Pruhealth gym loophole Article Discussion

andymac238

adamt - don't sign anything!!! :eek:

If you speak to the LA Fitness sales guys they'll likely try to get you to sign one of their standard contracts so that they get their commission but this is NOT what you should be doing. There is a section on the LA Fitness website www.lafitness.co.uk/pruhealth which is where you should go to sign up as a Pru Health member. From here, you activate your LA Fitness membership and get a membership number etc, which you then take to the gym and get them to book you in for your induction.

I can't stress it enough - DO NOT SIGN ANYTHING, OR GIVE THEM YOUR BANK DETAILS, if in any doubt at all, phone the Pru and speak to their Vitality dept to get them to go through it with you.

I didn't sign any Contract, but I did mistakenly give over my bank details and I then had to do the whole phonecalls/emails/letters thing to get them to cancel the DD they set up, and promise that they wouldn't try again!

adamt

andymac238 wrote: »

adamt - don't sign anything!!! :eek:

If you speak to the LA Fitness sales guys they'll likely try to get you to sign one of their standard contracts so that they get their commission but this is NOT what you should be doing. There is a section on the LA Fitness website www.lafitness.co.uk/pruhealth which is where you should go to sign up as a Pru Health member. From here, you activate your LA Fitness membership and get a membership number etc, which you then take to the gym and get them to book you in for your induction.

I can't stress it enough - DO NOT SIGN ANYTHING, OR GIVE THEM YOUR BANK DETAILS, if in any doubt at all, phone the Pru and speak to their Vitality dept to get them to go through it with you.

I didn't sign any Contract, but I did mistakenly give over my bank details and I then had to do the whole phonecalls/emails/letters thing to get them to cancel the DD they set up, and promise that they wouldn't try again!

Hi andymac, thanks for your reply.

I have already signed up on www.lafitness.co.uk/pruhealth and have paid the £25 activation charge.
The salesman who i met and went through it all said i do not need to fill out any bank details, but i must sign the gym contract?

I understand what your saying, but am i Not meant to even sign the gym contract for the terms(No bank details included) ??

Thanks again

Libertarian

adamt wrote: »

Hi andymac, thanks for your reply.

I have already signed up on www.lafitness.co.uk/pruhealth and have paid the £25 activation charge.
The salesman who i met and went through it all said i do not need to fill out any bank details, but i must sign the gym contract?

I understand what your saying, but am i Not meant to even sign the gym contract for the terms(No bank details included) ??

Thanks again

I had to sign the contract (an earlier post of mine refers), but provided it doesn't contain your bank details or membership fees I don't see how they can use it to charge you anything.

However, that's not to say they won't try. In my opinion this is another of the weaknesses of this attractive, but poorly implemented idea. I really couldn't see a court making you pay, but there is the potential for a lot of hassle from LA Fitness acting out of stupidity.

Bargain_Rzl

Re: signing contracts - I had to sign the standard form for Cannons, minus my bank details. It was basically to get my details on their system so I can get a membership number which will be linked back to my PruHealth policy - and to give written confirmation of the bit that says I don't know of any obvious medical reason why I shouldn't be going to the gym.

The Cannons staff were extremely professional and it was quite clear that they knew what they were talking about. This seems quite the opposite of the experience many have had with LA Fitness (who, by the way, I wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole - though I realise I am lucky as I live and work in London and therefore have the luxury of the choice of many different gyms.)

adamt

i just called the Pru, and asked the vitality department if i am required to sign a contract when i visit the gym , he said i DO , as it is the terms and conditions of the gym????

andymac238

Well perhaps I stand corrected then - sorry to give you mixed messages, it's just that as I understood it you 'sign' up to their Terms and Conditions when you activate online. PLUS you get your membership number at this stage too, so you're already on their system. Not sure why they need you to sign a 'Standard' Contract after all that???

I didn't have to sign a contract, nor did Pru ever inform me that I would have to.

Unless the process has changed recently??? I appreciate that you've spoken to the Pru and what they've told you - did they check with anyone? Might be worth giving them another call to totally set your mind at rest...

adamt

andymac238 wrote: »

Well perhaps I stand corrected then - sorry to give you mixed messages, it's just that as I understood it you 'sign' up to their Terms and Conditions when you activate online. PLUS you get your membership number at this stage too, so you're already on their system. Not sure why they need you to sign a 'Standard' Contract after all that???

I didn't have to sign a contract, nor did Pru ever inform me that I would have to.

Unless the process has changed recently??? I appreciate that you've spoken to the Pru and what they've told you - did they check with anyone? Might be worth giving them another call to totally set your mind at rest...

Andymac im not doubting you for a second, you have been very helpful, which i appreciate

I called them again, and this time the lady said i shouldnt have to sign, as i agreed online, but they may have new terms needing writtin contracts,

they said to call Pru when your at the gym and give the phone to the salesman.

So hopefully i shouldnt have to sign anything

Thanks again

Just a note, in the activation note u print off when u pay the £25, it actually says u are required to fill out a direct debit mandate when u first go, which is rubbish, so for those who have printed it out, do what i done and rip the top half off where it says this nonsense

camaj

andymac238 wrote: »

There is a section on the LA Fitness website www.lafitness.co.uk/pruhealth which is where you should go to sign up as a Pru Health member.

I wish someone had said this a bit sooner. What did you do when you went there? I don't need to book an induction (I did the Grazia trial in august), but I'd need a membership card and I might need to sign something

andymac238

adamt wrote: »

Andymac im not doubting you for a second, you have been very helpful, which i appreciate

I called them again, and this time the lady said i shouldnt have to sign, as i agreed online, but they may have new terms needing writtin contracts,

they said to call Pru when your at the gym and give the phone to the salesman.

So hopefully i shouldnt have to sign anything

Thanks again

Just a note, in the activation note u print off when u pay the £25, it actually says u are required to fill out a direct debit mandate when u first go, which is rubbish, so for those who have printed it out, do what i done and rip the top half off where it says this nonsense

Hey adam, no problem :beer:

I can fully identify with you at this stage! I kept getting different answers from Pru/LA and the best advice I can give you is to basically not do anything unless you are 100% sure you should be doing it. One thing I would also recommend is to ring LA Fitness head office and ask to speak someone regarding Pru Health memberships, as I found in some cases they were more clued up than the Pru staff and they may be able to tell you exactly what should happen at the gym...


I got caught with the DD thing - you are correct it is rubbish and it took several calls/letters/emails to get it sorted afterwards!

andymac238

camaj wrote: »

I wish someone had said this a bit sooner. What did you do when you went there? I don't need to book an induction (I did the Grazia trial in august), but I'd need a membership card and I might need to sign something

Sorry mate - although it is mentioned (much) earlier in this thread.

When you get to that page, you put in your Pru Health ID number and details, then you 'activate' a new membership account. They send you an email with your membership number and confirmation, which you should then print off and take to the gym.

Membership card is a bit more tricky - they need to issue you one from the gym I think, so just make sure you stand your ground if you don't think you should be signing anything. Ring Pru/LA Head Office and establish what should happen before you go in, ideally.