Oticon ends online hearing aid sales
Oticon’s new distribution guidelines state that they will only supply their products to distributors who directly fit and sell Oticon products to end-users through face-to-face in-person consultations. These new guidelines effectively bring an end to customers being able to buy Oticon products via the Internet, mail order or catalogues.
In a press release, The American Academy of Audiology welcomes Oticon’s decision and hopes that other hearing aid manufacturers will follow suit.
I agree with the AAoA’s press release in that customers will receive a better service from a face-to-face transaction. Having said that, America Hears seem to have a good online service. Although the face-to-face service may be more beneficial to customers who have no idea of their hearing aid needs or what type of aid they require, online options like America Hears may offer a cheaper and perfectly adequate option for people who already own aids and are more inclined to know what they want.
Any comments? have you bought hearing aids online? Are you happy with them? If you haven’t bought online, would you consider it?
I’m NOT opposed to buying expensive items online (I bought my car online years ago!), but because my hearing loss keeps changing, I wouldn’t feel comfortable buying hearing aids online. Since Vocational Rehabilitation pays for hearing aids (in the U.S.), I’m okay for now. But when I retire in 20 years, I might consider it!
Cindy
I TALKED TO VOCATIONAL REHABILITATION AND THEY TOLD ME THAT NO MORE HELPING OFFER HEARING AIDS IT STOPPED 2 YRS AGO. THAT I AM LOOKING FOR BRAND NEW FREE HEARING AIDS COMMING UP DUE I AM NOT WORKING DUE MY SURGERY BACK ARE OUT OF WORK AND UNDER SSDI AND OLD HEARING AIDS SEND OUT STUDY WHAT WRONG HEARING AIDS SO I MOVED ANOTHER STATE IN FLA SO I WONDER HOW WILL WORK THOSE OFF HEARING AIDS SALES BY MAIL OR WHAT PLEASE FEEDBACK HAWKEAGLEUSA at AOL .COM THANK YOU ALAN JEFFERS
My hearing profile hasn’t changed much in 30 years - and I sure plan on buying my next hearinig aids online. Not that I don’t like going to a specialist - but at this point - the extra mark-up that would go to them is not justified - I can use the extra $1000.00 PLUS. The same situation occured some time ago with contact lenses. Origionally you could only get them from a license Droctor. Now it’s obvious you can save a lot of dollars getting “refills” without going to the Doctor - all without negative effects. Oticon may be more “professional” going only to spoecialist - however - that only means I will not buy from them - because that does not match my needs.
I believe there are other issues involved in Oticon’s decision to stop online sales of their products. The typical dealer markup for hearing aids is quite high, and it is not unusual to find the same product online for half the cost. When you’re talking about a $3000 hearing aid like the Oticon Delta 8000, that’s a tremendous cost savings - and that’s just for 1 aid. Because of this cost difference, many people choose to purchase the hearing aid online and then just pay their local professional to do the programming and adjustments. Even with the added expense, they would still save a great deal of money.
Retail dealers know this is going on and have complained to Oticon. Apparently, the company is caving in to pressure.
The internet has changed the business models of scores of different industries. Despite this setback, it’s only a matter of time before this happens to the hearing aid industry as well.
Evidence demonstrates that successful hearing aid fittings require careful counseling, proper selection of circuitry, physical fit and in-depth psycho-acoustical knowledge.
As a long time Oticon specialist I can tell you that it wasn’t just us that complained about internet hearing aids. Customers did also…lots of em.
I could set up a webpage; buy my hearing aids in quantity; not worry about returns as I have little investment and make a lot of money. I could also open a star bucks and double my income.
As a group audiologists’ are caring; knowledgeable; experienced and fair. Oticon would certainly open the doors to internet sales if it meant they would sell more hearing aids in the long run.
The facts are this. An audiogram is a snapshot of a hearing loss. You need to objectively verify how the frequency response is working for a particular client. Two identical audiograms never result in identical settings for high end hearing aids.
If you shop around people like me will sell you entry level digital hearing aids with noise reduction for under a thousand dollars. You would be foolish to buy a high end hearing aid online because you cannot use many of the features; such as datalogging; in situ verification; activity anylyzers; real ear measurments for frequency response settings; auditory training; adjustments for everything from occlusion to permanent distortion; recruitment; tolerance; comfort and most importantly counseling that only applies to your unique hearing loss; all of which CANNOT be measured with an audiogram.
Sales are way up and I sleep well knowing another client will come in smiling from ear to ear tomorrow because I was careful and caring.
As a side note; if you know anyone using an ipod full blast or has a car stereo that rivals a thunderstorm warn them that a figure approaching 10% of college graduates are demonstrating noise induced hearing loss.
If you have a hearing loss be aware that many common medications can increase the rate of inner ear nerve damage. Ask your doctor if there is a less ototoxic drug for you. Also smoking is associated very strongly to tinnitus and high frequency hearing loss as well as ceremun (wax).
Wearing hearing aids is a quality of life issue. If your budget is too tight for high end hearing aids avoid the dissapointment of buying them cheaply online then not knowing if they are working to full capacity.
one more note regarding a previous post.
Before the internet existed I as most professionals would not adjust an in-warranty hearing aid fit by someone outsid of our organization. It would be insane to “adopt” an internet hearing aid customer for the price of an adjustment. If I adjust a hearing aid and the customer isn’t happy all I get is bad word of mouth advertising when in all probability the customer was mis-informed in the first place.
I am very happy with my current Oticon hearing aids but I am not interested in paying double the price for them compared to the internet. Every other electronic item on the planet has come down in cost but the monopolistic audiology “services” sytem prevents buyers from getting the best fair market price for hearing aids. The internet is changing this—for the good of consumers everywhere.
I know audiologists need to make a living for their services. But unfortunately,unscrupulous audiologists are very common; these practitioners typically charge excessive prices for inferior products and provide no “services” beyond initial fittings.
I have worn hearing aids for over 25 years (since my early 30’s) and I am very happy to finally see market pricing competition in this industry. Since my “insurance” never covers hearing aids, I need to shop for the best product at an affordable price.
Opticon should get with it, or risk losing their existing satisfied customer base. I would rather buy direct at a fair market competitive price, and pay the audiologist only for the services I need (one fitting and programming session in several years, in my case).
Hopefully, only the honest and diligent audiologists will survive this change in business model.
I have purchased new hearing aids via the net (http://www.HearSource.com) and have had others repaired. I have had no problems, in fact I love them. Their repair service is faster than my old audi’s office. I agree that internet purchasing of hearing aids is not for everyone. My personal hearing aid programming software took some time to get used to. But I am in control now. My parents could not have done this. But I am capable, it is my hearing and my money and it is my decision.
What will eventually happen if everyone buys from the internet is that the audiologists and hearing specialists will simply charge to program them. The charge for this will be $500.00 per ear and voila, the $1000.00 “markup” you cheap people complain about will be back. I guess it doesn’t pay to go to university at all, just be uneducated and go on strike when you feel that you want more pay.
I have read all of your comments. I am an audiologist and I understand that hearing aids can be quite expensive. But, what you must remember, is that you aren’t paying just for the hearing aid. The Dispensers have changed the market, in that they can’t bill for services, so all costs were bundled resulting in a high price for aids. When you break the price down into our time spent with you the patient, taking impressions, ordering aids, counseling you, caretakers, family members, providing warranties and follow-up visits, you will see the mark-up isn’t high. You as consumers view a hearing aid as a T.V. Well, a hearing aid is a prosethic device, like a leg or an arm… not a cheap electronic. To adequately fit hearing aids, time must be spent with you, to fine to the aid to your needs. I know of many patients that complain of hearing aids and when I question them, most have gotten there aids from online or mail order sources or just shopped for the cheapest price. Of course we will charge to adjust, clean or service an aid not purchased from us. And you can be sure what you pay in these service fees over 3 years, the total cost would have been what you paid upfront at a practice. I find it sad that with a Doctoral degree, people balk at paying me $30.00 for 1/2 to hour of of my day - but plenty of ladies get there hair done weekly for more than that… hmmmm where are your priorties?
I have purchased both in-the-store aids and, more recently, open-fit Speaker In the Ear (SIE) on-line aids from America Hears. Quality of all the instruments was excellent, but the price of the on-line aids from America Hears was less than half the cost of aids purchased from the Miracle Ear franchise. A couple of observations - (1) first time buyers should definitely purchase aids (and service) from an audiologist . These are specialized professionals who can help we buyers understand the options, provide a safe fitting, and can provide reasonably good programming of the sophisticated new aids. All aids are expensive, and it is worth the premium to have the assistance of a professional, at least at first. (2) The “do it yourself” programming software provided by America Hears is perfect for the computer literate techie that is willing and able to use his/her computer to program the devices. After having struggled to communicate my wants and needs to in-store audiologists who then attempted to adjust my aids to provide improved hearing, I love the freedom to adjust my new SIE aids at home on a trial and error basis as often as I want. Their software is effective and easy to use. Summary: If you are an experienced user of hearing aids and are comfortable with software and electronics (can you program your TIVO or VCR?), you can save some money and improve your adjustment experiences by getting aids and the programming kit from America Hears. If you don’t feel comfortable using software to adjust these small electronic devices, my advice is to buy the aids from an audiologist. By the way, you can probably tell that my pleasure with the AH aids is 1st driven by the ability to program them myself at home, and second by the lower cost. There are cheaper on-line stores, but none that I’ve found that offer programming software.
—-I have been in need of hearing aids for years but have never been able to afford them. When a relative purchased new hearing aids, I was given a pair of Oticon Syncro BTE hearing aids. I was wondering if it is possible to have them programed and fitted to my ears at a reasonable cost. If so, How would I go about having this done?—
Larry. I would recommend you look in the yellow pages or internet for a local independent retailer NOT a national company. Most national companies are reluctant to do this. I would expect they would charge around 200 usd. I would guess this is a fair price as the process will take around 1-2 hours as you will neeed a full hearing assessment and aid programming. Check that the dispenser is familiar with Oticon aids. This marketing material in the shop is usually an indication of which manufacturer they fit the most. You will also probably need to pay around 100 usd for any follow up and fine tuning which may be required. On top of this will be the cost of the earmoulds at around 100 usd each. You can also purchase an extended warranty which may be around 80 usd per aid per year over 2 years. Ask the dispenser to contact the manufacturer to find out when the warranty expires - you may find a 4 year warranty is still running.
There is only one reason hearing aid dealers hate online sales- it cuts their massive profit. There are 100″s of thousands of people who can program their own aids by reading the manual- and change it until it is comfortable, without multiple trips to the audiologst.
The dealers want to block everybody from self programming to stifle competitiion.
The online dealers offer money back guarantees too, for any one who feels like a $2000 discount is a bad deal.
Business models change. Get with it, Oticon, or you WILL see your market share diminish. The internet is here to stay.
Ok lets worry some about the mighty power of the Hearing Aid industry. They scare us they cheat us they sell us outrageously over priced products and say it is for our own safety?? I have been wearing hearing aids for 57 years now. I bet i know what kind of hearing instrument and sound quality best suits me better than any 100 “salesmen” yes that is what the all are salesmen. I always buy from “qualified” dealers. Pay a pretty penny for it too. I bet the tech adjusting the aid has minimal education cerrtainly not a doctorate by most standards if lucky will get a good MA who actually is compassionate and understanding and doesnt give you the well your just gonna have to get used to it. Imagine if you bought your stereo for 3000 to 12000 dollars had to go to a “specialist to tune it” after he was done he slaps a lock on it and you cant do a thing about it except go back to him and say well its not quite right? No wonder people want to find cheaper hearing aids. I am glad i used a reputable company but i bet there area ton of em out there that are less than competent fitting and sellilng hearing aids not only online by mail but in genuine authorized dealerships? If i am happy w my choice of vendors why am i grousing? Because I can afford to do this to buy from my choice. Amazing fact that medicare for us old people doesnt even offer a benefit to fit, sell or examine hearing loss for the purpose of fitting a hearing aid. Most regular insurance companies dont pay for it either. Mine is a joke they pay 100% i was thrilled amazed ha it was 100% up to $500. Now where to do you find a hearing aid for the severe to profound deaf for $500. We are on our own here folks and the industry as a whole doesnt care. How many are so fortunate to be financiall well off to afford a $3000 dollar plus hearing aid?? By the way i understand that oticon is one of the premier if not the most premier instrument on the market. I gve them kudos for thier expertise. Thank you i say.
Regards to all my fellow hard of hearing friends
Leslie
HearSource.com is my hearing aid supplier. I too have worn hearing aids for years. I have spent over $20,000 on hearing aids in my life. My last quote for a good set of open fit hearing aids was over $6,000. I was very happy to have found HearSource.com. Initially, they repaired my old hearing aids for less than 1/2 what my audiologist wanted to charge me and my new hearing aids cost me for less than 1/3 of what she wanted for new hearing aids. HearSource does the adjustments for me via the internet. I spend no gas going to and from the audi’s office. Maybe I have discovered the “Green” way to go as far as wearing hearing aids is concerned. Green for everybody except for the high prices audiologists.
HearSource.com is my hearing aid supplier. I too have worn hearing aids for years. I have spent over $20,000 on hearing aids in my life. My last quote for a good set of open fit hearing aids was over $6,000. I was very happy to have found HearSource.com. Initially, they repaired my old hearing aids for less than 1/2 what my audiologist wanted to charge me and my new hearing aids cost me less than 1/3 of what she wanted for new hearing aids. HearSource does the adjustments for me via the internet. I spend no gas going to and from the audi’s office. Maybe I have discovered the “Green” way to go as far as wearing hearing aids is concerned. Green for everybody except for the high prices audiologists.
I think the problem that some of us see is that of high cost vs perceived value. We ask ourselves why is it we can purchase a set of HA’s over the internet for sixteen, seventeen or eighteen hundred dollars.. yet those SAME aids are being sold through a retail HIS outlet for twice that much.
Yes I can agree that the audiologist needs to get paid for the time and trouble.. but $1,800 to $2,000 worth!? Let’s break it down time wise. The first visit might take 2 hours max, the second 1 to 1 1/2 for fitting and adjusting. A two week follow up later at 1/2 hour.. and most likely the final visit at 15 minutes or so if needed.
So let’s add this up and see what it comes to. Roughly 4 hours, which is a total of $450 to $500 per hour… and you as audiologist wonder why HA wearers scream the way they do, especially if the wearer to be is only making $10 or $11 per hour.
There is a better way. I know. “Been there.. done that!”, as they say. Owned a very successful business (HVAC&R) many years ago, which by the way I sold for a profit. I not only worked on all types, but also charged a REASONABLE rate on both my labor and parts. I could have kept busy 16 hours a day, 7 days a week.. but kept it to a more reasonable 5 day (with part Sat) 40 to 46 or so hour weeks. There’s NO reason why the HA industry can’t do the same.. and still make money hand over foot.
Shi-Ku Chishiki ShiKu.Chishiki@Gmail.com
After many disappointing face to face viists with so-called audiologist professionals, many of whom have sold me aids at up to $5200. per pair that were obviously not the best solution for me, I am ready to buy and try on-ine. I am 73 and on about my 7th set of aids, the cheapest being $3200. per pair. I have a good audio and computer backgroud and I personally feel I can do as good if not a better job of setting up an aid that is delivered to me than most audiologist I have been involved with over the years. I have contacted a company that has internet adjustment services available. I don’t see how I can lose. I can buy 2-3 sets of these aids at the price of one at most hearing aid centers in this area and with a 60 day return policy. It’s a no-brainer!!
Gary Brown
I agree with Gary FULLY. I went through the hassle of replacing my 15 year old hearing aids with new ones and went through a year of grief trying to ge them dialed in. I suffer from tinnitis, yet my hearing is “normal” otherwise. If the noise would just go away, then a flat setting on the frequencies would be fine. Yet after a year of tweaking and 3 different sets of hearing aids, I finally “settled” for cheapest units just to put an end to it. The audiologist was incompetent as far as I am concerned and kept trying to tell me what I needed. After all of that, my new Oticon hearing aids are nowhere near my 14 year old analog units for sound. They squeal when I try to put them in as they have no “off” feature, and the sound is so unnatural that the left one makes every spoken word sound slurred and the right one sounds like I am listening through a pipe with the echo of a certain freqency. AGAIN, my old ones sound fine and were set up by an audiologist in another province and mailed to me after ONLY the original visit, using an audio test I brought with me. I am 52, am a professional, and on weekends and evenings I operate a small sound company that provides PA and music services. I have racks of equalizers and am well aware of what each freqency band sounds like, not to mention what I need to hear for sound to be “normal” to me. I receive compliments of my sound mixing at every show I run, and sometimes that includes 6 member rock bands or folk singers. Yeah, I am likely a difficult customer to fit for hearing aids, but what the audiololist told me is that “it takes 7 years of school to be able to run the hearing aid programming machine”. I beg to differ, and would like to know where I can buy my own programmer. Have been watching Ebay, but nothing so far. Any suggestions?
>>> Retail dealers know this is going on and have complained to Oticon. Apparently, the company is caving in to pressure. The internet has changed the business models of scores of different industries. Despite this setback, it’s only a matter of time before this happens to the hearing aid industry as well.
I can tell you from experience that the ‘traditional’ dispensers HATE the low cost prices available on the web.
You don’t need to be a mail order supplier to receive abuse … you can be a standard dispenser … but one who charges low prices … AND who puts the low prices in a price list on the Web!
The expensive dispensers HATE it when a new customer storms into the shop saying:
‘I paid £6000 for these last week but my son has found a dispenser who will supply and fit for £2880! So what is it about YOU & YOUR practice which warrants me paying £3200 extra???’
@Wayne Ch
America Hears supply their own brand of aids and a programmer so that you can set them up yourself.
I’m tempted to contact HIMSA (http://www.himsa.com/) to see what their take on personal programmers is. They supply the NOAH software to audiologists and it’s apparently free. They have download options on their website but I haven’t tried it out.
Amazing, truly amazing how you people see the hearing health profession as a used car lot. Go ahead and order online and learn the hard way.
I saved $3000.00 buying my hearing aids online. On Ebay Actually. They are Siemens CIC Intuis. They fit great, and are the newest model. I paid $150 for some impressions and an audiogram, sent it all to Siemens and voila. I will have to go in for a volume adjustment I’ll just lie to the audiologist when they ask where I got them. AUDIOLOGISTS HAVE DONE IT TO THEMSELVES. THEY ARE NOT LOOKING OUT FOR YOUR BEST INTERESTS. The will sum you up before throwing you a quote. Think for yourself.
Συμφωνούμε όλοι τελικά ότι το ιντερνετ είναι εδώ και θα μπει για τα καλά στην ζωή μας , αλλά σκεφτείτε ότι και για αυτό ακόμα πληρώνουμε το λιγότερα 2 πάγια ( ΜΟΝΟ ΣΤΗΝ ΕΛΛΑΔΑ) .
Είμαι ακοοπροθετιστής τα τελευταία 2,5 χρόνια , το πελατολόγιο μας δεν έχει καμία σχέση και καμία επαφή με τους υπολογιστές , οπότε είναι αδύνατον να κάνου αγορά μέσω ιντερνετ .
Οπότε εμείς που κάνουνε την ακρόαση, στην συνέχεια την ρύθμιση και την εφαρμογή του ακουστικού βοηθήματος στην συνέχεια όποτε μας χρειαστούν ,και προκαθορισμένα service .
Όλες αυτές οι υπηρεσίες δυστηχώς έχουν κάποιο κόστος .
I’ve been wearing hearing aids since I was 6 years and I’m 54 now. I’ve only had 4 aids - perhaps I was taught to care for them? That so many are so unhappy with so many audiologist supplied hearing aids tells us something about audiologists, does it not?
From time to time I visited audioligists for new earmolds and tubing and tried on new models and never bought. Why? 1) The prices are absurd. $20 for a new earmold tube that costs pennies and takes seconds to install? $2,000 for a hearing aid? 2) I don’t have time to be making appointments and running back and forth for adjustments 3) I don’t want to be debating with an audiologist telling me I need time to “get used” to the new aid .
When I finally had to bite the bullet and buy a new aid I went online and was delighted with the results. The first wasn’t quite right so I exchanged it for another that is simply perfect. The cost was half the cost of a “professional” fitting and I did it in a fraction of the time without leaving my desk - earmold and all. Best of all, I was able to adjust the aid to my needs without taking hours to visit the audiologist and negotiating with someone who thinks their Doctorate in Audiology qualifies makes them more competent than me at determining what’s best for me.
I look forward to buying my hearing aids online, and to adjusting them myself on my own computer. This industry is full of deception. Digital hearing aids are good in theory, but most customers get bad fittings and poor service. They can probably do better going to America Hears or HearSource. That is what I am about to do. Without functional hearing aids, I am deaf. I can no longer afford to wait weeks for an appointment to have things adjusted, or months for repairs. There is no essential difference between a digital hearing aid and an Ipod, except for cost and moisture-proof durability. In those respects, hearing aids are losers-the ipod is far superior.