Pruhealth scrapping its free/discounted gym loophole in November. Discussion

aliharris

BEWARE!

The curse of the fitbug... Each month you can earn 150pts through fitness.. This is 15 trips to the gym, OR 15 days using your fitbug (no gym on these days and over 12,500 steps) or a mixture of the two.. so basically, if you use your fitbug 15 days in a month, gym for the remaining days of the month, whatever happens, you'll only ever get a maximum of 150 points a month, as fitbug use and gym visits come under the same catagory which is capped at 150points/month.

I bought a fitbug a few weeks ago, but just as I registered it, someone posted about the above conditions.. as I go to the gym 5/6 times a week, it's now useless too me. To be fair, i'm 19, male and the prospect of carrying round a pedometer makes me cringe, i'll probably give it to my mum!? or attach it to the dog somehow.... hmm?

So.. don't bother with one if you're going to go to the gym 15 times a month!

Bargain_Rzl

stellastar wrote: »

What happens to my premium next July if I am at platinum status? I'm not quite sure how the first year discount and the status discounts work out - it kind of looks like platinum status gives you the gym at £0 and 100% discount on premiums... which cant be right!

That is basically right. The premium won't ever be £0.00, though, because the 100% discount is the cost of the new year's basic premium minus the previous year's basic premium. When I say basic premium, that's the amount that you're automatically only paying 75% of in your first year.

The new year's basic premium will be more expensive than the current year's, to take account of inflation and the fact that you're a year older. So you subtract the old one from the new one and you'll still be left with a few quid.

Example:

Current year's premium = £40 a month (of which you're paying £30, because of the automatic 25% discount in Year 1)
New Year's premium = £40 a month + (for the sake of argument) 10% = £44
So if you end year 1 on platinum, you'll be paying £44 - £40 = £4 a month.

Plus whatever your gym fee works out at, which could be £0.00 if you're Platinum.

Hope this makes sense!

aliharris

stellastar wrote: »

What happens to my premium next July if I am at platinum status? I'm not quite sure how the first year discount and the status discounts work out - it kind of looks like platinum status gives you the gym at £0 and 100% discount on premiums... which cant be right!

I have heard of people ending up paying nothing, so that might be the case? I'm sure someone else on here will have the answer.

My Cannons is in Cheam, Surrey, but within the M25... so my gym will be £8 more than yours on whatever status i'm on.. it's at bit cheeky really.. they should charge this extra premium for clubs in London, which have London postcodes, though I'm in the London borough of Sutton... hmm.. i'm going to stop my !!!!!ing, it's still cheap

stellastar_2

aliharris wrote: »

BEWARE!

The curse of the fitbug... Each month you can earn 150pts through fitness.. This is 15 trips to the gym, OR 15 days using your fitbug (no gym on these days and over 12,500 steps) or a mixture of the two.. so basically, if you use your fitbug 15 days in a month, gym for the remaining days of the month, whatever happens, you'll only ever get a maximum of 150 points a month, as fitbug use and gym visits come under the same catagory which is capped at 150points/month.

I bought a fitbug a few weeks ago, but just as I registered it, someone posted about the above conditions.. as I go to the gym 5/6 times a week, it's now useless too me. To be fair, i'm 19, male and the prospect of carrying round a pedometer makes me cringe, i'll probably give it to my mum!? or attach it to the dog somehow.... hmm?

So.. don't bother with one if you're going to go to the gym 15 times a month!

Ah! Thank you! I knew they each had a monthly limit but for some reason thought they were only combined for the anual limit, so I'm probalby looking at March maybe Feb until platinum status, unless I can bump it up with sainsburys and ebay and however many points you get with the boots health check - if it's worth enough points to justify £25!

Plus I keep forgetting I signe dup through Quidco so muct be due that in the next month or two which should make up for the two more expensive months.

Even for someone quite new to PruHealth the new rules aren't looking too bad at all now I've spent a whole day sussing it out:rotfl:

aliharris

Haha, it's taken me ages to make sense of it too.. I've just been working out how to get more points using Sainsburys and Ebay, even if i max them both out, i'll still be 350 points short come Nov 1st.. I'm going to look into these health checks, they may be worth the money to boost points and be good too... bit worried to find out how many ailments i've got though! All this pru stuff has caused a major lax in my work..

stellastar_2

Bargain_Rzl wrote: »

That is basically right. The premium won't ever be £0.00, though, because the 100% discount is the cost of the new year's basic premium minus the previous year's basic premium. When I say basic premium, that's the amount that you're automatically only paying 75% of in your first year.

The new year's basic premium will be more expensive than the current year's, to take account of inflation and the fact that you're a year older. So you subtract the old one from the new one and you'll still be left with a few quid.

Example:

Current year's premium = £40 a month (of which you're paying £30, because of the automatic 25% discount in Year 1)
New Year's premium = £40 a month + (for the sake of argument) 10% = £44
So if you end year 1 on platinum, you'll be paying £44 - £40 = £4 a month.

Plus whatever your gym fee works out at, which could be £0.00 if you're Platinum.

Hope this makes sense!

It does! Thank you!

Assuming I make platinum by next June I could potentially just be paying the £4 part or whatever that amount happens to be! Or even if I was still at gold There's still the 75% discount plus only £14 for gym so still miles cheaper overall.
It's a good thing I came on here I was just going to cancel in disgust!

brownbabygirl

stellastar wrote: »

It does! Thank you!

Assuming I make platinum by next June I could potentially just be paying the £4 part or whatever that amount happens to be! Or even if I was still at gold There's still the 75% discount plus only £14 for gym so still miles cheaper overall.
It's a good thing I came on here I was just going to cancel in disgust!

Yes, def stick with it if you intend to keep fit in the long term. I am up for renewal in January and I expect my insurance will not be more than £5. Coupled with the £8 (rip-off) fee for the gym this totals no more than a measly £13 per month for the gym plus extra benefits for reaching platinum as outlined in my siggy! I can't wait!:D

aliharris

I almost cancelled too... It's worth it though if you plan to stick with it for at least a couple of years (as long as pru don't change the t's&c's again..:rolleyes:)

whowants2brich

whowants2brich wrote: »

I remember reading that people must never calculate this Pru Health deal on the basis of the first year - which will always work out expensive. Think always of the second year, which will cost virtually nothing - assuming that there is no claim on the policy - and that's when the savings kick in!

It's me who wrote that...

In year one, I paid £18 a month for the premium, 6 months free gym membership and free activation, then 6 months at £25. Then they started messing around with the gym prices, so that... Average £30.50 per month!

In year two, I paid £3.50 a month for the premium, 3 months at £25, 3 months at £40, 3 months at £15 then cancelled the gym membership in anticipation for November. Average £23.50 for 12 months, though gym for only 8 months would be £35.25 per month, which is still not bad! Didn't want to pay £40 (occasional usage). However, if I join the LA fitness now, I'd pay £25 per month + £25 activation = £100 for 3 months (regardless of frequency), vs £160 at Virgin Active for the 4 months at £40 that I would've had to pay...

July / Aug / Sept / Oct, I may not have gym membership, but I've got platinum status secure for my next policy year, so I will pay £0 for the LA fitness near to home, as opposed to £15 for the tier 2 Virgin Active near to where I work (and where I have been a member for the past 18 months).

Therefore in year three, I'll pay somewhere around £4 per month as I'll be a platinum member again for the health policy, and £0 per month for the gym. Average of £4 per month! Beat that!

whowants2brich

PS I wonder if we could organise a MSE Platinum Pru Health Reunion at a Champneys near us soon... Maybe on the Sunday of a bank holiday weekend... I wouldn't be surprised if we'd all go along without knowing who else was there, not knowing that we're all reading the same threads here on MSE...