Vitality - new "Play" rewards

IW74

Hart2120 said:

This new rewards scheme is a total scam….struggling to find any Stanley’s and it’s really insulting that they have dressed it up as improved….i feel my blood pressure rise every time I have to play the stupid game….do they think we are completely unintelligent? 

It’s a way of reducing rewards without admitting they’re reducing rewards.
Glad I started this thread; I feel better knowing so many others are equally unimpressed.
If you can, take your business elsewhere - it’s the only action that will have an effect on them.

Foxcorp

I've been reading this website for years but had to join to share my feelings about this - I used to get a coffee and a free Itsu meal each week and normally a free cinema ticket each month. Not they have brought in their 'loot crate' style scratchcard game and I've got nothing despite keeping the same level of activity. 

Reading through the T&Cs shows that they can change the odds of how often you find the dog in the scratchcard whenever they like so as much as they dress this up as an improvement it's basically just a way of reducing the benefits as the premiums go up.

given that the pod this week was on Shrinkflation I think that this is a great example of getting less that you used to as the prices rise...

IW74

So 4th week, and my grand total...
4 Stanleys.

It asked for feedback on Vitality Play on the app this morning so I let them know exactly how I felt, and told them I've cancelled my policy and they've lost a customer because of it. I'm sure they won't care, but made me feel better!

EmmyLouDaisyBoo

My grand total was 7, very frustrating.

I wonder if anyone actually got 8?

idix

Awful. I used to get monthly:

- Cinema ticket per month
- Free bag of coffee or box of pods every week
- £5.50 voucher per week to use on Rakuten
- Amazon prime sub 

Played every week this month and, like everyone else, got only enough for one “treat”, 6 Stanleys in all (2 of which can’t be carried over).

So monthly now in reality all I’ll get is one cinema ticket where I’ll have to pay full price for the other that makes zero sense when there are many other providers, including Amazon, that offer cinema deals like 2 for £10.

Will be leaving Vitality over this daft change. Wouldn’t have been so bad had they not insulted our intelligence in trying to palm it off as an improvement.

IW74

idix said:

Awful. I used to get monthly:

- Cinema ticket per month
- Free bag of coffee or box of pods every week
- £5.50 voucher per week to use on Rakuten
- Amazon prime sub 

Played every week this month and, like everyone else, got only enough for one “treat”, 6 Stanleys in all (2 of which can’t be carried over).

So monthly now in reality all I’ll get is one cinema ticket where I’ll have to pay full price for the other that makes zero sense when there are many other providers, including Amazon, that offer cinema deals like 2 for £10.

Will be leaving Vitality over this daft change. Wouldn’t have been so bad had they not insulted our intelligence in trying to palm it off as an improvement.

I think it was actually 2 cinema tickets a month at one point.
And - another benefit I'd forgotten about - quarterly cashback for confirming you were a non-smoker. (think it was either £20 or £30 a month).
We don't go to the cinema often enough to miss one free monthly ticket; I'll just buy discounted tickets from elsewhere when we do go.

Haven't had a reply to my email from 7 days ago asking them to cancel my policy; I've already cancelled the direct debit though, so they won't get another penny out of me now.

topbluenose89

Foxcorp said:

I've been reading this website for years but had to join to share my feelings about this - I used to get a coffee and a free Itsu meal each week and normally a free cinema ticket each month. Not they have brought in their 'loot crate' style scratchcard game and I've got nothing despite keeping the same level of activity. 

Reading through the T&Cs shows that they can change the odds of how often you find the dog in the scratchcard whenever they like so as much as they dress this up as an improvement it's basically just a way of reducing the benefits as the premiums go up.

given that the pod this week was on Shrinkflation I think that this is a great example of getting less that you used to as the prices rise...

Interesting that T&C say they can change the odds as they please. I wonder if anyone with any legal knowledge has looked at this/ombudsmen as it feels unfair. 

Also I am concerned they feel a need to gamify the app. Why? I understand they want increased engagement with the app, but why? Feels like this is the start of a pathway to have adverts in the app. The more people "engage" with an app, the more attractive it is for people to sell something on their. Be that vitalities own products or other...

ITtim

I missed any announcement of this change so the first I knew of it was when attempting to get a Rakuten code only to find I could only fail at some stupid game. I'll be looking elsewhere, the benefits have got worse over the years.

Rich2808

Did anyone else get an email at the weekend from the Managing Director of Vitality Nick Read about 'pick and play'.

I don't think I have ever had an email from the MD - so clearly there has been some feedback on the new arrangements.

Here are a few extracts:

"While we are only a few weeks in, we've already seen more members being active and engaging with Vitality rewards than ever before. We have also had some feedback on Pick and Play - so I wanted to reach out to you and bring further clarity as to how it works....

Finally I personally wanted to thank you all for the feedback... We'll be factoring it in and using it as we continue to evolve the Vitality programme keeping it fresh and relevant."

The email also states that members are now being offered a greater choice of rewards with even more to come soon!

PS Is 'being active and engaging' PR speak for complaining?

ITtim

I actively engaged by clicking it, trying it and deciding it was crap.