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Costco has stopped carrying Phonak hearing aids

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In reply to @jeffrey

Jeffrey - the initial appointment for eval and suggestions can take a long time to schedule, as it’s a long appointment. Follow ups can often be made within a week or two at most. I had an emergency and was back the following day, for example.

I believe the issue is focused on . Sounds to me like Costco is trying to target KS(11/12/…). I think they see a substantial cost reduction related to moving almost everything to OTC. Most likely they want to reduce the cost with those like me. Profound, I’m sure the sales to profound are minimal. On the other side, Phonak points out his position against the OTC. I don’t blame them because they have invested a lot of money in developing good hearing aids. The point for me is concentrated on the lack of vision of Phonak in relation to the OTC. Costco is going to find a brand that wants to enter the OTC self-service game.

You raise some interesting points, could it really be that simple,as in Costco just wants to go and bugger the rest, mate if they did, they’d still have to deal with the big 5 of manufacturers, because they have all brought into or invested in most of those very companys that are offering OTC, plus one thing that’s been overlooked I think, is those big 5 manufacturers will all get paid some kind of royalties from just about anyone who wants to offer an OTC through the patents held by them, is it even possible for anyone to sell anything like a HA without infringing upon them?

Just trying to summarize what we know (not much) and the major questions to be answered. Seems like the only thing we know regarding Phonak and Costco is that Phonak has ended their relationship with Costco. It’s an open question whether Sonova (parent company) will supply any hearing aids to Costco.
Other open questions: Will Costco release a KS11 hearing aid? and if so, when and who will make it? Will Costco sell hearing aids? If so, through their hearing aid department or in another section of the store? Will Costco add any other brands of hearing aids? Hopefully we’ll know the answers soon. Wishing all a Happy Thanksgiving.

The article linked7 above quotes the president of hearing instruments wholesale for Sonova USA saying they decided to “eliminate our offering in certain large retail chains.”. I don’t think you’re going to see other Sonova Hearing Aid products released through Costco short of some kiss-and-make-up.

WH

What about us KS10 owners? How will maintenance be handled when, not if my batteries die? How about replacement of the receivers/speakers? I hope that’s a separate contract that has to be honored.

@Herbhornist said:

What about us KS10 owners? How will maintenance be handled

@Herbhornist: I guess this is one of the dangers of availing one’s self of attractive grey market prices … “Ya pays yer moneys and ya takes yer chances!”

In reply to @Herbhornist

Hey no problem, you’ll be well looked after by both Costco and sonova (Phonak) all warranties will be honoured.

@SpudGunner said:

I guess this is one of the dangers of availing one’s self of attractive grey market prices … “Ya pays yer moneys and ya takes yer chances!”

Sorry spud, but I totally disagree with this statement.

In reply to @Mickey

One wonders - economic crisis in many parts of the world. Consumers spending less as inflation spikes. Who has ££££ or €€€€ or $$$$ for costing not far off a small used car?

And then there’s a retailer with massive reach and suddenly now very interesting to price sensitive consumers.

You’d think Sonova and Costco would figure their relationship is mutually beneficial. Like Phonak providing HAs to the NHS in the UK. Not directly comparable to their leading products, but close enough.

Your relationship is with Costco, not with Sonova or Phonak. Just like the hearing aid companies tell us, we’re not their customers. It’s Costco’s problem, not ours. If Sonova won’t honor their warranty agreement, Costco needs to come up with an alternative. I don’t think there will be any problems.

In reply to @tenkan

@tenkan: The grey market reference is partly tongue-in-cheek, but the trouble with Costco and Walmart is that their supply tactics are so aggressive that suppliers like Sonova get so fed up with being bullied that they pull their sales licenses, essentially rendering products already sold through the Costco channel into grey market commodities.

What are guys like @Herbhornist going to do if Sonova doesn’t honour their original warranty? Who’s going to want to service a defunct KS10?

Exactly … Exactly!

In reply to @garethjwells

Well I don’t think so, but even if that did happen, they have to honour the warranty one way or another, they send it back to sonova for repair or they replace with something similar (honestly I can’t see this happening)
KS10 using all of Phonak parts except for the housing, receivers/domes will still be available from… well just about anywhere.
Batteries are sonova problem and I have no doubt they will honour the contract for warranty, there’s no reason for them not to.

In reply to @garethjwells

Up until now, Costco has only needed to compete with independent audiology practices. But now they see the new market opening up, which will make THEM look expensive.

So I have no doubt they were trying to drive down costs in their agreement with Phonak. But Phonak is only one of the big suppliers and I have no doubt Costco will find another who is willing to step in to take their place.

Huh. I think it’s the ’s that look expensive compared to Costco. Yeah, they’re several hundred dollars cheaper initially, but OTCs typically have a 1 year warranty vs Costco’s 3 year warranty and Costco covers domes and . OTC buyers have to handle that themselves.

In reply to @SpudGunner

@SpudGunner said:

What are guys like @Herbhornist going to do if Sonova doesn’t honour their original warranty? Who’s going to want to service a defunct KS10?

It’s not gonna happen, these guys have decided to part ways (getting divorced) but there’s always the prenup, sonova isn’t going to ruin it’s reputation over this.
Did you know the biggest distributor of is the and then Costco, plus they have been selling Phonak since 2014 so they had a pretty good run as well, but has anything like this happened at Costco before?

@tenkan said:

Did you know the biggest distributor of HAs is the VA and then Costco, plus they have been selling Phonak since 2014 so they had a pretty good run as well, but has anything like this happened at Costco before?

Not saying anything, but could it just be because the Sonova product is a bit sh1t? Or merely not designed to fit in with the Costco ‘fire and forget’ model?

Obviously Costco wants a strong product from each of the main manufacturers. If the Costco offering is being let down in terms of the service ratio requirements; they’re going to see that amongst their users pretty early on.

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