Have any of you guys bought a hearing aid off eBay?

JordanK,

I do not know where you live, but in the New Orleans La. area I have not found a audiologist that can be trusted. Everyone one here that I have seen or talked with only looks at you with dollars signs stamped on their heads, and I have caught them in lies more times than I care to mention. I caught my last audiologist in 4 different lies after doing some research on the things he told me. It is true that an audiologist will give you a year of adjustments, but with a 100-150% markups on the prices of their aids, over online or e-bay sellers, I am not all that sure that the small adjustments they make outweigh their elevated prices.

did U try any University Hospital?

The University Hospitals have not reopened up in New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina over 3 years ago. Charbert medical center/hospital in Houma La. where LSU medical students practice would not even schedule me a hearing text much less dispense any hearing aids.

what about costco

@Darter said:

I wouldn’t worry just yet. It’s common for home-based business owners to use a PO Box, or even better, a shipping store to give themselves a real address instead of a PO Box or their home address. This is quite common and useful.

Also, many overseas warranties are still valid. It just means that a unit needing repair will need to be shipped to an overseas warranty center instead of a stateside center. This is true for camera equipment (gray market) and is likely true for HA’s. I’d investigate before getting too worried over this. All it really means is the repair will take longer to ship.

Darter,

The only problem with this guy is he told me I could go to a local audiologist to ship off if I have a warranty issue, or send it in to him to ship it. I doubt that a local audiologist would be willing to ship overseas.

The major manufatcturers are in the process of cracking down on all internet selling. Most have now refused to sell to internet sellers and will not meet warranty obligations etc for their customers…they now have this stated in their retail price/condition lists as part of the retailers buying agreement (i.e. if the reatiler does sell this way it voids the warranty etc).

Part of this ebayers address oddities may be a way of hiding from the manufacturers.

@Hearcare said:

The major manufatcturers are in the process of cracking down on all internet selling. Most have now refused to sell to internet sellers and will not meet warranty obligations etc for their customers…they now have this stated in their retail price/condition lists as part of the retailers buying agreement (i.e. if the reatiler does sell this way it voids the warranty etc).

Does that include online retailers like precisehearing.com3, or just the ebayers?

I have a very hard time not seeing this end up in court with the manufacturers losing. There’s no reason why HA’s can’t be offered for sale online. The market demands might not favor the online buyer just yet, but over time I can see the financial pressures mounting against manufacturers to not lose out on online revenue.

@Darter said:

Does that include online retailers like precisehearing.com, or just the ebayers?

…

I’ve noticed that precisehearing.com3 has replaced many prices with “call for info” on their website in the last couple of months.

I’ve called them on the “call for info” ones (namely, the Oticon Epoq XW). They said they were no longer able to sell these. So it seems “call for info” = not available. Then they suggest a switch to some other maker, such as Siemens.

I guess I’d better get my order in while they still have the ones I want! :eek:

I have purchased 2 sets of Siemens aids from Ebay, store: bidbybid. My experience has been as follows:

Excellent fast service
Excellent prices
Highly Knowledgeable
Makes money saving recommendations
Honest
Reliable

But, I would not recommend any on line store to first time purchasers. Inexperienced and those with severe losses are better served by a qualified local professional. Ed

Ed,

The questions I have for you are the following:

Did you check out your warranty directly with Siemens in N.J?

Were your Siemens from him (based off of you audiogram) programmed to where you did not need to send them back to have him make adjustments? If you did not have to do this, but someone has to, I wonder how good of a job he can do based on a phone conversation with you.

One last thing.

They told me in customer service at Siemens USA that your serial number must be registared with them, and if the HA came from Siemens overseas, they would not warranty them here in America.

I purchased a pair of Siemens Pure 500 heaing aids from Phillip Rechister about 10 weeks ago. I initially saw them advertized on eBay and called his 800 number for details. He was very cordial and told me briefly about them, although I had already tried a pair of these from a local dealer. Phill’s price was almost $2200 below his closest competitor in my area. I order and received a pair of Pure 500s AND the outstanding new Tech-Remote. I sent him my hearing grafts and in about 10 days I had the aids. They work amazing and I am delighted with them. However I immediately became concerned about NOT getting any kind of receipt or warranty information with them. I got nothing but the product, and it also arrived by first class mail and was uninsured.
I needed an invoice to submit to my insurance company for a partial reimbursment. So I requested an invoice from Phill and after a second call, and a photocopy of my payment check, he finally supplied me with an invoice from his company called “FixYourEars.Com6”. The invoice was drafted in a Microsoft Word document, but is showed his company and address, my information (including my payment), and the serial numbers of both of my aids. That worked for me.
Just recently I developed a problem with one of these new aids and had to send them back to him for repair or reprogramming. He chearfully asked that I send them directly to him to correct the problem. I just sent them back today.
Phillip Rechister sells Siemens far cheaper than anybody else I could find and appears to personally stand behind them (for 36 months). I could not find another dealer anywhere that would waranty them for longer than 24 months. So far I am quite pleased with Phill himself, even though I find his business practices a little odd. The only gripe I have with him is that I twice requested a printout of the actual programming of my aids, and he has ignored this request. I have just again reguested a printout with the return of my newly adjusted aids. We’ll see if I ever get it.
After a LOT of internet searching I have confirmed that he does work out of his house. He lives about 1/2 mile from his claimed business address which I confirmed was only a shipping & PO box business. He must have fairly recently bought a home from realitor Debra Jo Peterson, and from the reality transaction his actual home address appears to be at 30030 N. Lake Drive, Lake Elsinore. I believe this home phone number may be is (909)245-5907.
I hope all this info proves helpful… As I said, I have been “generally” pleased with Phill as a hearing aid vendor and state licensed audiologist.

Hi folks, I’m Doug , 63 yr old in Melbourne Australia, trialling a new pair of Siemens Pure 500s with bluetooth TV tek box, Remote Control with 5
programs and my Audi guy set up the computer program memory, but,
the phone Nokia 2630 mobile and my remote will not pair. The phone
bluetooth is switched on, but a search fails to recognise the remote signal.
Has someone found a glitch in this and a way to overcome it?
My kids might know more than me , after their exams are over.

Cheers, any advice welcome,