First Time Visit to Costco

My loss has been described as moderate to severe. I’ve had outstanding service at Costco in Waterford CT and Sand City CA, multiple times. Very lucky. Had more than an hour with a licensed audiologist in CT and with the fitting specialist in CA. Had the opposite experience with the “going out into the store” test. Jabras overwhelmed me with store sounds. Phillips were like a dream. Suppressed cart clicking and hubbub and let me hear the audiologist very well. Like night and day. Is that inherent in the brands? Probably not. Maybe she was purposely steering me to the Phillips. (My previous aids were Resound and Oticon.) I’m finding the Phillips are ok but somehow not quite up to Oticon sound. Streaming calls and media is great. That’s as important as general hearing to me. I often choose phone or video calls over in-person meetings for important conversations. There’s a pretty important difference between free parking and fee parking. There an even more important difference between a doctor saying, “You’re dying.” and, “You’re fine.”

User1120, When did you buy your aids? I think the Philips 9040s have been in stores for a year. I think they’re a lot better than the 9030s. Are you sure you didn’t get 9040s?

Jeffrey;
Very interesting. I had the Philips 9030 software upgraded with their ‘music program’, but it didn’t do anything for the intermodulation distortion, which I also get from piano, but not from string music, orchestra, singing or any music without an ‘impulse’. I tried the Rexton ‘in ear’ HA, but no other models, and not the Signia. My solution is to turn down the gain all the way or just remove the HA before practice. I have a very good, very loud double top guitar-have not tried the HA with my old guitar.

@bluckie1 said:

Had my first Costco visit today.

Hopefully there is another Costco you can try. My experience was the polar opposite. The reps were always nice and almost go overboard to help out.

Costco is a horrible environment to demo hearing aids (if you ask me). Way too much going on in the store. Good for testing the background noise suppression I guess, but that’s about it. I say pick the set you think you want and take them home. With Costco’s great return policy, you have a super long time to demo them.

Jabra has the best phone app by far.

I had my first visit to Costco two days ago and came home with the Jabra 20’s. So far so good. I’m hearing voices a lot clearer, especially at work where the environment is noisy and challenging. The noise filter on the Jabra App is nice and seems to work well for me. I have been using mostly the “All Around” and “Hear In Noise” programs. My iPhone 15 Pro Max paired easily with the Jabra’s and stays connected. My only issue was the large open domes were irritating my ears so I switched to the smaller size. The tech sent me home with both. No feedback issues.

My experience at Costco was great! The tech was thorough. She answered all my questions. She did the REM during the fitting and explained the importance of it. They were very busy but I never felt rushed. My Costco is an hour and forty minutes away. I paid $1600 for the Jabra’s. I feel it was worth the trip. We’ll see how things go with time. I have 180 days.

@booch, do you have hands free calling on your S24 with LE Audio? Specifically when on the phone, with Bluetooth enabled, do you use the HA mics to speak through, walking away from the phone, or do you need to hold the phone in your hands?

@booch , I have the S23 and do not need to restart my phone. However I do need to toggle Bluetooth and sometimes disconnect and reconnect the HAs in Bluetooth/details.

Additionally, I used to have regular connecting/disconnecting of the HAs to the app, especially in the morning when I first put my HAs in. I found out that killing the app, if still running, AND then stop the app under ‘activate in background’. This is found by selecting the bottom left button of the home screen where you can kill apps, BUT, in the upper left corner are the small words ‘active in background’. I found the Enhance Pro app running for a while. Even past a restart of the phone…not a stop/start of course. This really helped.

Later someone else mentioned that they had to add the Enhance Pro app to ‘never auto sleeping apps’ in ‘background usage limits’.

Hope this helps some.

@booch said:

I’m thinking of returning my Jabras and trying the Phillips.

Check out the app first. If you’re into making your own adjustments, the Jabra one is way better.

I understand your disappointment. It looks like the technician at Costco didn’t pay enough attention to your needs. Consider other options or wait until the next Costco opens.

@Alonzo said:

The specialist preferred the Philips 9040 because he said that they give a better phone performance. I tried both and found them to be about equal. I’ve had bad experiences with Philips products in the past, so I went with the Jabra.

It sounds like Jabra is a good choice for you.

Just for the record, the Phillips hearing aids are not made by Phillips, so past experience with other Phillips products is irrelevant. They are just branded with the Phillips name via a licensing agreement.

I had a good experience at Costco 4 years ago when I got my KS9’s. But the REM setting didn’t work great for me. I prefer the sound I get with Audiogram Direct. It sounds like your fitter was having a bad day and just didn’t want to spend the time to do the job right. Or as someone else said it could have been a stocking issue with the fitters bring told to push certain models. In any case it sounds like looking elsewhere is in order.

I’m not a fan of the cost structure of most hearing aid providers. The profit margin on the aids is something they rely on to fund their clinics and as consumers when we are comparing a commodity item we generally shop for the best price on similar items. There is no difference in the aids sold at a Costco vs an independent provider so as a consumer you have to acknowledge the huge buying power of Costco which enables them to sell at a lower cost and the need/desire of an independent provider to make a profit and provide great service. At the end of the day it comes down to what you can afford and your comfort level to perhaps pay a higher price for the commodity (the hearing aids) to get access to the best provider. I think most people go with the first provider they see instead of shopping around and comparing levels of service and price. The money you may save at Costco is not worth it if you don’t have confidence in how they get fitted or your provider is dismissive of your concerns. I know I pay a more for my aids than if I went to Costco and I also have to travel a bit to see my provider. That said I’m confident I’m getting the best care to help me deal with my hearing loss. If you can afford too spend more money, interview additional providers and spend the money. If you can’t at least try a different Costco or a different person at that Costco.

Yes, IMO what we’re paying for is the services and expertise of the hearing care professional, not just the product, the pair of hearing aids.

I was fortunate to find a certified and experienced audiologist at Costco. OTOH, as commendable as it is that Costco added REM a few years ago, the fact that they do not include speec in noise in their evaluations means that their assessment are not fully comprehensive. I also see a private audiologist who provides vacuuming of the hearing aids at no additional charge just as Costco does. He removes ear wax at no additional charge. I truly feel that he is providing comprehensive health care for my hearing loss and not just fitting and monitoring a piece of high tech equipment.

So very sorry you had this terrible experience. I also had a terrible experience at Costco, except I made the mistake of laying out the payment for a pair of hearing aids, which I could never get Costco to offer help or support for, when I had issues with it. It also did not live up to its billing of being bluetooth streaming compatible, which I paid extra for.

The thing with hearing aids is, the hardware by itself is never going to be enough to help you with your hearing loss. You are always going to have issues with different hearing environments, with wax gathering in your ears and impeding the sound transmission in your canal, with charging and/or batteries, with changes in your hearing, etc. etc. Your hearing loss is a work in progress, always, and you MUST have access to followup service with your HAs. Costco is simply not equipped to offer it.

Hearing loss is a medical condition with ongoing major impact on your quality of life and on the rest of your health, including your mental health. It’s never going away. Don’t make the mistake of expecting a big box store to offer decent medical treatment. Go to an ENT and an audiologist.

Pay attention to your gut feelings about the poor communication and treatment you got from this retail store salesperson. You are worth more than that. Get with someone who will give you the help you need.