Scrivens Hearing Care / The Hearing Company review

Scrivens Hearing Care is one of the main hearing aid providers in the UK, with more than 150 hearing care outlets. 

But is it the best place to go when you're looking for a new hearing aid? To find out, we've surveyed more than 2,192 Which? members and other members of the public about their hearing aids.

Scrivens provides private hearing care and NHS-subsidised services (known as Any Qualified Provider or AQP). 

The scores here are for AQP patients, as we didn't get enough customers to show ratings for private treatment via Scrivens. Our unique ratings will show you how Scrivens compares to Specsavers (the other big provider of AQP).

Which? members can log in now to see how Scrivens Hearing Care was rated for its staff skill, comfort and suitability of hearing aids, aftercare and more.

If you're not already a Which? member, you can join Which? today to access the ratings, plus reviews of thousands of products.

To find out how Scrivens Hearing Care compares with other retailers, visit our Best hearing aid providers page.

Scrivens vs Specsavers for 'Any Qualified Provider' service

The table shows how Scrivens and Specsavers are rated for aspects of the AQP service they offer - from waiting-times, staff skill, facilities and aftercare (four stars) through to comfort and suitability of hearing aids (three stars).

Interestingly, privately-paying customers of stores including Specsavers do rate comfort and suitability of hearing aids higher (four stars). This may be because they are offered more choice of styles and types of hearing aids. 

For example, in our survey, AQP customers are much more likely to have  behind-the-ear hearing aids with an earmould or open-fit (small, soft earpiece or dome at the tip of the tubing instead of an earmould) than privately-paying customers (86% vs 41%).

Scrivens and Specsavers are only able to offer their AQP customers certain styles and brands of hearing aids (as contracted with the NHS, as they are offering an NHS service, albeit in a private clinic).

Why it matters where you buy your hearing aids from

People told us about their experiences, good and bad, with different providers, with some experiencing pressure to buy or poor follow up, while others had a more pleasant experience:

• 'Once my hearing had been tested I felt under pressure to purchase from them and was not told of any alternative, I was also under pressure by the sales assistant to pay more than I could comfortably afford.' 
• 'I did feel at the time that there was unseemly haste to sign me up.' 
• 'Felt at ease, no pressure applied, appeared to be very professional with everything explained.'
• 'They have messed me around about follow-up appointments.' 
• 'They have been very professional, including follow-up calls, spare tube replacement, battery stock replenishment. They went the extra mile to post batteries from their head office when covid isolation made visiting the local store impossible.'
• 'There has been pressure to get insurance. Frequent letters which I ignored. Had I taken out insurance I would have paid out about £1,500 and made no claim'.

 Find out which companies customers rate, and the ones they were less happy about, by signing up to Which?.