Miracle Ear

Review: On Nov. 13, 2014 I responded to an ad from Miracle Ear. Dwight Eisenhoward tested my hearing and ordered my hearing aid. He said when you come in to pick up your hearing aid I could pay two or three hundred dollars and pay the rest in payments. He also told me I could return the hearing aid within 30 days if I wasn't satisfied and they would refund my money. When I picked up the hearing aid Dec.10 2014 Mr. Eisenhoward said I needed to pay the full price of $1495.00 to get the hearing aid. He said he would file the papers to my insurance company.It has been more than three months and they still haven't filed the papers. When I requested a refund on Jan,7, 2015 Mr. Eisenhoward refused to give me a refund he said he would extend the time for the refund because I had a virus which caused me to have ear problems affecting my hearing.Now they say they will give my money back if I will sign a contract to pay them back in monthly payments. I told them I didn't want to sign a contract but I would return the hearing aid if they would refund my money, because after them adjusting the hearing aid several times I am still having trouble with it. But they said to bring it in and they would adjust it again.Desired Settlement: My insurance will pay up to $1000.00 on a hearing aid. Since they won't file a claim to my insurance company I would want them to refund my money so I could go some where else and get a hearing aid.

Business

Response:

From: [redacted] Sent: Tuesday, April 21, 2015 11:27 PMTo: Kelly Mace; [redacted]Subject: Re: A new message is waiting from the Revdex.com of Northwest North [redacted]ina complaint #[redacted]April 21, 2015To: Revdex.com of Northwest North [redacted]ina (Winston Salem, NC) Re: Complaint # [redacted]A response to your email is listed below.On November 21, 2014, Mr. and Mrs.[redacted] visited my Mt. Airy office for a hearing evaluation. After completion of the hearing evaluation, Mr. [redacted]'s hearing loss was discussed, along with possible hearing aid options and the 30 day trial period. After we discussed hearing aid prices, we also discussed the possibility of them financing the hearing aid with low monthly payments. An application would have to be approved in order to finance them. Mr. and Mrs. [redacted] said they would consider this option and inform us as to how they would pay when they returned to pick up the hearing aid. Mr. [redacted] then advised me that he had insurance that could pay up to $1,000.00 for the hearing aid. I then, in detail, discussed with Mr. and Mrs. [redacted] that we file all insurance, however, insurance in hearing aids can be a long process. I informed them that this process could be anywhere from 2-8 months before benefit checks are reimbursed; if they are entitled to that benefit with their insurance company. I also informed them that all insurance companies differ, and that hearing aid coverage is constantly changing within the companies. I assured the [redacted]'s that we would diligently work to make sure they got whatever benefit was entitled to them. I also advised them that the hearing aid would need to be paid for in full upon delivery of the hearing aid, because we do not know if or when the insurance company will reimburse for their hearing aid benefit. The couple decided to proceed with ordering the hearing aid for his right ear. I proceeded to copy their insurance information to file with their insurance. This was filed the week of December 10th, the week of his fitting.On December 10, 2014 Mr. [redacted] came in for his fitting of his right hearing aid and after completing the fitting and the paperwork, I then asked Mr. [redacted] how he wanted to pay. He stated he would like to write a check for $200.00. I advised him that the hearing aid needed to be paid in full, as we had discussed on his last visit. I reminded him about our financing options, which he could apply for. Mr. [redacted] responded by saying No, that he would go to the bank and return with the full balance. He later returned and paid the full balance of $1495.00. Mr. [redacted] was then scheduled for December 17th, for a 1 week follow-up visit which is standard procedure for all of our patients. Mr. [redacted] did not show up for his 1 week follow-up visit. On January 5th, Mr. [redacted] came to our office for a hearing aid cleaning and adjustment. During this time, there was no discussion about Mr. [redacted] wanting to return his hearing aid or him being disappointed with it. I assured him that we did file his insurance, and would hopefully hear something soon. I asked him to call us if he heard from the insurance company, so that we could keep each other informed. Mr. [redacted] agreed, and stated that he would give us a call if he had any issues with his hearing aid. On February 19th, 2015 Mr. [redacted] stopped in at the Miracle Ear Winston Salem office and inquired about his insurance. While there we cleaned his hearing aid, and relayed that we had still not heard from his insurance company. We relayed that it can take 30-45 days for it to show in the insurance computer system once they receive it. We also advised him that we would stay on top of it and to please contact us if he heard from them. In late February, our office began receiving calls from the patient's wife, Mrs. [redacted]. She was accusing our office of not filing their insurance. We stated that we had filed the insurance and that we would contact the insurance company again to see if we could get an update on the status of the claim. We spoke with the insurance company,discussed the claim and asked them to please relay to the patient that we had been consistently working to obtain reimbursement for them. They responded that they would relay to the [redacted]'s that they and our Miracle Ear office were working as quickly as possible to obtain reimbursement. (We have attempted to refile this claim, in hopes to draw attention to this matter.) We have attempted to update the [redacted]'s every two weeks as to the status of the claim, with Mrs. [redacted] providing a new address to send the refiled claim too. During this time, the [redacted]'s continue state that we have never filed their insurance claim, even though the insurance company has contacted them relaying that we are working together to obtain their reimbursement-per the insurance company. The accusations of our company not filing their insurance claims are false. We deal daily with insurance companies and have never had an issue. Within the last 6 weeks, we have received threats from Mrs.[redacted] (patient's wife) that she would complain and write whoever and everyone, until they get their money back. Again, we have attempted to relay that we feel this situation is out of our hands. We have attempted to relay that they need to contact their insurance company. This is between the [redacted]'s and their insurance company. We have attempted to be very patient with the [redacted]'s and to keep them updated as we are updated. Again, from the first office visit, the insurance process was discussed with the [redacted]'s, and that it can be a lengthy process. The Miracle Ear Office of Winston Salem and all offices in the Central North [redacted]ina region, have always had an outstanding customer satisfaction rating and an A+ rating with the Revdex.com. We have always went above and beyond for our patients and patient care; which includes anything from hearing health, hearing aids, to insurance claims. We regret the difficulties the [redacted]'s have had with their insurance company, however, we share in their frustration in obtaining reimbursement. We will continue to work diligently with the [redacted]'s until this situation is resolved.