Pruhealth with Virgin

robbiebrown34

Hi guys

I've had a bit of a read on here and there seems to be mixed reviews. Basically the Bracknell Virgin Active is very near to me so I am considering joining with my wife. We are members at a 'normal' gym currently but wanted the benefits of a swimming pool and spa etc.

There's one thing for sure, you don't get a cheap deal when it comes to Virgin Active but I'm interested in the PruHealth (now vitality) protection as there is 50% off Virgin membership along with loads of other benefits. One thing I can't find is how much the minimum cover needs to be to actually get the benefits? If we had Pruhealth we would save about £100 on the gym membership, but the quote I had for both of us was £40 per month. Is that about right?

Thanks in advance!

MARTYM8`

I can't comment on their Bracknell club but if you want to join Virgin Active I would definitely recommend the Pruhealth - soon to be Vitality health route.

The joining fee via Pruhealth will only be £75 vs £100 for direct membership - and you will only pay £72.50 a month rather than £145. That is a saving of nearly £900 a year. The other advantage is with Pruhealth its a rolling monthly contract - so you can cancel the gym add on at any time whereas many of the direct Virgin contracts are 12 month contracts. You can also use any of their gyms in the UK and abroad bar Chiswick I believe.

http://www.virginactive.co.uk/microsites/royal-county-berkshire/membership


Now of course you will need to fund the health insurance premium - but as long as you are fit and healthy it should be relatively inexpensive to start with although the premiums will generally go up annually. You also get other freebies with Pruhealth if you build up points (e.g. going to the gym a lot):

https://www.pruprotect.co.uk/pdfs/life/pruprotect_overview.pdf

one free weekly cinema ticket at Vue or Cineworld (worth up to £50 a month if you use it)
up to 50% off Eurostar tickets 3 times a year
a free health check up - and 50% discounts on premium check ups
discounts on/at Champneys products, Weight watchers, Lloyds pharmacies and bikes
prize draws to win football tickets for Liverpool, Man City and Arsenal
from this month 1 free Starbucks coffee and week and up to 40% off BA flights and more

The health insurance is worth it just for the freebies - which pay for it if you use them.

MercilessKiller

I have a question about this!

It appears on the website the policy must be a minimum of £30 a month if 2 people are on the policy, plus the £4 each to add Vitality Plus.. so £38 a month total for one policy with 2 people.

Virgin have said they would need an entity number for each person separately in order to register using the Vitality discounted option. At the Surrey Health and Racquets club thats £47.50 each rather than the £95 a month option.

So the question I have, is does one policy with 2 people = 1 entity number, or does Vitality Plus have it's own entity number per person that we can use so me and my partner can both register with the discounted rate at Virgin Active?

It seems there's nothing on the Pru website about this "entity number" which Virgin are requesting.

Thanks!

My quick maths is:
£38 a month to give me and my partner £120k life insurance + serious illness cover including 2 free cinema tickets per week and the half price virgin active
£47.50 a month each for membership with the gym.

That equals about £133 a month total, and we will go to the cinema a lot (we do already), and in london that's actually £30 each time pretty much!

Thanks

DD265

I have a Pru Health with Vitality policy through work and we have two membership numbers. I am the principle member and therefore get slightly better benefits than OH (such as a free healthcheck, his is £15) but he does have his own membership number.

MercilessKiller

DD265 wrote: »

I have a Pru Health with Vitality policy through work and we have two membership numbers. I am the principle member and therefore get slightly better benefits than OH (such as a free healthcheck, his is £15) but he does have his own membership number.

Thanks! Wonder if it is the same with Pru Life? We were planning on getting life insurance rather than health insurance to get the discount at Virgin, but saying that, maybe Health is the better way to go?

In reality, we dont really need life insurance right now (I have work life insurance and we don't have kids, and will be moving into another place when we do most likely..!)

Hmm lots to think about!

MercilessKiller

Bump - dont suppose anyone with Pru Life uses the Virgin Active deal in this way? I.E one life insurance policy with 2 people = 2 entity numbers for Virgin discount?