Beltone Audiology & Hearing Aid Centers

Over the past few years, my aging mother bought two pairs of Beltone hearing aids. The people at our local store were friendly, and their store was comfortable to the point of luxury. Mother did benefit from better hearing, but hearing deteriorated over the years. The aids required frequent repair and reassembly. When the audiologist needed to be involved, we were limited to Thursday and Friday. On other days, he was in his other offices. After the first pair, I became intrigued by the option of using Costco. They have two audiologists on staff and are open 6 or 7 days a week. They carry several top brands, with no pair of aids costing more than $2800. Since they have a 180 day trial period with purchase, there is no risk in trying them. Mother was always very careful with her money--except with hearing aids. I suspect many (most) seniors are scared into decisions of passion by the experience of hearing loss. Then, we came to this year. Mother's health was failing, and the Beltone audiologist said she needed their strongest model at a cost of nearly $8000. However, at another office, he had a used pair he could send back to Beltone for refurbishment. These would reduce the price to c. $5000. Meanwhile, One of Costco's audiologists had retired, so Mother would have to wait two weeks for an appointment. She was desparate to hear and opted for Beltone. She had to wait for the Beltone refurbishment, but they finally came in. She was fitted on a Thursday (the earliest date the audiologist was in) and immediately noticed a positive difference in hearing. Beltone had suggested custom ear moulds to block noise and focus sound. These came in after the aids, so she went back the following Thursday for installation. The next day, she went to the hospital (Friday), and one aid fell apart. The next day (Saturday), she came home from the hospital, and the other aid fell apart. On Monday, I took the pieces to Belltone and a technician put them back together. They worked, and Mother was ecstatic. The next day she lost consciousness for the last time and died three days later. After the funeral, I called Beltone and was told that they had no trial period (6 months at COSTCo.) I was told that they had to buy exclusively from Beltone (so where did they get the used ones they sent back to Beltone to be refurbished before Mother bought them? They finally offered tto keep them on consignment (why do that if they were not allowed to sell them unless they bought them from Beltone?) Beltone made large amounts of money preying on this woman during the final years of her life. Hearing aids did improve her quality of life. I am grateful that her last imptessions of this life includes hearing the voices of her children. Consumer Reports survey ranks Beltone nnumber 8 among national retail sellers of hearing aids (Costco ranks #2.) Consumer Reports recommend that nobody buy from a seller that does not offer a trial period for full refund. My mother's experience explains why.

GREAT people very friendly always have a smile on there faces when you come in treat you like you were there best friend's

Helped my client out