ComplaintsforAudibel Hearing Centers

• Initial Complaint

  04/25/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I went to this hearing aid place and was seen by ***********************. I was charged **** for a battery change and supposedly he adjusted the hearing aides. He only would take cash or credit card and would not take insurance even for the hearing test. He then told me for 500 I could have a followup visit. I looked around and the prices were 250 to 600 with 2 to 3 office visits included. My receipt shows nothing that he did although he now has a new one how ironic. I feel I was taken advantage of being a senior and not knowing any better but I do now.

  Business response

  05/11/2022

  11/11/21 Hearing Consultation Appointment Notes

  11/11/2021 ***************************************FB Lead-Pt scheduled complimentary HE via Podium FB Campaign. Notes: Myself, struggle to hear. Prefers calls. **** be bringing her deceased husband, *****'s HA in for possible reprogram, thinks he may have purchased them with us, no record.  MMH    Does not currently wear hearing aides.  Was a dancer all her life.  Finds it hard to hear one on one. WH

   

  Tested 11/13/21 Hearing Consultation Appointment Outcome Notes

  Completed testing with symmetric moderate/severe SNHL. Otoscopy appeared clear with minor wet cerumen building AU. Hx of building heavy cerumen AU. Brought deceased husbands 4-year-old ****** HAs for assessment and fitting. Out Of Warranty. Fit Oticon RICs to loss and adjusted for comfort. Consulted on warranty and age of HAs and charged $1000 fitting fee. Patient needs one year service agreement for $499 at follow up. **************, BC-HIS
  _____________________________________________________________________

   

  To whom it concerns,

   

  ***************************** was seen by me in my office in ************* ********** on November 13, 2021.
  ***** was scheduled for a complete audiometric hearing exam with consultation. I reviewed her appointment notes prior to her visit. This type of appointment is typical in my industry therefore I proceeded with routine protocols. Prior to her appointment, ***** completed a patient intake form identifying some of the areas that she felt like she was having challenges hearing in. I generally take that form and discuss these areas with the patient in order to give me better insight on how I can help treat the hearing loss after the hearing exam. ***** indicated to me that she was struggling to understand general conversations and struggled even more in noisy environments. I explained to her that this was a common problem and that I would recommend treatment once we completed the testing and understood what level of hearing loss she might have.
  At that time, she had indicated that she had her deceased husbands hearing aids with her and wanted to see if we could program them for her hearing loss. She also indicated to me that after her husbands death that she was on a very limited budget and could not afford expensive hearing aids. I thanked her for sharing that information with me and would consider those things after we completed her testing and knew what we were working with.

   

  In general, most reputable hearing aids are purchased with a three-year manufacturer warranty. Manufacturers warranty covers hearing aid repairs that cannot be done at the office level and also covers specific Loss and Damage claims with a hearing aid. I told ***** that I would be happy to look at the hearing aids and if they were in good working condition and if I had the software application to program this manufacturers hearing aid, I would do my best.
  I then asked ***** how old the hearing aids were, and she indicated 3 to 4 years old. Thereafter, I took both hearing aids to my in-store service area to perform a cleaning and assessment on both hearing aids to make sure they were both working. This service is called a clean and check with assessment. It does not include the office visit itself. In my assessment. It appeared that the hearing aids had not been worn in a long time and were heavily soiled with earwax. The hearing aids did not seem well-maintained.

   

  Office visit fees for unregistered patients are regularly charged to hearing aid wearing walk-ins that live out of the area and are visiting for the winter. The basic office visit fee is $60. Clean and Check fees for two hearing aids are $80. Assessment fee is for two hearing aids is $410.
  
  Recognizing Gretas current situation, I provided each of the above services for her at no cost.
  After cleaning and assessing Gretas hearing aids I returned to my main office to consult with her. 

   

  I made phone contact to the hearing aid manufacturer, Oticon, to determine the actual age of the hearing aids and confirm if the hearing aids had any remaining factory warranty available.
  The manufacture indicated that the hearing aids were four years old therefore the Original three-year manufactured warranty was expired. 

   

  I confirmed the age and warranty window with ***** and informed her that her hearing aids were currently working. I explained to her that if I could read them out with my program software, I might be able to program them to her hearing loss after we tested.

  At that point, I informed ***** that the fitting fee to fit third-party hearing aids was $500 per hearing aid. I indicated to her that this fitting fee is a national standard and in compliance within the hearing health industry and is a basic part of my stores service fee schedule. ***** asked me if her insurance would cover the purchase for fitting the old set of hearing aids. We informed her that Insurance, Inter Valley Health, does not provide for hearing aid services or office visits on out-of-warranty hearing aids.

   

  ***** seemed very surprised with the fitting fee amount and was unhappy with the price. I then indicated to her that the hearing evaluation she scheduled is free. The hearing evaluation is needed to adjust and fit a hearing aid accurately for those individuals hearing loss however any additional services that are not under manufacturer warranty or within our active client base would be charged according to the services provided. Prior to her visit, ***************************** was not an active client with Audibel ********** the hearing aids she wanted programmed were not purchased from our facility nor were they in manufacturer warranty.
  
  Once again, now knowing the price of $1,000 for fitting her husbands out of warranty hearing aids, I asked ***** if she was willing to proceed forward. She agreed to move forward with the appointment.

   

  At that point, I asked ***** if she was aware of the cost of hearing aids. This is a general question I ask most new hearing aid candidates. I shared with her that my treatment plans included hearing aids starting at $3,000 a pair with a one-year factory warranty and escalated up to $7,000 a pair with a three-year warranty; providing highest power and clarity for severe to profound hearing losses. I explained that hearing aid treatment plans are based upon the patients level of hearing loss, lifestyle and considered budget. I indicated to her that not knowing her level of hearing loss or the type of hearing loss that she had, the four-year-old hearing aids that she brought in may, or may not meet her hearing loss needs, especially in noisy environments. This is a standard conversation for me when there is a budget concern is surrounding a hearing aid treatment plan.
  
  At that time, in terms of her level of hearing loss and long-term best results, I recommended our
  third-tier level technology. A set of Audibel **** RIC Rechargeable hearing aids that would have the power level and clarity response to help her hear and understand speech at her very best; with headroom to grow in to in the event she continued with added hearing loss in the future.

   

  In consideration of her budget and financial situation, I recommended an entry-level set of hearing aids for her that provided a one-year manufactured warranty that includes a one-year service plan for aftercare with the hearing aids. These are very good, affordable hearing aids that come with a factory warranty and in-store aftercare services for one year.
  
  I told ***** that these hearing aids were listed at $3,000 total and came with a one-year manufacturers warranty and one-year service plan in our store. Due to her financial situation, I quoted her $2,000 for this set of hearing aids ($1,000 per hearing aid), crediting her $1,000 for the fitting fee she already paid, if she would consider trading up from the old pair of hearing aids. ***** said she would consider that offer.

   

  I told her that these are the options available and that I would do my best to help her once I knew exactly what level of hearing loss she had.

   

  After we completed her hearing evaluation, I read her old hearing aids out on my computer and programmed them to her current hearing loss and comfort level. Once the hearing aids sounded comfortable to her I consulted on how to insert/remove the hearing aids, how to use the volume/programs switches, how to change her batteries and how long her battery life would most
  likely be.

   

  After a new fitting/hearing aid delivery, I scheduled a follow up visit with ***** for one week out on 11/24/2021, to assess her experience and provide more hearing aid adjustments if needed.
  Due to the Thanksgiving holiday, ***** rescheduled the follow up appointment to December 1, 2021.

   

  On December 1, 2021, I saw ***** for a routine follow up appointment. I made a few minor adjustments to her hearing aids to help make her hearing aid experience more comfortable and beneficial.
  She declined purchasing a one-year in-store hearing aid service plan for $499. We reminded her that without a service plan, future hearing aid services on out-of-warranty hearing aids in our store would be charged at $149 per visit. Shortly after that visit, a third party called our office requesting and itemized invoice for all of our services. My *************** Coordinator told the caller that the invoice was available at our front desk any time someone was available to come by the store and pick it up.
  _________________________________________________________________

   

  Conclusion

   

  I work consciously with the hearing loss community on a daily basis. I have been fitting hearing aids and consulting on hearing loss successfully for over eight years. Being a veteran hearing aid wearer of over 20 years myself, I empathize with the cost of hearing loss treatment and do my absolute best to provide a treatment plan that will fit each of my patients level of hearing loss, lifestyle and budget. Should a person have hearing aid benefits through their insurance, we will do our best to screen those benefits and maximize that benefit to get the out-of-pocket expense down for our patient as far as it will allow.
  If the insurance does not provide for our recommended treatment plan or services we will inform the patient immediately. I do not set the prices for my manufacturer.  I recognize and maintain state and national compliance standards with all our hearing aid services and related fees.
  
  To my recollection, these are the conversations and actions I took with ***************************** on the dates shown above. Should you have any further questions, please feel free to contact me at your earliest convenience.

   

  Highest regards,

   

  ***********************, BC-HIS

  Audibel Hearing Center

  Customer response

  05/12/2022

   I am rejecting this response because:

  Of course this is all going to sound like I was aware of everything but I was not. And they did contact me with a offer of 500 towards future fittings. That is not a offer of goodwill or to make up for there overpriced ways. I submitted my receipt and nothing was noted for what I was charged for and they can say all this and that but the bottom line is ************* was only looking for quick cash and I still think I was a victim of fraud period. How dare he!!!
  
  
  

  Business response

  05/20/2022

  Re: *****************************/Response Letter #2
  This complaint was assigned ID ********.

  Received on 5/13/2022
  MESSAGE FROM CONSUMER:
  
   I am rejecting this response because:

  Of course this is all going to sound like I was aware of everything but I was not. And they did contact me with a offer of 500 towards future fittings. That is not a offer of goodwill or to make up for there overpriced ways. I submitted my receipt and nothing was noted for what I was charged for and they can say all this and that but the bottom line is ************* was only looking for quick cash and I still think I was a victim of fraud period. How dare he!!!

  Greetings,

  To recap my thoughts on this incident, it needs to be understood that my primary objective with any patient that enters my office is to help that patient hear better than when they walked in. There is a protocol in my practice to achieve the best results and meet or exceed the expectations of the client.  

  As with every hearing aid adjustment and fitting, prior to completing Mrs. ********** fitting appointment, I asked her, Does my voice sound comfortable and are you hearing me at a comfortable level? She replied, Yes, your voice is comfortable. I then asked her, Do the hearing aids feel comfortable in your ears? She replied, Yes, they feel comfortable.

  These two questions help me assure that the hearing aid wearer, being new or experienced, is satisfied with their current hearing level before they leave. Other adjustments to the hearing aids can be made in the future if necessary.

  My Hearing *********** has a very strong reputation in the area for fitting hearing devices accurately and at a competitive price point. Knowing the value and commitment it takes to build a strong business reputation, I would never sacrifice the reputation of my brand or my personal practice to make a Quick buck or any dollar amount, much less $1,000 as indicated by ************************

  At this point, in all fairness to resolve this incident with *********************** and in an effort to move forward in a more positive direction, we are prepared to refund her $500 back to her Master Card that she made her purchase with. Due to it being a credit card purchase, this refund must be made in person, at my front desk within my store location. A picture ID will be needed to confirm her identity.

  Please share this information with ***********************. If she is in agreement with these terms, she can come to my store at her earliest convenience for a refund. We are open from 8:30am-5:pm Mon-Fri.

  Thank you,

  ***********************, BC-HIS
  Provider/Audibel Hear Care
  *************, ** 92270
  Bus. ************

   

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