I have been in the Hearing Protection business for over 25 years and usually recommend Costco to my customers. Costco sells the same name brand hearing aids and appears to do a good job in selecting and hiring their audiologist's. Being located in the warehouse the their cost of overhead and their purchasing power allows them to sell for less.
First hearing aid test on Friday was with a Ear Nose Throat medical office. I was refered there actually when I went in for a hearing test at Costco because I apparently had a massive buildup of wax in the ear that I needed a medical professional to do. When I set up the appointment, the woman mentioned they do hearing test and sell hearing aids as well, so I figured why not while I was there.
Premium - $6,500 per pair (these were the Phonaks "Paradise" sereis blue tooth I was looking at)
Advanced - $5,500 per pair
Standard - $4,000 per pair
Basic - $3,000 per pair
Hey, when I got home, filled out a online 5 question basic "care credit" (handled by Synchrony financial whom I'm intimately familiar with working with in the HVAC industry) and was approved for 12 months same as cash (0% interest which I'll take everytime, though it leads me to believe they built into the sell price or the margin is so high they don't care about the 6% fee from the lender).
I went back to Costco yesterday and set up an appointment to Tuesday.
Their (Costco) private lable Kirkland's are actually made by Sonava, who make the Phonak paradise series, which is Costco's "premium" Kirkland brand (doing some research, Sonava actually made their last series for Costco but they had multiple manufacturers make their line prior to those last two series).
Thing is, that Kirkland series 10 only costs $2,800 for a pair (which I would just pay for as I have issues writting checks for large amounts of money and $6,500 is pushing it on my end for something so small LOL).
However, I have had tinnitus for the last 30 years or so, and I see the one thing that the these Kirkland's won't do is run a "tinnitus masker program" which at this point I have to do a little more research.
The warranty seems to be basically the same with the biggest difference being the ENT doctors office only gives you a 60 day trial period with a $300 restocking fee, however the Costco line gives you at least a 3 months with no restocking fee. Free maintence for the first 3 years, one time loss or damage I think are about the same yada yada yada....
Thing is, $2,800 to 6.5k for a "tinnitus masker program" difference leaves me scratching my head, and I'm not certain what the other differences are. I know certain lines of HVAC equipment intimately, and can tell you that some lines are exactly the same except for a few cosmetic changes, and the pricing can be vastly difference which leaves me scratching my head, I just need to do more research on this product line.
I know my mother in law has the Phonak brand from her doctors office, and I may even run down to see her today to ask her about them and see them in person.
I did send the audiologist and email yesterday asking her to call me, as I will be asking her some questions as well to the differences (I understand she may have a dog in this fight). Costco at my location does not have an audiologist at that location, and I'm also not certain how important and educated you need about this "programing" (of course common sense tells you it should be pretty important LOL). Add in the fact I'm not certain how important this "Tinnitus masker" program is, which will also be a topic of converstation.
My other fear with Costco is as fast as Costco uses Soneva to make their last two series, they could also drop Soneva over time and pick up yet someone else. What I find amazing is even HVAC equipment doesn't have a drastic price difference between "alike" equipment, and we're talking about two items that can fit in the palm of your hand. I also understand that Soneva got into the game with Costco by price, and dealing with the "medical" profession, generally price is of no concearn.
Given the option, of course people will take the course of less money to achieve the same results, just want to try and make the best informed call in spending the money when I go down this road.
Even if the Phonaks are only 30% better, I may go that route if it will help me more, even for the price difference.
