An Important (and expensive!) Lesson

In 2006, a patient came in and bought A hearing aid. He needed two, but thought he could 'get by' with one. It was a small, receiver-in-the-ear style, small and discreet for this attractive young business man.

Within two months of fitting him, he called me, telling me his hearing aid had fallen off his ear and down a hole at a job site. He was upset, but paid his loss/damage deductible, was fit a few days later with the replacement aid and went on his merry way. Though I can't guarantee it, I'm fairly certain I encouraged him to purchase at least a supplemental loss/damage warranty through a company like ESCO or Discovery, as I do each time a patient has to use their loss/damage warranty.

Since that time, our office contacted him several times regarding adding the second aid as well as updating his hearing test. We never heard from him, until today. He called to ask about 'insurance' on his hearing aid. I remembered this patient (I usually do) and relayed the story to our receptionist, Holly. I picked up the phone and spoke to him and verified with him that we had indeed replaced his hearing aid shortly after he was initially fit. I apologized but explained that once a manufacturer replaces an aid once, the only warranty the aid has is repair and if its lost or damaged beyond repair a second time, they will have to purchase an aid at full replacement cost, which in his case was $1795.00.

However, we always try to help patients when we can and today was no exception. The aid he purchased in 2006 has since been replaced with a 2nd generation model and I told him we could replace the aid for $1500.00. This is the cost of the device plus a nominal fee to fit the aid, as we are moving towards an unbundled format.

He supposed to call tomorrow once he got back in the office and was in front of his calendar to schedule a hearing test, as he said he wasn't hearing as clearly as he once did. We'll do a hearing test and hopefully convince him to be fit in both ears this time around.

The moral of the story? If your aids have to be replaced under the loss/damage warranty, spend the couple hundred dollars to insure them through an outside company. Although he would've likely paid about $200 a year, it would've been far less expensive to insure it than it will be to replace it, a second time!

We use two warranty companies at Coastal Audiology and the levels of coverage are similar with each having their own pros and cons. We're always happy to discuss your options and assist you at making the most cost-effective and beneficial choice for you.