“Something's gone wrong in the ast few months with Boots Hearing Care.
Some years ago it was excellent, reasonable value and good and competent staff.
I have been trying to get my appointment right now for a month. I had to change the first offerred but then after that they have been unable to turn up for alternatives, in one case changing it by declaration and then by just chnaging it and not informing me.
This is sad. If it correlates witha change of management at any level, then I think the level above the level of change should look hard at present functionality. And this extends to the operation of a phone based appointment system.”
“Made an appointment for 5pm At the Yeovil store, even got an email reminding me of the time prior to appointment. Booked the time off work, drove the 30 minutes to the store and arrived 5 minutes early, only to find the store closed. I called the number in the email, I was 14th in the queue, after 32 minutes I got answered to be told the appointment has been rescheduled for 3 pm the following day. I can’t get to finish early 2 days in a row at such short notice. AVOID Yeovil store at all costs!”
“I have rechargeable hearing aids from Boots. Everything was fine until the software was updated last October. Now the batteries run out after about 14 hours or less if I have used the Bluetooth phone connection for a while. Although that is fine 90% of the time, it is sometimes a problem. So I contacted Boots head office who said that should not be the case. I booked an appointment with our local branch, explained the problem but also said that I could not manage without them for the two weeks it would take to fix them. The audiologists said that was not a problem as they could loan me a pair and booked an appointment a month later when the loan pair would be available. I have just attended that appointment to find the previous audiologist had moved on and there were no loan hearing aids.”
“We paid £3,500 about 6 years ago for 2 hearing aids for my husband. We were told he had profound deafness in 1 ear and loss of hearing in the other. Wr obviously wanted aids that would give him the best outcome. The specialist in Boots only offered these expensive aids assuring us that they would work. 6 years on my husband hasnt wore them for over a year as he couldnt cope with them. They made his hearing more difficult. We did go for his annual check where the aids would be altered on the computer. My husband wzs told pn pne visit where it wasnt the usual person that he had a blockage. He started i haling menthol crystals and his hearing, though not perfect, is manageable. Boots will not consider a refund of any amount. £3,500 is a huge amount to lose for us. Unacceptable.”
“Absolutely disgusted with this service.
My partner and I have just returned from the hearing centre at Boots, Kirkgate, Wakefield. To collect her hearing aids. We waited 20 minutes for a 4.pm appointment only to discover there was nobody in the office.
On inquiring at the pharmacy was told that the audiologist had left the company. Nobody had informed her or arranged another appointment.
I rang head office and was at first told the store was closed, it wasn't as I was in the store.
I was then told the department was closed.
My partner was extremely distraught with the whole situation as well as the standing waiting as she is disabled and has mobility problems.
The whole process from start to finish was distressing as the original audiologist was not a great inspiration. He did the quick test and made an appointment for a follow up appointment for 4 weeks later as he said he was on holiday. On the follow up appointment he did not do any further testing and showed her the range of hearing aids.
She picked the aids she wanted and ordered an extra charging docking station, paid £255.00 deposit and was told it would be another 4 weeks to collect them.
After turning up to collect there was nobody there as I said earlier.
When I spoke to Eric at head office there was an apology but no explanation as to why my partner was not contacted with a rearranged appointment at another branch.
She was offered another appointment in Leeds but was so distressed and annoyed that she wanted her deposit back. Eric said that he would get in touch with the Leeds audiologist to get her deposit back. Even that will take another 10 days.
Needless to say we will not recommend Boots hearing to any of our friends and will have no hesitation in repeating our experience to all and sundry.”
“Initial service at Fareham store was very good but once Boots has my money it seemed like after care doesn't matter. I've had several appointments cancelled with no explanation. Even a formal complaint resulted in a curt response with no steps taken to rebook my latest cancelled appointment without me making another call to Boots and waiting in a queue. Very disappointing.”
“Hearing aids after care is appalling. My 86 year old stepfather has now had 3 tests cancelled on the morning of his appointment. Staff at the branch don’t answer the phone and the central customer service is politely unhelpful. My advice: get your hearing aids from somewhere else.”
“I was referred to the NHS following a Test in one of the Branches. After being through four NHS Appointments I was diagnosed with only having a very slight problem with my hearing contrary to what the Boots Audiogist told me. It the took me FOUR weeks to get a conclusion on the Case that I registered”
“Boots hearingcare after sales service is an absolute farce. Judging from the ongoing tv adverts, the company is only interested in selling new instruments to an unsuspecting public with no apparent ability to service existing customers. I have suffered continual problems with my hearing aids whichich I purchased a year ago but after repeated difficulties booking an appointment have been hanging on in anticipation these issues could be resolved at my upcoming "annual" review only to to be informed by email that this review has now been postponed for 12 months until March 2023. I only hope any prospective customer will take these comments into account before spending £3000 on new hearing aids which quite frankly are no better than free instruments available from the NHS.”
“I turned up for my appointment to be told the audiologist hadn’t arrived. I waited 10 minutes then left. On arriving home and checking emails, they had emailed me 10 minutes before my appointment time to say the audiologist was running late because of traffic and the number they had for me was not connecting but could I make 9.30 instead?
Poor excuse and wasted my time in attending the appt today when I took time out from work.
AVOID”
“I called at boots Worcester audio yesterday and explained my hearing was poor .and could they help .They said they had nobody available .but i could make an appointment for the end of the month. Iwent round the corner to SPECSAVERS and was seen there and then My hearing aids were checked and cleaned .They found my ears were blocked with wax ,sold me some oil and made me an appointment for seven days .What a difference”
“Took between 17 and 37 minutes to answer the phone in the first place. First appointment was cancelled an hour and a half before , but I had travelled some way to this appointment. 2nd appointment 19th again out of my way as no appointments in Bangor until 31st. The bulb was broken! Unbelievablely no spares there! The staff member kindly offered to drive from Rhyl to Llandudno to get one! An hour for me to wait. I declined and staff member made an appointment for today (21st) at 1045 in Bangor. 13 minutes before appt (as I’m getting out of my car) it’s cancelled. I was too cross and upset to go the the centre to ask why! They did try ringing me a number of times to reschedule, but no signal! I’ve thanked them for trying , but explained that the service is so dreadful, I’m going elsewhere. Plus they are £20 more than most other service providers.”
“Following several phone calls to my home when I explained difficult for me to get to Central Cardiff I finally made appt weeks ahead. Friend arranged to take day off work in order to take me. Received message day before, appt cancelled. I explained my predicament, nevertheless no appt and friend lost day of her annual leave. Very disappointed. Dare not make another appt. Annoyed that Boots that day .put out another advert 15% off. Why advertise if appts unavailable.Question overbooking? Disregarding inconvenience of elderly and disabled.”
“Took my mums hearing aid in for repair at Boots The Springs Leeds on 19 Oct. Have now been waiting over 6 weeks and no nearer to getting a hearing aid back. The head office (when you eventually get through) don't have a clue what's happening, and the local audiologist never calls or makes contact. Don't waste your money with this company (only part owned by Boots)...go to your NHS.”
“I have had a problem with boots hearing care ,they promised me a refund on my insurance. They sent me an email saying i was due for a refund nothing happened . i emailed them saying no payment had been paid. Then starts the saga they come back it had been dealt with. I emailed them back that no payment had been made could they please tell me how much and the date. No reply after 3 weeks i also sent reminder emails nothing. I then telephone ask to speak to the person who sent the email spent ages to this other person who was emailing the person i wanted to speak to got absolutely nowhere just gave up. told them i wanted a reply today. Boots hearing care a joke every time you phone we are extremely busy people cannot even reply to your emails.”
“In ear hearing aids dis not work no difference with them in.
When phoning customer care I waited different times of the day for over 20mins on 3 seperate occasions.
The women who eventually answered my call was totally unhelpfull and had a couldn't care a less attitude telling me ihad to wait over a week to return the hearing aids and get my money back.
If I could of given a 0 score I would have.”
“My elderly mother went for a check up today at Lincoln Boots after getting hearing aids for both ears, to be told the person dealing with her had simply not turned up ... no explanation as to why. She was terribly upset, as wasn't feeling well and cost her 2 taxi fares. Cannot complain to anyone, or even speak to anyone, as everything is centralised and you cannot get through to a human being. Recommend going to another provider who cares about customer service.”
“Husband's Phonaks charger broke. Boots hearing said they could not help. Local store told my husband he would need a face to face appointment. This took a week. A week where my husband had to struggle through work unable to hear. At the appointment told it had to be ordered on line ! Three weeks later, despite contacting customer care who didnt even offer an apology, my husband is still without his charger, he has been unecessarily disabled which has caused significant distress because of Boots heating. We have also recently noted that if we had ordered one from amazon it would have been considerably cheaper and quicker.”
“I bought a Phonax hearing aid a few years ago and have not had many major issues with it until this week it completely stopped working. I called boots hearing care and was advised by a lady at Head Office that it would probably need to be sent off which can take up to 10 days, I advised that as I have work full time, I would need a replacement as to which Head Office said that they should be able to offer me a loan aid in store to use right away. When attending the appointment the following morning before work at Newport Boots, I was advised I could not have a loan aid as the rules had now changed and they had now had to request a loan aid from Head Office. I was not informed of this via telephone with Head Office which I was annoyed about as I should have been fully informed. The Woman at the desk at Newport kept saying there was nothing they could do and that I would then have to wait until she contacts Head Office to see if there were even going to be any loan aids available. I couldn't help but burst out crying at the lack of help that was given towards somebody that cannot hear !? I was mortified that I was having to go to work and not be able to live my normal day to day life due to my hearing problem. I said to the woman 'What am I going to do i've got to go to work?', and she just responded 'Like I have said we cant do anything about this' I left the store crying and struggled all day at work, it was hugely embarrassing. I had a call the following morning at 11:00am to say the loan aid was ready to collect and to call back to arrange suitable times for me to come down and collect. I called back approximately 2pm as I was at work, to be told the woman that deals with the Hearing appointments had gone home early. I was absolutely mortified as nobody again was able to help me and the lady that took the call advised she only dealt with the Opticians area and said there was nobody else I could speak to and that I would have to call back in the morning to arrange with the woman that went home early today. This means I will have 3 days of being without a hearing aid. The stress and upsetness it has caused me is unexplainable. Boots hearing care do not seem to care in the slightest how it feels for a customer to not be able to hear and to have to try and manage their day to day life. They ought to put themselves in my shoes to feel how I feel right now. It has made me feel extremely reluctant about using Boots Hearing Care for future hearing aid purchases due to such an unhelpful experience. I just don't know how they can expect people to go without !”
