SUNBURY —
Hearing aids and batteries are expensive — a single hearing aid can cost thousands of dollars.
And if it isn’t fitted correctly, a hearing aid is useless.
The state attorney general’s office has received reports of aggressive salesmen using hard-sell tactics that may persuade people to purchase the wrong hearing aid or one they don’t need.
According to “A Consumer Guide for Seniors” compiled by the attorney general’s office, hearing-aid sellers are required by state law to tell you up front that any examination or representation made by them as a registered hearing-aid dealer or fitter is “not an examination, diagnosis or prescription by a person licensed to practice medicine and therefore must not be regarded as a medical opinion.”
The seller must also:
Give you a written receipt containing all pertinent facts and specifications regarding the hearing aid and indicate whether the hearing aid was used or reconditioned.
Provide a detailed disclosure agreement containing a complete description of what the fitting procedure or process does and does not include.
Disclose any and all fees, including cancellation fees and
Provide you with an instructional brochure.
Most importantly, the law says no hearing aid can be sold to anyone unless it’s accompanied by a 30-day money-back written guarantee.
Not all hearing loss problems can be fixed with a hearing aid, so before investing in one, be sure and get examined by a licensed otolaryngologist or doctor of audiology and confirm a hearing aid will help.
You’re heard it before, but take time to read any paperwork before signing anything. Otherwise, you run the risk of signing an agreement to waive the need for a medical examination before you buy a hearing aid.
It is recommended that you don’t pay with cash. Instead, use a credit card or check (payable to the company, not the salesperson). This way you can quickly stop payment, if need be.
And remember, the seller is required by law to give you a 30-day money-back guarantee. Be sure you receive it.
To check if your hearing-aid seller and fitter are in compliance with Pennsylvania’s Hearing Aid Sales Registration Law, check with the state Department of Health’s Hearing Aid Registration Program at (717) 783-8078.
To file a complaint, call (877) 888-4877 or visit www.attorneygeneral.gov.
News
Demand your hearing-aid guarantee
- News
-
-
Court Dockets
A roundup of news from local district and county courts.
-
Former TWA Flight 800 investigators want new probe
MINEOLA, N.Y. — Former investigators are pushing to reopen the probe into the 1996 crash of TWA Flight 800 off the coast of New York, saying new evidence points to the often-discounted theory that a missile strike may have downed the jumbo jet. The New York-to-Paris flight crashed July 17, 1996, just minutes after the jetliner took off from John F. Kennedy Airport, killing all 230 people aboard, including 16 students and five chaperones traveling to Europe from the Montoursville Area High School.
-
Today's Top Videos
-
Northumberland County receives grant to convert courthouse furnace
HARRISBURG — The Pennsylvania Energy Development Authority today approved a grant of more than $114,000 to Northumberland County to assist in the project to convert the County Courthouse to a natural gas heating system.
-
Police Log
A daily roundup of police news from around the region.
-
Greater Susquehanna Valley United Way refuses funding for Boy Scouts
SUNBURY — The Greater Susquehanna Valley United Way board voted Tuesday to withhold $11,000 in discretionary funding to the Susquehanna Council of Boy Scouts of America after the national Scouting organization voted last month to allow openly gay youths as members, but not openly gay adults.
-
Searchers may be close to missing teen
MOUNT CARMEL — Police today continue their search for a teenager whose parents said he went out for a run Monday night and never returned. Emergency radio transmissions this morning indicated that searchers may have spotted the teen.
More information will be posted as it becomes available.
-
Senator: IRS handing out $70M in employee bonuses
The Internal Revenue Service is about to pay $70 million in employee bonuses despite an Obama administration directive to cancel discretionary bonuses because of automatic spending cuts enacted this year, according to a GOP senator.
-
10 Things to Know Today
Your daily look at late-breaking Your daily look at late-breaking news, upcoming events and the stories that will be talked about today:
-
USTA seeks 8 percent rate hike
LEWISBURG — Seniors and people with disabilities will soon have to dig deeper into their pockets as the Union-Snyder Transportation Alliance seeks approval to raise rates up to 50 cents per trip.
-
Sunbury man jailed on kidnapping charge
MILTON — A Sunbury man was charged by police with kidnapping after he allegedly took a 3-year-old girl at gunpoint Monday night from her home in Union County.
- U.S. war games send signal to Assad
-
PennDOT withholds funding plan from public
The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation has built a website that compares competing plans to spend billions of dollars in new transportation money, but it’s refusing to release similar information to the public, which will pay for chosen projects.
-
Reputed Mafioso tip triggers new Hoffa body search
The FBI saw enough merit in a reputed Mafia captain’s tip to once again break out the digging equipment to search for the remains of former Teamsters union leader Jimmy Hoffa, last seen alive before a lunch meeting with two mobsters nearly 40 years ago.
-
GSVUW won't use discretionary funds for Scouts
The Greater Susquehanna Valley United Way Board voted Tuesday not to release discretionary funding to the Susquehanna Council of Boy Scouts of America.
-
Troopers become teachers at Camp Cadet
SELINSGROVE - More than 50 cadets marched onto the Susquehanna University football practice field and stood at attention while Milton state trooper Matt Burrows explained the importance of self-discipline.
-
Family fears cat killer
Members of a Point Township family don’t feel safe after their pet cat was found dead Friday in the middle of their backyard, shot in the heart.
-
Road stretch reopens
The first phase of the $3.9 million “big dig” in Mifflinburg is over as a reconstructed section of Route 45, or Chestnut Street, will reopen today, PennDOT announced.
- More News Headlines
-
