Vitality - new "Play" rewards

IW74

Not sure if anyone else has Vitality Life/Health insurance - would be interested to know your thoughts on the new rewards experience they've introduced from this week.
For me it's probably the final straw. 
Around a year ago, earning 40 points a week would get me Amazon Prime membership fully paid for, a cinema ticket each month, and a few other bits that I rarely took advantage of, but were there if I wanted to (free drink, free movie rental etc). 
And all I had to do for that was the amount of walking I do each week :-)

The Amazon benefit was removed last Autumn - annoying, but stuck with it as the cinema one is the one I take advantage of mostly. 
Saw the notification that it was changing, so logged in yesterday. It's now divided into monthly rewards and other rewards that you either have to choose from or "play" for. And when I say "play" - it's literally a case of clicking on squares that might have a dog behind them, or might not. Don't find the dog, don't get the extra reward points. How is this rewarding someone staying active? I'm not 12, I don't want to be playing daft games to try and access some of the dwindling rewards they now offer.

Vitality seem to have massively over-complicated what used to be a simple process to earn anything even vaguely worth having now. I've reached the point where I think I'd rather just have a Life Insurance policy that is exactly that - a policy, that I pay a fixed amount for each month over a fixed period, that I don't have to jump through ridiculous hoops for. Any suggestions for alternatives? Aviva seem to have a few mentions on here from doing a quick search. Policy would just be for me, and would be decreasing term for the 8 years or so left on my mortgage.

Thanks for reading!

lcfcrule

I have Vitality health insurance. I am equally unimpressed with the changes they have made. I was quite happy with the monthly cinema tickets and Itsu voucher for reaching 48 points a month, as well as the weekly Rakuten/Caffe Nero vouchers (which I used less often). Now that you have to play a silly game (which is based on pot luck, nothing else) to collect 12 dogs over the month to retain the same vouchers, seems like they are diluting the rewards rather than enhancing them.
I signed up late 2024 so I missed out on the Prime membership but that sounds like a cracking offer back then.

I will definitely be considering my options later this year when my health insurance is due for renewal. No doubt all the premiums will increase and I wouldn't begrudge that if they increased (or kept) the benefits but they are reducing the benefits and wasting money in all this marketing and app development when they should have just kept it as it was. Sadly it's indicative of everything around us - nobody dares to keep things the same and seem to be making changes for the sake of it (to keep people busy/employed).

IW74

The Prime membership was a huge selling point - think I had about 3 or 4 years without having to make a single contribution to it. It also incentivised me on those days where I'd not quite done enough steps to get out and do a few more. 
I have considered the Apple Watch benefit too - I was always put off by the thought of tying myself in for a further 3 year period though, so I'm glad I resisted.
You're completely right - it is indicative of everything around us. I would probably have stuck with it for some guaranteed, tangible benefits, but this is probably their way of sneakily providing less, without actually withdrawing anything.

randomduck

I completely agree... basically they are reducing the rewards and trying to disguising the fact by selling as them being 'supercharged'.

Vitality play... what a load of rubbish! Really? I have to gamble for them now?

Disappointing

IW74

Guess what?
Only the 1 dog that you're automatically awarded when I tried again this morning.
None of my other 3 guesses found a dog - the same as last week.
Starting to think it's not so much pot luck as just a con.

I've emailed Vitality asking how to cancel my policy as - surprise surprise - there's no way to do it online, and nothing in their FAQs that tell you how to do it either.

military_boots

I agree with everything everyone has said so far. I’ve had a policy since 2013. Vitality have continually diluted and reduced the value of rewards. Now with this game being introduced, the effort required to get a reward is both unfair (as it’s now a game of chance restricting you from attaining what you’ve earned) and childish and boring (because of the additional stupid step of the game).

I’m going to cancel the rewards part of my policy if it’s possible to do that.

IW74

military_boots said:

I agree with everything everyone has said so far. I’ve had a policy since 2013. Vitality have continually diluted and reduced the value of rewards. Now with this game being introduced, the effort required to get a reward is both unfair (as it’s now a game of chance restricting you from attaining what you’ve earned) and childish and boring (because of the additional stupid step of the game).

I’m going to cancel the rewards part of my policy if it’s possible to do that.

You should be able to - I pay around £5 a month for something called Vitality Optimiser - but I suspect I'm going to get pushed towards an offshore call centre when I try and cancel my entire policy.
I guess with mine, worst case is I'll just cancel the direct debit, and it will lapse after 2 missed payments.

If you get anywhere trying to cancel that bit, let us know!

Matthew_Bester

Glad I am not the only one.

I played that stupid game for the second time today and found myself thinking, "what is this &@*!".

It is clear they are reducing the cost of rewards to them by restricting access with this gimick and calling it "new and improved".

I'm going to get quotes from other providers in the new month.

IW74

Depending what cover you have you might be able to get at least the equivalent level for less elsewhere.
I have Life and Critical Illness to cover my mortgage term. Vitality’s Critical Illness only pays out percentages though, depending on type and severity of the illness.
I'm looking at switching to LV - currently have my car insurance with them, and previously had travel insurance too. Always found them to be good for customer service and priced competitively. And no stupid gimmicks! 

getget

It's a joke. By the way I've calculated the odds:

• 19% chance of getting that second reward (which used to be free)
• 0.0125% chance of getting the third reward

The requirements have also changed, from a monthly total to a constant weekly amount. Be sick for a week and you won't get your monthly reward. Meet the requirements and you'll have a 19% chance of getting what you used to.

And the genius is that they brand it as an upgrade, where you can earn 3 rewards.

IW74

That’s me cancelled.
Set up a new policy with LV last night - via Topcashback, so I’ll get more in cashback than the Vitality rewards would ever pay at this rate!
Emailed Vitality telling them to cancel the policy with immediate effect, and cancelled my direct debit.
Tried the Vitality app against this morning and guess what? Just the 1 dog again that it gives you automatically. It’s an absolute con. There’s probably some small print somewhere that will cover them legally, but I want nothing more to do with them.