Phonak Savia problems

For those of you who have read this blog for a while will know I have Phonak Savia hearing aids, and had them since last year, but what you might not know is that they have been out of action since 16th Jan this year, and even though I got them back on Saturday, they are still out of action, as one is broken and they both aren't set as should be, so still without the aids.

The company in question who have been screwing up a lot is DiscountedHearingAids, this company have for the past 4 months felt it is appropriate to do nada, seriously, it tooks the best part of two months before I got the address of where to send the aids for repair. Phonak of course, but without a name and address, how could I send them.

I will go into more detail on another entry, as time is short, and that entry will be a long litany of mistakes and errors, which make it seem like a keystone cop movie.

The thing I wanted to highlight was, the audiologist at Discounted hearing told me the reason my aids might have been jumping programs was according to Phonak because I might live near power lines and magnetic fields. I was surprised, very. Being me I didn't believe it, so I rang up Phonak direct, guess what, it is true.

If you have a program setting on, and it is on by default according to Phonak technicans, for the phone, it will jump programs when a magnetic field is passed over the aids. This is so it changes to the right program for a telephone.

You know what, in my case, I know that wasn't the issue. But doesn't someone see this as real problem, given the amount of magnetic fields that exist in everyday life, from shops, public transport, etc. Surely that is a fatal flaw in the design of the hearing aid. Surely Phonak aren't that stupid to do that, but it seems they are.

As for my hearing aids, I am seriously doubting if I will ever get use of them again. They are in my hands, broken elbow on one and I am not using aids I can't hear with. It has gotten so bad, that I have been forced to contact Consumer Direct, who are backing my situation. Great to hear, I only wish Access to Work would do the same. They have basically washed their hands of the situation and say it is down to my employer to resolve. They are happy to spend thousands of UK taxpayer money, and then sit there and do nothing as the company they chose, not me, refuses to provide a service as is set out in the 1979 Sales of Goods Act.

I am so in need of break, and thankfully I am getting one. Thanks to the generousity of Z, we are heading to Cyprus for a week, so if you know places to visit there, please say, all ideas welcomed.

Hopefully I will come back less stressed, and ready to hear again, though I doubt it, since I have spent 4 months chasing these muppets.

Harrow Council helping you be green, Yeah right!

I give you a tale which I am beginning to see as typical, not just for Harrow Council, but most councils and government agencies in this country, and despite the rhetoric, they certainly can't back it up.

A person I know told me this

Last October I applied for Solar Panels to heat my water, I had a visit from a person who measured up to see if we were suitable & seek permission from the Planning department. I got a letter dated 20th December to say someone will carry out a survey on 3rd January to submit drawing to the Planning department for approval.

This approval was given on 19th February according to the Harrow.gov web site.

I telephoned the Sustainable Energy Project Team on 13th April because I have not heard anything and left a message to telephone me. I telephone again today & spoke to a girl/lady who tells me they have just got the list of people whose planning approval has come through and will be sending me a letter and application form for me to fill in by the end of the week. I am to fill this in & send it back with a cheque which when they get it; they will then order the parts. It takes two weeks for the parts to come in. It will then take another two weeks to fit me in their delivery/installation program.

All in all from October 2006 to possible fitting of panels in June/July will take 9 months!!

So much for things happening fast!!? Think of the money I could have saved if they had got their act together!

So as you can see, Harrow certainly don’t make an effort to sort things out fast, and then to make it worse, they have the audacity to say that people need to do more, and when the person above tried, this is what they got.

So much for being green Harrow, and Harrow is supposed to be a leading council in being green, I think if that is the case, we are screwed.