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

[Frosty]

^^ this

 

Edit: the last two posts pretty much sum it up. Go all in and benefit, or don’t bother. But isn’t that how all loyalty rewards programs work?

Edited September 16, 2018 by Frosty

[Reme Le Hane]

I think what Dee is leaning towards is totally canceling their Vitality membership.

 

I have reached that point where my Vitality fees and Discovery Card fees and the Discovery Miles fees are simply not paying for themselves anymore.

 

Rather save those fees into a unit trust account and build something meaningful with the money.

 

At least, that is where my head is at currently.

Suppose, but with running, cycling and xfit I spend a fair amount with sportmans, I also get the 25% discount on my life insurance, which alone offsets my vitality fee.

 

I also intend on trying my hand at a few triathlons, so more shopping.

 

Basically if I were to drop vitality, that fee would more into my life insurance directly, but also negatively impact my annual inflation which on diamond is reduced by 1.5%, so it increased by 8% instead of 9.5% so long running benefit.

 

The odd movie I see pretty much doubles in price.

 

The cycling and running consumables I go back to paying full price for.

 

I loose out on paying R300 for R2000 worth of shoes, and getting 50% back on my race fees, which while not a lot was about a grand for this year so far.

 

So so far this year just on life insurance I've already save about R4500.

 

Saved about 2 grand on flights.

 

At around R1600 back so far on the shoes add in another 1k for the races.

 

That's 8100 from the 2159 I have paid for vitality not factoring in misc sportmans purchases, forgetfulness, cost of smoothies.

 

I think at least in my case, without the smoother I come out way ahead, drop the shoes, flight, races and I am still scoring near on 100% RIO.

[Harryn]

Taking a 30 minute *** is going to be tough..

Ya, but you can multitask by simultaneously drinking your smoothie. Just be sure not to mix up the ingress and egress orifices.

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

I think what Dee is leaning towards is totally canceling their Vitality membership.

 

I have reached that point where my Vitality fees and Discovery Card fees and the Discovery Miles fees are simply not paying for themselves anymore.

 

Rather save those fees into a unit trust account and build something meaningful with the money.

 

At least, that is where my head is at currently.

Disco card is THE most expensive on the market, from a card fee & interest rate perspective, so unless you're reaming hte rewards, I can see your argument. 

 

From Vitality alone, the cost is more than outweighed by the benefits you enjoy. Gym by itself is enough to warrant it, let alone healthy food, travel, hotels or life assurance discounts. 

 

In short - unless you're integrated, it makes little sense to entertain Vitality. You're either in, or you're not. There's very seldom any middle ground. 

[Vetplant]

Suppose, but with running, cycling and xfit I spend a fair amount with sportmans, I also get the 25% discount on my life insurance, which alone offsets my vitality fee.

 

I also intend on trying my hand at a few triathlons, so more shopping.

 

Basically if I were to drop vitality, that fee would more into my life insurance directly, but also negatively impact my annual inflation which on diamond is reduced by 1.5%, so it increased by 8% instead of 9.5% so long running benefit.

 

The odd movie I see pretty much doubles in price.

 

The cycling and running consumables I go back to paying full price for.

 

I loose out on paying R300 for R2000 worth of shoes, and getting 50% back on my race fees, which while not a lot was about a grand for this year so far.

 

So so far this year just on life insurance I've already save about R4500.

 

Saved about 2 grand on flights.

 

At around R1600 back so far on the shoes add in another 1k for the races.

 

That's 8100 from the 2159 I have paid for vitality not factoring in misc sportmans purchases, forgetfulness, cost of smoothies.

 

I think at least in my case, without the smoother I come out way ahead, drop the shoes, flight, races and I am still scoring near on 100% RIO.

It's great that you get to work the system like that in your favour, I am sure I would be able to do it if I was alone on my profile.

 

My challenges are as follows:

1.My wife isn't the active type, so previous years we could keep diamond just with me driving it. This year we won't make it, so we are going down to silver. So a lower rate of reward.

 

2. I don't do gym, I will pop into my friend's crossfit box if I feel like doing a session.

 

3. Got a life insurance quote from them, they were basically double the price of my current insurance to start with, so any discount from that cost base is not going to work for me.

 

4.Car insurance, same as above, at least double my current cover.

 

5.Flights: the initial 35% discount is cool, but you can get very close if you book early and shop the flight specials. The balance of 65% discount, I was able to get, but only for my ticket, not for my wife and daughter.

 

Like has been said by many, we need to work the system hard to make sure we get a benefit from all the effort. Just to break even is nowhere near good enough for me, with all the effort of getting there, so for me I am going to go without Vitality for next year.

[Reme Le Hane]

It's great that you get to work the system like that in your favour, I am sure I would be able to do it if I was alone on my profile.

 

My challenges are as follows:

1.My wife isn't the active type, so previous years we could keep diamond just with me driving it. This year we won't make it, so we are going down to silver. So a lower rate of reward.

 

2. I don't do gym, I will pop into my friend's crossfit box if I feel like doing a session.

 

3. Got a life insurance quote from them, they were basically double the price of my current insurance to start with, so any discount from that cost base is not going to work for me.

 

4.Car insurance, same as above, at least double my current cover.

 

5.Flights: the initial 35% discount is cool, but you can get very close if you book early and shop the flight specials. The balance of 65% discount, I was able to get, but only for my ticket, not for my wife and daughter.

 

Like has been said by many, we need to work the system hard to make sure we get a benefit from all the effort. Just to break even is nowhere near good enough for me, with all the effort of getting there, so for me I am going to go without Vitality for next year.

Their car insurance was rubbish, but I have not yet found a better rate on the life insurance, but everyone's rating factors differ.

 

I know a few who get good benefits from investments, but I have no intentions of getting an RA and that's the only discovery investment that has any vitality related benefits.

 

I don't fly opfetn enough or plan far ahead enough to use flight booster.

 

I get most of my benefits without trying, so I'm lucky that way.

 

I looked into their credit card too, and compared with eBucks for me it's rubbish, way harder to get benefits and much higher costs.

[Frosty]

For being able to get the insure points on active rewards - do you actually need to be an insure customer?

Seems there are two programs.

The rules state this is open to everyone - not the active rewards, but the open rewards program that runs for 10 weeks:

 

Who is eligible for the Vitality Open?

The Vitality Open is available to anyone over the age of 18 years. You do not need to have any Discovery products or policies to join the Vitality Open. You need a compatible iOS or Android device to access this benefit in the Discovery app. By using the benefit, you agree that Discovery Vitality, Vitality’s fitness partners and Vitality’s rewards partners may share your personal and payment information to administer the benefit effectively. When you download the Discovery Insure app, you agree to sharing your driving behaviour and information with Discovery Insure and Insure’s telematics partners.

 

https://www.discovery.co.za/discovery_coza/web/linked_content/pdfs/vitality/vitality_open_rules_rewards.pdf

Edited September 17, 2018 by Frosty

[Frosty]

And to earn points, here is the only way (no fitness device required, it seems):

 

 

 

[Frosty]

The above is not the Active Rewards, as that is open to everyone:

 

Who is eligible for Vitality Active Rewards?

Vitality Active Rewards is available to Vitality and Insure members 18 years and older with an active Discovery Vitality and/or Discovery Insure policy. You need a compatible iOS or Android device to access this benefit in the Discovery app. Download or update your Discovery app to the latest version. If you have an active Vitality membership, you qualify for fitness rewards. This means that you are set a personalised, weekly physical activity goal. These goals are clinically-informed and will guide you along specific and progressive exercise pathways to keep you motivated and getting active. If you have an active Vitality Drive membership, you qualify for drive rewards. This means that you are rewarded for driving 100 consecutive event-free kilometres. This means driving with no harsh acceleration, no harsh braking, no harsh cornering, no speeding and no cellphone use while driving. By using the benefit, you agree that Discovery Vitality, Vitality’s fitness partners and Vitality’s rewards partners may share your personal and payment information to administer the benefit effectively. You also agree to sharing your driving behaviour and information with Discovery Insure and Insure’s telematics partners.

[Frosty]

The way to earn points for Vitality members and Insure policy holders:

 

[Grebel]

that tracker is such a pain... I dont ever get any rewards from driving. the only time I got a reward was when I drove in Hluhluwe game reserve. that was my only 100km within the speed limit

 

As Frosty mentioned, I have changed my driving style since having the tracker installed. Average cash back is between R400-600 a month which was going into my EFA. In May Disco let you use the EFA money to pay for tyres based on your drive status. Mt drive status was at Diamond so the Frontier got 6 new muds and the trailer got 3 new Contis 

 

All for the pricely sum of..... R0 (Yes you could argue that it was my money all along so not free but at the time, you don't miss the cash back going into a separate account. A little bit like a blind savings account)

 

I take that 100km event free weekly challenge as just that, a challenge. Driving better benefits you. Less fuel, tyre wear, general wear and less risk of an accident.

 

Suppose it's not for everybody though.

 

Edit: If I want to Hoon I take the bike for a spin. No tracker on that and the phone motion thingy hasn't been activated either for obvious reasons..... 

Edited September 17, 2018 by Grebel

[Grebel]

*SNIP*

 

In short - unless you're integrated, it makes little sense to entertain Vitality. You're either in, or you're not. There's very seldom any middle ground. 

 

That is the key. 

 

At the end of the day it isn't about the smoothies or the gym discounts. It is about the life insurance discounts, the RA benefits, the 5 year cash back on premiums based on claims that gets matched by Disco rand for rand if you re-invest back into your RA.

 

We don't have a choice as far as medical aid at work goes. Based on the fact that we are already using the product and a broker that explained the benefits of achieving Diamond status we decided to go all in and make it work and to date it is working 

[wonduhboy]

Yeah for sure. I realise that I've also become much less impatient and frustrated whilst driving. I just get totally effed off when someone does something stupid in front of me and I need to slam on the brakes. That's pretty much the only time I get knocked down by Discovery. I pretty much never exceed the speed limit now (although there are some questionable times where the app says I've sped, but I know for sure I haven't), harsh acceleration never happens, neither does phone use. It definitely had a positive effect on my driving.

How is 'phone use' determined?

For instance, I use my phone for Waze (in a airvent cradle thingy) and to listen to podcasts - would that count as phone use?

[Frosty]

How is 'phone use' determined?

For instance, I use my phone for Waze (in a airvent cradle thingy) and to listen to podcasts - would that count as phone use?

Phone motion and engaging with the phone (even dialing a number counts as phone use). I press/hold the home button to activate Siri to then make a call and that doesn't pick up as phone use.

[Frosty]

As Frosty mentioned, I have changed my driving style since having the tracker installed. Average cash back is between R400-600 a month which was going into my EFA. In May Disco let you use the EFA money to pay for tyres based on your drive status. Mt drive status was at Diamond so the Frontier got 6 new muds and the trailer got 3 new Contis 

 

All for the pricely sum of..... R0 (Yes you could argue that it was my money all along so not free but at the time, you don't miss the cash back going into a separate account. A little bit like a blind savings account)

 

I take that 100km event free weekly challenge as just that, a challenge. Driving better benefits you. Less fuel, tyre wear, general wear and less risk of an accident.

 

Suppose it's not for everybody though.

 

Edit: If I want to Hoon I take the bike for a spin. No tracker on that and the phone motion thingy hasn't been activated either for obvious reasons..... 

I think I need to push my cashback (or rather the wife's) in the EFA. As I have a company fuel card (Engen), I don't get any cash back 

[bertusras]

Phone motion and engaging with the phone (even dialing a number counts as phone use). I press/hold the home button to activate Siri to then make a call and that doesn't pick up as phone use.

 

What Frosty said. I think they use both the accelerometer of both the tracker and the phone and compare the data. If the phone moves similar to the car, then there is no issue, but if the phone is moving differently, it picks it up. So pretty much any time that the phone is being used in your hand, it will know. I have an airvent cradle in my car as well, and for the most part it doesn't detect any motion as it's moving the same as the car, even if I'm interacting with maps for example. I can take calls via the car's bluetooth and there's no issues either. I can use OK Google to send commands as well. But don't hold the phone in your hand and use it whilst the car is moving and it will flag you immediately. And it's not even reducing from 5 to 4 stars, it just goes to 1 star immediately. It has really discouraged use of my phone whilst I am driving, and that is a great thing.

 

What IS annoying though, is when anyone else uses your phone whilst you are driving, and then detects that as phone motion, which is totally and utterly ridiculous, and there's no way to work around it.