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Buying Online Vs. Buying from an Audiologist?

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I got some great response from my post, and I wanted to introduce this new thread to talk about one of the biggest arguments I got about buying hearing aids online vs. from an audiologist:

“Buying online may be a cheaper in the short term, but over the life of the hearing aid, buying from an Audi is more cost effective due to bundled follow up visits and reprogramming.”

I wanted to investigate this claim, as I didn’t believe there could be any way that follow up visits could account for the thousands of dollars in difference.

I have found that this claim is only valid in the most extreme cases, and although I understand that buying online is definitely not for everyone, I believe consumers with hearing aid price as the biggest factor in their decision should strongly consider buying online.

I know this may be controversial on HAF, and I may receive some harsh criticism, but I truly want constructive feedback on this essay as well as some feedback on our business model. I have been following this forum since we first developed Embrace Hearing, and it has been very influential on the voice of the consumer and industry.

We are not running Embrace Hearing to make a quick buck, we are trying to solve the growing problem in the US that only 1 in 7 Americans who could benefit from hearing aids actually use them, with price being the number one reason

Ross

I am sorry if this came off as spamming. I came here to talk about the business last week, and this was the most significant issue that has come up. I spent significant time responding to this with research and report (which I wrote for one of my classes), and want to get feedback on my report. I would have copy and pasted the report here instead of directly linking to it, but it would lack the links and plots that go along with it to support it. I want to use HAF as a way to develop our business, I don’t really see any reason or benefit in spamming.

You’re not supposed to use the forums to actively push your brand of hearing aids. Now, I work for a particular company and so do other active posters like ZCT (with Starkey) but we try to avoid just out-and-out advertising on the forum, and if someone asks me for information, I try to keep it to private messages. We want the specialists and audiologists on here to be able to give candid advice and answer questions about hearing aids without getting too tied up in everyone’s personal brand they sell.

I’m not attacking you about this, just letting you know that some people might feel that way.

Ross,

I do hope you succeed.

However my (now sleeping) web didn’t attract much business … and what little I did get required endless support.

Maybe you will succeed - but be aware that very thin profits plus unexpected support and unexpected sales returns add up to … a non-business.

Re spam: Why not add you info to your sig like the rest of us do, rather than posting directly?

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