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Future of Costco's KS 11 Hearing Aids

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That’s certainly a popular thought. Might also be like having an awful version of a food and never wanting to try it again.

In reply to @ctromley

@ctromley said:

When they see these new products making a difference but not measuring up in some ways (short battery life, not being adjustable enough, hard to dial in, etc.), people might be more willing to consider real HAs.

Or they might say “ KNEW hearing aids were a scam!”

In reply to @ctromley

I appreciate the insight. Obviously I treat carefully because it’s anyone’s guess where the KS11’s are going to come from.

In any case, I’m genuinely hoping that the pricing for the KS models remains relatively the same. My KS9’s cost me roughly $1,100 CAD ($800 US), and I’d like to see the trend continue downward. It’s disconcerting with what’s happened regarding Phonak, but I suppose change is good in a way.

Not totally accurate. They will repair them for at least 2 years after the warranty expires on a pay basis I was told. If they don’t, Citi Visa will end up refunding a lot of people $1399 for purchasing their KS10’s who used their Citi Visa for purchases which extends the manufacturer’s warranty an additional 2 years. Heck, the KS9 too. I would imagine a few people have sent their KS9’s in for repairs after 3 years for this same reason.

From my understanding there is still hope for the KS11. Phonak was the manufacturer that produced the Kirkland Signature for the KS9s and 10s. Costco generally does a tender every couple of years to each manufacturer to see who can provide the best deal for the next KSs. Phonak dropped the ball BIG TIME. The customer service was awful and they kept sending aids back that didn’t work and refused to address the issue until they were basically forced out - or so I’m told. Costco won’t deal with a poor manufacturer if they are not preforming with the best customer service. IF there is a KS11 I’m hoping it’s with Philips because they have been amazing! My mother uses them and we’ve had so much success with Philips (Demant) over any other hearing aid she’s ever had. Their customer service is excellent. More so than Jabra (ReSound) and Rexton combined. I hope that the next KS is through them. They are fairly new to Costco but have been amazing! At least here in Canada anyway.

Anything is possible, but I haven’t seen or heard anything that makes me believe that there will be a KS11. Costco seems to be doing just fine with their current lineup. I also don’t think we’ll ever know what truly happened between Phonak and Costco. I suspect both parties contributed to the breakup.

Yes, often speculations tell more about our own allegiances and assumptions than the situation at hand. Phonak has a good rep. I doubt that they couldn’t meet Costco’s high standards, when other brands can.

Perhaps it’s a legacy contractual obligation, up there with honouring existing warranties on KS10 , but I note Sonova are still updating the Easy Line app (apologies if I missed the memo on this).

I was poking around in the apps on my phone and saw the Easy Line remote app was updated 3 weeks ago in line with the myPhonak app update. I get these are basically the same app just cosmetically rebranded (and designed to only recognise specific HAs) but I’d like to think maybe, just maybe…

I have EasyLine Remote on Android phone. Last update is 3/20/2023. Version 6.4.0.400
That’s roughly 8 weeks ago by my count. What version are you on? Admittedly, this is long after relationship with Phonak ended.

I have 6.4.0 on iOS. It appears to suggest some update 3 weeks ago in the version history. Modest amends it appears. According to the App Store, myPhonak app had similar updates about 4 weeks ago. I may be reading this entirely wrongly of course!

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