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

[Reme Le Hane]

I disagree, the first year i got to Gold was actually the first time i really analysed what needed to be done to get there. In those days i had the wife and 2 kids on my Med aid so the requirement was 120 000 pts. It seemed almost impossible but when i went into the nuts and bolts we got there fairly easily as long as everyone in the family played their part which i ensured they did.

 

In those days a % of your pts were also carried over to the next year (25% I think) so the following 2 years was even easier. Of course it seemed unfair to have to start over if you missed it in year 2 or 3 but staying on gold was certainly achievable.

 

Then they removed the carry over points

After that they stopped giving points for having additional financial products with Disco

Over the years they have reduced points further and further for the different tests you needed doing

Various activity points reduced like when we used to claim for cycle events and got the bonus for the 5th event.

Prostrate PSA test - its gone i think or only for over 60

Glaucoma screening - now only if you over 60

Fitness test used to be 15000 now its 7500

Updating personal details online - gone

HIV tests for 2020 is drastically reduced

Online diet survey - Now you have to visit and pay a dietitian if you want your points.

Online mental health survey will no doubt change soon and we will have to visit a shrink to get the points

 

So they have reduced or changed the rewards but keep pushing up the threshold level. Now you don't have to be on gold for 3 years but you will need to get 100 000 pts to stay on Diamond.

 

Sorry but where does that put us poor f#$%^&*ers that have been on Gold and Diamond for the last 10 years.

 

The system is pushing more and more members to cheat simply to stay in the game almost like doping - How many members flip the turnstyles have a coffee at the gym and then leave without even using the changerooms to get points.

How many members are out there running or on their bikes using 2 HR monitors.

 

I think you see where i'm going on this.

Font forget putting the fitbit on the dog.

 

I left, vitality never motivated me to get active, but it had nice rewards for it, but this year especially it was worthless. Some say the free coffee was nice, I don't like nor am near enough to use the free vida coffee, I dunno what that black swill is that mugg and bean sells. The fact it it went down from a minimum R60 weekly value to R25.

 

I don't fly, I seldom go to the movies and I usually used my edgars Club anyway as the discount is bigger and I can get 2 tickets a day not 1 per movie.

 

I don't gym, I have maxed out my required sports gear and more often than not the smaller shops are cheaper than sportmans anyway.

 

I think next year the numbers will start to drop, people are not going to move banks just to maintain their financial rewards.

Edited December 4, 2019 by Reme Le Hane

[ChrisF]

I disagree, the first year i got to Gold was actually the first time i really analysed what needed to be done to get there. In those days i had the wife and 2 kids on my Med aid so the requirement was 120 000 pts. It seemed almost impossible but when i went into the nuts and bolts we got there fairly easily as long as everyone in the family played their part which i ensured they did.

 

In those days a % of your pts were also carried over to the next year (25% I think) so the following 2 years was even easier. Of course it seemed unfair to have to start over if you missed it in year 2 or 3 but staying on gold was certainly achievable.

 

Then they removed the carry over points

......

 

I think you see where i'm going on this.

 

Madmarc 2018 a couple of people at our work did the Vitality thing ...

 

Gym ...

Watches ...

Cycling ...

Running ....

 

After month 1 it was all good vibes 

 

Month 2 reality set in ... those that did not gym before the time no longer went to the gym (and had to pay for their watches)

 

Month 3 the fit crowd got into their stride and ENJOYED Vitality and their smoothies.  They had now figured out the little secrets and worked the system to max points ....

 

Oooooppsssss ....

 

Once you are FIT, you have to ride/jog harder and longer to get the hart rate UP ...     And by now winter was nearing and the time after work to get out was getting a problem ....

 

Driving past your local shop to get to the one with the Vitality healthy foods was becoming a chore ....

 

 

By the end of the winter none of them were doing the Vitality hop-skip-and-jump ....

 

NONE are carrying Vitality over into 2020.

 

 

 

Moral of the story .... IF you are a health nut, and IF you exercise regularly .... then GO for it !!

 

 

For the rest of us normal folks doing the odd weekend ride .... use the Vitality money to buy coffee at your local trail.  

 

 

 

I am now more active and healthier than when I was on Vitality .... I now exercise for MY health and MY enjoyment.  Low body fat, low resting hart rate, blood tests good .... and yet Vitality has moved the goal posts so far that I wont get any worth while rewards.

[Reme Le Hane]

Madmarc 2018 a couple of people at our work did the Vitality thing ...

 

Gym ...

Watches ...

Cycling ...

Running ....

 

After month 1 it was all good vibes

 

Month 2 reality set in ... those that did not gym before the time no longer went to the gym (and had to pay for their watches)

 

Month 3 the fit crowd got into their stride and ENJOYED Vitality and their smoothies. They had now figured out the little secrets and worked the system to max points ....

 

Oooooppsssss ....

 

Once you are FIT, you have to ride/jog harder and longer to get the hart rate UP ... And by now winter was nearing and the time after work to get out was getting a problem ....

 

Driving past your local shop to get to the one with the Vitality healthy foods was becoming a chore ....

 

 

By the end of the winter none of them were doing the Vitality hop-skip-and-jump ....

 

NONE are carrying Vitality over into 2020.

 

 

 

Moral of the story .... IF you are a health nut, and IF you exercise regularly .... then GO for it !!

 

 

For the rest of us normal folks doing the odd weekend ride .... use the Vitality money to buy coffee at your local trail.

 

 

 

I am now more active and healthier than when I was on Vitality .... I now exercise for MY health and MY enjoyment. Low body fat, low resting hart rate, blood tests good .... and yet Vitality has moved the goal posts so far that I wont get any worth while rewards.

That's the thing actually, a few bios have told me, the Vitality rewards actually does about as much harm as it does good.

 

The unfit end up going out sure, better heart health, but boom they had no idea what they doing and now have joint and muscle problems.

 

Those that are fit are now over training as you should not be hitting 80% max that often.

 

Those wanting to work on the fat side of things, 80% is above far burner zone your not loosing weight up there your working muscle. Sure more muscle is good but running and ridding does not increase muscle mass to a point where your metabolism increases enough to offset the fat.

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

This is an indication on how important it is to ensure that you are getting the most out of it, and if not either cancel or try to get the most out of it.

 

It's not as easy as saying yes or no, you need to do the analysis for your particular situation.

 

Reme & Marc, you're doing it right. Just don't make any decisions on the rest of the ecosystem based solely on the vitality aspect. Sometimes even without the vitality, you can still be better off compared to elsewhere. It just depends on your circumstances and cover.

[Frosty]

My company has partnered with FNB, mostly for personal loans, but also get a few benefits for moving the salary deposit over. I have a home loan with ABSA (Prime minus 2) with 11 years worth of payments in the bank. I have a Wesbank finance agreement that hasn't reached it's first 12 months yet so this will be around for a while.

 

For one, they cannot guarantee that I'll get the same rate on the home loan, so why should I move? ABSA offers me fokol in rewards, but I do have one of those very old "United Building Society" accounts that offers zero fees providing I keep the minimum balance.

 

At this point in time, I see no value to join FNB. I'll get zero benefit from the fuel spend, as I have a company fuel card. The wife uses her card & eBucks at Checkers, while we use my Disco card at Woolies. I certainly won't invest while I am already doing so with my current portfolio with Discovery. I see the benefits of having almost all in with Discovery, while others don't. Just like I don't see the value with FNB, and perhaps ABSA too.

 

As a colleague at work told me, who used to work for Discovery, and was one of those behind the Bike/Gadget benefit... for every 1of me that benefits immensely, 99 others are the blue status type clients. They are the ones that are actually funding my rewards. 

[Steven Knoetze (sk27)]

Madmarc 2018 a couple of people at our work did the Vitality thing ...

 

Gym ...

Watches ...

Cycling ...

Running ....

 

After month 1 it was all good vibes 

 

Month 2 reality set in ... those that did not gym before the time no longer went to the gym (and had to pay for their watches)

 

Month 3 the fit crowd got into their stride and ENJOYED Vitality and their smoothies.  They had now figured out the little secrets and worked the system to max points ....

 

Oooooppsssss ....

 

Once you are FIT, you have to ride/jog harder and longer to get the hart rate UP ...     And by now winter was nearing and the time after work to get out was getting a problem ....

 

Driving past your local shop to get to the one with the Vitality healthy foods was becoming a chore ....

 

 

By the end of the winter none of them were doing the Vitality hop-skip-and-jump ....

 

NONE are carrying Vitality over into 2020.

 

 

 

Moral of the story .... IF you are a health nut, and IF you exercise regularly .... then GO for it !!

 

 

For the rest of us normal folks doing the odd weekend ride .... use the Vitality money to buy coffee at your local trail.  

 

 

 

I am now more active and healthier than when I was on Vitality .... I now exercise for MY health and MY enjoyment.  Low body fat, low resting hart rate, blood tests good .... and yet Vitality has moved the goal posts so far that I wont get any worth while rewards.

 

Problem with cancelling is that it will impact on the linked life cover, and the discounts you received based on being a Vitality member. 

 

Or not?

[Reme Le Hane]

Problem with cancelling is that it will impact on the linked life cover, and the discounts you received based on being a Vitality member.

 

Or not?

Yeah, but I already moved life cover out, I got better for less than the discounted amount at old mutual.

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

Problem with cancelling is that it will impact on the linked life cover, and the discounts you received based on being a Vitality member. 

 

Or not?

not immediately. It'll come through in increased annual premium increases. Will basically increase the policy pricing by an additional 2.9% each year. 

[Steven Knoetze (sk27)]

not immediately. It'll come through in increased annual premium increases. Will basically increase the policy pricing by an additional 2.9% each year. 

 

I can easily suck that upo. 

Vitality is just not working for me. Same as others have mentioned I don't do movies, fly so minimally. It just doesn't seem worth it to me.

I have managed to get back around R400 in a year, aside from 3 really bad cups of M&B coffee.

I did get 2 nice woolies wraps but in retrospect they probably cost R500 each given the Vitality premiums......

[Dexter-morgan]

One quick question, with the "new" system, you will receive 100 discovery miles/bucks for reaching your goal, which equals R10, currently we get a minimum or R25 for a coffee or similar, can anyone clear this up for me. 

[Let's Ride]

Exactly, that's my issue right now and my wifes as well. 

 

"Once you are FIT, you have to ride/jog harder and longer to get the hart rate UP ...     And by now winter was nearing and the time after work to get out was getting a problem ...."

 

 

[Pure Savage]

Still fighting one month later with disco for health check up points...

[shaper]

Just flew to Bahrain to race this past weekend, saved R4k. Will be flying to Dubai early Feb 2020 and will save another R3.5k and probably to do another race Sept/Oct 2020 in Europe, will also be another big saving being on Discovery

 

As for once fit you have to work harder for points is nothing more than moaning BS. Am very fit and have no issue getting all my 900 points after 3 or maybe 4 workouts. If you train properly then should be not an issue, but if you social/coffee ride and call it training, then is probably why you moan you struggle to get the points!

[Frosty]

So diamonds are no more... today was a productive one on the game board.

 

[Frosty]

Double post

Edited December 11, 2019 by Frosty

[Frosty]

One quick question, with the "new" system, you will receive 100 discovery miles/bucks for reaching your goal, which equals R10, currently we get a minimum or R25 for a coffee or similar, can anyone clear this up for me.

you get 100 discovery bucks plus plays on the game board. The newsletter states the following:

 

 

Here's a breakdown of what to expect:

 

Discovery Miles will replace Vitality reward points

We have enhanced Vitality reward points to Discovery Miles, our new rewards currency which can be used to spend on a range of exciting rewards of your choice. Effective January, 2020.

 

If you have any Vitality reward points left over on 1 January 2020, we'll replace them at an exchange rate of 1 Vitality reward point = 6 Discovery Miles, no matter when their expiry date is. In fact, you won’t have to worry about rewards expiring anytime soon, because Discovery Miles remain valid for five whole years!

 

Earn up to 300 Discovery Miles and four plays on the gameboard every week

Reach your drive, exercise and money goals on Vitality Active Rewards to earn instant Discovery Miles and gameboard plays.

 

If you have Vitality Health, Vitality Drive and Vitality Money, you can earn the maximum of 300 Discovery Miles instantly and a bonus play for achieving all three Vitality Active Rewards goals! Here’s how to get your goals:

 

Exercise: if you're a Discovery Vitality Health member, you can achieve your personalised weekly exercise goal by getting active in various ways. You'll earn 100 Discovery Miles instantly for each goal you achieve, PLUS a play on the gameboard.

Drive: if you're a Discovery Insure client, you can achieve your weekly driving goal by driving a consecutive 100 km event-free each week. You'll earn 100 Discovery Miles instantly for each goal you achieve, PLUS a play on the gameboard.

Money: if you’re a Discovery Bank client, you can achieve your money goal by banking well and earning Discovery Miles for purchases over R20 made with your Discovery Card. You’ll earn 100 Discovery Miles instantly for each goal you achieve, PLUS a play on the gameboard.

Once you earn your Discovery Miles for achieving any of the three goals (each 100 Discovery Miles will update in real time), you’ll still get to unlock a tile on your gameboard every #RewardsWednesday to earn even more instant Discovery Miles.

 

Complete personalised health goals to earn Discovery Miles

Earn over 10 000 Discovery Miles a year for achieving personalised health goals. All Vitality members have access to health checks and mental wellbeing goals. Members diagnosed with or at risk of developing chronic lifestyle diseases have access to weight management, HealthyFood and medicine tracker goals. It’s possible to earn over 10 000 Discovery Miles a year for achieving personalised health goals