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VA hearing aid repair getting slow

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I’m a Veteran and I’m on my second pair of aids.
I have Resounds One’s and gave them to the VA in March to be repaired. They were sent off for repairs and I got them back in two weeks in the mail. Then in May the left one just made a static noise and died.
May 16th I took them to the VA so be repaired again. I still don’t have them back and all they have told me is they will be mailed to me.
I told them if they were having having that much problem fixing them they need to give me new aids. They said I can’t get new ones until Dec. 2025. Our VA Audiology in Baton Rouge is slipping.

Any other Vets out there having problem with repairs or service at the VA?

11 people in this conversation8 min readJump to latest

Never heard of such a thing… Escalate to the audeo chief or talk with a patient advocate.

A while ago I was issued a pair of Oticon Intents (with the smart charger). I left my Opn 1 aids to be refurbished. The sent them off to Oticon for the service, and I received them about 2 weeks later. They were sent back from Oticon to the VA, which checked the programming, and then sent to me.

I am a veteran and been wearing aids from the for almost 20 years. To be honest in that time I have only had 3 sets of aids repaired and the turn around time has been less than 2 weeks each time. Over that time I have used a total of 4 clinics and 4 audiologist. Also for 14 of those years i have been wearing Oticon aids. The repairs have been mostly due to moisture due to living in a hot and humid environment. I haven’t had that issue since wearing rechargeable aids. My last repair was battery replacement due to end of warranty of the aids. Those aids are now my backup aids.

My aids were sent in for repair about three months ago it took about ten days Starkey did not repair them they replaced them including new custom moulds they were returned to the clinic where the settings were confirmed and returned to me.

And another thing. When they sent them off in March they were back in about 2 weeks. I got a slip in my mail box telling me it was postage do. They put $1.63 postage on them I had to go to the post off and pay $3.47 to get them.

Edited

In reply to @Grandpaw

Here is my understanding, there are what I call regular clinics and community VA clinics. The regular clinics I once used were in Texas. There my aids and supplies came from the VA depot in Colorado. I am now in Arkansas here the clinics are community clinics here my aids and supplies come from the hearing aid companies. My aids here if repaired go straight to the hearing aid repair center the turn around is less than 10 working days. My audiologist here has direct lines of communication with the hearing aid company reps. In Texas everything was through the depot in Colorado. I am honestly much better served by the community VA system than the normal VA clinics.

In reply to @member56

Interesting my aids if repairs needed is handled by the hearing aid tech at the community clinic. The aids are overnighted to the hearing aid repair center, repaired or replaced and overnighted back to the clinic, then I go on for an appointment normal the day they are received back at the clinic. My aids are tested to make sure they are repaired and worked correctly. I am a disabled veteran and haven’t paid a cent for aids, supplies, repairs or co-payments in over 14 years.

My Phonak aids are roughly 2.5 years old and the left (Master aid) only lasts 10 hours most days without a midday mini charge.

I can’t function without aids and I don’t have backups to use if the VA sends my aids away for two weeks.

Until the left battery began having issues I planned to request a new hearing test around the 3 year period when the warrantee is up. I’ve only had the original test done 2.5 years ago…none since.

Does the VA furnish loaners for the 2 weeks required to service my aids if I don’t have a backup pair, or should I just suck it up and ask for new aids in January?

My audiologist told me that loaners might be available when I send mine in next month. I got the impression they’d be marvels. She was direct that activevent receivers weren’t an option.

WH

In reply to @berettadm1

When my va audiologist found out I didn’t have any backups she immediately ordered me a new pair and told me to keep my current ones as a backup. Her rationale was people with my level of loss should not be without backups. Have always had great service from them.

I have always had a set of backup aids that are kept updated fitting wise and firmware wise. When my backup aids go out of warranty my primary aids becomes my backup aids and i get new aids. But then again that is my clinic working for me. I am 50% disabled due to my hearing

My understanding is that the aids will be sent to the manufacturer if still on warranty, to the repair center in St. Louis if not. The last time I had to get a new receiver, I was told that the contract with the manufacturer stipulated a return in less than 10 days (business days). It has usually been less for new receiver/molds.

In reply to @lgbuck62

With your loss I would expect your Audiologist to furnish a backup.

From the replies to my message so far it appears I should contact my before my warranty expires for a factory battery update.

Worst case is loss for 10-14 days, temporary M90 loaner, or possibly even a new pair.

Thanks for all your advice…

David

The does not repair hearing aids. They are sent off to the manufacturer.
Over the years I have had tp have aids repaired or replaced. The local clinic has no control over this!!!

No true for the community clinics, my aids are fedex overnight to the hearing aid company’s repair center. The aids are repaired and fedex overnighted back to the clinic. Usually in 10 days.

My aids are supplied since I’m service connected for Bilateral Hearings Loss and Tinnitus. I have my old aids they gave me and told me to used them as back up when I got the new aids in. The old ones don’t work too good that’s one reason they gave me some new ones. Now it will be 2 months since I took them my “new” ones to be repaired and all I can get is they will be mailed back to me. July 16th will be two months since I took them to the VA. I’ve never called the patient advocate so I don’t know if they can tell me anything.

Patient advocate office has been great for me. “Kick ass and take names.” If all the policy has been followed & etc, there isn’t much they can do, but when something slips or someone has a poor attitude it seems to get fixed pretty quickly. I saw a primary care physician last winter and it was a complete screw up beginning to end. My normal was away deployed and the entire situation was broken for me. I had to fight for an appointment. The doctor was rude to me. And another provider (not a primary care doc) held their tongue and provided a work-around with a yet another provider (related to primary care). I submitted a survey response when asked that got me a phone call follow-up from the advocate office and I haven’t heard of that other PCP since.

Two months is a long time…

WH

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