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

I am looking to see if anyone has any experience with purchasing a hearing aid from an online dispenser, but not eBay. How do you know what to buy?

@Ronh said:

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.Com”. 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.

My thread is about HA bought on E-bay, but it appears some people want to hijack it and ask questions not relating to buying HA on ebay. Well anyway.:mad:

Thank you for your your report on your experience so far with Phillip Rechister, if that is even his name. I have my suspicions about that. Pleaee report back and post again when you get your HA back from him, and tell us if you got a printout of the actual programming of my aids this time. Thanks again for posting.

Sasba858

Internet purchase of HA.

I purchased a pair of Siemens HA from fixyourears. I found them on Ebay but purchased direct.

After trying them for a week, I decided to return them.

Paid a restocking fee and received credit for my purchase.

I don’t know if there are any issues with fixyourears, I also did not receive an invoice. I called to complain about no warranty with no invoice and was informed that my aids were in fact registered by him with Seimens and I could double check by calling them. I returned them without checking.

This thread has confused me.

You find a discount dealer on ebay and make huge savings … but then, even 'tho you are generally happy with the service, you publish the dealer’s private home details and other people’s private emails in this thread.

One purchaser admits to trialling the aids with a local dealer and then buying from ebay. That’s not playing too fair with the local dispenser.

I would not be surprised if this Phillip Rechister person gave up bothering selling discount aids … nobody seems to appreciate his low prices or his privacy.

If I bought hearing aids at a super price from ebay I would not be too surprised to receive goods in weird packaging, with a foreign manual etc.

That’s what’s ebay is for! The sale of surplus stock, grey market goods etc.

Surely that’s what you should expect when saving 1000s of dollars?

If you want personal service go back to the local dispenser and return the ebay stuff.

AH is not the end all. I am surprised you have had such bad luck with local fitters, of the 5 I have visited, I thought 3 were top notch, one was OK and only one would I have reservations about using. AH has done a good job executing an innovative delivery model for insturments, but I cannot see the majority of instruments purchased online any time in the future.

zafdor I agree America Hears is not the end all and are very innovative. Besides better technology, service/skills and conveniences (no travel for them to adjust aids or permitting me to do my own adjusting if I wish) than from the local HA vendors there were 3400 other reasons not to go with Beltone and 3100 reasons for not going with Starkey in my case.

While I do think more and more of the baby boomers will buy using the Internet as their first source of information I agree it may be a while before a huge % will be sold that way (but the numbers may be quite high). I expect the Wal-Mart type of businesses will have the line share of the local hearing aid fitting business in another 10+ years just as they are gaining in medical clinics, medications and eye care.

Those of us with medical related training/backgrounds (OD in my case) or family members that do are not going to pay 2.5x the price for lower quality goods and services. Agreed at 57 I have a foot in the non Internet world and one in the Internet world. That is not the case with my 92 year old father in law. The driving force in the hearing aid market will be those to 62 and less that will need aids the next 20-40 years.

I bought a Siemens Centra SP, and a few other BTE aids from Bidbybid. great prices. he programmed my aids to the audiogram that I sent to him.
I am very happy that I did this. I took one of the aids to my local audi My local to verify they were not stolen or used.
The audi charge me 100 bucks to do this, nevertheless, i felt reassured afterwords knowing that I had gotten a great price for the aids from the e-bay guy

bidbybird sells way to many hearing aids to be stolen, I have talked to him on the phone and he is extremely helpful. I bought my aids from him over ebay about a year ago and have had no real issues… the only issue I have had he fixed immediately… and also I need to buy more of the little plastic part that goes in the ear, he suggested I buy them locally as they would be about the same price or possibly cheaper. His rating is 100% and he has had 11,000 transactions!!! From his ad on ebay:
We are the largest worldwide hearing aid distributor with 32 years industry experience and over 9 years on eBay! Why risk with others that come and go? Your purchase is safe with us! Our feedback speaks for itself!!

Hello all,

I would like to talk about the Ebay seller, Phillip Rechister, who goes by the email name of bibbybid (dominus@verizon.net). I purchased a pair of Siemens Pure 500s with the optional Tech Remote and battery recharger from Phillip.
First, I want to say that buying from Phil saved me about $1800 over the prices from any of my local in-town audiologists. I purchased from him dierectly and not through Ebay, but I met him through his Ebay adds. I telephoned him and dealt with him directly. My experience with him and his company is a bit uncomfortable, but the product is outstanding.
Phil required me to send him my hearing report (perscription) from my local audiologist. I checked and his is State of CA licensed. However, as a professional business, the transaction was very strange. He delivered the HAs just as promised and they worked great. But I received NO invoice and NO written warranty info from Siemens. I had to demand (twice) for a written invoice, which I finally got.
I have researched and established that he works from his home in Lake Elsinore, CA, and ships from “The Packing Box” store. He uses the store address on his invoice, not his home, or other office. When talking to him in emails or phone, he makes his company out to be a big one with multiple offices, but he himself is the only person to “ever” answer the phone.
I returned my 500s to him once for adjustments and it was a mess. He promised quick turnaround that took about 3 weeks. When emailing him, he first couldn’t find my HAs and then told me that they would take a few days for his comany to adjust them. Upon confronting him he immediately found them, and had them back to me in 6 more days. That to me is POOR SERVICE. He seems disorganized and unprofessional. He did not program then as I requested, and will not send me the programming printout as requested.
In short, he saved me a BUNCH of money, but I am paying for it in lack of service (and confidense). I am concerned about whom else I can get to honor the 3-yr Siemens warranty service.
If you want to save a bunch on money then buy from Phil. But if you need good service, look locally. I am now trying to locate a local dealer (which he suggested) to provide my adjustment service (and pay directly for it).

Im sure you all will chastise me to no end… but I bought two brand new Dot2-10’s on ebay for 500 bucks. They just came in the mail and work great. I just cant bring myself to tell my audio. I need him to re-program them to my gram.
These were 3800 list, and I couldnt find them for much less than that. I bid on them and won. Way nicer than my big ole siemens. Surround sound is a cool thing!
Go ahead people… call me stupid.

I purchased 2 Savia 211s after the arts came out for $430.00 ,maybe 3 years ago,
and 1 Savia art with smartlink and receiver for $450. a few months ago.
Used but less than 1/10th the price. For some this is a reasonable way to go.

@whozyodaddy said:

Im sure you all will chastise me to no end… but I bought two brand new Dot2-10’s on ebay for 500 bucks. They just came in the mail and work great. I just cant bring myself to tell my audio. I need him to re-program them to my gram.
These were 3800 list, and I couldnt find them for much less than that. I bid on them and won. Way nicer than my big ole siemens. Surround sound is a cool thing!
Go ahead people… call me stupid.

Gosh - that’s way, way, way below trade price.

Was it a private sale, where the seller didn’t realise the true value?

If it was a commercial sale of some sort, then it’s all a bit odd …

@aero777 said:

Hey, you’re among friends here. If you want abuse, I would suggest going over to Hard of Hearing Concerns.

Too true.

I used to post there … but left some months ago.

A truly toxic place.

RonH’s story tells you why someone else’s experience is not that valid unless you happen to know more about them. If you check out the feedback ratings for people who have purchased some total nonsense they are also happy with it! Someone buying their first ever hearing aid and who knows nothing about anything would likely be happy with one that is appallingly programmed. I’ve seen positive feedback for the sale of a second-hand custom in-ear hearing aid. Yes, one built to order to the mould of someone else’s ear. The purchaser was somehow happy to receive a hearing aid that didn’t fit properly in terms of physical size or internal programming. You don’t know enough about people to know if their positive feedback is meaningful.

Sure any large business will probably have a few critics, but the negatives do tend to tell you much more. The occasional package going astray in the mail I will forgive someone for that if they have made 200,000 sales, but you can’t put too much stock into good feedback even if you check up on the person afterwards and ask them how happy they are - they may just not know a reasonable hearing aid from a great hearing aid.

eBay has also refused to remove a few listings I complained about because they are selling NHS hearing aids. The UK NHS does not give people hearing aids, it issues them on loan. Any NHS digital hearing aid for sale is stolen property. Since a rule passed a few years back that people should not live in fear of big charges for lost hearing aids the market for “oops I lost my hearing aids” replacements is taking off. Basically their response is that they were not stolen from me personally so I can’t report them to be stolen. Buyer beware if you are looking at a Siemens Reflex or Phonak Eterna. Thankfully the person who was selling these recently seems to have dried up their supply somewhat.