Beltone Audiology and Hearing Care Centers

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 9, 2015/10/21) */
On September 18, 2015 Mrs. [redacted] called our Cuyahoga Falls Office to make an appointment for a hearing test they were referred by their insurance company BC/BS. Both Mr. and Mrs. [redacted] were present at the appointment on September 28,...

2015. Our Audiologist spent 3 hours with the [redacted]'s doing a thorough test and discussed options. We verifying insurance benefits provided by the [redacted]'s and it was decided by them that it was time to purchase hearing aids. Per their insurance a medical clearance was needed from their physician which we received the next day. Having a deposit and physicians clearance it is at this point that we processed the order.
On October 2, 2015 the [redacted]'s brought in Mrs. [redacted]'s Sister to be tested (I will not provide her name at this point due to HIPAA regulations unless permission is given) as were told she also had hearing loss and the [redacted]'s were happy with their experience with us. We were unable to test Mrs. [redacted]'s sister due to her inability to speak so she could not respond during the testing process. It was as this point the [redacted]'s let the Audiologist know that they wanted to cancel the hearing aids they ordered on September 28th. We asked them to complete the return paperwork so we could process the reimbursement of the deposit minus the non-refundable fee as stated in the signed contract (see attached). It was stated by Mr. [redacted] that they wanted to cancel because his wife was going in for surgery and they didn't want to do this right now.
We understand buyer's remorse and have no problem cancelling the sale per the customer's request. We also know that we in good faith signed an agreement and must abide by the statues of the law covering our promises to the patient. A purchase of hearing aids is not a 5 or 10 minute process so to spend 3 hours with someone for them to say this was "against my perspectives" is disrespectful to our Audiologist. They provided to us their insurance information to verify benefits, they provided their physician's information to get the medical clearance, a contract was signed by both parties and a deposit was given to show good faith for us to process this purchase. The secretary did not tell the customers that if they did not sign the paperwork they would lose their deposit and this is not company policy. The non-refundable fee was discussed with the Audiologist and he explained it was our right under the contract and initialed by the customer.
Every customer has the right to change their mind and we respect that. It is really a shame that they could not have called our company to reconcile this matter internally as this all could have been avoided. At this point the [redacted]'s have filed a Revdex.com complaint, disputed the transaction with Discover Card and just today we received a letter from the Ohio Attorney General's Office. It is not always the fault of the business that a customer changes their mind but in this instance we are the ones being discredited for their action. At no point did we misrepresented our services or product to the [redacted]'s.
By law we need to reimburse the customers within 15 days but we have been notified by Discover Card that this charge is in dispute. We do not want these funds returned twice and will not reimburse with an open dispute. I have contacted the credit card dispute center and am waiting for a response.
Either the [redacted]'s can cancel their credit card dispute allowing us to reimburse the deposit or we can wait for dispute process to play out.
Rebecca W[redacted]
Vice President
Beltone Audiology and Hearing Care Centers
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 11, 2015/10/23) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
Some of Beltone's statements are not true. Robert said our insurance was in their network but, we were told by our group insurance agent, Blue Cross Blue Shield, that Beltone is not in their network, we are not sure which is correct. It did not take 3 hours for [redacted]'s test, etc. We had a letter for a free test. Robert of Beltone told us that they would not charge our Discover until [redacted] received her hearing aids. [redacted] did not receive Beltone's hearing aids. When we noticed Beltone charged our Discover against their statement we were unsure of their credibility and sincerity. Later they would not agree with Ohio Law section 1345.30. It is not true that Mary, [redacted]'s sister, could not be tested becaused of her disabilities. We decided not to have Mary tested at Beltone at that time. She was tested my another Audiologist, the technician relayed very well with Mary. Her test was completed in about a half hour with the hearing aids. Mary responded a lot better wearing her trial hearing aids. Thanks, [redacted]
Final Consumer Response /* (4200, 19, 2015/11/18) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
My answers to this case are correct. I made the appointment with Beltone to be within our budget. We were under the impression that our insurance would pay. But, later we found that our insurance wouldn't have paid which would have added to our cost. When it was mentioned that I didn't want Beltone, we were told there would be a $250.00 charge.Beltone ask us to sign a Discover Card release. So, with the charge of $250.00 we would only receive $585.00.
Final Business Response /* (4000, 17, 2015/11/18) */
The [redacted]'s statement that they did not accept our resolution to this dispute leads me to believe I need to clarify the original statement as the patient and her husband are under the impression that we were not going to reimburse all funds. The course of action in my original statement was that we need the patient to stop the Discover card dispute so we could reimburse them or we would let the credit card dispute run its course uncontested in which case they would get their reimbursement in that manner. As long as the credit card dispute was active we would not send a separate transaction as it has happened in the past we have reimbursed a customer and then the credit card company takes the money back again thus causing significant work on our part to retrieve the over payment.
The original statement by us was not to dispute complete reimbursement of the deposit but to defend ourselves against false accusations.
The funds were withdrawn from our account by Discover Card on November 7, 2015 in the amount of $835 reimbursing the customers entire deposit. I can provide documentation of this transaction from our bank if needed.
Best Regards,