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Blackminster Hearing Centre

For friendly advice please email: richard@blackminster.co.uk
For urgent enquiries please call: 01386 830100

"How and Why do you offer such low prices?"

SUMMARY

Many retail hearing aid suppliers have very high cost overheads.

Suppliers pass on their high overheads, often resulting in very high prices.

I strongly believe that these high prices are unfair to people on fixed incomes.

I have specially set up my business to drastically reduce my overheads ...
so that I can supply & fit digital hearing aids at fair prices.

Further details can be found below ....

"Who are you exactly?"

For full details about me please click HERE.

"Why do you offer such low prices?"

Here at Blackminster Hearing Centre I strongly believe that the hard-of-hearing should be able to benefit from the latest excellent digital hearing aids at a fair price.

The NHS & RNID have made valiant efforts to provide digital hearing aids to patients ... but sadly there are still long waiting lists, limited product choice and limited availability. These NHS problems lead to many people buying a digital hearing aid privately.

Most private sector hearing aids are supplied by hearing aid dispensers through "home visits" to the customer's house.

These "home visits" result from a customer responding to a very convincing national newspaper advert, or to an advert received in the post.

The "home visit" dispenser will usually work "on commission" for one of the large national hearing aid sales companies.

These "national" firms can spend a lot on advertising etc, which can result in very high prices for the customer.

I believe that tests made at a proper dispensing practice will generally lead to more accurate results. Customers should think carefully before purchasing expensive hearing aids through "home visits", unless of course there are medical or similar reasons which limit the customer's mobility.

In addition to the "home visit" firms, there are still some traditional High Street hearing aid dispensers. However these now need to pay ever increasing rent & rates which can result in them having to charge rather high prices.

Overall, it seems to me that high prices are "standard" in the UK hearing aid industry - which can put off many people from improving their hearing.

I also feel that it is not right to charge retired people thousands of pounds for digital hearing aids - there must be a better way of providing vital hearing improvement at a reasonable price.

I strongly feel that it is time for a change and I believe that I have found a way of providing an excellent service whilst offering lower than usual prices. See below for further details ....

"How do you offer such low prices?"

I can offer low prices through the following common sense measures:

Minimising my overheads - I do NOT have expensive High Street offices. My practice is out-of-town (at an interesting new Business Park) which greatly reduces the rent & rates.
Minimising staff costs - I do NOT have layers of managers "helping" with the business
Minimising home visits - I have found that home visits are very often unnecessary and often technically unsatisfactory. I therefore try to limit these to those cases recommended by GPs, hospitals etc - and even then I may need to levy a charge to cover my costs.
Increasing my sales volume - Many traditional dispensers see relatively few customers, so they need to charge quite high prices to cover their costs. However my low prices attract a higher volume of customers, which means that I need to make less profit per sale in order to pay the bills - which means lower prices for you.
Limiting free follow-up visits to 4 months - Many dispensers allow you free follow-up visits for the life of the hearing aid - and they allow for this in their high prices. However in reality I find most customers only need follow-ups in the first one or two months whilst getting used to their new hearing aids, so you may be paying for a service you never need. Accordingly I will do whatever it takes to get you "up & running" when you purchase a hearing aid from me and then I will be happy to provide free support (to a maximum of 3 sessions) in the next 4 months. However after that time I will need to charge for each consultation ... and most clients will never need to use this paid-for service. This allows me to greatly reduce my prices.
No tatty "free" hearing dummy aid - I simply offer a fantastic price with excellent service. I certainly don't need to advertise in the national press and to send you "free" dummy hearing aids - just to get your mailing address.
Minimising wasted visits - It seems to me that maybe 1-in-3 of those who visit a "traditional" dispenser walk away empty handed - they simply find the very high prices unacceptable. This can happen because the customer is only told the prices at the very last minute. (Missing 1-in-3 sales means that the 2-in-3 who DO buy an aid are paying for that "lost" time spent by the dispenser with the unhappy clients) However I expect almost all my clients to buy an aid from me - my prices and service simply cannot be beaten - and I tell you my prices BEFORE you even arrive. No surprises, very low prices and excellent service - simply an unbeatable combination!

I believe that these common sense measures allow me to provide an excellent and professional service whilst keeping my prices very low.

Please note that although I charge very low prices for digital hearing aids & fitting, I am not a charity or "action group".
However I feel that if I can offer a good service and low prices whilst still paying my bills then why not take that route?
At the very minimum I will be providing modern hearing technology to at least a few more people who might benefit.

If you have any questions please email me at richard@blackminster.co.uk - or if urgent please call me on 01386 830100.