Horrible Experience
It took five months of phone calls, emails, and filing formal complaints against HearSource to finally get my $3,858 refunded - by Wells Fargo Bank.
Three weeks after receiving my hearing aids, one of them fell out of my ear, hit a tile floor, and broke. I sent it back to HearSource for warranty repair/replacement. With ten days left on its “45-day risk-free trial” I still had not gotten the replacement, so I called HearSource and requested an extension of the 45-day trial, or else I would have to return the hearing aids for a refund. HearSource’s employee directed me to contact ReSound directly for a time extension. I did so, and ReSound did extend my trial for five weeks.
Before the extended deadline, I decided to return the hearing aids to HearSource for a refund. I called HearSource to arrange their return, but HearSource refused to honor Resound’s extended trial period and refused to accept my return of the hearing aids or refund my money.
Following that was a nearly month-long email string in which ReSound repeatedly apologized and assured me that they were in the process of straightening out the return issue with HearSource, and that my refund would be credited back to my VISA card. Long on apologies and assurances but short on any concrete results, ReSound dragged this email correspondence out beyond VISA’s 120-day limit to force a charge-back against HearSource. In the end, neither HearSource nor ReSound offered to refund my money, and VISA could not help me through a charge-back.
Afterward, I filed written complaints with the Attorney General of Texas, The Federal Trade Commission, The Better Business Bureau, and Wells Fargo Bank. If you search The Better Business Bureau website for HearSource in Bainbridge, Indiana, you will find that HearSource is not a BBB accredited business, and that its C+ rating is based on its failure to respond to BBB’s inquiry concerning my complaint. The last I heard from Wells Fargo Bank, HearSource had not responded to its complaint inquiry, either.
In my opinion, HearSource’s referring me to ReSound for a time extension and then refusing to honor it was unconscionable. I also believe that not even responding to my formal, written consumer complaints shows disdain for the consumer protection process.
In the end, Wells Fargo Bank credited my VISA account for the original charge.
Date of experience: June 28, 2024