Pruhealth gym loophole Article Discussion

forumuser_3

littlerose12345 wrote: »

Give Pruhealth a call and say you'd like to be switched over to the new gym scheme. Make sure they don't cancel and start you on a new policy (as you'll lose your vitality points). They should just be able to switch you over.

I did this, and I have to pay a one off £25 during the 3 months when they work out your gym usage. After that it should be free.

Very simple, can't fault pru : )

Hi I have spoken to Pruhealth today regarding the above and they have said I am not allowed to move onto the new gym scheme until I have had their policy a year. Which will be from 24/03/07.

To continue using the gym with Pruhealth will cost £19-30 (Pruhealth Fee) + £20.00 (Gym Fee) a total of £39.30 this membership would cost £36 normally at JJB.

Do you think my best option would be to cancel the Pruhealth insurance and join direct to JJB as I dont need the insurance?

Thank You

Ian

QQuaver

forumuser wrote: »

To continue using the gym with Pruhealth will cost £19-30 (Pruhealth Fee) + £20.00 (Gym Fee) a total of £39.30 this membership would cost £36 normally at JJB.

Do you think my best option would be to cancel the Pruhealth insurance and join direct to JJB as I dont need the insurance?

Thank You

Ian

Will your Pru premium still be £19.30 now(have you checked)?. Also gym fee is £25 now AFIAK. Do check this. Also, which status are you regarding Vitality points? Do calculate how much it would be from March monthly had you stayed.

forumuser_3

QQuaver wrote: »

Will your Pru premium still be £19.30 now(have you checked)?. Also gym fee is £25 now AFIAK. Do check this. Also, which status are you regarding Vitality points? Do calculate how much it would be from March monthly had you stayed.

As far as I know my Pru premium stays at £19.30 per month I havent seen anything that says it doesn't yet.

I have had a letter that says the gym premium for JJB Thanet will be an additional £20/month starting from 04/11/07. Bringing the total to £39.30 if the Pru premimum stays the same I could sign up to JJB for £36/month.

The call centre advisor said that from March as long as I had been going twice a week or more the Gym price would be £0.00 so it may be worth keeping the policy rather than cancelling?

QQuaver

forumuser wrote: »

The call centre advisor said that from March as long as I had been going twice a week or more the Gym price would be £0.00 so it may be worth keeping the policy rather than cancelling?

Paying 4pounds extra for 4/5 months is worth it in the end I think. You should be able to recoup it in a month or so surely?

Are you a platinum member yet? And go to the gym 26 times/3 month?

forumuser_3

QQuaver wrote: »

Paying 4pounds extra for 4/5 months is worth it in the end I think. You should be able to recoup it in a month or so surely?

Are you a platinum member yet? And go to the gym 26 times/3 month?

Yes thats what I thought as long as the Pruhealth premium does not go up next month I shall keep the policy going..

I am currently a Bronze member and go to the gym twice a week.

camaj

forumuser wrote: »

To continue using the gym with Pruhealth will cost £19-30 (Pruhealth Fee) + £20.00 (Gym Fee) a total of £39.30 this membership would cost £36 normally at JJB.

It might be £39 now but how much would it be if you went more? For LA fitness people (some are slightly higher) you can end up paying £0 a month for the gym (2-3 visits a week) and low premiums if you get enough points to reach platinum status. Premiums vary on age/gender but you will get 100% off your next premium if you're platinum so you end up only paying the difference. If you're premium goes up £8 a month then platinum members will only pay £8 per month in year 2.

Will your second year start in march? If so there's plenty of time to reach platinum. In theory you can reach platinum in 150 days (150 x 10 points max + 500 bonus points)

You say Pru say you can't move your gym until you renew? Is the gym you're at already part of your policy?

I would say it's worth staying either way because if you can finish year 1 with platinum then you will possibly be paying £35 for the first 3 months and then £10 or so from then on out (provided you keep going to the gym)

CraigZ

wensleydaleuk wrote: »

Hi Folks

Has anyone joined Virgin Active via the PruHealth deal recently? My partner and I had a tour round their Derby gym yesterday and the sales person said its been taking around 10 weeks to activate Pru memberships! Has anyone found this to be the case?? Part of me was wondering if that was just a salespersons way of getting us to join there and then.
Cheers

I joined last week, and phoned PruHealth with my application number, and got my policy number from them. I then called Virgin for activation number, then called PruHealth back to pay for the gym membership. Pru advised me I can start using the gym as soon as my activation payment has gone through, which they said is around 2-3 days from now. The whole process will have taken me about 10 days by that time.
It might take much longer if you wait on the paperwork coming through (I still don't have the policy stuff through yet), but if you shortcut that by phone, it seems to go OK.
Not actually been to the gym yet, so we'll see....

Incidentaly, it's worth phoning Pru to check which 'Tier' your gym is on, as their website tells you Glasgow is Tier 2, but it's actually Tier 1, which costs £10 a month less Would have joined sooner if I'd known this, as wasn't saving much over another gym I was considering. Would have been most hacked off if mistake went the other way though!

jtownson

I have just come out of my first quarter of gym membership and there is a slight issue. The website stated I had to go 26 times, so I went 27 times to be on the safe side. However my membership fee stayed the same so I sent an email to pruhealth. They say because there was 98 days in the quarter I needed to go 28 times. However the website always said 26 times to me. The email also stated that you can only go 15 times in one month - this is something that I didnt realise.

I have since checked back and noticed that another gym visit has appeared for the last quarter, bring my membership down to the regular usage price. However this visit was the 16th in the month...they have also taken the money out of my account for full memembership.

Should I call them and ask for part of that membership fee back....knowing that they could check everything and start charging me full price again or should I just leave it?? The website definitly said 26 times but problem is, I have no proof??

QQuaver

Mine says 26 as well, but as there's 107 days (started mid Oct), when I phoned to ask, they said 31 visits. So the phone person was right then. Thanks.

MoscowFlyer

littlerose12345 wrote: »

Give Pruhealth a call and say you'd like to be switched over to the new gym scheme. Make sure they don't cancel and start you on a new policy (as you'll lose your vitality points). They should just be able to switch you over.

I did this, and I have to pay a one off £25 during the 3 months when they work out your gym usage. After that it should be free.

Very simple, can't fault pru : )

This may not be all it seems unless Pru are giving me some spin. I argued this with them as they told me it couldn't be done, this was there reply.


Dear Mr ******

Thank you for contacting us through our website yesterday about taking advantage of the new gym membership fee structure.

We have arranged to automatically switch our policyholders over the new structure from their renewal date as this will allow them to start accumulating visits and improving their chances of reducing their gym membership fees.

In your case, we will monitor your gym visits for November, December and January to determine your gym membership fees for February, March and April. Therefore, if you visit your gym at least twice a week between November and January, you can reduce your gym membership fees to 0.

We did receive a few complaints about this and we made a special arrangement for these policyholders which allowed them to be manually switched over to the new structure. However, these policyholder may have been disadvantaged by not having the opportunity to start accumulating their gym visits and reducing their gym membership fees immediately.

If you have any questions or require further information, please call us on 0800 092 7333. Alternatively, you can send us a secure message from our website www.pruhealth.co.uk.




I called them up and they confirmed the 'disadvantage' to the people who have been switched is that whereas my last three months of the year will go towards Cannons membership from renewal meaning I will pay £0 from then, the people who have been switched mid-term will start from scratch at renewal and will have to start accumulating visits for the first three months of the renewed policy, meaning they have to pay for those first three months.