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Specsavers brand hearing aids in the UK

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Hi, I a new here. I need to get some new hearing aids and I have had an Audiology test at Specsavers. One of the choices they offer is the Specsavers Advance Elite at £2100. These hearing aids are, allegedly, the same as the Resound Vivia 9 (latest version is, I believe, the Vivia 9 Pro). Specsavers has the Resound version at £3000.

Being a natural cynic I wonder, if they are identical devices, why is the Specsaver version £900 cheaper? Has anyone any experience of either of these Specsaver offerings and would they recommend them.

Are any of the other Specsaver offerings any better?

Any advice / thoughts / help would be greatly appreciated.

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Hi,

it’s usually because the white label version has one or two features that have been deactivated, but are available in the actual product. I don’t know if this is the case with the Resounds, but I believe it was the case with the Unitron white label I bought a couple of years back. I can’t remember exactly but it was something like automatic speech in loud noise detection and maybe speech in echo.

I would not personally recommend Specsavers as I had a really bad experience with them but I have seen anecdotal reports of people who are happy. I think it depends on if they are capable of satisfying your demands. There is no real ear measurement but there is a 100 day trial. The white label pricing is pretty competitive but if you have a complex loss to resolve I would stick to the NHS or get a more skilled independent.

Yeah the Specsavers version they buy under contract so can offer as a discount price, they are the same models just with a different name,as mentioned I wouldn’t use them myself, the place to go is Costco, they only sell premium models and for the best price available on the market today!

I also had a bad experience with Specsavers (UK) and jumped ship. I would say though, that when I requested it ahead of time, they did get the equipment in and do . Sadly I didn’t feel I was working with professionals who were invested in really making the work for me and I didn’t trust their expertise. I have Vivia 9s through a private audiologist and we had to do a lot of tweaking over multiple meetings to make them work for me. The tech alone doesn’t mean much if things are programmed correctly. And Specsavers lock their aids, so you’re 100% reliant on them to make the right adjustments. I’m sure there are good audiologists at Specsavers, but it seems to be more the exception than the rule.

Thanks for sharing your experience. I had and in general I was satisfied with the Specsavers audiologist’s testing and explanation of my hearing issues. However, I was much less confident that the recommended hearing aids were completely unbiased. I have booked an appointment with an independent, small chain, of providers to get an alternative recommendation.

+1 for terrible experiences at specsavers. are good but REMs + speech discrimination testing even better.

also there are only 10 Costco hearing centres in the whole uk so the majority of the population will find it inaccessible.

In reply to @bobcroft

Several years ago I took a ‘free’ hearing test at my local Specsavers to see if they had any insights the NHS didn’t. It wasn’t a soundproof room - just a quiet optical test room upstairs - and at at the end I was recommended the top of the line Phonak aids of the day (M90 Audeo R) with a Roger Select to boot. No discussion about other options and these were almost grudgingly offered when I probed. I retreated to using my (free) NHS aids and eventually turned to Costco during the pandemic.

Superb service, all (premium) options equally on the table no pressure. The Audi was himself and ‘got it’ straight away when I described what I needed and the environment I worked in. I’ve only been a Costco customer since then (2022).

I recently purchased resound hearing aids from Specsavers. In the past their own brand models had one or two premium features missing but nowadays its the very same model.

The downside is you can’t program them yourself and you may be forced to use the specsavers app which may not be updated as frequently as the official resound one.

I went with the official resound aid and they gave me a little discount as the latest model (vivia) wasn’t available in a custom format.

I have had Specsavers for 5 years. NEVER AGAIN. The hearing side of the business is just that, a sideline. It took 3 months after a stroke to get my hearing aids adjusting. NO ONE else will look at them even if you pay. In the lockdown I could not get replace from them. I got them from Boots only because my wife had account. Last time I time got replace filters they sent the wrong ones. Waiting times for a hearing test ( if an existing customer ) were 5 or 6 weeks 2 years ago. Avoid.

For your next set go straight to Costco, way better service and you’ll be able to do , no more waiting around wasting time trying to get appointments etc.

the uk has only 10 costco hearing centres and none of them are in cornwall. i don’t doubt they good and good value but this is useless advice for the majority of us. i hope they’re paying you per mention because if not you’re missing a trick.

choccybiccy69, I think people in the U.S. and those in the UK have different perspectives on distance. This is understandable because of the large disparity in geography. For instance, England is slightly smaller than Wisconsin. England has fantastic rail service, unlike the U.S., and great highways. As you say, there are 10 Costco Hearing Centers in the whole UK. But if you subtract the two in Scotland, that still leaves eight. I venture to say, that someone in Wisconsin would likely think it worthwhile to check out the closest Costco.

England has extremely expensive and inefficient rail services. London has great public transport but getting from city to city can be incredibly difficult and expensive by public transport. i agree we have different perspectives on distance.

you’ll also never catch me advocating for others to make long car journeys in a country that refuses to face the realities of or make plans for climate change.

Sorry to jump in here, but your statement is only true up to a point. Yes, if you go and book on the day and want to travel, say, from Bournemouth to Liverpool (one end of the country to another), you will probably be rinsed (>£300). But if you book well in advance and use a railcard, it’s not that expensive. In recent years I’ve booked journeys up to scotland and down to cornwall for under £100. Inefficiency? Yeah, maybe rush hour and certain train companies. But we’re not as bad as German trains, which I have good experience of in recent years. Yes, we’re not as good as the French, but I haven’t had many cancellations or delays in the last 5 to 10 years, and that includes local journeys. But of course, YMMV, I’m guessing especially if you have had bad experiences - transpennine, or CrossCountry/Southern. Sorry, to go off topic (to the other readers).

In reply to @choccybiccy69

@choccybiccy69 said:

but this is useless advice for the majority of us. i hope they’re paying you per mention because if not you’re missing a trick.

Sorry to burst your bubble, but it’s irrelevant how many you have in the UK, as I’d ask,”do you like saving thousands of dollars” on a set of premium , then as others have mentioned for a few hundred £ you can get to one in a day! book a room for overnight stay and still be saving money, then to really make a saving get into and never have to leave the comfort of home, no tricks needed…

In reply to @glucas

i include how slow some services are in the inefficiency. personally i don’t have the patience to navigate the codes, tips and tricks required to get the cheapest possible ticket to travel 5 hours away to a warehouse in the middle of nowhere, not work for the day and lose and earnings. call me a luddite!

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