KS 10 Charging issue blamed on user error

So I’ve had my KS10s A year and 6 months…Here’s my issue untill about month ago during the snow blizzard that hit a lot of the states I started to have issues with my hearing aids charging previous to that date I’ve had absolutely very few charging problems maybe once in every few months then then suddenly increased to the point one night I had charging issues right off the bat with my left aid then then over the course of a week the sound dimmed to the point I had it on max volume and had
very little sound thought at first thought it was probably an ear infection I hadn’t been feeling 100% but noticed it was getting quieter despite no ear issues seeming to appear I tested my other receiver by putting it near my ear and did a aha it’s a sound issue as could hear relatively clear with right receiver near my canal. Wasn’t sure if it was a charge issue causing a sudden sound failure or if there was a power surge due to the insane weather that hit causing a short in the hearing aid or if the actual receiver had failed it could’ve been one of three things. My charger is on a surge protector that was specifically brought just for the hearing aid charger we don’t usually have powercuts but I figured better to be safe than sorry added the apartment building I live in doesn’t have the greatest plug systems.no offense but the American plugs but they suck compared to the UK ones and seem far more prone to being flimsy.

At same time I was noticing I was starting to also have reoccurring charging issues more gradually with my right hearing aid that has since increased to now nightly like it did with my left aid. Husband admitted he thought I wasn’t putting them in charger right so kept doing the reset protocol unknownst to me as I showed him if he saw red lights just take it out and replace into charger hook happens periodically it’s no big deal as it was only happening every other month if that during.first year odd. So I can’t be 100% súre how often it was truly happening previous to when I noticed it Increasing to almost nightly as my husband admitted he thought he was being helpful by doing the reset protocol for me in the morning as he didn’t want me to wake up to dead hearing aids. He works very early morning shifts so stated he’s often forgot to tell me if he’s done that unless it was on a day off or remembered when I’ve complained they aren’t fully charged like normal at x time so I had to ask if you see them on red do not remove and reset so I could keep track of how often it was truly happening.

Took hearing aids to Costcos along with the charger for the sound issue Costcos sent the one hearing aid in for repair saying that has little sound and that the receiver seemed to be intact and it definitely was quiet so it could be a microphone issue, hardware failure or the receiver she wasn’t sure usually other fitters can tell immediately if it’s the receiver which surprised me. I thought the usual go to test was to use a spare receiver and see how sound was if it sounds loud like normal receivers okay, if can’t hear or still quiet something else is suspected which with that comment I was sure may be more than a receiver problem but then she said if it was the receiver I may have to pay for the mould since that part isn’t covered by the warranty anymore,

Also mentioned that the tiny wax guard ring on the same side had suddenly dropped off the week before when I was changing guards hoping it might be a wax guard being full issue vs a mechanical issue. I had the same thing happen with the right wax guard ring holder the previous year yet I don’t need to change them often untill summer months hit. That didn’t happen with my previous Phonak brios so parhaps it’s something so so with how the mould is made. Specialist said she deep cleaned both hearing aids and cleaned contacts on the charger and stated everything was actually very clean anyway and followed up that she did a “test” charge and the charger worked fine. Tried to say it was me not putting them in charger right. Odd but I find it wierd that I haven’t had major issues before last month so I thought hey maybe she’s right or they just needed a deep clean they were due one

Heres where I’m now pissed off despite the Costcos deep clean and religiously making sure my current hearing aid is seated properly it charged fine until I go to bed i.e acts normal charging during yellow flashing stage yet I was still nearly daily waking to a either dead hearing aid that hasn’t charged or it’s doing a solid red light. I’ve tried charging in the opposite empty port it still has the issue whichever side I use. What isn’t helping is I have to wait an extra few hours every day for it to properly charge and that was right when it’s when I usually use the hearing aid the most for bluetooth i.e calls and and video chatting right now I only have one working aid I shouldn’t have to do the reset protocol darn thing to charge enough to use them!!

My go to method for now is charge it early evenings when my husband sleeps so I can make sure to immediately pull it out once it states it’s fully charged i.e green static light or watch for the red static light this seems to hit during the yellow charging phase then i just place in the lid part of the charger untill I need it for company or in the morning
What’s annoying me the most is i want to wear them the whole time I’m up but if I have to fully charge it for an extra 3 hours every day to make sure it’s actually charged right I’m using them far less than I want to be just due to trying to make sure they don’t die during the charge if that makes sense or die mid use resorting to the short boost charge and hoping it doesn’t do the static red light again during boost charge.

I’m hoping I get to see my usual fitter at Costcos and let her know this is not user error at this point they are seated correctly appear to charge ok for a period of time then boom dead aid. I’ve known for a while that KS10s had charging issues thanks to these forums but until very recently it didn’t impact me and admittedly I’m slightly pissed off that they tried to blame it on user error full well KNOWING this is the reason they were pulled from the shelves. If they did it to me and I’ve worn aids nearly 35 years so I’m not exactly stupid when it comes to what to do how many other people have they done that to at my store? Rather than dealing with it honestly and saying hey we’ll give you a new charger as it’s a known issue it makes me curious as how many new hearing aid users got duped onto thinking it was just a their fault to avoid returning them or like in my case the charging issue happened almost a year and a half AFTER my trial period ended and told the charger isn’t faulty despite it obviously being faulty on a daily basis.

When I go to pickup my repaired hearing aid I will be kicking up a stink if my usual fitter is available she has always been amazing, she’s talked me through the fitting software and has always answered and fixed any issues quickly added she wears hearing aids herself so she understands what I mean when I describe something.

The one I dealt with on the day seemed very wishy washy. She was polite but beyond that seemed a bit clueless about hearing aids and didn’t truly listen which is so unfortunate as I raved about Costcos and my KS10s until this past 2 weeks.Truly if you have a great HIS/Audiologist stick with them and appreciate them I can see why so many get disheartened or have a bad experience because the audiologist or HIS isn’t a good it truly impacts the experience.as I saw myself and leads to deep frustration.

Lastly do I ask for a replacement charger when I go back? Or ask for a New cable or a New power block? I haven’t seen whether the actual fault was pinpointed. Or do i.ask them to send them in to Phonak I was trying in all honesty to avoid doing that untill closer to the end of my warrenty.

If you read the whole thing thank you. I am a long time lurker that doesn’t post as often tend to use the fb site more

Your welcome and thank you for the link. There’s definitely a call in the morning I read through several threads been trying to charge for the last 3 hours and it’s been stuck around 20% mark.

Just wanted to update I took my remaining KS10 hearing aid to Costcos today they tried as well to see if it would charge or turn on with a spare charger they had and said it definately would not charge or boot up for them either. Explained that I had been there just a week ago about the charging issue and that it was dismissed as user error at the time I actually saw my normal fitter and she did not look amused at the one who dismissed me last week I feel bad for the young lady as she avoided interacting with me i hope she wasn’t in trouble for making a mistake as it can happen My fitter Said it’s a known issue and that it should’ve immediately been sent in for repair when I first visited and not ignored.

I asked if there was any chance of a loaner pair since I hadn’t planned on having no hearing aids at all less than a week apart and while I can use live transcribe it wasn’t really helping as it’s hit and miss on picking speech up added my husband is having to shout to be understood and we have neighbors below who might complain to the rental office if this goes on for weeks like predicted vs a few days like I had hoped.
She knows I’ve been a Costcos hearing aid user for almost 5 years and knows my history previous to that of being a almost lifelong hearing aid wearer I said I’d never normally ask but usually I have at least one working aid so it’s a bit of a difficult situation to go from one to no aids and not through choice either.

She kindly programmed some loaner Jabra Pro battery powered RICs with some domes as a temporary measure just to allow me to at least hear something vs nothing at all. I’m thankful for that as they said the wait due to the newly added battery issue would mean 3-4 weeks without much sound.

While the Jabra’s are lovely I was warned they would have feedback due to my HF losses and no mould on the receivers like I’d normally have I said I’ll work with it as it’s better than nothing at all. They do sound very sharp compared to the KS10s and I’m resorting to the speech clarity the one thing that spooked me was how loud my cats meowing was next to me I’m not sure if it’s the programing for speech clarity or the aid themselves I must’ve jumped sky high going Jebus had to ask my husband is he normally that bloody loud I got told he can be so I’m wondering if thats me having to adjust to the aids or just that my KS10s dampened his meows and made them seem quieter. Added the fitting the receivers with domes in my ear is taking some getting used to vs my moulded receivers and they are a little bit sore but I put that down to a different style than I normally wear.

@prodigyplace said:

I have heard their current solution is to send a matched set of aids and charger.

That sounds very questionable. I have no doubt that some sales person at Costco might have said something like that but it’s very unlikely to be valid info. It would be best not to share it unless and until it’s documented by a knowledgeable source.