In an age when everyone wants what they want right now for the lowest price possible, those who suffer from hearing problems may be paying less at big box stores for hearing aid products, but they are not saving money and they are not getting the best assistance possible.
Big box stores like WalMart and Costco are giving their customers low cost items that are poorly constructed and usually not tested for quality (and that insurance companies won’t reimburse for), and the services they offer all customers are the same. A professional audiologist is just the opposite, however.
PRODUCT QUALITY
A professional audiologist will give you a hearing aid that is made not for everyone but instead for a person with the particular and specific hearing problem that you have. A problem with one part of the ear cannot be corrected the same as a problem in another part of the ear. A big box store associate will give everyone the same hearing aid if they can convince all the customers that that one hearing aid is the best – when it is probably the one that cost the store the least and makes the store the most profit.
Batteries from a big box store cost little but last for only a short while, and usually are only rechargeable a few times. The professional audiologist will give you a battery that last longer than the cheap ones, and will recharge time after time.
COST IS LOWER BUT HIGHER AT A BOX STORE
When you factor in the original cost of the hearing aid and battery, it seems as if the big box store actually charges you less than the big bad mean professional audiologist, right? Or, that is what they want you to believe.
The truth is that the hearing aid from the box store will need to be replaced soon, the batteries won’t recharge and will need to be replaced, too, and, most of all, your insurance company won’t reimburse you for the costs.
But if you buy from a professional audiologist, your products won’t stop working in a short time, and your insurance company will give you your money back, because they love audiologists!!!
PROFESSIONAL IS PROFESSIONAL, NOT PAID HOURLY
Besides the products, you need to look at who is giving you’re the product, who is testing your ears. An hourly employee of a big box store didn’t go to school for a long time to learn about the ear, its problems, and how to correct these problems. An audiologist did do just that. An hourly employee of a big box store won’t know the difference between product offerings because all they care about is selling a particular product – an audiologist wants to give you a product that works for you.
