Pruhealth gym loophole Article Discussion

Woodyrocks

p.s in addition to your monthly premium that is.

Hackneyboy

I'm thinking of joining Pru Health for the Virgin Active deal. What are the pros and cons of using the cashback sites and which is better Quidco or Topcashback?

andymac238

OK I've got a problem with LA Fitness on this deal -

Basically, they got me to fill out a Direct Debit Mandate when I got there as the details weren't showing up on their system and it was flagging my membership up as 'pending'. I didn't think anything to this as it said they would ask me to do this when I joined up online.

Since then I've found that they should not have done this! I got the receptionist to try and take my payment details off my membership but she said it wouldn't let her remove them. I got her to speak to both Pru and LA Fitness Head office on my behalf and she said that both of them have said it shouldn't be a problem as I haven't signed any contract with LA.

Well today I see that two direct debits have been set up on my bank account - one for Pru Health (this is to pay the insurance) and one for 'LA Leisure Ltd' which I assume is for the gym. Pru have been unable to convincingly confirm to me that this is what should be set up. Can someone here confirm that this is what gets set up when doing this deal (i.e. two direct debits, 1 for the insurance, 1 for the gym in the name of LA Leisure ltd)?

Woodyrocks

Hackneyboy wrote: »

I'm thinking of joining Pru Health for the Virgin Active deal. What are the pros and cons of using the cashback sites and which is better Quidco or Topcashback?

pros - cashback tracks you get paid

cons- cashback does not track and you do not get paid

Topcashback pays more for quidco. Better is as better does. Most of us on here are quidco lovers as you can guess. It pays when it says and if there is a problem we can raise a ticket using the enquiry widget that notes all sites visited through quidco.

Woodyrocks

andymac238 wrote: »

Well today I see that two direct debits have been set up on my bank account - one for Pru Health (this is to pay the insurance) and one for 'LA Leisure Ltd' which I assume is for the gym.

Can someone here confirm that this is what gets set up when doing this deal (i.e. two direct debits, 1 for the insurance, 1 for the gym in the name of LA Leisure ltd)?

Hi Andy, you should have two DD mandates BOTH from Pru health. Same originator ID different reference. One for your monthly sub and the other for the 3month period. I would cancel the DD through your bank and phone and inform LA of this action and get back on the phone to Pru. There has been a slow handover of info to the gym membership staff as far as I am concerned hence the ongoing mistakes we keep hearing about.

andymac238

Hi Woody,

Thanks for the reply - funny how I couldn't get a straight answer from Pru about this one, knew it would be better to come on here and just ask!

I've now cancelled the DD with the bank, and rung LA Fitness who say it should *hopefully* be sorted (I wasn't that convinced to be honest but we'll see), now I have to call the Pru to get them to reapply whatever they need to do to my LA account to make sure it is paid by them instead.

So this is a WARNING to anyone doing this deal - do NOT fill out any payment details or sign ANYTHING when you get to the gym. If you do it online, you shouldn't have to do anything at the gym. If they ask you to do it, refuse and ask them to speak to their head office, or better still call Pru and get them to sort it for you.

A.

MrChips

Regarding earlier queries about the lack of excess option for the Core plan, have you tried ringing for a quote?

When I signed up in July, the £1000 excess option wasn’t available online for the Core cover either – however it was just as easy to get a quote over the phone which was eligible for the higher excess, then take the reference number they gave and plug it in on the website. Hey presto, you can sign up online with the higher excess.

Kerstey

MrChips wrote: »

Regarding earlier queries about the lack of excess option for the Core plan, have you tried ringing for a quote?

When I signed up in July, the £1000 excess option wasn’t available online for the Core cover either – however it was just as easy to get a quote over the phone which was eligible for the higher excess, then take the reference number they gave and plug it in on the website. Hey presto, you can sign up online with the higher excess.

I just phoned Pru and changed my access to £1000 which it wouldn't allow me to do online and it took my premium to £23.59, rather than £30 a month so thanks for recommending me doing that.

It now looks like it will be worth my while taking this all out now. Thanks! x

Kerstey

Kerstey wrote: »

I just phoned Pru and changed my access to £1000 which it wouldn't allow me to do online and it took my premium to £23.59, rather than £30 a month so thanks for recommending me doing that.

It now looks like it will be worth my while taking this all out now. Thanks! x

I've just thought, after phoning Pru to change my excess, will I still be able to get the cashback throguh Quidco? It said on the Quidco website: "we cannot pay out on transactions that were not completed wholly online" ?

MrChips

No, you didn't understand my message!

Get a QUOTE only, over the phone. Ask for the quote reference number.

Then do a normal online application, via Quidco or wherever, and when it asks do you have a quote ref number, simply type it in.