Complain about a product or service

Accoustic/Beltone Hearing Aids

James of Knoxville TN (8/9/05):
On August 9, 2005 my 84-year-old mother had an appointment to have her Beltone Hearing Aid adjusted by Dr. David H. Levy. Upon arriving she was told that the office had made a mistake and she would be required to wait for 2 hours to see Dr. Levy. When Dr. Levy finally arrived at the office he proceeded to berate my mother in a loud angry manner because she had purchased the Beltone Hearing Aid in Florida, where she lives 7 months out of each year, and then expects Dr. Levy to service the Beltone when she resides in Knoxville.

Dr. Levy was rude and refused to honor the Beltone guarentee that provides that Beltone products will be serviced by any Beltone dealer. My mother must now wait 3 months to have her Hearing Aids serviced back in Florida.

Joyce of Springboro OH (2/3/05):
This will probably fall on deaf ears but I have told my story to several people at Beltone and they all say the same thing -- "There is nothing we can do." I bought my hearing aids in May 2002. The first year they were sent back twice. All in all they have been sent back too many times in my estimation. At no time was it advertised I would have all this trouble. I feel like I have been used.

Everytime the right one was sent back it was rust-colored, completely corroded. I cannot tell you how many batteries I have used thinking this was the problem. Wrong. I don't know if I was fitted for the wrong hearing aids or not. But as far as I'm concerned, it was not $4,000 well spent.

Raymond of Crawfordsville IN (11/7/04):
On 5/12/03 I purchased a pair of hearing aids for $4990.00 as a replacement for my old aids. Since that time the aids have been back to the factory several times, the original set was replaced with a different model and I have been back to the office I don't know how many times for "reprograming". I have contacted the Beltone customer service department but all they do is refer me back to the local office.

Since I have had two previous sets of aids, with which I had virtually no problems, I believe that I know how hearing aids should perform and the current aids do not perform at all. I feel that after all of the trips back to the factory and over 17 months of adjustments I should be able to understand what people are saying to me without asking them to repeat.

Maria of Marys Landing NJ (10/1/03):
My mother has Alzheimer's disease and I am responsible for her affairs. We purchased a hearing aid for her on 7/2/02 from the Acoustical/Beltone store in Vineland, NJ, and since then, it has broken at least three times. The cost of the hearing aid was $700. My mother's health insurance was pre-approved by the company to cover $300 and my mother paid the difference in cash, which I have the receipt for.

Mr. Nicholas B refused to either repair or replace this hearing aid because the health insurance did not pay their part. I called the insurance company and was told they had indeed paid the hearing aid company. I took it to Sears hearing aid center and they were nice enough to repair it. Now again it is not working properly, in fact it is totally dead. I believe I was sold a lemon and it should be replaced not repaired. I am now stuck with a broken hearing aid for my mother. What can I do?

My mother, who is a senior citizen on a fixed low income and suffers from Alzheimer's disease, has a hearing aid that doesn't funtion properly. She has lost $400.

Carol of Trinity NC (1/29/02):
We were visiting my mother and brother on October 7, 2001. My brother had just started working for Beltone Hearing Aids and was told to go to the office on Monday morning with four impressions of ear canals. Beltone would not let him practice in the office first, saying he did not need to. Someone at the office did an impression so he could watch.

On October 7th my brother was putting the silicone in my ear with a small caulking gun. It was hurting quite badly, but I did not know how it was supposed to feel as I had not had this done before. He left it in for five minutes (during which time it did not hurt) but then when he went to take it out it REALLY hurt! I finally told him to just pull it out quickly. When he got it out, the pain stopped but I was unable to hear from that ear. We went home shortly after that, and I went to see an ear doctor the next day.

The doctor was stumped. I went to this doctor off and on for one month. The doctor thought that the eardrum had been irritated and infected, but thought it would clear up on its own. When this did not happen, he decided the only recourse was to put a tube in my ear to drain the fluid. When he did this, he was very surprised to learn that it was not fluid on the eardrum but silicone. Evidently when the impression was being taken, the eardrum had been punctured and silicone was put on both sides of the eardrum.

The doctor sent me for a CAT scan to locate exactly where the silicone was, hoping it was not near the bones, but indeed it was. He told me he was not comfortable doing the surgery, and immediately made arrangements for me to go to another doctor. On January 4th I had the surgery. After the surgery I was told the silicone had been everywhere, but that it had all been removed.

It is now January 29, 2002 and I have regained a small amount of hearing in that ear. There is still packing on the other side of the eardrum which will dissolve on its own eventually and hopefully then I will regain more of my hearing. This has been quite traumatic for me and for my husband. He has had to take quite a bit of time off work taking me to doctors and hospitals. For three months I could not hear at all out of that ear.

Judith of Huntington Station NY (4/17/01):
My mother, who is 76 years old, took a hearing test and was then fitted for a disposable hearing aid called the "Song Bird". After being told it did not fit her ears, she was charged $183. Upon calling Song Bird manufacturers, we were told she never should have been charged in the first place for fitting and programming; the aid only comes in two sizes and there is nothing to program. We were also told her money would be refunded within three days.

This morning my mother and I went (to the Beltone store on Green St. in Huntington) to get the refund. The employee, Mr. Katz, became extremely abusive. He shouted and loomed over us until we ran out of the store. I am reporting him to the local police department for threatening us and causing my mother heart palpitations.