Sterling Hearing Center

My 75 year old mother received a promotional mailing stating the first 15 people with the coupon would get one free hearing aid. She had a consult with «Dr. Goodrich» who did some testing on her. He tells her, «Because you’re new patient we’ll give you $ 2000 off. And Medicare pays nothing toward hearing aids so we’ll give you an additional $ 1,000 off.» Goodrich asks if she’s using her own money or someone else’s. Mom said it was hers. He asks if there was a family member he could discuss this with and mom gave Goodrich my brother, who lives nearby, his contact info. Goodrich never called my brother.
He doesn’t correct my mother calling him a doctor (which he’s not) and instead asks to go on a first name basis. With all the «discounts» Goodrich ends up selling my mother a Starkey in ear hearing aid for a total of $ 5890 and tells her, «I’ll be your doctor for life.» Apparently included in this are free office visits and hardware adjustments. He charges her debit card $ 3000 and finances the rest for $ 2890. He doesn’t allow her to install the unit in her own ear so she gets home and doesn’t know how to use it.
I live in California and learned about this during our weekly call. Mom doesn’t have the receipt for the purchase but she has the credit account sales receipt for the financed portion. When I call Goodrich to introduce myself to get an update on Mom’s condition he tells me everything about the cilia in her ear atrophying and possible dementia if she doesn’t get stimulus into her ear. He tells me that she is a lip reader and has 80% hearing loss in the left ear and 60% hearing loss in the right. It’s only when I ask for a copy of the sales receipt that he tells me he needs a signed HIPAA form, but he’s already told me things that should be confidential.
Since Mom is going to see Goodrich the next day I ask her to ask them for a HIPAA form for her to sign and give to him so I can discuss her status freely with Goodrich. Mom gets confused and tells Goodrich he needs to sign the HIPAA form and he says he doesn’t…and knows full well that she needs to sign one and doesn’t offer her one. When I learn this I download a copy and fax it to a local UPS store, Mom signs it, faxes it back to me and I fax it to Sterling. I leave a message with the pleasant assistant Linda for Ron Djordjevic (the owner of the franchise) and Ken Goodrich (who also goes by the name Craig?) and Ron ignores my request for a returned phone call. Goodrich continually refuses my request for a copy of the purchase receipt for the hearing aids after receiving my HIPAA form.
I make Linda and Goodrich a deal that if we can resolve this amicably and my other returns the hearing aid and gets a full refund that I won’t inform the hearing aid manufacturer Starkey whose products they’re pushing, contact BBB to complain about their service, Unilocal,etc. During a phone conversation Goodrich tells me if the option is a refund or court to take him to court.
Finally, know that Sterling Hearing gives you only a five day return window and it’s impossible to assess the hearing aid within five days, according to the manufacturer.
In short Goodrich impersonated a doctor, ripped off my 75-​year-​old mother, refused to reconsider a refund and is forcing me to take him to court. not only should Sterling be boycotted, Goodrich should be arrested for fraud and HIPAA breach. If my mother had purchased this on a credit card I would be disputing that, too, but she uses a debit card.
BEWARE!!!
When I contacted Starkey the hearing aid manufacturer they did nothing. If you’re curious you can read Starkey’s review here: