BIRMINGHAM, Mich. – A 99-year-old Birmingham woman is sounding the alarm tonight about a local hearing aid provider. She says she went to buy a pair of hearing aids and ended up losing over $1,300 – and still doesn’t have hearing aids.
She reached out to Local 4 for help and now AARP tells the woman that they are helping to replace the aids. Additionally, AARP says they are working to remove the provider from their network as a result of the story.
Recommended Videos
But, the woman doesn’t want this to happen to anyone else.
“Apparently, you called AARP and the next Friday, I got a phone call, about a quarter until 5,” Paulette Seaton, 99-year-old Dolly Seaton’s daughter-in-law, said. “I get multiple phone calls. I wasn’t available and I said ‘Oh my gosh, what’s wrong?’ So, I called back and they said, ‘Well, you are going to get a pair of hearing aids.’”
But, before Local 4 got involved and tried to help the Seatons, they spent almost six months trying to get answers.
This started in December when their hunt for hearing aids began.
“So I started looking for mobile providers,” Paulette Seaton said.
They looked to AARP’s UnitedHealthcare Hearing. Their list of providers included a man named William Robinson with Robinson Hearing Centers.
They got in touch with him and they say he came to Dolly Seaton’s senior living facility.
“He was supposed to be selling us an AARP package and he appealed to her, saying ‘I can give you much better quality, way less expensive,’” Paulette Seaton said.
Dolly Seaton agreed to go the “private pay” direction and signed a check over to Robinson for $1,360.
The hearing aids came about a month later. Everything seemed fine, until Paulette Seaton says she got a message on Feb. 12.
“He said, ‘Hey, there’s a major upgrade and I said, ‘You know what? She’s fine. We don’t have to mess with this.’ He said, ‘No, we have to do this upgrade because the hearing aids may not function properly,’” Paulette Seaton said, describing the conversation.
They say he told them the aids would be returned in two to three days.
Reluctantly, Dolly and Paulette Seaton agreed. They say someone from Robinson’s team came and picked the hearing aids up on Feb. 15.
“We haven’t seen them since,” Paulette Seaton said.
Then came months of back and forth. Paulette Seaton reached out time-and-time again asking where the hearing aids were. She showed Local 4 the text messages.
“I could not get anybody to give me answers. I kept getting stalling,” Paulette Seaton said.
At one point, they say Robinson gave them a day he’d return them in person. Paulette Seaton says he never showed.
“I received a text from him that he said he was changing his business model,” Paulette Seaton said.
He asked them to pay him more money, they said.
“If you wish to add one thousand to the purchase price, we can accommodate, or $1,500 for a five year service guarantee. Otherwise, we will refund you within 30 days,” Paulette Seaton said, reading a text message from Robinson.
She responded within minutes.
“Immediately, please refund,” she said in a text to Robinson.
It’s the start of July and they say they’ve gotten no refund. They’ve been asking since.
At one point, they say he threatened to sue them.
“We’ve received no letters, no refunds, no anything,” Paulette Seaton said.
Local 4 has been reaching out to Robinson for 10 days, sending the first message to him on Thursday, June 25 at 10:29 a.m.
The message included a timeline of what the Seatons said occurred and asked Robinson if he was going to refund Dolly Seaton the money or return the aids. Additionally, the message asked if there was any statement or context Robinson would like included in the story.
Local 4 followed up with several other messages asking for a statement, but haven’t received one. Robinson’s responses to the messages included frustration with the story, but no answers on if he plans to return the money or aids.
Meanwhile, Dolly Seaton is grateful AARP is stepping in, but there’s one thing she still wants.
“I’d like to get the money back. I need it, don’t I?” Dolly Seaton said.
AARP Hearing Solutions by UnitedHealthcare Hearing responded to Local 4 with a statement.
“Customer care is our top priority,” they said. “We hold our network of providers to the highest standards to support patient care and quality outcomes, and we regret the inconvenience and frustration this situation caused. We were deeply disappointed a provider failed to deliver on our customer promise. We are in the process of removing that provider from our network.
Due to HIPPA privacy rules, we are unable to discuss the specific details related to this or any of our member interactions. But we are working with the impacted member to ensure they receive the very best care for their hearing needs. It is what all our members deserve and should expect from us.”