Expat Community > Colombia

ChrisMDE
Joined 2022
Posts: 338

Hearing Aids Followup

6 months ago

I posted this to the Hearing Aids thread but no one would ever know cuz it didn't update the thread. So, here goes again:
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Followup

I went to the audiologic dept in Pricemsart Belen. Although I never visited Costco's audiologic dept in the US, I envision it being much better equipped than Pricesmart. Pricesmart only sells Resound as opposed to a larger selection at Costco. Negatives...

1. Basically, I was only presented with one option, the Resound HA geared for profound hearing loss. But who spends millions of pesos on an item that can't be comparison shopped?

2. There is no trial period as opposed to the US where most states require a 30-60 day trial period. For the life of me, I can't imagine how anyone can buy HAs without trying them out for a minimum of a week, particularly a first time buyer.

3. They did a hearing test gratis, but you get what you pay for. It lasted 5 minutes and was very superficial.

For these reasons, I ruled out Pricesmart quickly. I had another discussion yesterday with the audiologist (AudioLife) in Medellin that I've been using for service. It's a one-woman operation but she's a heckuvalot better equipped than Pricesmart. She carries the major brands including the ones I'm most interested at this point, Oticon. As a matter of policy, she doesn't offer a trial period (it's not a thing in Colombia) but offered to give me 2 weeks to try out any pair(s).

The only other option that I know of in Medellin is Audiocom. My experience with them has been limited to service work, but I found them extremely bureaucratic. The setup is no different than basic EPS, not a good thing. Also, their main office is in Bogota and the Medellin office does not seem to be well equipped or staffed.

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Hearing Aids Followup

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