Discovery Hearing Aid Warranties’ coverage providing for hearing aid repairs is unique due to its highly comprehensive program.

Few would have thought that a hearing aid warranty company could be so inspiring, yet few would have also anticipated the immense contribution Discovery Hearing Aid Warranties would make to the world of hearing. Now, in its 16th year, Discovery Hearing Aid Warranties is recognized as the only comprehensive, one-source provider of hearing aid services and warranties. What distinguishes Discovery Hearing Aid Warranties from other warranty companies is not only its comprehensive services, which include warranty protection for loss, damage, and component failure on all makes and models of hearing aids, but also its unique compensation for hearing aid dispensers and their cultivation of patient/provider relationships.

A New Direction
Discovery Hearing Aid Warranties began 16 years ago in Mobile, Ala, as a hearing aid dispensing company. Over time, Dick J. Kaiser, then president of the company, began noticing a trend: hearing aid patients were requesting coverage on their hearing aids after their warranty expired, but there was no company at that time that covered all the contingencies of these patients. The warranty industry, however, complained there was no tangible advantage for them to develop such a company. Kaiser thought about it, and because it did not already exist, decided to develop a new comprehensive warranty program that would work with hearing aid dispensers throughout the country. It was at this point that Discovery Hearing Aid Warranties was born.

The coverage Discovery Hearing Aid Warranties provides for hearing aid repairs is unique due to its highly comprehensive program. The company provides three warranty programs, including comprehensive, loss and damage, and repair to components in which there has been failure and/or damage to an instrument. The program is offered annually or semiannually. It is designed to complement active manufacturer’s warranties or to provide complete protection when the manufacturer’s warranty has expired. The warranties cover all makes and models of hearing aids, including FM system transmitters and receivers, processors for bone anchor hearing aids, and cochlear implants.

In addition to repairs made under warranty, dispensers can also use Discovery to make all repairs, even if they are not associated with a warranty program. Discovery Hearing Aid Warranties can perform a single repair for a dispenser and then pay a portion of the bill back to them in compensation, or it can work under service warranties.

Furthermore, a compensation package has been developed for the time and effort that providers of hearing aids spend while sitting down and securing hearing aid protection with their clients. According to Kaiser, clients often show a great deal of gratitude when provided this protection. Equally, providers are appreciative for the financial protection of the client’s investment. Kaiser also maintains that Discovery’s services also help strengthen long-term patient-to-provider relationships.

Offering Clients Service
The way Discovery Hearing Aid Warranties works is simple. Often, by the time manufacturer warranties have expired, clients forget such information as what kind of warranty they had, or what their serial number was. With Discovery Hearing Aid Warranties, however, the service will warn clients that the warranty will be expiring soon. Clients then pay Discovery by either check or credit card, and this money is then sent on in check form to the provider as a compensation for his time and effort. Discovery Hearing Aid Warranties does not actually get involved with the clients themselves but instead works through the providers. Discovery Hearing Aid Warranties also supplies providers with counter displays, which provide a display for consumer brochures, claim forms, policy and procedure forms, and everything else they will need to become part of the warranty program.

As the company continues to grow, so does its influence. Discovery is currently working with a privately-owned, German hearing aid product company called Hansaton. The company is family operated since 1957, yet it currently exports instruments to 60 different countries, and its influence continues to grow. Beside their connection to Hansaton, however, Discovery does not currently work overseas. They are hoping to have their warranty program available in Canada soon, after which they will look into expanding into overseas market.

Sixteen years ago, Kaiser could have never imagined what his company would become. He is still president, and the current headquarters are still based in Mobile. Though it began in a small office as a one-person operation, Discovery Hearing Aid Warranties has grown into a company that is now 14 strong with a headquarters that is six times its original size. “Every year as dispensers recognize the importance of warranty protection for clients’ investments,” says Kaiser, “they see the importance of relationships and warranty programs.” Kaiser also commented that it is interesting to look back at the first brochure, and see the revolution that has taken place within the company, as well as the hearing industry in general. Discovery considers itself number one in its field of comprehensive warranty programs and insists that its compensation plan is unique.

A Growing Influence
Kaiser believes that Discovery’s influence on the world of hearing aid devices will only grow with time. “As technology develops and changes, warranty protection will become greater and greater.” He also says that the company’s growth rate, as well as the number of warranties and revenue, will continue to go up, as it has every year for the past 16 years. This increase will be due in large part to the increasing influence of digital, as opposed to analog, technology. As hearing aid devices become more and more complex and as technology continues to shift away from analog systems to the newer digital ones, warranties will continue to become more beneficial to providers as well as to clients. In a fast-paced world that is dominated by large corporations and impersonal professional relationships, it is refreshing to find a company such as Discovery Hearing Aid Warranties that prides itself on compensating hard work, building client/provider rapport, and providing new and unique services to those hearing aid clients for whom there was no prior option.

Nicolle Harrity is a contributing writer for Hearing Products Report.