Specsavers hearing aids

shopaholic2

Hi all I’m seeking advice from anyone who might be able to help and I’ve been advised to ask here as I originally posted in over 50’s section.... My mum (85) bought some advance hearing aids from specsavers last September. She paid £1500 for them and they have never worked properly for her. She’s been back and forth with them having them tweaked and still they’re not right and now the left one has stopped working. I emailed them saying we believe them to not be fit for purpose. Their response is to send them to the manufacturer under their warranty to see if their faulty. They will only offer a partial refund of 10%. 

The stress and anxiety this is causing my mum is unreal, she has no faith in the hearing aids at all and is very concerned that she’s wasted such a lot of money. 

Do we have any chance of any help from them at all? They seemed quite dismissive when they rang me today, as if they don’t care. 

She should’ve researched this more and discussed it but she’s 85! She went with what they said was best! 

I’m furious but feel it’s a lost cause sadly. 

I’d appreciate any help and advice

Aylesbury_Duck

shopaholic2 said:

Hi all I’m seeking advice from anyone who might be able to help and I’ve been advised to ask here as I originally posted in over 50’s section.... My mum (85) bought some advance hearing aids from specsavers last September. She paid £1500 for them and they have never worked properly for her. She’s been back and forth with them having them tweaked and still they’re not right and now the left one has stopped working. I emailed them saying we believe them to not be fit for purpose. Their response is to send them to the manufacturer under their warranty to see if their faulty. They will only offer a partial refund of 10%. 

The stress and anxiety this is causing my mum is unreal, she has no faith in the hearing aids at all and is very concerned that she’s wasted such a lot of money. 

Do we have any chance of any help from them at all? They seemed quite dismissive when they rang me today, as if they don’t care. 

She should’ve researched this more and discussed it but she’s 85! She went with what they said was best! 

I’m furious but feel it’s a lost cause sadly. 

I’d appreciate any help and advice

Let them send them back to check if they're faulty.  If they are, then they have the to repair, replace or refund.  They can reduce the refund to account for use to date but they've jumped the gun by saying they'll only refund 10%, unless that's already an acknowledgement of them being faulty?  If they're faulty, I suspect you're entitled to a much greater proportion of the original cost back given their limited age and what sounds like limited use to date.

shopaholic2

Aylesbury_Duck said:

shopaholic2 said:

Hi all I’m seeking advice from anyone who might be able to help and I’ve been advised to ask here as I originally posted in over 50’s section.... My mum (85) bought some advance hearing aids from specsavers last September. She paid £1500 for them and they have never worked properly for her. She’s been back and forth with them having them tweaked and still they’re not right and now the left one has stopped working. I emailed them saying we believe them to not be fit for purpose. Their response is to send them to the manufacturer under their warranty to see if their faulty. They will only offer a partial refund of 10%. 

The stress and anxiety this is causing my mum is unreal, she has no faith in the hearing aids at all and is very concerned that she’s wasted such a lot of money. 

Do we have any chance of any help from them at all? They seemed quite dismissive when they rang me today, as if they don’t care. 

She should’ve researched this more and discussed it but she’s 85! She went with what they said was best! 

I’m furious but feel it’s a lost cause sadly. 

I’d appreciate any help and advice

Let them send them back to check if they're faulty.  If they are, then they have the to repair, replace or refund.  They can reduce the refund to account for use to date but they've jumped the gun by saying they'll only refund 10%, unless that's already an acknowledgement of them being faulty?  If they're faulty, I suspect you're entitled to a much greater proportion of the original cost back given their limited age and what sounds like limited use to date.

Thank you very much. I’ve already emailed my compliant and concerns and we won’t be accepting the 10% as I want to take this further. They haven’t been right since day 1, and every time she’s gone back ( on her own as they won’t let me in with her because of corona!) they’ve adjusted them or told her she has to give them time to adjust etc. I feel that at that pirce  they shouldn’t need time to adjust! 

Can you give me any advice as to what I should do/ say next? She is in again next Thursday when they’ve said they’ll send them back to the manufacturer to check for a fault. Mum got 90 days when she bought them but obviously that’s time up now! Thank you 

shopaholic2

As a matter of interest she paid with her credit card. Would we have a case against them ( section 75???) thanks

pbartlett

yes you could definitely raise a s75 claim

sheramber

Stand  at the door and ask them to deal with your mother at the door or let you accompany her due to her age.

MalMonroe

This is awful! What you should do is write an official letter of complaint and send that to their head office. Emails are all well and good but they are just not official enough. Then you need to tell them that you are going to take the complaint further. 

Some advice about complaining - https://www.opticalcomplaints.co.uk/complaints
It doesn't matter that your Mum had hearing aids rather than glasses because that's a service Specsavers offers.

In the meantime, why can't your Mum go for an NHS hearing test and to be fitted with hearing aids? They are free. All she'd have to do is contact her GP, as per the following link: 

https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/healthy-body/hearing-aids/

Good luck! But if it were me I would not rest until I'd reclaimed ALL the money! 

shopaholic2

MalMonroe said:

This is awful! What you should do is write an official letter of complaint and send that to their head office. Emails are all well and good but they are just not official enough. Then you need to tell them that you are going to take the complaint further. 

Some advice about complaining - https://www.opticalcomplaints.co.uk/complaints
It doesn't matter that your Mum had hearing aids rather than glasses because that's a service Specsavers offers.

In the meantime, why can't your Mum go for an NHS hearing test and to be fitted with hearing aids? They are free. All she'd have to do is contact her GP, as per the following link: 

https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/healthy-body/hearing-aids/

Good luck! But if it were me I would not rest until I'd reclaimed ALL the money! 

Thank you. She’s had nhs hearing aids for a few years ( her hearing went seriously down hill in 2014 when my dad died) but she hoped these would do a better job ( they don’t) & be worth the money ( they’re not!). 

I will write a formal letter and start that ball rolling. I’m not sure a section 75 is the right way to go? Thanks again