Pruhealth gym loophole Article Discussion

brown615

MoscowFlyer wrote: »

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.

This is interesting as I'm currently at renewal stage. As I said in post #310, I've now found out that as I'm at renewal stage 'less than 14 days before the end of the quarter' they will only start accumulating my visits during the first three months of the new quarter.

I am very angry about being charged £40 a month for the next three months while they accumulate my visits (even though my gym visits show that I'm a 'regular user'). I enquired about switching to the new pricing structure 'mid-term' and was discouraged from doing so and promised that my visits would be accumlated prior to renewal so that after renewal I would be on the correct pricing structure. I've complained to PruHealth and they are 'looking into it'.

MoscowFlyer

brown615 wrote: »

This is interesting as I'm currently at renewal stage. As I said in post #310, I've now found out that as I'm at renewal stage 'less than 14 days before the end of the quarter' they will only start accumulating my visits during the first three months of the new quarter.

I am very angry about being charged £40 a month for the next three months while they accumulate my visits (even though my gym visits show that I'm a 'regular user'). I enquired about switching to the new pricing structure 'mid-term' and was discouraged from doing so and promised that my visits would be accumlated prior to renewal so that after renewal I would be on the correct pricing structure. I've complained to PruHealth and they are 'looking into it'.

Did they get back to you on this? I've got it in writing but I wouldn't put it past them to try something similar on with me, their service over the past 9 months has been nothing short of shocking (I had to make a claim and still shake my head in disbelief over the way it was handled, and is still outstanding 3 months after the claim was accepted).

My premium is going to go up because of the claim but I now get health insurance through work so don't need it. If they actually charge me nothing from renewal for the gym then if my premium is £40 or less a month (currently £26) it will obviously make sense to keep the Pru policy as well as the one I have with work, but anything more and I'll gladly pay the difference (Cannons membership is £57 a month) just so that I don't need to deal with Pru anymore. I use the gym 3 or 4 times a week so I'll still be getting my moneys worth but without the added hassle of wondering if Pru are going to stitch me up quarter to quarter.

brown615

I haven't heard anything yet other than confirmation that they've received my complaint. I did notice that it now says 'Currently there is no gym benefit registered for you. Please contact our call center on 0800 012 1328 should you require further information.' in the Vitality Gym Membership section, whereas before I complained it said that I had to pay £40 a month as my gym visits won't be accumlated until the next quarter.

I know this is a good deal and you don't get something for nothing but PruHealth do seem to be a bit sneaky about changing the rules. My renewal quote for next year's premium is 10% higher than last year's and they now say I can't up my excess to reduce the quote as they've changed the rules on doing that if you're on the Core plan.

QQuaver

jtownson wrote: »

However the website always said 26 times to me.

I think it does for everyone.

The email also stated that you can only go 15 times in one month - this is something that I didnt realise.

Didn't know that, thanks:o

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??

Call them, nothing to lose;)

Pound

I did think this, I needed 28 visits but on my Pruhealth page it said 26 visits were needed. Upon reading more closely it actually said I needed 26 visits for the following quarter but it didn't give me a number of visits needed for the current quarter. I suspect this is what has happened with everyone else.

absidoodledandy

I have also had the problems where the website stated i needed 26 gym visits to reach regular user status but then when the new quarter started i was given occasional user status even though i had been 26 times.
When i emailed them and asked what had happened they replied saying that i actually needed 29 visits!!!

There is clearly an error with their website but as i have no proof that it said i needed 26 visits im not sure what to do. Pru are apprently looking into it for me for i dont hold out much hope!

If lots of people are having this problem is there anything we can do, as a group?

QQuaver

absidoodledandy wrote: »

If lots of people are having this problem is there anything we can do, as a group?

So the website is wrong. They should correct is asap.
What is the point of writing 26 when I need 31?:mad:
Thanks to you lot, I noticed it in time:o

burnoutbabe

just joined the gym and some questions.

I started policy mid Sept and joined gym mid Nov. So when does the quarter start for gym visits? is 15 per month, a calander month?

i need 2000 points for plat status right? i have a dorky spreadsheet now of what need to get max points at each level

BUT

it says you can get 150 points for not smoking, but max for this is 200 points, so whats the missing 50 for?

same with nutrician? i assume i can either maintain OR improve my BMI, but even i did everything, i';d get 500 out of max 600. or can you get points for maintaining AND improving?

he he, i know very sad

CraigZ

So far as I can see, you can only get the extra 50 points if you are registered with VitalityMed to get points for lifestyle changes to help treat a chronic medical condition.
So, all you need to do is get hypertension, asthma, hyperlipidaemia, chronic obstructive pulminary disease or diabetes & you'll be on your way to Platinum status in no time .

Woo hoo

Or not

brown615

Just had a phonecall from a very nice lady from PruHealth. She was calling to reassure me that I will switch over to the new pricing structure from renewal (despite what the website was telling me) and that my visits have been monitored leading up to renewal so I will be on the 'regular user' pricing structure. Which is a relief! :j

She said that they are having problems with the website to it's best to call them up every few months to see how you're doing in terms of gym visits.