HELP! Pru Health/LA Fitness Membership bungle

andymac238

OK I've got a problem with LA Fitness on the Pru Health deal -

Basically, they got me to fill out a Direct Debit Mandate when I got there as the details weren't showing up on their system and it was flagging my membership up as 'pending'. I didn't think anything to this as it said they would ask me to do this when I joined up online.

Since then I've found that they should not have done this! I got the receptionist to try and take my payment details off my membership but she said it wouldn't let her remove them. I got her to speak to both Pru and LA Fitness Head office on my behalf and she said that both of them have said it shouldn't be a problem as I haven't signed any contract with LA.

Well today I see that two direct debits have been set up on my bank account - one for Pru Health (this is to pay the insurance) and one for 'LA Leisure Ltd' which I assume is for the gym. Pru have been unable to convincingly confirm to me that this is what should be set up. Can someone here confirm that this is what gets set up when doing this deal (i.e. two direct debits, 1 for the insurance, 1 for the gym in the name of LA Leisure ltd)?

andymac238

Well seeing as nobody answered on this thread(!!!) I'll answer it myself. 'Woodyrocks' was kind enough to answer this point for me on the main PruHealth thread.

There should be 2 direct debits set up, but BOTH by PruHealth. You don't set up anything with LA Fitness. The only payment you make to them is the initial activation fee of £25 through the special PruHealth section of the LA Fitness website.

The follow-up to this story is that I cancelled the 'LA Leisure' Direct Debit with the bank immediately and then called LA Fitness to let them know. Of course this didn't stop them sending me out a letter with a Direct Debit form attached saying that I can't cancel my membership yet :mad:

So I've sent them a written letter via Recorded Delivery asking for it to be sorted and a written response to that effect. I also emailed them and received a reply from their Corporate department (they deal with the PruHealth memberships) saying it has all been resolved. I've also written to the Pru asking them to help me sort it out.

I have to say that the Pru haven't been particularly helpful throughout, especially given that they have a contract with LA Fitness - I would have thought they would be more helpful/interested. Basically, they've been agreeing with me but telling me I should get LA Fitness to call them - how ridiculous, why can't they just pick up the phone themselves to one of their own Vitality partners??? :rolleyes:

If this happens to you then I'd recommend contacting both parties in writing (email or letter so that you have it as a reference), as verbal assurances don't really count for much unfortunately.

brightonalex

Hi,
The Pru health/LA fitness thing is a really good deal, but they are hard work to deal with because there is no real communication between Pru and LA Fitness.
The people in the gym don't know much about it, and the two head offices just redirect you to the other one. The only thing to do is keep bugging them.

One other thing - be really careful that the gym swipes your card when you go in, otherwise your visit won't be registered (and you'll pay extra for your insurance!)