Price on Oticon OPN

My audiologist complained to Oticon about buyhear advertising the OPNS for less than his dealer cost. They assured him they had not delivered any Opns to buyhear. So, anyone actually ordered and recieved the Opns from buyhear? By the way, I paid $5800 for my pair with extra filters and domes included.

Yes, a number of us have purchased Opn’s from Buyhear. And of course audiologists will complain; disintermediation isn’t fun for those in the middle. Eventually, the overall model of how many (most?) HA’s are sold will have to change.

They are probably buying from a middleman that buys HUGE Quantities. One of my best friends is a Cardiologist and he recently quit his practice and now consults online. It is just the way medical things are moving these days.

M

Its probably useless information for all of you but in czech republic there is official oticon seller who sells pair of opns for 2500$ (actual exchange rate)

@InVision said:

Make sure I understand. The list price is below Buyhear’s $1800 per OPN? Wow !!!

Thanks,

M

Wholesale. Yes.

Thanks so much for your reply.

Do you happen to know if there a MSRP for Oticon OPN?

Thanks,

M

Not to my knowledge - they are illegal in the EU anyway as is any sort of price fixing.

A manufacturer can’t legitimately close the account of somebody on the basis of price - they have to have a substantive reason - now, if it went to court and they could successfully argue that the Buyhear model doesn’t allow for sufficient services to be bundled with their product; thereby apparently reducing the inherent quality of their offering, they might have a case. Otherwise no.

Just as an overseas reference, and I am in no way trying to be a wiseass. The Oticon Opn seams very expensive in the US. I got my pair the other month ( Oticon Opn 1 miniRITE 312 C090 ). I paid 8950 SEK ( ~1000 USD ) each which included 4 years of service, insurance for damaging them, batteries and other consumables for 4 years. That also includes 25% VAT. This is also before government subsidising. That was 3600 SEK ( ~400 USD ) which I on the other hand had to pay 1000 SEK ( ~120 USD ) to get … yeah go figure.

So a total of 15300 SEK ( ~1800 USD ) for the pair with service and consumables for 4 years.

How come they are so incredibly more expensive over in USA? Is that the same for all hearing aids? Normally you are always cheaper, due to better competition. I know they are Danish Design, which might make some of it. But the difference is really huge.

Oh this makes this US Citizen happy… NOT !!!

M

@rasmus_braun said:

… In my opinion, it’s just a matter of time before Oticon hunts down the supplier that Buyhear is using. They’re not going to allow someone to undercut their main customers (independent audiologists) …

Definition: Oligopoly - the market condition that exists when there are few sellers, as a result of which they can greatly influence price and other market factors.

@TLovskog said:

…How come they are so incredibly expensive over in USA? Is that the same for all hearing aids? Normally you are always cheaper, due to competition …

See above.

@chatteremail said:

Rasmus - Of course these companies will support the warranties of people who buy their products; to do otherwise is just crazy. It’s one thing for them to try to prevent online sales; it’s another to punish their customers. So I call bs on this; if you have evidence re: ReSound, please provide it. To me, this is just fear-mongering.

I was fascinated with film photographic equipment a number years ago. At that time (and perhaps today as well) there were a number of big stores in NYC advertising in magazines. It was possible to buy “gray market” gear at quite a discount that did not come with the manufacturers USA warranty and instead was to be covered by the seller and had an international warranty. I never had to have the warranty honored but more than one person wrote about the challenges of getting the seller to provide coverage. There were also people writing about the manufacturers not always covering problems with products. Perhaps things have changed and maybe Hearing Aids are different also. In the back of the OPN manual that came with the aids there is mention of a 12 month international warranty. It also says the audiologist may be giving additional warranty and to take the device to your hearing professional.

I may also be mistaken but even though I am using an Oticon product I am not a customer. Instead I am a customer of the audiologist where I got them. When I get a prescription filled at the pharmacy I am their customer, not the drug manufacturer.

This kind of bothers me on the Oticon website.

Consumer Advisory

Learn how to activate your hearing aid for the first time, how to turn it on and off, and how to get a good start with hearing aids. Visit Oticon Support.

Consumer Advisory

[FONT=inherit]Purchase your Oticon hearing devices only from an authorized Oticon professional.[FONT=Soho Gothic W01 Regular]Oticon’s advanced technologies offer considerable benefit when selected and fit by trained and credentialed hearing care professionals providing high levels of expertise and service, including proper fitting through face-to-face consultations. Oticon chooses to work with a network of highly skilled hearing care professionals who comply with state and federal laws and regulations pertaining to dispensing hearing instruments.

Therefore, Oticon does not endorse the practice of selling hearing aids to consumers via the Internet or through direct mail nor does Oticon sell its products directly to retailers who sell Oticon hearing aids over the Internet or through mail order businesses.

Some mail order or internet retailers falsely claim to be trained or authorized to dispense Oticon hearing instruments and may misappropriate our intellectual property and make claims about our technologies that are inaccurate. We have asked that these companies stop their claims.

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@Abarsanti said:

I just ordered through them and had the same question. They said it would be free of charge for adjustments during the 3 year warranty, but they only advertise the 60 days.

Hear (pun intended) is what they told me at buyer.com2 when I asked the question.

"The remote adjustments with Buyhear are $50 after the 60 day trial if you would like us to do the adjustments going forward if or when you might request the adjustment. Thank you, "

Thanks,

M

Probably to do with how the business started. Scandinavia was where many HA companies were founded. They were garage business much like Apple. Probably, there first local resellers were local businesses and gouging wasn’t done.

In the US they got hooks into licensing. Licensing limits competition and leads to higher pricing. Politicians protect us from the unscrupulous or charlatans. It anything related to the word medical at the top but happens right down to your barber.

The VA buys at those much lower prices and it is obvious that a profit is possible at that level. Look at what they are willing to do to keep your business. They will send a factory rep out when they are losing a sale. That ain’t cheap and is often the only way they can sell through mediocre shops.

And, I don’t know why you are surprised that Octicon has misinformation on their site. Duh. The whole business is based on misinformation.