Pruhealth gym loophole Article Discussion

camaj

andymac238 wrote: »

They send you an email with your membership number and confirmation, which you should then print off and take to the gym.

Yeah, done that. Haven't got a printer but they say just write down the membership number PRUxxxxxxx and take your Pruhealth card in.

What I'm asking is what happened when you or others did this. Or at least what should have happened. I expect to sign a contract/TC thingy although I already did in august so I may not need it unless they've destroyed it. I won't be putting my bank details in because I don't remember them off by heart anyway but I doubt they'd ask me.

All I really need from them is a card so I can get in. I just want to know what to say/do, since I'm sure most non-members go and sign up in person rather than tell them they've signed up.

adamt

Andymac - ive just spoken to head office, and they confirmed i DONT need to sign a contract as i agreed with the terms online, she put a comment on my account to confirm this. :rolleyes:


CAMAJ - you do NOT need to sign any contract or hand over ANY details when u first go to the gym.
just bring down your membership number and pru id card, u fill out a health questionaire, they then issue u with a membership card, and u can start straight away.

andymac238

adamt wrote: »

Andymac - ive just spoken to head office, and they confirmed i DONT need to sign a contract as i agreed with the terms online, she put a comment on my account to confirm this. :rolleyes:


CAMAJ - you do NOT need to sign any contract or hand over ANY details when u first go to the gym.
just bring down your membership number and pru id card, u fill out a health questionaire, they then issue u with a membership card, and u can start straight away.

Good stuff adam :T just shows it's worth persevering to get the correct answer!! Glad you are now all set.

Camaj - what adam said! The confusion comes because I think the gym staff are told that they shouldn't issue a membership card without a signed contract, so you may have a bit of to-ing and fro-ing. Be aware though that they CAN sign you in without a membership card - because you'll already be present on the system under your membership ID. They did it for me the first time I went, maybe ask them to contact their Head Office while you're there if you have problems (they've done that for me before)??

andymac238

camaj wrote: »

Yeah, done that. Haven't got a printer but they say just write down the membership number PRUxxxxxxx and take your Pruhealth card in.

What I'm asking is what happened when you or others did this. Or at least what should have happened. I expect to sign a contract/TC thingy although I already did in august so I may not need it unless they've destroyed it. I won't be putting my bank details in because I don't remember them off by heart anyway but I doubt they'd ask me.

All I really need from them is a card so I can get in. I just want to know what to say/do, since I'm sure most non-members go and sign up in person rather than tell them they've signed up.

Cam - what happened for me was, they were confused about what to do because my membership was showing as 'pending'. So they asked me to fill out a DD mandate which I thought was normal because of what it says on their site after you activate. Had to sort that one out for a couple of weeks afterwards! Then, we were heading down the 'Standard Contract' route, but luckily one of the more clued-up Managers was around at that point and told the member of staff they could issue a card without the contract because I was a PruHealth member. Was a bit touch and go though admittedly.

As I understand it, you've signed up under a PruHealth membership ID, so I would guess that to LA Fitness you're a brand new member. The normal process is that once you've activated you phone up to arrange an induction. It's at the induction that they issue you with a card etc. I'm not sure if you might cause yourselves more problems if you tell them you've already inducted etc back in August???

Hope this helps you anyway.

adamt

andymac238 wrote: »

As I understand it, you've signed up under a PruHealth membership ID, so I would guess that to LA Fitness you're a brand new member. The normal process is that once you've activated you phone up to arrange an induction. It's at the induction that they issue you with a card etc. I'm not sure if you might cause yourselves more problems if you tell them you've already inducted etc back in August???

Hope this helps you anyway.

Camaj- you dont have to take the induction, you have an alternative choice of a brief tour of the gym, so i dont think it will be a problem that you have already had an induction.

I just turned up, spoke to a salesman, he asked if i wanted an induction and i said no thanks, he issued me a card.
but i had to wait till the next day to activate the card as their system wa down.

However, when i went for the first time today when i got there a different salesman gave me a Fitness Assessment sheet and told me to fill it out.
Even though it requires BMI , Blood pressure and Heart rate, i told him 'how am i meant to fill this in', and he said 'oh yeh, you need to book in for an assessment' to which i said is it compulsary. and he said yes!

although i doubt very much this is the case!:rotfl:

andymac238

adamt wrote: »

Camaj- you dont have to take the induction, you have an alternative choice of a brief tour of the gym, so i dont think it will be a problem that you have already had an induction.

I just turned up, spoke to a salesman, he asked if i wanted an induction and i said no thanks, he issued me a card.
but i had to wait till the next day to activate the card as their system wa down.

However, when i went for the first time today when i got there a different salesman gave me a Fitness Assessment sheet and told me to fill it out.
Even though it requires BMI , Blood pressure and Heart rate, i told him 'how am i meant to fill this in', and he said 'oh yeh, you need to book in for an assessment' to which i said is it compulsary. and he said yes!

although i doubt very much this is the case!:rotfl:

It's worth doing that Fitness Assessment - gets you 300 Vitality Points if you fax the results over to Pru and only takes around 30-45 minutes!

There's maybe grounds here for some kind of Do's and Don'ts Sticky regarding the PruHealth gym memberships, especially for LA Fitness. Would be good to get a post together which details how the whole process should go.

I guess the biggest don'ts are DON'T sign a contract and DON'T give your bank details! Once you've signed up online that should be it, apart from any health questionairres or fitness assessments.

camaj

Ok thanks for the replies. I had no plans to sign any bank details away I'm not really worried about anything just don't want to get there and wait while they try to figure out what they're supposed to do with me. I'm sure they'd work it out eventually but I'd rather get in and out

I don't see why not having an induction will matter, once you have your card that's it. I want a fitness assessment, it gives you a few hundred vitality points!!

camaj

Ok just came back. The girl I spoke to was either an idiot or I am. She was trying to get me to sign a DD which I refused. I explained that I didn't want to end up paying twice and then she said I've already signed 2 DD's (one with pru and one with LA fitness). I explained that the Pru one was just for the premium and was seperate to this deal and she wasn't having it but said that I could still come in but I have to submit my details in a few days. I repeatedly tried to tell her that I've signed a DD with LA.Fitness and she said she'd look into it.

Anyway she rang my mobile about 5 mins after I left and said I had already signed a DD with "healthforce" and they don't deal with them. I told her I'd never heard of them. It was when she told me the date of the agreement that it clicked. Turns out it was the company that did the Grazia trial! I either forgot/didn't realise that I had to cancel it. If I could swear here I would :mad:

So I have 3 questions now:
1)What shall I do about LA fitness or did I do the right thing?
2)How shall I sort this Healthforce DD out? Ring them up or just cancel it via my bank? The LA fitness bird reckons I'm stuck with a 12month contract which I reckon is rubbish, no way am I paying 12 months
3) If I'm already a member, should I just cancel my Pru sign up and get them to move me over instead? Maybe that'd be easier (or more complicated)
4) Still haven't got my boots points card. Has anyone here signed via boots but not been an existing card holder? Have you received your card yet?

adamt

camaj wrote: »

Ok just came back. The girl I spoke to was either an idiot or I am. She was trying to get me to sign a DD which I refused. I explained that I didn't want to end up paying twice and then she said I've already signed 2 DD's (one with pru and one with LA fitness). I explained that the Pru one was just for the premium and was seperate to this deal and she wasn't having it but said that I could still come in but I have to submit my details in a few days. I repeatedly tried to tell her that I've signed a DD with LA.Fitness and she said she'd look into it.

Anyway she rang my mobile about 5 mins after I left and said I had already signed a DD with "healthforce" and they don't deal with them. I told her I'd never heard of them. It was when she told me the date of the agreement that it clicked. Turns out it was the company that did the Grazia trial! I either forgot/didn't realise that I had to cancel it. If I could swear here I would :mad:

So I have 3 questions now:
1)What shall I do about LA fitness or did I do the right thing?
2)How shall I sort this Healthforce DD out? Ring them up or just cancel it via my bank? The LA fitness bird reckons I'm stuck with a 12month contract which I reckon is rubbish, no way am I paying 12 months
3) If I'm already a member, should I just cancel my Pru sign up and get them to move me over instead? Maybe that'd be easier (or more complicated)
4) Still haven't got my boots points card. Has anyone here signed via boots but not been an existing card holder? Have you received your card yet?

Ok, ill try and help you out with a few but im not too sure about all of them, im sure andy will help out too.

1) The bottom line is, you agreed the terms/contract when you paid the activation charge online, You DO NOT NEED to sign a DD mandate, full stop!
Speak to head office like i done, tell them to put a comment on your account, so when this hopeless girl tries it again, she will see the head office comment.

2+3) i dont no anything about this healthforce so cant advise im afraid.
ALTHOUGH, u said, she said to you, you have already signed a DD with healthforce? so how would she be able to find this out if LA are not associated with them??? hmmm.

As you done a 'trial' and they have charged you, i wouldnt be suprised if they have a sly process of automaically signing you up after the trial, UNLESS you confirm you dont want to.


4) i signed with boots, and the membership pack and card arrived on the day my policy started.
If your policy has already started which i assume it has, give them a call and ask.

adamt

andymac238 wrote: »

It's worth doing that Fitness Assessment - gets you 300 Vitality Points if you fax the results over to Pru and only takes around 30-45 minutes!

There's maybe grounds here for some kind of Do's and Don'ts Sticky regarding the PruHealth gym memberships, especially for LA Fitness. Would be good to get a post together which details how the whole process should go.

I guess the biggest don'ts are DON'T sign a contract and DON'T give your bank details! Once you've signed up online that should be it, apart from any health questionairres or fitness assessments.

thats a good idea, id be happy to contribute, but how do we get a sticky on the forum?

with regards to the fitness assesment did u have to do cardio with them monitoring your heart rate, or is it all measurments?