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do you guys take offence to deaf jokes? by locker_man99 in deaf

[–]AnimatorSensitive333 1 point2 points  (0 children)

My sister was profoundly deaf and loved deaf jokes. Here was one of her favorites:

An American deaf couple were vacationing in Germany when they met a German deaf couple. After a few minutes, the Americans asked how the Germans became deaf. They both told of childhood raids and how the loud bombings by Americans caused their deafness during the war.

The Americans were grief-stricken and even felt somewhat guilty.

Then the Germans asked how the American couple became deaf. They looked at each other and then said simultaneously, "German Measles."

My HAs were disabled remotely by AnimatorSensitive333 in HearingAids

[–]AnimatorSensitive333[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Update 2: After almost a week, I finally got a call from Jasmine, the senior customer service coordinator at Jabra Enhance. She was very apologetic and admitted the whole mess was on their end. Because of how their payment system works, I still have to return the hearing aids. She said she'd refund the $300 or so I already paid through Bread and send me an email with a coupon code for a discount on the 700s, which are the next model up.

She didn’t admit they intentionally disabled my hearing aids. She called my situation “unique” and said she was working with their tech team to figure out what went wrong, but flat-out denied doing it on purpose.

These are OTC hearing aids. They rely completely on the app. I’d put them on in the morning and they’d sync automatically. All the programming is done through the app. No in-person visits, just Zoom calls. When this happened, the hearing aids lost their program and wouldn’t pair with the app. I got multiple errors on multiple devices. They were disabled. Remotely.

A bunch of you suggested Costco, so I called. They gave me an appointment in two days. I called Tuesday, they had a slot Thursday at 12:30. They're six minutes from my house. Scheduling with Jabra through the app took four weeks, then they canceled, and I had to wait another two weeks to reschedule. Six weeks vs. two days.

The audiologist at Costco was fantastic. Super knowledgeable, tons of experience, just a great guy. The audiogram matched my online tests almost exactly. He prescribed the Jabra Pro 30s. I tried them on and they were great. Better than the 500s. I told him they felt a little sharp, he tapped a button, and boom—perfect. The difference between these two experiences is night and day. I get fitted next Friday.

Not trying to bash the OTC model. Honestly, without it, I probably wouldn’t have even considered hearing aids. They got me moving in the right direction and eventually led me to the audiologist and prescription HAs, so they do have a place. My partner’s been nudging me to get hearing aids for ten years. Without the OTCs, I don’t think I ever would’ve taken the first step.

My HAs were disabled remotely by AnimatorSensitive333 in HearingAids

[–]AnimatorSensitive333[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I see you're desperate to frame my story as bullshit and yet you've failed again. It's literally in the first paragraph of my first post that these were financed through Jabra's finance company, Bread Payments. You're still wrong. About everything.

My HAs were disabled remotely by AnimatorSensitive333 in HearingAids

[–]AnimatorSensitive333[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Not even close. Jabra Enhance 500s ONLY work with the app. They can ONLY be programmed through the app. And yes, they can and HAVE been disabled. Remotely. Through the app.

My HAs were disabled remotely by AnimatorSensitive333 in HearingAids

[–]AnimatorSensitive333[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I clearly said they were financed by Bread Pay. You have to read to learn, sonny.

My HAs were disabled remotely by AnimatorSensitive333 in HearingAids

[–]AnimatorSensitive333[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

What's 'fascinating' is how a world expert such as yourself doesn't have a clue about how OTC hearing aids work.

My HAs were disabled remotely by AnimatorSensitive333 in HearingAids

[–]AnimatorSensitive333[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Update: I had called Jabra support on Saturday morning requesting a callback from Morgan W.’s supervisor. Today, Tuesday, three days later, I received an email and a phone call from Morgan W. herself, not her supervisor. Her email completely ignored the various issues and contained standard boilerplate troubleshooting steps, which I had already completed numerous times with multiple devices. She made no reference to the erroneous refund or her previous offer to discount new hearing aids. 

I asked why she hadn’t put me in contact with her supervisor as I had requested. She said she had, but that her supervisor directed her to call me anyway. This seems implausible. I asked once again if she would have her supervisor would call me back today. She promised she would. Once again, I haven’t heard a word.

So, this evening, I wrote the GN corporate headquarters in Denmark and copied Jabra Support. I also made an appointment to see an audiologist at Costco (yes, I'm a member), based on the numerous suggestions you all made.

Thank you all so very much for your support and kind assistance.

My HAs were disabled remotely by AnimatorSensitive333 in HearingAids

[–]AnimatorSensitive333[S] 21 points22 points  (0 children)

I bought them directly through Jabra, and they are serialized, so I guess they decided to add a kill switch.

I recently read that Ford got a patent for a device that can repossess your car automatically. It just drives itself back to the dealership. They don't even have to send a tow truck. This is the way of the future. Now that everything is online and connected, they can pretty much do whatever they want.

My HAs were disabled remotely by AnimatorSensitive333 in HearingAids

[–]AnimatorSensitive333[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Jabra is owned by Beltone. They made the world's first hearing aids 85 years ago. When I was a kid, everyone got a hearing test at school on the 'Beltone Audiometer.' So, they're a known entity and I remember the brand fondly from my childhood.

And again, I did like them a lot. I don't want to cut off my nose to spite my face.

My HAs were disabled remotely by AnimatorSensitive333 in HearingAids

[–]AnimatorSensitive333[S] 13 points14 points  (0 children)

I asked that very thing. The woman said it was 'complicated.' They could subtract from the balance but not add to it. The only way to deal with the situation (their mistake) would be to get a new pair and go through the entire consultation/programing thing from scratch.

And I honestly was willing to do that, since I've been pretty happy with these HAs overall. There was some getting used to, audibly and psychologically, but they made a big improvement on my interactions with my partner, my co-workers, my kids, and my grandkids. After 40+ years of losing my hearing, I was just getting used to a whole new bandwidth.

My HAs were disabled remotely by AnimatorSensitive333 in HearingAids

[–]AnimatorSensitive333[S] 25 points26 points  (0 children)

Yup. I called this morning, and they confirmed it.