier or microphone that needs replacing and most labs stock those parts. You may get many more years out of that repair. It should come with some type of repair warranty. Usually 6 months.
Tradition BTE's (behind the ear) would likely be the same.
If your husband's aids are 8 yrs old they are likely one of these styles.

The problem is the service you've received. You've paid for a repair. The aids should have been sent off to the appropriate lab and received back to the store within 2 weeks. If they can't be repaired you should get a refund.
Once your husband gets his aids back in good repair I'm not against the specialist sitting down and showing you what's new in hearing aids. You very well might be interested. If not you should be scheduled a 4-6 month cleaning appointment at no charge since you have lifetime aftercare at most major hearing aid companies. Miracle Ear does. That means for the life of the aids anything done in the office is free. Cleanings, tests, minor repairs, adjustments.

There should have been no discussion on what the lab did or where they were sent. Very unprofessional.
Any company has good employees and bad employees. You should call the main office of the franchise and ask for their help. They want you to have a good experience. If they don't help for some reason then call their consumer affairs dept.
I hope this helps.
 
Colleen, you might see if there is another Miracle Ear within driving distance. The one you've been dealing with is not interested in helping you.
A smart office would make you happy. At some point your husband will need new aids and if you'd been taken care of you'd have no need to look anywhere else.

I just saw you said "a piece had fallen off" What kind of piece?
 
Hearlady....thanks for the information. Just to clarify....we have not paid anything...yet.

My major complaint is how this was handled. We have no idea what was broken on his 7 year old aids and we realize at some point they would need to be replaced.

He has never been tested in the last 7 years. I don't know anything about what these companies offer, but I find it strange that he's not been re-tested to see if his hearing has changed. Is that normal?

You suggested calling the main office of the franchise...this is the main office and the audiologist owns 2 others in our area. That's why we don't want to deal with them again. The office we bought them from in PA was great. She was very friendly and helpful. When we came here 4 years ago, it was a total shock to deal with this guy.

I can tell you, the Miracle Ear customer Rep that I "talked" to today wasn't interested in helping us either. He was only interested in selling us a new pair of aids.
 
DGM said:
Myself and a number of my friends love the ones we have purchased at Costco at a fraction of the price of the name brands.
Click to expand...

I've read a lot of positive reviews about that brand. I've also been doing some research and there's a brand we're thinking about and they have a very good rating also. It's Audicus Oro. They are about $1500 for a pair.
 
Wow. Well, I would definitely forget about them.
I've stated before that it is important to research the hearing aid brands but it's as or more important to research the hearing specialist.
There are people out there who care about you and your hearing. Ask your friends WHO they recommend.
The aids are only as good as the person programming them and taking care of your hearing health.

There are lots of things changing in the Hearing Aid industry. The new technology is fantastic but expensive.
The new OTC law will bring on more competition which should bring prices down.

Did anyone see CBS Sunday morning this week?
They did a segment about the new law. It was a good piece. I'll see if I can post later.
 
Ron has hearing aids They're the In the Ear kind, and he got them from Beltone. I don't know much about them other than he had trouble with the fit, (they kept slipping out and he was afraid he was going to lose one!) and the customer service guy at the store by his house worked SO hard to get them to fit snugly in his ear, and make sure Ron was completely satisfied. The first one was sent back to the lab I think three different times in order to make sure it fit right. He's never had a complaint about the quality of the sound, just the fit, and now that that's solved he's very happy.
 
hearlady said:
Colleen, I'm sorry you've had so much trouble.
Warranties are usually good for 3 yrs. After that there is a charge.
Aids within 5 yrs old should be repaired at the company's lab. After 5 yrs they are usually sent to an independent lab that works with the hearing aid company.
If they are ITE (in the ear aids) the repair usually would be the amplifier or microphone that needs replacing and most labs stock those parts. You may get many more years out of that repair. It should come with some type of repair warranty. Usually 6 months.
Tradition BTE's (behind the ear) would likely be the same.
If your husband's aids are 8 yrs old they are likely one of these styles.

The problem is the service you've received. You've paid for a repair. The aids should have been sent off to the appropriate lab and received back to the store within 2 weeks. If they can't be repaired you should get a refund.
Once your husband gets his aids back in good repair I'm not against the specialist sitting down and showing you what's new in hearing aids. You very well might be interested. If not you should be scheduled a 4-6 month cleaning appointment at no charge since you have lifetime aftercare at most major hearing aid companies. Miracle Ear does. That means for the life of the aids anything done in the office is free. Cleanings, tests, minor repairs, adjustments.

There should have been no discussion on what the lab did or where they were sent. Very unprofessional.
Any company has good employees and bad employees. You should call the main office of the franchise and ask for their help. They want you to have a good experience. If they don't help for some reason then call their consumer affairs dept.
I hope this helps.
Click to expand...

I was just talking to my husband and he said the piece that goes from the hearing aid (his is over the ear) to the in the ear bud broke. So, they fixed that in the store but when she tested it the sound came and went and sounded garbled. The audiologist tested it and said it was probably the microphone and he couldn't fix it. They sent it to Phoenix lab and they couldn't fix it so they sent it to a lab in MN. When we stopped in she called to find out where it was and found it in MN but they wanted paid before they sent it back. She told them that's not how ME works...that the lab sends them back and then the customer pays and then the payment is sent to the lab. That's when she said they told her it was being Overnighted (to arrive on Friday, the 28th), which they didn't do.
 
Ronni said:
Ron has hearing aids They're the In the Ear kind, and he got them from Beltone. I don't know much about them other than he had trouble with the fit, (they kept slipping out and he was afraid he was going to lose one!) and the customer service guy at the store by his house worked SO hard to get them to fit snugly in his ear, and make sure Ron was completely satisfied. The first one was sent back to the lab I think three different times in order to make sure it fit right. He's never had a complaint about the quality of the sound, just the fit, and now that that's solved he's very happy.
Click to expand...

Glad he got his problem solved. It use to be that Beltone and Miracle Ear was the top brands but not any more. There's a lot more competition these days and price and customer service are the big factors. The new law coming out will also change the hearing aid industry and hopefully, make them more affordable.
 
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