Discovery Health - Vitality & Team Vitality plus everything else you need to know

[WrightJnr]

Who cares about smoothies and fruit watches? Some people out there have life policies which are linked to vitality status. There is a hell of a lot more than a few free drinks riding on this.

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

Who cares about smoothies and fruit watches? Some people out there have life policies which are linked to vitality status. There is a hell of a lot more than a few free drinks riding on this.

Yes, and to that matter it's still helluva easy to get to gold. Heck, DI probably got there in the first 10 days of January, like a lot of people here did. 

 

But even at 100 points per ride (assuming he doesn't do HIIT training and max his HR then) he'd still get to his max fitness allocation within 300 days. If he did ONE HIIT training session a week in addition to the daily stuff, he'd get there so much faster. 30 weeks instead of 300 days. 2 HIIT sessions per week etc etc. Add the normal monthly checks he probably does (BP / Glucose / Cholestorol etc) and he's at gold very quickly.

 

He's moaning for the sake of it. 

Edited April 11, 2016 by Myles Mayhew

[shaper]

I still fail to understand his ranting. Surely his focus should be on making the team for the grand tours and not hitting a weekly smoothie target which he can't redeem in Europe.

Think he is just highlighting to discovery what we are all saying. ? Maybe being the recognised cyclist he is and the pathetic scenario that discovery bean counters have put themselves in might prompt a suitable change to reflect real life.

 

For once today discovery saved me time and petrol money, went to the gym for a run session on the treadmill, realised that had forgot my hrm, thought about going home to get it then remembered that a 40min run with or without a hrm would only get me 100 points which had collected for swiping my card at the gym... so just went for the run.. maybe should have just collected a smoothie instead...

['Kaze Pete]

8xsmoothie @ R30-40 each: R240 to R320 / month

1x gym refund @ R181 / month

1x watch @ R245 / month

 

R666 to R746 / month all for around R250? Still a good deal to me!

[jcza]

Think he is just highlighting to discovery what we are all saying. ? Maybe being the recognised cyclist he is and the pathetic scenario that discovery bean counters have put themselves in might prompt a suitable change to reflect real life.

 

For once today discovery saved me time and petrol money, went to the gym for a run session on the treadmill, realised that had forgot my hrm, thought about going home to get it then remembered that a 40min run with or without a hrm would only get me 100 points which had collected for swiping my card at the gym... so just went for the run.. maybe should have just collected a smoothie instead...

But you got your points for the week at Emperors already, never mind.

 

Great idea from Discovery to get members more active but not the best execution. I trust that they will get it right eventually.

[shaper]

But you got your points for the week at Emperors already, never mind.

Great idea from Discovery to get members more active but not the best execution. I trust that they will get it right eventually.

That I did and I dont train for the points as maxed out already, the smoothies, gym booster etc are just a bonus.

 

The scenario was just highlighting the current failed execution by discovery

[_C50_]

Yes, and to that matter it's still helluva easy to get to gold. Heck, DI probably got there in the first 10 days of January, like a lot of people here did. 

 

But even at 100 points per ride (assuming he doesn't do HIIT training and max his HR then) he'd still get to his max fitness allocation within 300 days. If he did ONE HIIT training session a week in addition to the daily stuff, he'd get there so much faster. 30 weeks instead of 300 days. 2 HIIT sessions per week etc etc. Add the normal monthly checks he probably does (BP / Glucose / Cholestorol etc) and he's at gold very quickly.

 

He's moaning for the sake of it. 

 

Whether he is moaning for the sake of it, is totally besides the point.

 

It just highlights Discovery's blatant disregard of what qualifies as exercise, or not.

 

The guy is a pro cyclist who obviously follows a strict training program. He should now adjust his training, because Discovery deems a 5 hour bicycle ride at an average HR lower than their stupid new HR training "guidelines", only worthy of 100 points?? 

 

It's a joke...

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

Whether he is moaning for the sake of it, is totally besides the point.

 

It just highlights Discovery's blatant disregard of what qualifies as exercise, or not.

 

The guy is a pro cyclist who obviously follows a strict training program. He should now adjust his training, because Discovery deems a 5 hour bicycle ride at an average HR lower than their stupid new HR training "guidelines", only worthy of 100 points?? 

 

It's a joke...

No, he should not adjust his training program just because Discovery say so and his points are out. 

 

Blatant disregard - yes, the percentages are out, but it's still early days on a model that is based on BEHAVIOURAL ANALYTICS. It's subject to change as and when new data comes through, and it's only a week since the new model has been implemented. I guarantee you that it WILL change again when the new data comes through, and as a result of feedback from brokers (such as myself) on how the metrics should change to be a sliding scale based on elapsed time ie: 80% for 30 min, 75% for 60, 70% for 90 etc etc. 

 

Remember - it was changed to the current model thanks to flagrant abuse, and probably many people hitting the 80% target over extended periods (I for one have no problem hitting my 80% Age rated max for 4 plus hours - I suspect the majority of the target market - the sedentary bastids who this is primarily aimed at - are in the same boat)

 

Besides - you shouldn't be basing your exercise on what level of points you get. The points are a side effect, and unless you're in the Apple Watch brigade (which I am) you should be targeting the program, not the points.

 

Give it time. Let them have a look at the data they receive over the next month, now that the allocations are (apparently) unachievable. Yes, in DI's case this is a silly metric - a 4 hour ride is a 4 hour ride, and it should get more than 100 points. But for the moment, as far as he's not running an accepted brand of HR monitor and / or he stays below 70% of max HR, he won't.  

 

To finish - it's still a kaaak load easier to get points than it was last year. Were the guys complaining then, when they only got 100 points per ride, even at max efforts? No. Will it probably change in teh next month or 2? Yes. Most likely. 

[Rocket-Boy]

Who cares about smoothies and fruit watches? Some people out there have life policies which are linked to vitality status. There is a hell of a lot more than a few free drinks riding on this.

This is exactly why it changed. Life policies and discount levels.

It was stupid amounts of money they were losing in a very big hurry.

[WrightJnr]

Hi Myles, your arguments are always valid and backed by good data and I have never challenged you on that.

 

For me, here is the issue which you touch on your last post at the end. Reaching Gold Status. In the past, I don't think many people cared about being on Gold, Discovery used Vitality Active Rewards to drive awareness and it worked. Suddenly everyone was talking about Vitality and all the great things it does when on Gold or Diamond. First a Smoothie, no big deal. People kept on hitting Goals and got comfortable thinking they knew the system. Then came the Watch, now people had skin in the game but based on the past many felt they could commit. Then, Discovery brokers were calling people and suddenly Life Policies etc which were linked to Vitality looked appealing. Now, people have invested years and years into the system. Clearly Discovery can and will move the goal posts as they choose fit and this IS the issue. When you have a life policy that has potential payouts in 15 years time, people are not happy with how easily things can change.

 

For the record, yes my wife has an Apple Watch through the program but no I don't have any Vitality linked policies and yes I accepted the risk up front regarding payment for the watch.

 

I do use Discovery programs extensively. They have done a great job in being relevant. I'm just not happy with the latest device and points changes. Yes, they will change. Great. Would prefer they take the pain though while they collect their behavior data.

[lerouc]

We had a discussion yesterday at lunch regarding this...AGAIN!!!!!!

 

Someone asked (not in the program) what does the consumer protection act say about this. I've been thinking about this and i would really be interested to hear from someone that knows a bit more.

 

yes i know we signed all the contracts and ate all the cheeses etc. But the consumer protection act is there to protect the consumer against bullies that miss leads clients and then pray on them.

 

Not saying Disco is a predator and i am the prey, but changing the goal posts so drastically (yes yes i know its in the terms and conditions) and then having quite a few people that will not make the cut any longer isn't it a bit of a bullying.

 

This is where the discussion become interesting, people took out the watch after they saw how easy it was to get your weekly goals, didn't that set president. and then Disco went and changed everything and now people without HR monitors or the specific brands of devices are really screwed.

 

Don't flame me, i am just trying to see what other thought about this, i am not too familiar with the CPA to say if this is kosher or not.

[BarHugger]

We had a discussion yesterday at lunch regarding this...AGAIN!!!!!!

 

Someone asked (not in the program) what does the consumer protection act say about this. I've been thinking about this and i would really be interested to hear from someone that knows a bit more.

 

yes i know we signed all the contracts and ate all the cheeses etc. But the consumer protection act is there to protect the consumer against bullies that miss leads clients and then pray on them.

 

Not saying Disco is a predator and i am the prey, but changing the goal posts so drastically (yes yes i know its in the terms and conditions) and then having quite a few people that will not make the cut any longer isn't it a bit of a bullying.

 

This is where the discussion become interesting, people took out the watch after they saw how easy it was to get your weekly goals, didn't that set president. and then Disco went and changed everything and now people without HR monitors or the specific brands of devices are really screwed.

 

Don't flame me, i am just trying to see what other thought about this, i am not too familiar with the CPA to say if this is kosher or not.

Can I get a greathe amen........

[WrightJnr]

@lerouc, I believe the way discovery positioned the watch for example covers them. It was a "buy the watch interest free" and if you hit goals we discount.

[HappyMartin]

It's a funny thing this Vitality and we react to it. as far as Myles's point of view and input he makes a lot of sense. It was really easy to get the points. Being able to get 30000 points in three weeks was pretty silly and so yes changes had to be made. No doubt more changes will follow.

 

I am not going to try to speak for others but I am curious about how others feel on these issues and if anyone feels as I do.

 

I don't mind that the points are now harder to achieve. Actually I'm good with that. More of a challenge. What rankles is the systems changing and making us change old habits. I don't mean exercise habits. I mean how we record and upload data. Cyclists love Strava. I know people were abusing that platform but it annoyed many people when Strava was removed from the system. Also having to buy new different devices because the ones we use are no longer supported.

 

But the big one is the unfairness I see. Why do I get 600 points for a 2:20 Emperors when someone riding next to me gets 1500. Why is my target going up so fast? Why does a person get 100 points for going to gym for a shower and I get the same for a lung busting Tabata session on my IDT? Then we start noticing a pro cyclist gets 100 points for a ride that would kill 99% of the population and it is game on. We start looking for trouble. Things like the HR zones are easy to pick on so we go after that. And so on and so on and so on. In weeks all the good will created by Vitality is squandered and the piss poor communication coming from them does little to help. Good people like Myles are left to do the work that Vitality should be doing.

 

What ever the fairness or unfairness of it the one thing beyond question is that this is a poorly handled PR disaster. A text book case that could be studied in marketing on how to destroy your relationship with a loyal client base.

[lerouc]

@lerouc, I believe the way discovery positioned the watch for example covers them. It was a "buy the watch interest free" and if you hit goals we discount.

 

True that.

 

But the big one is the unfairness I see. Why do I get 600 points for a 2:20 Emperors when someone riding next to me gets 1500. Why is my target going up so fast? Why does a person get 100 points for going to gym for a shower and I get the same for a lung busting Tabata session on my IDT? Then we start noticing a pro cyclist gets 100 points for a ride that would kill 99% of the population and it is game on. We start looking for trouble. Things like the HR zones are easy to pick on so we go after that. And so on and so on and so on. In weeks all the good will created by Vitality is squandered and the piss poor communication coming from them does little to help. Good people like Myles are left to do the work that Vitality should be doing.

 

So i would disagree with you on this. (being a fat guy) my body works twice as hard as the person next to me to maintain the same speed. Hence why i cycled on saturday for 5hrs at 171avg (which is actually 90% of my max) and my buddy next to me hardly moved out of zone 2. I would like to think that i would need to be awarded more points than him as he was cruising and i was going balls to the walls.

[edgarblount]

True that.

 

 

So i would disagree with you on this. (being a fat guy) my body works twice as hard as the person next to me to maintain the same speed. Hence why i cycled on saturday for 5hrs at 171avg (which is actually 90% of my max) and my buddy next to me hardly moved out of zone 2. I would like to think that i would need to be awarded more points than him as he was cruising and i was going balls to the walls.

 

So i would disagree with you on this. (being a skinny guy) my body works half as hard as the person next to me to maintain the same speed. Hence why i cycled on saturday for 5hrs at 130avg (which is actually 70% of my max) and my buddy next to me hardly moved out of zone 5. I would like to think that i would need to be awarded more points than him as he was suffering and i was going tralalalala.