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Visiting the Audiologist is like going to a car dealership?

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In reply to @eric.cobb

Of course brick and mortar stores will be more expensive as Costco doesn’t have significant operating costs. The clinics are part of the store, the fitters/ audies are not paid on commission.

I had a follow-up visit with my yesterday. Looks like I might be having another surgery to repair my right eardrum (again). Likely it would improve my hearing; might have some influence on the bouts of vertigo as well. He did say that the surgery is “elective” and isn’t really pressuring me to do it. I’ll see him again in about 6 mos. I like the idea of hearing better, but I’m not so keen on having another surgical repair–the fact that the hole hasn’t healed on its own in more than a year is somewhat daunting in itself.
Tomorrow I have an appointment with my new to sign off the paperwork for the new aids. Maybe she’ll have some insight on the situation.

Edited

In reply to @hearingaidexposed

Love to see some numbers or a citation for that. I ran my own business (not audiology) for 17 years and I can tell you that 1 or 2 hearing aid sales would not even come close - even without factoring in COGS. At say $7000 a pair (which most people here seem to feel is excessive) 2 pair would not even cover the monthly rent some places, and that is figuring the Audi did not have to pay for the devices they sold.

Jim

Edited
@hearingaidexposed said:

Private Audiologists don’t sell in “volume” because they know just 1 or 2 sales per month will cover operating expenses. The rest is profit. Don’t let them fool you!

When I figured my breakeven point in my practice, I needed 14 hearing aids before I had anything to spend on non-essentials, and this was a small “Mom and Pop shop” where I owned the building and did not have a big rent payment. If you think 1 or 2 sets (2 - 4 instruments) will cover expenses, you need a severe wake up call. If it were that profitable, there would not be so many practices going out of business or having to sell out to large chains. There would also not be a shortage of practitioners like we have now and will be even worse as old farts like me get even older. Misinformation like this hurts both the industry and the consumer. Please check your facts before posting this type of message.

My audiologist has been letting me trial different aids for months now and so far hasn’t made a dime yet. And may not after all is said and done. To say I’m grateful is to put it mildly but he can’t feed his family with grateful.

There is a plethora of confusion about getting the right hearing aids mostly abetted by unprofessional and unethical practices and the lure of kickbacks. There appears to be a web of kickbacks unbeknown to the suffering hearing impaired. The hearing aids are way over priced and there is no check. Perhaps what is needed is more competition to drive the prices below the greed level.

I would say much worse than car dealership experience, I would reckon! And multiply all this rot by a factor of at least 2 and you are in place like India!

Edited

My biggest beef with practically every audiologist I’ve had prior to my current one is that they have been dismissive of my concerns at best, and at worst downright condescending. My current one is night and day better; she’s a gem. She doesn’t look a week out of graduation but understood exactly what each of my concerns were and exactly what to do to fix them. Here’s the kicker. My hearing aids? I didn’t even buy them from her. She adjusted them for me over two visits and didn’t charge a dime nor at any time did she try to sell me anything. Well, I did buy a new set of soft molds from her but I was the one who asked for them. Guess who I’m going to when I’m ready to upgrade again?

Too bad I had to go through so many to find her but I’m glad I did.

Something else that I think doesn’t help the issue is that I’ve never met an audiologist who was themselves hearing impaired, or, at least, wore visible hearing instruments. Not that I think they necessarily have to be in order to be good at what they do (my current one doesn’t either), but I think it might be helpful to have walked in my shoes a few steps, or a mile.

I have also had negative experiences with audiologists during the 13 years of needing , and yeah, sometimes it feels like dealing with a car dealer, and some were downright crooks. My issue is that I often need my HA serviced, cleaned, parts replaced or adjusted, and finding a reliable audiologist who was relatively close by who performs these tasks cheerfully as part of the deal is worth a lot. Luckily, I found one. $4500.00 out of pocket was a bit of a shock, but getting great HA, w/ blue tooth, chargers and the works along with a 5 year service and warranty and great people to work with close by is what I’m paying for. Not sure you can get this with .

In reply to @eric.cobb

I think your pushing the envelope serving your ilk with your comparisions.
I’ve been to 3 MD.s and at least 5 audio specialists. My hearing issues are that everyone’s voice sounds like they had sucked on a helium balloon before speaking (Including my own voice). All of the above were willing to try to fix the issue for a price, but not one of the above was able to. Most ignored my issues and jumped into something they could sell me. ost were all willing to sell me a or attempt to correct my HA. Nothing worked and a lot of money spent. It’s not the HA! I have tried 5 of the top HA available with attachments and nothing works, but NOT ONE of the specialist were willing to put it out to their contacts, (even when they said they had 100’a of contacts) my issue was ignored.

If you think hearing aid mark up’s are ridiculous, the hospital I work at charges inpatients $3.60 for one Tylenol, $2.75 for a Band-Aid, $1.00 for a cotton ball, $3.00 for vitamin, etc…

That is exactly the reason I dropped my last audiologist and went to Costco. I even told them I thought they reminded me of a failed used car salesperson. They did me a favor though. My new aids cost 1/3 what they wanted and are 10x better than my last pair.

In reply to @mr.smithster

A few decades ago I heard about a man who had already been bankrupted by medical bills – including the loss of his home – and decided to investigate further. One of the items on a hospital bill was “mucus retrieval kit” for which he had been charged $78.xx – and turned out to be a pack of Kleenex!!

So what’s the fatal flaw?

What can we change to make a difference?

I salute the pros here that do so much to help us.

DaveL

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