few weeks and seems too quiet

toffeekukki

toffeekukki

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I have not been able to wear my hearing aids now for a few weeks, I have been quite poorly.
I have lost my spare batteries. I have told my audiologist and they told me to contact my Gp they told to contact my audiologist.
my local hearing shops will not even allow me to buy batteries because I am under 65. and I have not received my aids through them. I find this very annoying and a huge inconvenience.
I have to send off for my batteries but they can take up to 3 weeks for me to receive them.
After this I have decided I am leaving my kids out of my ears.
Noone is even willing to let me buy them what's the point??
yes i can go online but I have been given the wrong size. i ordered orange and got Brown. I got a full refund but after all this I have given up!
 
yes, I can find my old ones the Brown ones, but now I need orange I cannot go to my local hearing store and buy my batteries.
I am in the UK unless I am 65 or have got my aids via the store I can not buy them.
I can only get them by sending my card via the post, this can take 6 weeks. I move house In 8 would you want to risk it getting lost in the post and not receiving your batteries but losing your card and be 90 miles away.
I am just going to wait until August and Get more after my move.
I tried Amazon and them sent me brown instead of orange. I have given up on everything. life is bad enough planning a move without your stupid hearing loss causing more issues that are just unnecessary.
It took 12 months for me to get my aids sorted now 2 months later I cant get the batteries that are needed. even my local Asda (Wallmart) sell the brown ones and not orange ones!
Also, I am entitled to free batteries so paying for them seems a bit unfair. But even when i tried that i was sent the wrong ones.
 
I got to wondering more about the different sizes and colors after you posts partly because I have had aids that use 675 (blue) for so many, many years that I have not kept up with the others. The most complete descriptions I have run across were listed here http://northshorehearingpc.com/hearing-aid-battery-size-guide/

It seems to me that the similarity in the 312-brown and the 13-orange almost asks for mixups. They are even the same diameter!! But since they differ in how tall so are not interchangeable. It did make me wonder if ordering by number rather that color would make the person filling the order pay more attention.
Size 312 – Brown Tab
The next size up is 312, the brown tab. Its diameter is approximately 7.8mm, up from the size 10’s 5.8mm. Battery quality may vary from manufacturer to manufacturer, but the sizes are standardized to fit nearly all hearing aids worldwide. It goes with intuition that a bigger battery may have more power to last longer, but that also depends on the hearing aid itself, and how much of the battery’s power it actually uses.

Size 13 – Orange Tab
Size 13 (the orange tab) has the same radius as size 312, but is 5.4mm tall, vs. the brown-tabbed 3.6mm. The difference in height means this does indeed fit some hearing aids and not others. They are not interchangeable, so you definitely need to know which size (or which color tab) your hearing aid requires.
 
I don't know how many others this makes a difference to, toffeekukki, but your posts are helping to teach me the different terms for the same thing in England vs the USA. Thanks
 
I am glad I am helping people learn. I did find a resolution, I do not need to pay for the batteries, I am entitledled to get them free. I should not have to resort to paying for them. My money budget can not stretch to buy batteries. I would rather not use them if it means i can save $5 per pack of batteries. I am sure your all aware about the money stretching issues.
Basically, I caused a huge stink at my Local hospital. My local hearing department is only open when people have appointments. otherwise, it is not staffed. They advised I call to arrange an appointment.
So I could not just 'drop in' I have put in a complaint as I was sent to 4 departments before I was finally told I had to call to arrange to see someone.
My Hubby rang the hospital audio dep when we were in the hosp cafe.
to get me an emergency appointment with an audiologist.
they were very nice, but the number I rang was not the hospital I was sat in, I was put through to one that is roughly 30 miles or more away.
Hub explained our situation to them. they sent me 3 packs of 6 batteries for free. I received them in 3 working days.
I was given the wrong info and not 3-6 WORKING DAYS not flipping weeks.
I did think it seems a very long time to wait. But hubby wrote it down and checked the notes. He double checked at the time and even got the audio to read his notes so we did not end up with the WRONG info.
This is not something we need to deal with, We have a house move to arrange.
I have not got a clue whats going to happen after august. I will no doubt be sent to a new audiologist and be sent to have a full hearing test again. from what we was told on the phone.
i got my aids march this year and with in 6 months of my move i could have new ones again.
My records are not passed over. each time i move out of a area i have to start again from the beginning.
I like i said earlier put a complaint in.
It should be easier than this just to get my free batteries, but because i am 'out of area' I have to start a fresh.
I am in the UK 8 hours drive from top of england to the bottom.
I am moveing 90miles one and a half hour drive from where i am to where i am going. Our country is small, if you look at Just england you realise how small it acutually is.
I find if we was anything like america we would have a much better simplilar way to deal with a small matter of free batteries.
I am not impressed with any of it.
what does happen in america? do you have major issues getting your batteries or am i lucky in getting them free??
 
We, in America, only get free batteries for a year, if we're lucky, when we buy new HAs. They're usually included in the "bundled" cost of the HAs (which also includes 1 year of visits to the audi, as needed). Of course, I'm only speaking for myself and my HA audi, but I think it's a common occurrence. HA batteries are available at a lot of stores here, so we just buy them from stores or online.
 
I've never had free batteries bundled with hearing aids. However, I cannot afford new hearing aids so past few times, Vocational Rehab has been buying them for me so I don't mind buying batteries as needed. I just go to Walmart or Walgreen and get large package of batteries since it's usually cheaper the more you buy at one time.
 
It has been several years since I changed my aid (one side is completely deaf); but I can't remember ever getting an ongoing supply of batteries.

I have found myself buying at Walgreen's as I can count on them having 675s; they have larger packs which make them less per battery and I like how long they last. Also they run specials fairly regularly and if the feature brand is not stocked in the 675 size I have been able to get them to substitute their own brand.

As a side note many years ago I used a SLR film camera the just had a simple meter in it — no auto focus — and it took a 675 battery!! I was dealing with a pro photographer that had a camera shop and was also a friend of my folks so I had a lot of trust in what he said. Their was a very slight difference in the power of the single batteries sold for that use and the hearing aid version. He said that it was so slight that it would not hurt anything or throw readings off. I tried it and found it to be true.
 
My last pair I got, there was a bunch of battery packs thrown in- I don't recall how long they lasted though. Before that I don't remember, I think some did but only like 1 or 2 packs not a year's worth.

I use Walgreen's brand- just as good as RayOva, Energizer or Duracell but cheaper. If you have a Walgreen's card you can buy 1 pack get the second free :).

I find it strange that you can't take your records with you or that they don't transfer them in the UK. No way you can ask for copies of your records and take them with you to the new doctor/audiologist when you move?
 
Walgreen's seems to be quite the preferred source for hearing aid batteries here in the States. I count at least 3 of us just in this one thread that have mentioned getting batteries from there.
 
My new HAs came with a pack of 4 batteries but no, we pay for our own. I don't know about with Medicaid. Still, toffeekukki, what you describe is worse than some scene from the novel 1984.

Records- in the US it is the law that doctors or other medical service providers MUST give us copies of any medical records we request. Often we have to sign a consent form that we consent that doctors giving us our own records. That is about as insane as it gets, and they charge for additional copies, such as of CDs with scans on them. Smart of you to raise a big stink about it.

Now in other matters, your taxes in the UK are so simple. We have to go through a ton of paperwork or online forms. With my social security payments I have been trying for almost a year to get them to fix a mistake they made, which is costing me $300 per month, and they have not fixed it nor do they guarantee I will get back the money they owe me. It is a dirty, sneaky way to save the government money, and I have no doubt governments everywhere do similar things because they are all broke. And amoral by nature.:rifle:
 
I have never gotten free batteries in my life. I have always had to buy them, I remember when I was a little kid up til I was a teen it cost me merely $5.00 a pack for 6 batteries, nowadays .... it cost me 15 in a box for 13.00 off from amazon or ebay. I cant buy them in stores anymore. Its freaking ridiculous!!!! For 4 batteries in a pack it cost 20.00. WTF!
 
peekaboo said:
I have never gotten free batteries in my life. I have always had to buy them, I remember when I was a little kid up til I was a teen it cost me merely $5.00 a pack for 6 batteries, nowadays .... it cost me 15 in a box for 13.00 off from amazon or ebay. I cant buy them in stores anymore. Its freaking ridiculous!!!! For 4 batteries in a pack it cost 20.00. WTF!
Click to expand...

If you have a local Walgreen's watch for specials there. I haven't done the math to compare with what you have been buying but have been happy with them. From the posts just in the thread even it appears that I am not alone.
 
i do have a local walgreen and they cost merely 21.00 , no thanks. I buy mine on ebay and or amazon where I can buy a box of 15-20 packs for 12-13.00 which to me is a BARGIN! :D
 
Plus with Walgreens, if you have a Balance card (or whatever it's called- I don't have it in front of me)- that's when you can buy one get one free. 99% of the time I go I'm able to do that so the 18.00 for a 24 pack is fine by me if I get the second one free :).
 
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