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Cosco going down hill

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Edited

Has anyone noticed the service at Costco hearing aids has declined. You can’t get anyone on the phone it takes week to get a an appointment. I have 1:30 drive to get there and I went to get domes and filters no one at the desk, the audiologist was rude and told me to come back in 20 mins. When he finished his appointment it took him another ten minutes to speak to me and blurted out what’s your phone number. He gave me 6 domes and 1 pack of filters. Says next time make an appointment that must be new because I have purchased 4 pairs over the years from them and never have I had to make an appointment for filters or domes and would always get plenty. I’m done with them I’m going to jabra directly next time. They now do remote adjustments that Cisco promised but never delivered. Sorry for the rant but it’s aggravating.

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So your gonna dump them after just this one episode, if so yeah that’s a rant, quite possible you could arrive at a different time of the day or any other day and got the service you deserved.

It’s not just once. It’s a combination of things. This was just the last straw.

So 630 Costco stores in the US, must be plenty of good ones. My local store in the UK is on the up, it opened after the fall out with Sonova, and never sold any Kirkland Signature aids. The audiologist Coral makes sure she has stocks of receivers, domes and for the few Kirkland customers she has.

I think it is the personal at your store not Corporate. I would send a letter to the store manager and to corporate. Fortunately i have four Costco stores within about 30 to 40 minutes. All have pretty good service and one has superior service.

I’m so sorry that you had this bad experience at your closest Costco location. However, that has not been my experience at my local Costco. As was said previously, write a letter to the general manager of your closest Costco location and send a copy to the Corporate offices. Unfortunately, according to a recent Wall Street Journal article, Costco is the second largest purveyor of hearing aids in North America other than the , (Veterans Administration). If you think getting an appointment at Costco takes awhile, ask a veteran how long it takes at the VA. A very long time. However, the hearing aids at the VA, I think are free. Your experience, hopefully is local in nature, and my experience with Costco has been excellent. They are busy in the hearing aid department for the reason above.

I understand.
Perhaps the audi has PTSD…I visited a drug store to get a prescription for my dog…11:30 pm The druggist had his hands full, and appealed to Spirit for help. A child right there had a severely communicable disease and shouldn’t have been anywhere near human beings or critters.

Sometimes I order a quantity of domes or waxguards from Ama…zon. Its cheaper than paying a tole to get to my hearing care provider.

I went to Peel Audiology for 8 years. They would use an unlabelled bag and hand me 4 domes and a pack or two of waxguards. I had “dome anxiety” for 8 years.

The treatment was more stressful than being hard of hearing.

DaveL

It may not be the Costco chain overall that’s in decline in hearing aid service, but your particular store. Change in department managers maybe. Do you have another one a little farther away?

If your experience is like mine, you’ll find that you need to replace the and mic filters more often than the domes. The domes clean up nicely with soap and water or isopropyl alcohol and can hold up for months before they begin to tear. You may find you lose one more often than that. The filters will appear plugged, can’t easily be cleaned, and so may need to be changed several times a month, depending.

Living that far from Costco, rather than sweat the drive just to get the parts you need, it’s cheaper to buy them at a reasonable cost on amazon or eBay.

Thanks for the reply I have been cleaning the domes. I think next set I’m going direct the remote management is appealing to me. I have never heard a mic filter what brand do you have?

In reply to @Gwguidi

I’m sorry, I assumed we were talking about Costco’s Jabra 30s, but you didn’t say that; that was my faulty assumption. You said Jabra but not 30. The latest Jabras and the matching ReSound Vivias have them. They may be coming to other brands in the future. At first I was like, oh shees, another ridiculously tiny filter that aid wearers will need to stock and replace like the Jabra/ReSound , but it turns out the mic filters are a good idea, as they reduce the need for audi/mfr servicing. The microphone ports can get gummed up with dirt and other crud and reduce hearing aid performance, and filters there that can be replaced by users when they clog up can prevent that.

I hope not! However, with my last visit wasn’t at their usual high level of customer service.

Normally, there is one person cleaning and making appointments and another doing fittings. That wasn’t the case during my last visit. There wasn’t anyone at the front counter and the one person who was there was in the sound proof room by himself.

To add to this, there was a sign stating someone would come up front at a certain time. However, only hours after the posted time did the person come out of the sound proof room. At that time, he took my name and hearing aids and cleaned and put new filters and domes on them.

I think the only reason he came out of the sound proof room was due to a person showing up for a hearing test.

Anyhow, write a letter to Costco corporate detailing your experience, and ask them if this is going to be the experience going forward.

In reply to @Gwguidi

I owned a pair of Jabra enhanced pro 20s, since December, and I was bringing them back into Costco every week to get them cleaned. One day, I brought them in to be cleaned and they sent them back to GN to be modified When they returned them, about a week later, they had these tiny which are replaceable in the microphone ports. Neither the 20s nor the replacement enhanced pro 30s, which I received in May, has had to have the microphone filters replaced. I only live less than five miles from Costco, and it’s just as easy to drive there and have them replace those very, very small microphone filters.

Edited

As a Costco member with nearly 100% positive shopping experiences, the negative one I had at the hearing center was surprising. My nearest location lost its only audiologist provider and is reduced to one unhelpful employee who seems inconvenienced if someone stops to ask a question. The open hours are hit or miss, with only a "Be Back in ___ " sign. They remark that there may not be a provider for the rest of the year. The other nearest Costco locations (75-100 miles) advise that they are booking initial appointments in October. This is unfortunate as I would like to patronize Costco and perceive more value in the Enhance Pro 30 vs paying up for a ReSound Vivia. I would drive 100 miles to a Costco to accomplish this, but just can’t find open appointments (Northern New England ) before fall.
So, be glad if your local Costco is staffed for service. That said, I wonder if anyone would like to offer a comparison opinion on the Pro 30 vs the Vivia; why buy a Vivia if there is any access to a Costco, assuming there’s helpful, competent staff?

I see you just joined the forum hours ago.
Sharing your would help us understand what your audiologist/fitter is dealing with.
Thanks

In reply to @PilotWilf

That’s a great question. Part of the answer is that many people are not aware that Costco even sells hearing aids, or that they have insurance through their employer and Costco doesn’t file insurance claims. I was un aware about Costco and hearing aids until I saw the YouTube video below.

In reply to @Flyboybob

@Flyboybob said:

ask a veteran how long it takes at the VA

This spring it was 2-3 weeks to see the audiologist. If I want to see the tech it is usually call ahead/same day. Sometimes asked to come the next day. My appointments for the last four years were routinely relatively soon. I went private (community care, paid for by ) because of distance, not appt availability. In fact, I waited about 9 months for my first appointment with the local guy, far longer than any of the VA waits. My experience doesn’t reflect universal VA conditions in all probability, but I’ve been surprised at their responsiveness.

WH

In reply to @user990

Here’s a recent Reddit rant thread about Costco hearing customer service declining12.

Two responses were from people claiming to have worked in Costco hearing centers, and they confirm that many Costcos have eliminated the attendant position the hearing centers used to have, so that now, it may just be the one hearing specialist who has to do it all, process appointments, handle walk-in requests for cleaning, and schedule appointments. As a result, the thread indicates, customer service for Costco hearing aid customers is not as good as it was. But hey, look on the bright side: corporate saved a hundred bucks per day per store. Wow! /s

You can’t believe anything that’s on Reddit! Mate anyone can rant about any other clinic as well or corporate brand, doesn’t make it a fact, it’s actually quite weird that just in the last week on this forum the amount of people quoting “Reddit” as a source of information on facts…

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