Recourse when an audiologist loses out-of-warranty hearing aid

Well if they’ve lost it, it’s their responsibility to replace with something similar or new, are they staying they won’t?

It’s too early to tell. It’s a well established group practice so I am guessing they will replace it if they can’t find it but I’m not sure yet.

I guess I’m just pessimistic about the situation so I’m curious as to what my options are and what others have experienced if it happened to them.

@tenkan said:

Yeah I get what your saying, it’s a bit stressful situation not knowing, have they offered a loaner, so as least your not without HAs.

No, but I don’t need loaners - I have a back up pair to use in the meantime.

Well it’s the law of the land, it’s not the wild west, put it this way, you buy a second hand car in one state, then sometime later while driving through another state you get car issues, so you take it to the next mechanic workshop you see, they say come back in tomorrow when we have the parts, you turn up and they say “sorry we can’t find your car” so their responsible for your “lost” vehicle.
The audiologist’s clinic will have some kind of insurance for things like this

Replace with the same make/model without question - Or offer you a free upgrade to the current equivalent model.

No farting about, no waiting on insurance. Just do it, paperwork/payment to be resolved at a later date.

They took it. They lost it. They’re accountable. Let’s see how they resolve it

The law on this is going to vary from State to State, and I cannot offer an opinion as to your State’s laws (especially since I don’t even know what State you are in), but assuming that you are in the United States, I would be very surprised if you didn’t have laws covering a bailment, which is the legal turn for turning something over to someone else to do something with it with the expectation that it will be returned. A dry cleaner is a classic example of a bailment. If you have any paperwork from when you dropped off the hearing aid, now would be a good time to read the fine print, just in case the agreement modifies the standing law. So, first of all, I would be very surprised if an established practice didn’t make an effort to make this right, but the real question is what the heck happened – it didn’t just vanish? Second, a suggestion that they discuss it with counsel before making a final decision might not be amiss if they do try to tell you that you are out of luck. Third, you are probably within the jurisdictional limit for a small claims action. I would be very surprised if this isn’t resolved favorably and without the use of the legal system.

It was found and I picked it up today. I appreciate all of the responses!