For most people looking to purchase hearing aids, the expenditure will be the third largest they will make over the course of their lives, ranking just behind buying a home and buying an automobile.
With such a significant amount of money going into what is obviously an important item, most hearing aid consumers have similar expectations.
1. They want to know they are getting a quality product
2. They want it to be easy to operate
3. They want it to function well
4. They want it to be easy to repair should something go wrong
These expectations are more than reasonable but currently, there is a practice in the hearing aid industry that can make #1 and #4 potentially difficult to attain.
This practice, known as private labeling can be confusing and at times, flat out misleading.
Private-label products or services are typically those manufactured or provided by one company for offer under another company’s brand. Private-label goods and services are available in a wide range of industries from food to cosmetics to web hosting.
They are often positioned as lower-cost alternatives to regional, national or international brands, although recently some private label brands have been positioned as “premium” brands to compete with existing “name” brands.
In our opinion, hearing aid private labeling is an overall negative for hearing aid consumers. The biggest drawbacks for consumers are:
A) The inability to shop for better pricing and gain more information about the products they are considering.
In some cases, consumers are considering different hearing aid brands – only to find out (or not) that the brands they are considering are the same!
In other words, when you purchase a private label, you don’t know what you are getting and if the pricing is consistent with the quality of the product.
B) If something goes wrong or needs adjusted, it is not easy to get private label hearing aids serviced
Purchasing a private label requires that the hearing aid be programmed at a facility that has the software for that particular brand. This often significantly reduces the service options for consumers with these hearing aids.
For instance, if you were enjoying a vacation at Yellowstone National Park and your hearing aids stopped working, you’d want to get them repaired in time to hear Old Faithful’s roar. But what if Des Moines, Iowa was the only place on earth your hearing aids could be repaired? What if you had to spend the rest of your vacation in relative silence… including the 17-hour car-ride home?
We understand how frustrating that would be, and because of this, we work with all major manufacturers to provide you with access to the best hearing aids, hearing aids that give you the opportunity to live your life FREE OF RESTRICTIONS.
We refuse to settle for less than the best and we hope you will do the same.
