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Rechargeable lithium battery hearing aids

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In reply to @jeffrey

@jeffrey said:

the ‘new’ aids they send back won’t be under warranty

They don’t get “three more years” as if you bought them new, but you still have whatever was remaining of the original warranty. I’ve had one aid “serviced” twice, and I am pretty sure they swapped new in the box they sent to my clinic. But my contract wasn’t affected.

WH

In reply to @markoo355

Yeah its totally stupid idea, what a waste of product, there’s even people claiming “I get a new pair for free” when you pay 6-8 K for these things “Nothing is free!”
Actually there’s a few people have said that the out of warranty replacement is between $250 and $350, how does that work, as in they can replace the whole for that price?

I figure they are still making money on them at that rate. I expect a retail package is in the neighborhood of $50 an aid. (Not covering marketing, R&D, etc, all that other cost) Just the incremental cost. And then you don’t get most of that with a repair, you just get the aid in a basic box. (Although both of my Roger On replacements have been full retail packages!) Verification and whatever they have to do to make sure YOU are getting the right thing back, costs some I’m sure, plus shipments costs. But I bet they are making money.

The contract costs for the state of Maine and the have been posted a few times. If you haven’t seen numbers like them before, you may be a little shocked how low they are.

WH

I’m afraid it’s part of the hearing aid companies continued policy of planned obsolescence. This might give some perspective. From their point of view hearing should last about 5 years……despite the excessive costs. Hearing aid service life

In reply to @WhiteHat

@WhiteHat said:

The contract costs for the state of Maine and the VA have been posted a few times. If you haven’t seen numbers like them before, you may be a little shocked how low they are.

Yeah I’ve seen them, as well as NHS and our own NDIS, but just comparing with the public domain for costs, but it’s wasteful spending, every manufacturer that wants to offer rechargeable needs to do it the “Oticon” way, user replaceable.

In reply to @goff.pa

One main reason that I got the P70s, yes older tech. but at least I get it them work for 150hrs with streaming, I just carry a few bat’s and the ha’s give me 60 to 90 minutes notice on an imminent change.Maybe in 5 years or more things will improve. LOL :headphones:

Exactly this, but still, looking at the original cost of everything you have to wonder why they are doing it like this, a user replaceable rechargeable battery is the way to go.

In reply to @WhiteHat

Yes, what I meant was, you don’t get a new three year warranty. But you do get a new battery–and probably a new –that will last for three more years. And then, after six years, I can pay 250.00 and get yet another new set of the same model, or anyway new batteries, that will last another three years.

Edited

In reply to @tenkan

@tenkan said:

Actually there’s a few people have said that the out of warranty replacement is between $250 and $350, how does that work, as in they can replace the whole HAs for that price?

it works because the expense is up front in R and D, whereas manufacturing costs are minor. And so: rather than pay someone to replace a battery, it may be cheaper to send out a new aid, or anyway place the entire unit in hand inside the old shell and ship it out. Moreover: companies don’t like having to deal with repairs. That’s also expensive and bad for their reputation. Better to send out a new unit and be done with it. my guess is that components of an aid, and assembly, come in at less than $250.00.
Meanwhile, the latest and greatest aids are being advertised. Many people will pay up front once again for these. That’s how it works.

I paid a thousand bucks less than Tenkan’s lowest exaggerated price from my private provider. I was able to pay this off over a year at no interest through a program they provide. Yes, Costco might have cost less but as I’ve described countless times, for me, the expertise and convenience of a close by provider who knows me is worth the cost.

Edit: allow me to say: When I send out my under warranty aids for new batteries, if the aids they send back don’t function, and Signia says, “tought luck! They’re now no longer under warranty…” I’ll be pissed. And will scream loud and hard on this forum. BUT: I don’t think things will work this way. It’s a competitive world and brands need to keep their reputations, and anyway, my aids have been trouble free for a year and a half. I take care of them!

@jeffrey said:

I paid a thousand bucks less than Tenkan’s exaggerate price from my private provider.

Sorry I lost this, which part is exaggerated, the price?
so you paid $5k or 7k, most clinics are selling for between the price I mentioned, depending on the brand.

@jeffrey said:

it works because the expense is up front in R and D, whereas manufacturing costs are minor.

But you paid at least 5k (or more) for something that you say is only worth $250? How is this such a good thing, it’s just throwing money into the wind, I know your happy with your decision, but you could save a lot just by using Costco and a disposal battery.

Tenkan, when a new drug is released, it’s not “worth” the cost to manufacture each little pill. Millions may have been spent over years in the research, etc. Plus the drug company has overhead sustaining its plants, etc, Plus it has to pay for all the failed drugs it spent years developing. I though I was clear when I mentioned R and D.
I thought your price quotes were high based on my experience at my provider. AS for “Throwing money into the wind”, again I was clear that the service I receive after purchase, as well as the fitting expertise for my aids, all free, is worth it to me. Sheesh, please read my posts! You are a DIYer and don’t require a good audi/fitter and all the rest. Kudos! I don’t want to do all that.

In reply to @1Bluejay

Besides the cost to replace batteries (see next paragraph), it’s good to know how long the manufacturer will provide the service. I’ve most often seen 5 years (from date of sale, or ???).

The post you quoted says $250 each, which is $500 for a pair. At current price of ~30 cents a battery that’s around 1700 traditional batteries. If they’re 312’s lasting 3+ days a pair and changing every third day, it’s almost 7 years of batteries. If 13’s lasting 7+ days, it’s almost 16 years of batteries. So rechargeables, Phonaks at least, don’t save you money on batteries.

In reply to @jeffrey

@jeffrey said:

again I was clear that the service I receive after purchase, as well as the fitting expertise for my aids, all free, is worth it to me. Sheesh, please read my posts

Yes Jeff, I read them, this is why I said

@tenkan said:

I know your happy with your decision

As for prices, I do hope you shopped around, you’d be surprised at the quotes for exactly the same thing, R&D is pretty small in the grand scheme of things I’m afraid.

In reply to @x475aws

I use the old type rechargeable battery and replace them once a year for about $20 for the pair of batteries. The new technology is much more expensive.

From my experience as a doctor, most people have simple problems easily managed by non specialist providers. My guess the same is true for hearing aids and that and places like COSTCO’s without PHD trained audiologists are quite adequate. For more complicated problems and folks who for whatever reason like or need the extra service (frankly I’m not sure the service is better) the audiologist is their choice.

For me I was pleased with COSTCO except that they stopped providing service after 5 years because the manufacturer stopped supporting my hearing aids….as apparently most of these manufacturers do. Spending in the range of $2000 every five years seems more defensible to me, an elderly retiree, than $6000-10,000 every five years. But that’s just me.

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