Demo HA are the same?

I feel I ought to relate my experience here.
A couple of years ago I bought two demo Resound hearing aids from a regular hearing aid vendor on ebay. When they arrived they came nicely boxed with a guarantee card made out indicating they were still under guarantee.
I took them to a local independent audiologist to have them programmed.
When she saw the ‘DEMO’ embossed on each aid, she said ‘‘Oh that’s naughty’’ and ‘‘how much did you pay for these’’. I told her and she gave a sharp intake of breath. She was astonished at the bargain price. Then she went ahead and did the programming ‘first fit’ from the audiogram she had just made.
I went home with the aids and after a few hours I became aware of an annoying distortion (grating sound) in the right aid.
Next day I telephoned Resound to see if they were actually under guarantee. They needed to know the serial numbers so I gave these , after getting a magnifying glass to read the tiny digits off each aid.
It took a week before I heard again from Resound (By email). The news came as a shock. Effectively these were demo aids and as such were the property of GN Resound. I was told I was effectively holding ‘stolen property’ which the company ‘would like back please’.
I was devasted and emailed the ebay seller telling her this. She insisted that she had not sold me ‘stolen property’. She offered to take the aids back, but only if she agreed they were faulty. Since I had already left a positive feedback (too hastily) I decided to hang on to the aids.
I, of course half expected the police to knock at the door for weeks after.
I did note this ebay seller disappeared from ebay after that!! It turned out the distortion was only a compression artifact that after further adjustment,substantially went away.

The moral is perhaps not to buy demo or ex-dem aids if they are from Resound, at least.

Ok, many thanks, I know is a risk but, HA demo are the same HA that you buy?.
Regards

@mikele said:

Hei, I have the opportunity to buy a demo Hearing aid (used by audiologist as evidence before sale). Is the same HA that you can buy or have any limitation?
thanks

@mikele said:

Ok, many thanks, I know is a risk but, HA demo are the same HA that you buy?.
Regards

Yes, DEMO hearing aids are the exact same ones that are sold. If they are marked DEMO on them they are not for resale since they are usually promotional items the dispenser doesn’t actually pay anything for. They are given to the dispenser so that they can sell more of their hearing aids…

Now if they aren’t marked DEMO they may just be regular hearing aids the dispenser used as demonstration units but are able to be resold with warranties and everything. Before you buy anything, make sure you are paying for the second one. DO NOT buy the first one for the very reasons mentioned above. They technically do not belong to the dispenser to sell since they were given to them by the manufacturer.

@aero777 said:

My experience-If it’s Phonak, yes exactly the same as retail aid except it has “DEMO” embedded into the paint. If it needs to be repaired in the future it will have to be sent in by the Audiologist/HIS it was given to.

And you and your professional will have to live with the knowledge that you are being deceptive about what is happening with the hearing aids.

I would seriously question any audiologist/dispenser who would knowingly sell units that they KNOW are not to be resold. If they are comfortable doing that, what other rules/regulations are they comfortable breaking???