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Costco refuses to service used hearing aids?

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I recently lost my left ear Costco ks6. Miraculously, or so I thought, I found and purchased a used pair of the ks6 on ebay from a woman in florida–they were her now deceased husband’s. Because I made the mistake of telling Costco I purchased them on ebay, they won’t touch them, so for now they are useless to me.
The seller is working on this with her Costco in Palm Beach, something about her having to sign a waiver, and is willing to refund my purchase price if it can’t be resolved, but what kind of pressure is available to put on Costco to force them to deal with these. What this suggests is that used Costco hearing aids have no value. It seems from the programming info on here that most other companies make their programming software available to all. What’s the deal here?

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And I think it sucks of Costco. It’s their house brand. They’re already familiar with it. They have the software. They have the connectivity. They have the people. They have the place.

Charge a fee for an and initial set up with cleaning/sterilization/domes and maybe some more small fees for subsequent visits. Offer zero warranty. Profit.

Alas.

It has to do with their replacement warranty. They have to make sure the serial number has not been reported as lost.
They have to make well sure that they are not stolen, etc.
Other hearing aid companies do the same. It has nothing to do with them being locked to Costco other than have to be programmed by them. I was given a set of Phonaks and first thing the audi did was check serial numbers to make sure. Turned out ok in my case except my Roger Pen was reported lost.
It’s really just Costco being smart or everyone would sell one pair and keep the replacement on warranty.

Costco probably looked up the aids, saw that they belonged to someone else and said no… I mean if someone took my hearing aids, tried to go to a Costco and get it programmed for them, I would get pretty annoyed… I know this is not the situation with you, but how would they know? All they can see is ‘hey these hearing aids belong to someone else’, and you can’t really prove that it belongs to this lady’s deceased husband, how do you know she didn’t take aids from a reject factory and sell them on ebay? No warranty on them, what happens if they break down in a month. Probably better off getting a refund.

There is a market for used Costco hearing aids on ebay but it’s really more for people who can their hearing aids, ie they have the Costco software and programming equipment at home somehow. Then you avoid having to talk to Costco.

Edited

Sorry, I must differ;

@chatwyn said:

if someone took my hearing aids, tried to go to a Costco and get it programmed for them, I would get pretty annoyed

No, you would simply report them as stolen and (if under warranty) Costco would mark the serial numbers as stolen and provide you with a new pair.

@chatwyn said:

but how would they know?

They keep track of the serial number status.

@chatwyn said:

No warranty on them, what happens if they break down in a month. Probably better off getting a refund.

Odds are they will not break down in a month. If the buyer and seller are both Costco members then you should be able to get the hearing aids transferred to the new owner/member. Though you may have to escalate your request beyond the hearing aid department. Or NOT, it may depend on the Costco store/location.

@chatwyn said:

There is a market for used Costco hearing aids on ebay but it’s really more for people who can DIY their hearing aids, ie they have the Costco software and programming equipment at home somehow. Then you avoid having to talk to Costco.

Only for some models. This model hearing aid (Kirkland Signature 6’s/KS6’s) are locked to the Costco version of ReSound Aventa fitting software and there is no way to obtain a Costco version of ReSound Aventa fitting software.

Search for Hearing Aid Lists Costco.

KS6 aids are locked to the Costco version of the Aventa software. Phonak Brios aren’t locked to a Costco version of the software.

My ReSound Forte 8s apparently aren’t locked to Costco software, but the KS 6 and 5 are.

@jay_man2 said:

My ReSound Forte 8s apparently aren’t locked to Costco software, but the KS 6 and 5 are.

Can you expand on what you mean when you say “ReSound Forte 8s apparently aren’t locked to Costco software”. Everything that I have seen thus far says that ReSound Forte’s are SmartFit software locked.

https://forum.hearingtracker.com/t/costco-linx-forte-are-locked/35840 (member archive)

In reply to @pvc

PVC, I purchased a perfect replacement pair on ebay, because I lost one KS 6. I called to make an appointment to have them reprogrammed and told them they were purchased on ebay. The gal I spoke to said, er, um I don’t know if we can do that. She checked with her supervisor, who eventually spoke to a regional person and the answer was simply no. No extenuating, explainable circumstances. There was an indication they will reprogram aids if they come thru a hearing aid donation charity. I then turned to my seller, who went to her Costco in Florida to explain the situation. She was not offered any option of transferring the ownership. After she met with them, she reached out to me to tell me to send them back and refund my money. I cannot replace the lost one, as they are no longer available, so this policy really sounds unfair in so many ways. If the original owner, or in this case, his widow, was willing to take whatever steps to prove they were not pulling a warranty fast one, what possible legit reason is there not to program it for the owner to whom she was willing to transfer it?

When a manufacturer can dramatically increase the number of widgets they sell by partnering with a major-retailer then it’s a win/win for both the manufacturer and for the major-retailer. Right?

Though, that relationship could have some downsides for the manufacturer. If the major-retailer-widgets cost much less than the manufacturer’s widgets, then the manufacturer may lose some sales. Solution: Don’t make the latest technology available to the major retailer Provide only recent technology that the manufacturer can no longer sell.

The used/trade-in market for major-retailer-widgets could become so cheap that the manufacturer may also lose some sales in favor of used widgets. Solution: Lock them and don’t allow resale of used widgets.

Makes good business sense, eh? Though maybe not so good for PPL who buy used;

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Also not good for PPL looking to sell a pair of locked hearing aids. Your resale value plummets to zero immediately after purchasing locked hearing aids;

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