Small Removal Tips  = Large Potential for a Trip to Urgent Care
My friends formed an alternative rock group a few years ago, and after several of their concerts, at the end of the night, I was left with an angry, persistent ringing in my ears. As a safety precaution, I purchased these DownBeats Concert Earplugs, expecting to use them at a very cramped concert venue with very huge amps.<br /><br />Unfortunately, due to work, I was unable to attend their most recent concert. But since I had the earplugs already, I figured I'd check their fit and quality.(Just to give any potential customers some background, I typically wear the standard buds that come with most noise-canceling earphones, and they fit perfectly. In addition, my fingers aren't enormous. Compared to most guys, my hands look smaller than average.)<br /><br />In retrospect, I am so relieved that I did not try these out at the concert. As I inserted them into my ear, I found the plastic tips for inserting and removing the plugs very difficult to grab. Then, I tried to remove the plug from my right ear by &#34;using my phalanges to gently stretch my ear canal opening to dislodge the seal&#34;  as specified on the instruction insert. I thought the removal tip was difficult to hold when the plug was out of my ear. That was NOTHING compared to what it was like once the plug lodged itself more deeply into my ear canal!  It took 10 minutes and a combination of tweezers, the handle end of a cuticle pusher, and swearing in three languages before I triumphantly removed the offending nub of silicone and plastic!<br /><br />Given the sterling reviews offered up by other customers, I'm willing to concede that it's possible that my ear canals may be larger than average or that the tips on the pair I received may have been incorrectly manufactured. However, after this experience, I CANNOT RECOMMEND these earplugs. That being said, the customer service representative who assisted with my return was gracious and expedient despite the fact that the ear plugs had been used, and the sturdy and attractive aluminum case would have been perfect had the product itself not been so flawed.
Rating: 1 stars