"An abomonation to the consumer"

It took me 2 YEARS and 3 DIFFERENT audiologists to get starkey to make a shallow set of their Soundlens aids.

My first Right-side aid was accidentally made as a Left side instead of an opposite hand mirror to the Left - it hurt like being stabbed in the inner ear when first inserted. I was a 34 year old man and nearly cried in the doctors office from the pain.

When i pointed this out to my doctor, she said I don't know what im talking about and had it remade SMALLER.

At no point did any of these trained professionals stop to see that the Right aid was made a Left. It took me 3 remakes (once every 2 weeks with shipping) for them to admit the mistake and remake. 50 such episodes followed. (At one doctor, when i explained that one of the aid's speakers was snapping like a speaker turning on every few minutes, i was told i was imagining it.)

I was Yes'd to death as if this organization understood my impossibly simple request, that the aids are deeper in the canal (smaller) so as not to cause excruciating pain against my targus. So called special-visit staff met with me to spin the usual nonsense, "is that really what happened? we promise we understand this time". Their notes never made it to the guy in the lab making $10 an hour making shells. No one in the universe would believe how many times in a row this happened - i wouldn't believe my own memory if i didnt have a trail of emails and pictures.

Instead, with 90% of the remakes, after agreeing in writing that they understand the amazingly simple request, they made the aids slimmer. Causing feedback and improper fit.

When I finally got one well fitting Left aid and one loose fitting Right aid i decided to coat with polish myself, I purchased my own programmer in order to not suffer the asinine process of booking an appointment to slightly tune the aids.

What followed was both of the hearing aids breaking down into a permanent hiss, or random speaker snaps, every month or so, requiring a trip to the doctor so the DOCTOR can put the stupid things in the mail for me to starkey.

50% of the returned aids had the original problem and needed to be returned again

I have absolutely no comprehension of how older people deal with this inane, completely convoluted process and blatant theft of $8000 for two sound repeaters that will cost $100 from third party makers in the next 10 years.

The way this company manages patients is a sin.

The so called Audiologists that provide patients with these aids are nothing but glorified salespeople that know less about the hearing aids, programmer, and software than I do now, after 2 years of use.

EDIT: Yes, i'm sure sending an email to information will make your engineers test hearing aids for longer than 2 seconds before return-shipping them with the original problem still present.

I'm sure emailing information will me a clear answer as to why two dozen professionals with advanced degrees in medicine were flabbergasted when a patient under 70 asked second grade level logic questions and caught them sales-lying.

I'm sure emailing information will get my straight tracked to an alternative method to return my aids for repair MONTHLY in place of visiting my 1 doctors office in 1 location in the world.

I'm currently listening to my returned hearing aid snap crackle and pop like rice krispies cereal, loathe to think i need to go another 2 weeks 1-eared and trying to plan when i can afford to do so. Until then i get to listen to Pop Pop Pop every 120 seconds! Thanks for the extreme level of customer care.

"Not sure hearing aids are worth the bother"

#1 Take them off if you are sweating, its raining - even a little or snowing. Just a drop and they are dead then wait a day for them to dry out. #2 They often sound like I have my head in a bucket - I have had them for almost a year and haven't got used to it. #3 Too much static, rattling, clicking, and popping in crowds. I have to take them out to understand anything. The sound quality reminds me of the old crystal and razor blade radios I built in the late 40's and 50's to listen to local radio stations. Definitely not worth the cost.

"I love my new Starkey hearing aids"

I love my new Starkey hearing aids. The fact that I can adjust them to an level of noise or environment means a lot and is so important when you are in different venues during the day and night.

I just wish the batteries lasted longer!

"Starkey told me to contact them either via email or at 882519340. Email was never answered and phone doesn’t get you to anyone who can help."

Overall the product is great. However I have had problems that required numerous visits to correct . The upside is that I have had no problem getting the issues corrected. It’s just taking the time to find and correct the problems. For the money spent I would have expected less issues.

"A+ Upgrade"

A very fine product. These are an upgrade from an earlier Starkey set.

"Great experiences if you wouldn't have…"

Great experience! If you wouldn't have done this my dad would not be able to hear at all. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

"Deb at the local store is EXCELLENT"

Deb at the local store is EXCELLENT. The company rep who was here when I went in to buy the new aides is another story. I went in ready to buy but he was more interested in a nonsensical never ending conversation and argument. I went in ready to buy and should have been out in about 15 minutes. I wasted almost an hour just trying to get to the buying. Hope I NEVER see him again!

"IOS 1.0.7 application is better, still needs work!"

In general, I am please with my Livio AI 2400 hearing aids. My main concern in the IOS application, With every update, you do make some improvements, but seem to cause other problems with the new release. With version 1.0.7, you seems to have made some improvements with bluetooth connectivity as I am seeing less problems when I more in and out of bluetooth range that would cause me to start/stop the application or reset my hearing aid by removing/inserting the battery. With the new version I am seeing other problems:

1) I see a lot of "Sides Different" problems when switching from Normal, Tinnitus and custom memories. Sometimes I can recover and sometimes I have to reset the application.
2) In Tinnitus mode, sometime the Tinnitus sound does not repeat for a long time. I have the Volume and Speed setting sliders on the higher end. To Get the tinnitus sounds to repeat more ofter, I may have to switch to a custom memory and back, or turn the Volume and Speed slides back and forth a few times.
3) The hearing aids themselves are being reset more often with this version 1.0.7, I can tell from the audio startup from the hearing aids.
In general is it not good practice to reset the hardware when the software gets lost unless it is a last reset to get the software and hardware talking and working together again.

Hopefully your IOS application will get more mature and will get the "bugs" out.

Regards,
Paul McDonald

"Referred by another starkey user with rave experience reviews"

Refered by an associate. Contacted starkey and was promptly referred with an appointment to crystal clear. The first appointment went great and devices were purchased. Crystal clear shut down. Followup contact is lacking. Some of responsibility is on me. The crystal clear office is open on reduced hours. Hours were not posted at last visit. I have not been back. However I have not received a contact call either. ☹️

"Simply Outstanding"

To put it simply my Starkey Hearing Aids are outstanding. Besides carefully thought out technology Starkey also picks talented audiologist to sell and service their products. Speech clarity in a busy restaurant is amazingly improved. When I need to upgrade I'll definitely go for the new Livio AI that connects to my iPhone and has rechargeable batteries. Great product!