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

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There has been a lot of what seems like misinformation on this thread about the warranty on the Siemens hearing aids by bidbybid on ebay. I have just been diagnosed needing aids and wrote to Phillip Rechister through ebay. Here is his response.

QUOTE:

"It is US warranty and you get a warranty card with hearing aids. Hearing aids are purchased from Siemens in New Jersey and are registered in your name! We can send you a paid invoice after you receive hearing aids and verify serial numbers. That is to prevent insurance fraud.

Thank you

Phillip"

I have also done a lot of research on Mr Rechister but will not publish all the information here. But he has been in the hearing aid business back to at least 1997 that I have verified.

I have no qualms about ordering from him, you decide for yourselves. But a little research can go a long way. He has politely answered both of my emails immediately within a couple of hours of me sending them. And no, I have nothing to do with him or his company.

Also remember, you have EBay, Paypal and your card company in between you and bidbubid or any other seller on ebay.

Edited

A few months ago, I bought a cheap 150.00 from bidbybid. I got it for a back up. It didn’t work for me so I sent it back. He refunded my full purchase price! He was supposed to keep 25.00 for processing fees. Hmm… wonder why he did that? It was in our contract that I would have to pay 25.00 if I decided to return them.

Don

Quote: wonder why he did that?

Sounds like one more indication of a reputable dealer. The Siemens Pure 501’s I plan to buy as soon as I see if my audioligist will come down at least close to his price, shows a $150 restocking fee. But that is on a $2599.00 transaction. And he would have a used pair of aids.

@bigbeck said:

I didn’t even leave feedback for him.:o I guess I’ll do that now. Shame on me!

Don

I found another person on EBay who has set up a site almost identical to bidbybid. They claim 100% Positive feedback with 144 total. I looked at that and of those, only about 5 were from actual customers. The rest were “feedbacks” from them TO customers. OTOH, bidybid has well over 17000 positive feedbacks with only 324 being from him to the customer. IOW over 17000 positive from customers. And for the past year, there are 3635 positive, 3 neutral and 0 negative. I don’t see how anyone could have those feedbacks if they were having to be sued as suggested in one post. Although that post didn’t specify it was bidbybid it seemed implied.

I just ordered 2 Siemens Pure 501 aids from bidbybid on EBay. He has received my and says he will have my aids Tuesday, do the audiogram program on them and I should have them by the end of next week.

In addition I ordered the: 228 Siemens ConnexxLink Hearing Aid Programming Device and have received email acknowledging that transaction, not from bidbybid but from TheHearingCompany. This is the only place I have found that item. Interestingly the telephone contact number for these two businesses is the same.

Will let you know how this goes and if it is ‘safe’ to buy hearing aids this way.

My audioligist is fine with me doing this and said if I need her help she will do fitting on them for $45 per visit. I got them for half of what she charges so that is a small price to pay for her professional help if needed.

I have purchased two sets of aids from bidbybid. As an experienced user with a technical as well as a business background,I think Phil Rechester of bidbybid is first class…honest, reliable, and knowledgeable. His is a legitimate operation.

I would recommend him for any experienced hearing aid user with uncomplicated loss types.

In my opinion most newbie’s and complicated severe/profound losses probably are best served by a competent local Audiologist. Just my thoughts, Ed

I AM a first time hearing aid user, but have had a thorough evaluation by an excellent audiologist and she is available if I need her. She is all for my $2500 plus savings.

In addition I have 46 years experience as a technician in several fields of electronics, primarily as a cryptographic tech in the Air Force and cablevision. Was a line analyzer at Motorola also. So not exactly jumping into the deep water with my hip waders on.

I am doing this partly as entertainment as I am now a 68 year old retiree and don’t like letting the neurons in the brain get too rusty.

Another thing I was talking to my audiologist about. What with megawatt amplifiers through headphones, and mp3 players running at 120 watts per channel. Just how in the world is anyone going to do their ears any harm with the minuscule output of a pair of hearing aids?

Just a thought, because it appears people are a little too serious about owners programming their own hearing aids. Seems more to me like an industry trying to protect their profits than a genuine concern to me. I’m glad nobody has outlawed giving your own car a tuneup.

There is no doubt portable MP3 players can get loud enough to damage your hearing. I never tried to measure the output of one, but I doubt they match the output sound of even a mid power Instrument (~120db). Certainly the output power of them is a fraction of a watt.

If the big auto makers could outlaw tuning up your car, they would have! Now that I think about it, reality is that with electronic ignition there is no such thing as a tune up.

BTW, there is a company that supplies decent instruments along with the programming hardware & software. It is called America Hears and you can purchase the instruments over the internet. Most of their instruments are priced around $1000 with the programming kit included.

I just did some quick websearching, and nobody reported measuring 120 for an iPod. However, iPods can certainly go over 100 dB, and it only takes two hours at 90 dB to begin to cause hearing damage. It’s true that iPods and other mp3 players aren’t equipped with powerful amplifiers, but with earbuds in the ear canal just a couple inches from the tympanic membrane, it doesn’t take a lot of power to produce 100 dB at that distance.

My point is that there is no attempt to regulate the sales or use of headphones or earbuds that are probably equal in output power to any hearing aid, and earbuds are also in canal. I see no reason hearing aids should be in any other category than a Sennheiser (assistive listening device) with adjustable high frequency. And I own and use my Sennheiser 840 ALD with no worry whatsoever about hurting my hearing. An idiot misusing any hearing device including bookshelf speakers can damage their ears.

QUOTE: nobody reported measuring 120 for an iPod

If I remember my book larnin’, a decibel is not a measure of power. It is a measure of gain relative to a base point. You double the sound every 6 db. The measure of power is expressed in watts. And even a person with profound hearing loss of 80 db would only need 80 db of gain to get up to 0. More likely I would use a gain of 40 db from my loss of 65 at 4khz to get me up to 25. That should give me very good hearing at that frequency.

QUOTE: “there is a company that supplies decent instruments along with the programming hardware & software”

I accomplished that by ordering 2 Siemens Pure 501’s for $2600, and the Siemens Connexx programming hardware for $350 for a total under $3000. I will have top of the line aids and the ability to adjust them to suit myself without having to make 40 mile round trips to do so. That price also includes the Siemens Tek Bluetooth remote and charger for the aids batteries.

250 - L=15 R=20
500 - L=15 R=15
1k - L=15 R=15
2K - L=20 R=20
3K - L=55 R=60
4K - L=65 R=65
8K - L=75 R=75

In reply to @Casey

@Casey said:

mp3 players running at 120 watts per channel. Just how in the world is anyone going to do their ears any harm with the minuscule output of a pair of hearing aids?

A gross exaggeration of mp3 player power. that can only be accomplished by using a second amplifier to get to that kind of power. I got a little (lot) exuberant in my comparison.

In reply to @Sasba858

In the USA it is very difficult to sue or control an Audiologist or Dispenser because hearing aids are classified as Medical Devices by the and thereby hide behind the protections afforded the medical professions generally.

For example prices and distribution policies are factory protected to an extent that would ordinarily be considered price fixing or Constitutionally as Restraint of Trade.

If there were no FDA/State regulations self adjusting aids would be sold in Drug Stores for a fraction of todays prices. Ed

@ed121 said:

In the USA it is very difficult to sue or control an Audiologist or Dispenser because hearing aids are classified as Medical Devices by the FDA and thereby hide behind the protections afforded the medical professions generally.

For example prices and distribution policies are factory protected to an extent that would ordinarily be considered price fixing or Constitutionally as Restraint of Trade.

If there were no FDA/State regulations self adjusting aids would be sold in Drug Stores for a fraction of todays prices. Ed

I don’t think it exists anymore, but it makes me think of what they used to call “Fair Trade” items. That would translate today to Lobbying Congress for special interests. Seems like maybe the hearing aid industry has a few congressmen in their pockets.Other equally complex technical devices sell for a small fraction of the price of hearing aids. Tiny calculators and computers come immediately to mind.

Here in Florida it is illegal for a seller to mail the aids to the customer. They either have to be picked up at the retailers address or sent to a Health Professional.

I bought “slightly used” bte aids on E Bay. Phonak Exelia Art. They were sold with “balance of warranty”.

No warranty came in the package. The seller refused to send me a warranty. E-Bay refused to intervene. They hid behind language that says that they do not guarantee warranties. I didn’t expect them to make
the warranty good, just expected a genuine warranty.

I took the aids to a local Phonak audi dealer. They refused to offer me
programming service because I didn’t buy from them.

I next took the aids to a second local Phonak audi dealer. He told me that he really wasn’t up to snuff on the latest Phonak aids, and would have to learn at my expense, and that would be $181 per hour.

I next took the aids to my old audi who is consistently voted “the best in
the west” for 5 years in a row. They charged me a flat $350 for programming.

I did wind up needing the warranty that I didn’t get. One aid was fixed for a flat fee of $250 which guarantees it now for 2 years.

These folks are helping me, but they are over their head. I find that finding a really competent audi with uptodate training in the latest aids
in a rural area is the real crap shoot. It makes the crap shoot on Ebay
seem tame.

In reply to @Casey

@Casey said:

I accomplished that by ordering 2 Siemens Pure 501’s for $2600, and the Siemens Connexx programming hardware for $350 for a total under $3000.

I was contemplating buying siemens ’s on ebay but the seller (bidbybid) wanted 1,049.00 for just the hardware,software and cables. Where did you get yours for only 350.00?

Don

@bigbeck said:

I was contemplating buying siemens HA’s on ebay but the seller (bidbybid) wanted 1,049.00 for just the hardware,software and cables. Where did you get yours for only 350.00?

Don

http://www.thehearingcompany.com/Siemens-ConnexxLink-Hearing-Aid-Programming-Device-40works-with-301-501-and-701-level-products-and-Nitro-300-amp-700-BTEs-only41_p_228.html3

Just ordered it Friday, hoping I receive it by the time I get my aids this coming Thu or Fri according to bidbybid. Will keep you posted.I didn’t find it on ebay by anyone.

In reply to @Casey

@Casey said:

I accomplished that by ordering 2 Siemens Pure 501’s for $2600, and the Siemens Connexx programming hardware for $350 for a total under $3000.

Connexx is the SOFTWARE, you will need a HIPRO to program them, this is the hardware interface between the instrument and the PC. You will also need cables. There are some good threads on self programming for the bigger brands, but this is an uphill route and highly discouraged by the manufacturers. With America Hears, you just buy the whole lot at once (and get tech support).

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