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Done With Costco

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Two years ago got Jabra EP20’s, within a few months had issues with a microphone, for a week I thought I was going deaf. Costco was great, sent them in and less than a week later they were working again. Problem is this kept happening and that gets old fast. Against my better judgement I didn’t return them in the return window. They did perform better in noise than my older generation hearing aids but that’s really the only time when they were better.

I guess I have become recognizable to some of the fitters at my Costco. One of the dudes this is a good thing, we are on a first name basis and the dude is really patient. There is another guy there that I think has just written me off as a complainer. I came in a few weeks ago because my left hearing aid seemed muffled. He listened to it for a few seconds hands it back and says “nope sounds fine to me” then really got me mad and says “You are in here like every few weeks with some sort of problem or another maybe you just need your hearing tested”. It just rubbed me wrong. I scheduled an appointment to get my hearing tested but had to go out of town for work so cancelled it a few days later. I get it, for over a year I had to send my hearing aids in multiple times, but that’s not my fault, the mics were legit bad. I bought these to hear better like everyone else, but I continue to struggle even in normal noise levels, it’s effecting my well being.

I had enough. They were $1600 and I wore them for two years, two long years. I look at them and hate them. I dread going anywhere with noise. I hate having to have friends and family repeat themselves, it’s embarrassing. For that one fitter to talk to me the, insinuate that the problems in my head really pisses me off. I’m younger than most of the hearing aid wearing demographic that they sell them to. Hell, my mother has EP20’s. I just picture that clown saying the same thing to an elderly person who doesn’t know any better and them just going home with faulty hearing aids.

I researched who the best audiologist is in my area and made an appointment. Today I went and it was great. I’m confident that I’m going to have a completely different experience. Yes, it’s going to cost more than I ever thought I’d pay for hearing aids but to me, this a quality of life issue. I know that I can go online and pay less than half of what I did somewhere like ziphearing including some random audiologist to program them, but I think there is potential I won’t get the most out of them. I know I am fortunate that I can afford them.

I know Costco hearing does serve a purpose for a lot of people. I think it’s great that they make decent hearing aids more affordable to people. Hearing your friends and family shouldn’t be a luxury.

Once my new aids come in I’ll probably insist coscto send them in one more time to Jabra, get them to fix them, then they are going up on ebay. I’d rather have the hearing aids I had before the EP20’s, at least they don’t piss me off when I look at them.

17 people in this conversation12 min readJump to latest

OK. More of a rant than a question, but it’s allowed. I can pretty much guarantee that any pro who’s been in this business for long has a lower than 100% satisfaction rate from his or her customers and some pretty PO’ed customers to boot. It’s just the nature of the business.

I’m a one-month-out Costco customer who came from three full-service audiologists with PhD’s, and with my Costco aids, I’ve never heard better and have had no issues. But as you would say, it’s early. We’ll see how it goes.

Your new audiologist may work out much better for you, and I hope so. I gather this is a full-price, full-service, make an appointment anytime you need more help type of pro. That may well be worth the extra money to you.

Good luck!

Without diminishing your situation: that’s a pretty easy loss to fit, unless you’ve got some weirdness with your ear canals. I’d be disappointed if you couldn’t get a good fit from a current set of hearing aids.

Is the fit really his main issue? Seems to me more like it’s been the reliability of his Jabra 20s that ticked him off so much. I believe the 20s were glitchier than the 30s have been… so far. For one thing the 30s have microphone filters that may protect the mics better than the 20s.

The Jabras have not been the most reliable IMO from reading this forum. Receiver and mic issues along with moisture problems. This includes the Resounds a few years back. The newer Resounds are much better.

Maybe trying a different brand would help…

Very sorry to hear of your troubles :frowning:

Resound has had a problem with the microphones in the Nexia and Jabra 20 … I had them replaced three times with my Nexia’s …. after that they worked great and the Vivia and Jabra 30 do not seem to have that trouble.

In reply to @hamjor1

@hamjor1 said:

It’s just the nature of the business.

I’m a one-month-out Costco customer who came from three full-service audiologists with PhD’s, and with my Costco aids, I’ve never heard better and have had no issues. But as you would say, it’s early. We’ll see how it goes.

Good luck to you as well, I really mean it. I’m salty, I’ll admit that. It kind of sounds like resound either released a product too early or they had a mic vendor that was at fault (something a fitter at my Costco said) and they now have their “stuff” together now. It started out as a good experience, I was unlucky that the model was plagued with problems. Most of the people working the department were good.

This was only on “some” models not all of them had issues, so those that were still in warranty got them replaced or repaired at no cost.

In reply to @hamjor1

I didn’t mean to infer that the reliability wasn’t the major issue to change supplier.

My point was more on the lines that wherever he ends up, he should expect a good fit - choosing any other line of product should work.

The OP is describing the microphone ports getting plugged which is a known issue with the Jabra 20’s (and resound counterparts), that’s why they added the mic filter to the repaired 20’s and the new 30’s (and resound counterpart). Even with the filters the issue has not been entirely fixed and they become clogged routinely. Also, older respond products have a much higher likelihood of having similar issues compared to other manufacturers.

Source is myself so take that for what it is

No not everyone had this issue, just some people, including yourself, but ReSound are good quality and have no more problems then any others on the market, mine are great by the way, cheers

In reply to @Benji

Yep, in addition, my right hearing aid just doesn’t sound as clear, new filters, and all. I’m doubtful that I’d ever buy any product from Resound again. The entire experience has been so stressful for the past two years, I would feel like a fool if I bought another one of their products and had troubles.

If you spend 5-10 minutes with a denture brush and a hearing aid vacuum you can sometimes get it cleared when a new mic filter doesn’t fix the issue

I spent $5,000 on my first pair of . They were OK and the audio was well meaning and OK too. Costco has been every bit as professional as the privateer at 1/3 the cost. I can’t explain your experience, but I would ask you not condemn Costco for it across the board. Honestly, you could just be whiney bugger.

@Semiretired said:

Against my better judgement I didn’t return them in the return window.

I hope the OP gets aids from the new provider that work without further problems and keep working for a good, long typical hearing aid life.

But I also hope everyone takes note of that above sentence. Costco gives you a 6-month trial, at least here in the U.S. Take that seriously, make a note of the date the return period ends, and if you aren’t happy, return the things and start over with a different model.

Agreed. Don’t be the person who comes here to complain about the aids they don’t like that they’re now stuck with. Be aware of what the return terms are when you buy them. At the same time don’t go into the purchase thinking you’re going to return them, but be reassured knowing that you can and take advantage of that if the aids truly aren’t working out for you.

My Kirkland KS10’s are almost 5 years old. New Sonova type 5 receivers fitted by Costco this week free of charge. Saving of £40 over Amazon price. I don’t think I will ever be done with Costco unless they close down my local hearing centre. Excellent service and a very obliging audiologist.

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