About Us
The story of how HearGift came to be
Serge has been living with moderate to severe hearing loss for as long as he can remember. At only 3 years old he had a fever that damaged the hair cells in his ears. It wasn't until he was 9, when his parents decided to move the family to Canada to flee the civil war in Yugoslavia that he received his first pair of hearing aids.
Nonetheless, moving to a country where he didn’t speak the language or understand the culture was incredibly hard.
He was placed in special needs classes throughout his school years, barely understanding the teachers and unable to socialize with his class mates. It was tough but with the support of his parents, friends and teachers he graduated high school and went to college.
He went through 6 pairs of hearing aids in his young adulthood : RITE, BTE, ITC. And they worked well. Not perfect, but well.
Until one day, 25 years later, when his sister’s dog chewed up his $6000 pair.
From despair to find an affordable solution, HearGift was born.
With minimal health coverage he was determined to not only find a solution, but find one that was affordable. Equipped with an entrepreneurial spirit and previous commerce experience, Serge reached out from manufacturer to manufacturer until he found what he was looking for: hearing devices that work and that are affordable to anyone who needs them.
After realizing that the medical community marks up hearing aids by as much as 500%, he knew there had to be a better way.
Together with his partner Sandra he started a business in Ontario, Canada where they are able to acquire hearing devices direct from the manufacturer, and sell them online with low overhead.
What HearGift is all about
We knew that all people talk about in regards to hearing aids is being able to participate in conversations and hear people clearly when they talk. Yet, even with technology advancing at an unprecedented rate, hearing aids are getting more and more expensive. Why is this?
We believe it's because hearing aid manufacturers are starting to include many unnecessary features in order to drive up the cost of the hearing aids. Also, government regulations make it harder for audiologists to provide their patients with the right care and treatment that they deserve. Instead, audiologists are forced to sell hearing aids at a premium in order to cover their expenses.
But we believe hearing should not be expensive. It should not be a luxury. It should not be a privilege. Hearing is a right and making it unaffordable means denying hard-of-hearing individuals the right to hear.
We’re not discrediting it... many individuals need specialized assistance and devices catered specifically to their needs. But the majority – they just need to be able to hear. They don’t need the extra services, fittings, audiograms, cleaning and consultations. A device they can use on their own will give them what they need – which is, to hear.
At HearGift, our main focus is to help our customers hear. Simplicity is what we stand for: in the solutions we offer, the buying process and the customer service experience. We know that you, our customer, don't care about the frills and the add-ons, but about gaining your hearing back.
Our hearing devices aren't meant to replace the expert advice of an audiologist, or to be a replacement for hearing aids properly fitted and programmed. They can be used in cases of emergency and for people with mild-to-severe hearing loss, they work quite well.