Industrial Hearing Clinic

A question about : Industrial Hearing Clinic

Like many, I have been cold called by Industrial Hearing Clinic.

As I had worked for British Coal/NCB I was interested as I have suffered from Tinnitus for around 10 years (am now 54 yrs old) and had previously thought about making a claim, but never seemed to get around to it and I didn't want to be part of the claims culture brigade so just put up with it.

So , when I got the call, I was easily persuaded to go along with having the hearing test, but in my home, as I was told that as I worked for the NCB I was a special case. The next step will be being allocated a solicitor to take up my claim.

Now, having read about this company on this site, and read a Panorama report about the company, I am having real doubts about proceeding. I have already given my employment history to them over the phone but now have great reservation about giving them anything else?

Has any other person actually gone through the whole process and been successful and I'm worrying unduly, OR, has anyone been had and should I have major worries?

Hope someone can advise.

Many thanks.

Best answers:

• My Dad went to something similar, might have actually been that company, I'm not sure? That was a few years ago now I think, and he never heard (no pun intended!) anything back off them, neither did a friend of my parents who went also.
• I think the statute of limitations would prevent you making a claim after 10 years, and you would also need some proof. Look up on time limits before you have any more dealings with this outfit.
• Avoid Zahier Hussain Trading as Industrial Hearing Clinic. It's a claims management company (ie. ambulance chasers). Plenty of reports of dubious cold-calling tactics within MSE forums and elsewhere on the net.
  If you feel you have a problem with your hearing, the first port of call should be your GP or an audiologist at places like Boots and Specsavers. This will help you to determine whether you have a hearing loss, and to what extent. Once a hearing loss has been established, then go and see your own Solicitor, local to you, to see if you have any grounds for legal action for Noise Induced Hearing Loss. There's no charge for hearing tests, and most Solicitors will give you the first half-hour consultation, and an initial opinion, for free.
  If you are 54, you should be having your routine hearing tests every 2 years (every 12 months if over 60, or if you already have hearing aids).
• No reputable "clinic" would need to make cold calls. They've featured in these forums on previous occasions
• Avoid dealings with any company that cold calls you.
  If a company is reputable and offers a service at a competitive price, does it need to cold call people to drum up business?
  No, it's customers to them come as a result of advertising and personal recommendations.
  Also because cold-calling=nuisance calls and is heavily associated with dodgy companies, no reputable company would want its reputation damaged by any association with cold-calling.
  Even if a cold calling company's spiel catches your interest and seems potentially relevant to your situation, put the phone done and find a reputable company. Googling is quick and easy.
• I received a call from them today (National Advice Clinic). Their phone number was 0113 419 9978. The bloke had a Leeds accent (the number is a Leeds number), but insisted that he was calling from my local town and asked for me by name. He stated that 'it says in my database that you worked in an industrial place for at least 5 years'. Bunch of rogues.
• Bye bye
• Yeah I've had the same call today, apparently I once worked in a factory - found this thread as someone had posted a link to it on one of the Telephone Numbers sites.
  Number now blocked although I wish I'd perhaps played along and wasted some of his "valuable" time
• I too was cold called several times by the National Advice Clinic and eventually I relented and went to a great deal of effort to go to their clinic which was at the Leicester city football club.
  I was seen by an ear specialist and told my hearing was sufficiently impaired to qualify for some form of entitlement. Five minutes later I was seen by an assessor who, after a short interview,told me that I didn't qualify as I didn't meet the criteria.
  I am retired now but worked in an extremely noisy environment for 45 years. After about five years I developed hearing problems but didn't realise the connection with the noise from my work. I continued in the trade until my retirement. The reason I was rejected by this clinic was because I should have reported my hearing problems within five years of my first visit to my doctors. that would have been way back in 1962.
  I am rather miffed about not being entitled.There were people there, one who I knew, who had only worked in the trade for a short time, yet qualified for a payout of some sort.
• Harvesting personal data? After numerous similar calls, I decided to "humour" these guys (CLI. 01564 634364) to try and get to the bottom of whatever they are up to and, perhaps foolishly, let slip my DOB., at which point they became very interested and I swiftly ended up speaking to someone else calling himself "Peter Jones" who made me an appointment, for which I subsequently got a confirmation letter, to attend one of their "hearing clinics" locally; before the end of the call he also stressed that they need my NINO!
  The letter has the logo of "Zebra CLAIMS" and "LOCUM Unit NIHL Clinics" - Anchorage House, 252 The Quays, Erie Basin Salford Quays M50 3SD Tel:0161 814 0016. (NIHL = Noise Induced Hearing Loss).
  Apart from confirming the appointment, it also says
  "Please bring with you 2 forms of ID this could be:
  a) Passport
  b) Driving License
  c) Utility Bill
  and then "Please also remember to bring your National Insurance Number"
  I was called again by "Peter Jones" (0161 786 0912) the day before the appointment to make sure I was still coming and also on the day, just an hour beforehand, when NINO. was again mentioned and he said I should ask for him on arrival.
  I dutifully turned up at a local chain hotel but armed only with the appointment letter, to find a piece of paper taped to the front door reading "HEARING CLINIC THIS WAY" and was then ushered into a "reception room" by some bloke who wouldn't have looked out of place "working" outside the door our local nighttime trouble spot!
  I asked for "Peter Jones" but the permanently sickly smiled "lady receptionist" said she was aware of him but he was not available and then proceeded to "register" my attendance for "our Audiologist", on some sort of form and once she had got past writing my N&A details from the letter, predictably moved onto asking for the more sensitive stuff, at which point I refused point blank, at least until it was satisfactorily explained to me how this data would be used.
  There was a steady stream of people there, I would say mostly much older than me (58), freely brandishing their Passports & Driving Licenses etc., so they clearly wouldn't want a "scene" and I was hastily "ushered" into the corridor and introduced to "a Manager", a female dripping cheap jewellery, who explained that I couldn't "see the Audiologist without satisfactory registration". (I did see a woman through another room door window with what seemed like a white coat on.) I proceeded to protest that it was totally unreasonable to constantly harangue people by 'phone and expect them to divulge personal information and particularly mentioned NINO. She retorted that they were only "helping people get the compensation they deserve" and needed NINO. to look it up on something like "The National Workers Register to make sure they worked where they say they did", before they hand the data over to solicitors at Zebra Claims.
  I expressed my doubts over their legitimacy and that any such register exists and that even if it did, that they would have authorised access to it without proper data protection restraints; I insisted that my data be expunged from their system and this was supposedly satisfied by the receptionist retrieving the original half-completed form from her waste bin and writing "REMOVE FROM SYSTEM" on the top. I was then ushered out; as I left, I wanted to scream out "don't do it" to the poor unsuspecting oldsters sitting waiting to be seen, who seemed to be mentally drooling over the amount of money, supposedly soon to be “won for them"!
  "Peter Jones" (from 0161 786 0912 again) yet again called my home at about 18:30 that evening "to ask how I got on". When I expressed surprise that I had not met him, he said that he had to urgently attend a "complaint in Birmingham" (about 15 miles from the hotel) but that he was now "back in the office" (Manchester?). When I related my story and conclusions, he described my attitude as "bizarre" and said he had never heard anyone express such thoughts before "after 18 years in this industry"! I told him that what they were doing, especially persistently calling demanding personal data, at least amounted to harassment and was probably criminal; he retorted that there were other unscrupulous people doing similar things and causing problems but that his company would never be responsible for such behaviour. I told him that if they are legitimate they should get their act together, explain better to people what they are really about and generally behave in a more professional manner and put the ‘phone down.
  I know this will be a bit controversial but everyone I have came across in this saga all have similar broad “regional” accents (I am from the north, so keep your hair on if you have one too!) and an air of what I would describe as "slightly thick cockiness" . My overall impression is that there may be SOME legitimacy here but the feeling I get is that these people are verging on petty criminals at best and I would not trust any of them people to take my rubbish to the bin without doing something untoward. I strongly suspect that the real exercise is harvesting personal data for criminal purposes like identity theft! I will let other people investigate further and draw their own conclusions.
• This time from 01332 895906; if these guys really are genuine then they are not clever enough to realise how much business they are losing by seeming to be scammers!
• If anyone is suffering from hearing loss or tinnitus please ask your GP to arrange for you to have a proper hearing test. Anyone who performs hearing tests in hotels isn't a registered audiologist.
  Audiology is performed in soundproof booths so there is no chance of distraction from outside.
  You can ask for a copy of your audiogram and take it further if necessary
• Similar thread on,
  forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?p=67748213&highlight=#post67748213