“Claim process is lengthy and horrible
7 months - still waiting for a decision on my serious illness claim after a cancer diagnosis. Where are they when you need them the most in this difficult time of your life? That was what you paid the premiums for monthly without fail! Thinking that the payout would cover your expenses, but nothing. Even with a valid claim, my expectations for this insurance company were all wrong. Still waiting very, very upset and frustrated, depressed and could not even sleep at night.
If anyone is giving a 5 star review, wait until you claim. I would not recommend this company to my family and friends. I do not want them to experience the pain I am going through right now.”
“I WOULD GIVE NO STARS IF THIS WAS AN OPTION- DO NOT TAKE OUT LIFE INSURANCE WITH THIS COMPANY - My dad passed away and this company are doing everything possible to avoid paying a relatively straight forward claim. I now have to get solicitors and the financial ombudsman involved. They are great and helpful when getting you signed up but this is exactly the opposite when you need to make a claim. My dad trusted this company and they have let him down - if you want to protect your family by taking out life insurance then do not get involved with this company - your family deserve better than the complete incompetency of this company.”
“If they had Zero Stars, I would have chosen this to accurately reflect the customer service quality at Vitality Health. Months on end with horrendous wait times to access care, spending hours on the phone, only to get bounced between departments - Dissapointed to say the least.”
“Customer service is awful with ridiculous wait times that prevent you accessing care. No option to ask for a callback which would at least save you having to sit and listen to the same loop of muzak until it breaks your will and you give up.
Any company that actually gave two hoots about their customers beyond gobbling their money would employ enough staff to provide a service.”
“WARNING ⛔️ ! DO NOT USE VITALITY !
This review started Sept 3rd: Looking at the reviews who have given high stars, I see the reviewers haven’t had to deal with a “medical” claim as yet & it’s basically just saying thanks to the sales person for taking their money in the hope they’ve gone with the correct health insurance company. Yes, the sales person WAS very helpful as they want you to sign up to their big con.
I had to call to complain about how I’m still injured & need to see a specialist ASAP. The wait time was 55 minutes(!!), so even though you’re paying for a premium service you have to wait nearly an hour & when you get through the “rep” hangs up on the call. I’ve sent 5 emails with absolutely zero responses. They have all the details from my GP, which I’m starting to think is just a stalling tactic (to lengthen your claim out they ask your GP to supply medical history), so they can keep taking your monthly DD & I've heard nothing back in 4 (yes 4!) weeks. I’ve paid out over £600 in monthly fees & had to pay my GP £47 (Vitality refuse to refund this) to send medical history & I’ve had completely nothing in return. They should be ashamed of themselves, as there must be other members out there too that need medical help ASAP, which is the whole reason why Vitality exist isn’t it - or is this just a modern day con with their sales staff simply trying to hit targets with new members & different products ? Perhaps they just run Vitality Health Insurance like they do their gym business, hoping we’ll be that group that doesn’t use their membership ? I suspect the lines are so busy with members wishing to cancel their membership.
04.10.21 - over an hour waiting times on calls & zero response to emails. I just tested the lines to the sales reps for new membership enquirers & you can immediately get through (they state they can't help with any claims & the line is only for new members) ! So, obviously just interested in new members rather than health care. UNACCEPTABLE.
5.10.21 STILL HEARD NOTHING - so there's your proof - they can't even get back to a paying member in need of medical assistance within 24hrs. Also their top sales guy "Rik Singh" gets lots of shout outs. Well done Rik for hitting sales targets (you obviously have no conscience) ! There is not one review about how efficient they have been with an actual medical condition. I would love to be proven wrong here, so come on Vitality & help your members out !
4.20pm update: FINALLY got a call back, although still disheartening because it was only due to this feedback that I got the call. Will document how long this takes, as it's important for people to get a clear picture of how long a serious medical claim will take (as there aren't any reviews on here about a medical claim).
3.11.21
It's been another month now (2 months in total) - within this time I’ve managed to have a consultation/MRI (knee) & follow up appointment, so these are just naturally the motions you have to go through before diagnosis. If you take into account that an MRI (knee) costs £300 (very max) & two consultations cost £200 (max), then it certainly (at this stage) doesn't warrant a monthly payment plan to Vitality, as would have been easier (+ far less hassle) to have just paid without any insurance, with lots of cash to spare (at least £600) based on a yearly subscription. I definitely can’t recommend Vitality based on this genuine experience.
Also, I must mention that I received a letter from Vitality saying that now I’m having consultations that my premiums may be increased !! So, if you have a genuine health issue, they’ll just keep increasing your payments to make sure they keep making extra profits ! Speechless.
So(!), the big question is do Vitality put any blocks up now to the "proper" treatment that I need for the knee injury? I've now put the request in, so will update on the outcome (fingers crossed/again). You’d think that at this stage it would be immediate, but it’s obviously not that important to them & yet again, I’m doing all the chasing to get this sorted out. It’s taken nearly 2 months to get to this stage. I signed up to private healthcare thinking it would take two weeks after all the sales rep promises.
4.11.21
DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY ! Just had a call (I was doing all the chasing again) saying that the injection I need for my knee isn't covered, so there you go !!! Absolute proof this company doesn't help anyone that has a genuine medical issue & they bail out at the 1st sign of having to pay for genuine medical help.
ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTED. DD will be cancelled & will be seeking legal advice, contacting Watchdog & the Ombudsmen. They can't go on conning people like this.
GO ELSEWHERE FOR YOUR HEALTH INSURANCE !!
I CANNOT STRESS ENOUGH HOW BAD THEY ARE !!”
“This company is a scam. They do not cover you for 95% of what goes on.
I tried for 7 days to get through to customer service for an appointment. I had to go through 3 different numbers, a web chat and email. Calls requested were not returned and nobody seems to want to help or know anything about what you query. I was cut off after 15 minutes on multiple calls.
Told that they don’t cover you in most cases, not just preexisting comditions. If you have ever experienced a symptom, you won’t be covered. Trouble is, if you have ever had a stomach pain or headache for whatever reason, you’re not covered because it was before your plan.
The app for rewards doesn’t work and you have to continually ask for them to manually upload steps you do.
Do not go with this company.”
“I am absolutely dumbfounded that it has come to me leaving Vitality due to the poor service in failing to find a resolution for my issue after nearly 4 months. In addition, I found communication shockingly bad, with very poor and incompetent replies very frequently. This resulted in the need to repeatedly send the same information.
I was with Vitality health insurance since 2015, so it was very disappointing for them to have failed me so much that the only option was to leave.
It was somewhat ironic that a "health" insurance's company's behaviour affected my mental health so much with the amount of stress and anxiety in dealing with them. Very sad and disappointing”
“Very disappointed
I am absolutely disgusted and disappointed that it has come to me leaving Vitality due to the poor service in failing to find a resolution for my issue after nearly 4 months. In addition, I found communication shockingly bad, with very poor and incompetent replies very frequently. This resulted in the need to repeatedly send the same information.
I was with Vitality health insurance since 2015, so it was very disappointing for them to have failed me so much that the only option was to leave.
It was somewhat ironic that a "health" insurance's company's behaviour affected my mental health so much with the amount of stress and anxiety in dealing with them. Very sad and disappointing”
“I’ve just stopped my health and life insurance direct debits with these shysters. I am due a colonoscopy, and trying to get it covered has proved impossible, despite countless emails, texts, and being kept on hold.”
“Sounds fabulous when signing up, I watch, coffees, movies etc but tried using online gp( 5 day wait ) , daughter had terrible rash wanted to see a dermatologist, they diagnosed her on the phone with chronic acne(?) ..it was an allergic reaction as saw nhs gp.
You are covered for literally nothing when you try phone up.
Website is worst usable ever, utterly confusing and literally a minefield.
For my premiums I could have seen several private gps, bought 2 i watches and all the coffees, I couldn’t claim from nero ( another website that was terrible , and still had change from £2000..
Utter waste of money. Avoid.”
“Vile company... received cancer... they denied the claim, literally went to the gps two years prior for heavy period. They state that was a pre condition for womb cancer., despite gap and consultant stating it hasn’t absolutely not relevance or connection to this cancer whatsoever in any form and to think it does is tantamount to an idiocy on par with a potatoe.
Vile vile vile company, avoid them, they care solely about getting your money with gimmicks and when a claim comes in they bog you down with relentless paper work to slow you down and then make up spurious nonsense to deny a claim. I think we could challenge it with a solicitor and almost certainly win.... but we have cancer and it needs treating now... so we have to pay elsewhere... they know this, and that’s what they do , slow you down, get rid of you, they know time is against you in this circumstance and they force you to go elsewhere through inactivity.
Vile vile vile people.”
“I think Vitality is a marketing company, not an insurance company. It's fun to earn fitness points, but don't ever get ill and make a claim!
Vitality purports to cover dental surgery but they denied my impacted wisdom-tooth claim, despite meeting their criteria of "surgical removal of impacted teeth or partially erupted teeth" and "complicated buried roots.".”
“I had a stroke a little over 4 years ago now and the short of it they never paid out, even though one of there competitors did on the same underwriting information, this company is ran on gimmicks and gifts and heavens forbid you have already signed up make sure ever box is ticked correctly because they will be looking not to help but to find that loop hole, the stress this caused when we needed them most is unforgivable. Do your home guys and find a creditable company.”
“After a routine NHS mammogram I was called for on February 15th 2017 and subsequent follow-up on March 7th 2017, I contacted Vitality to let them know that an early cancer had been detected in my right breast. Instead of receiving any sympathy or support, I was made to give my GP a bunch of forms to complete to 'prove' that I had not had breast cancer in the past (I had not). Their priority, rather than caring for their client who had just been diagnosed with cancer, was to try to get out of covering me.
I offered to have Mr Pakzad, the breast surgeon from Mount Alvernia hospital (whom I saw for a routine private mammogram in January 2016), contact Vitality to let them know I had had a clear scan then, but Vitality insisted on making me go to the GP. Bear in mind the diagnosis I had at that time; being told you have cancer is devasting. Nevertheless, I did as they asked, duly filled out my part, and dropped the GP's form to the surgery.
I had to call the surgery 3 times to chase up, but because my GP was on leave, the form was delayed. I finally got it a few days later, but of course, until I had the 'proof' that I did not have cancer at an earlier date, Vitality refused to confirm if I would be covered.
This was an unnecessary strain and stress caused by Vitality when dealing with a life-altering diagnosis.
At that time, I wrote a poor Trust Pilot review. Vitality customer services (almost) immediately contacted me to apologize, then sent me flowers and asked me to remove my review, which I did at the time.
They covered my cancer op and radiation treatment.
Thankfully, I am cancer-free since July 2017 with 3 subsequent scans carried out in 2018, 2019 and 2020. Vitality paid for the scans in 2018 and 2019 and I self-funded the one in 2020 as I was abroad and stuck due to covid19.
My review now is being written again because, despite my clear scans and no appointment covered by my policy since July 2019, in September 2020 Vitality raised our premiums by 24%. The previous year, 2019, they raised it by 23%. That is a 47% increase in the last two years. Our initial premium when we signed up for Vitality in Sept 2016, was £290 per month. Now, it is £440.90 per month; at this rate, if the increase was kept at 24% in 2021, it will be raised to $551 monthly in Sept 2021, even though no claims have been submitted since my last oncology appointment/scan in July 2019. Their website claims that with their 'transparent' ABC pricing that your premium will not increase by more than 6% due to your age, but that annual increases are 'usually around 3%'.
I have written to Vitality 3 times to ask for an explanation of the level of premium increases, once in 2019 and twice in 2020. We have to this date not received a reply to any of those emails; they were simply ignored.
My husband and I are both surfers; we do a formidable amount of exercise each week. I am 5'7" weighing 60kg. My husband (who has not made a single claim on his Vitality insurance since he took it out in 2016) is 6'1" and weighs 82KG. We are model height and weight. Yet Vitality makes no allowance for surfing as an activity to gain points on their policy, so unless you have an Apple Watch or a FitBit (both of which are unsuitable for surfing with) you can't prove your activity level.
In November 2020, I began an official complaint into Vitality with the Financial Ombudsman, who are looking into our case.
My advice is, don't take out an insurance policy with Vitality as any claims you have to make will be clawed back ruthlessly with outrageous increases in your premiums and if you have a pre-existing condition like me now, you won't be able to move insurers and maintain the cover for your condition.”
“I am sad to have to write a review that contradicts my earlier review..for Vitality Healthcare
I still feel the same with regards to the service received by Vitality however this current unprecedented year I have been totally disappointed in them as a company!!
They have absolutely NO idea what their clients needs have been..this year when things have been so uncertain with deaths to the pandemic, job losses (with many more to come!)
What has their response been??
The company have provided us with coffee vouchers for Waitrose, exercise videos and such like!!!
What have companies like AXA and BUPA done for their clients
( This I can tell you for sure as my partner is with AXA and a member of my family with BUPA)
AXA have a two month holiday on their premiums for 2019 and thereafter a further two month holiday for 2020, if this alone was not brilliant they went on to waive the excess of £500 because of covid! ( proof of all I have) BUPA too came through for there clients on premium holidays.
When challenged about this Vitality offered me £250 a day if I caught Covid....🤦♀️🙄
Vitality when our businesses have ceased trading for months and we are hanging on by the skin of our teeth, WE do not need your free coffee, or exercise videos it comes done to one thing MONEY.
How come if AXA and BUPA and other companies could recognise this and assist their clients when they needed it most is Vitality so short sighted?????
Remember we clients have very long memories and come renewal will most definitely will go elsewhere as I have already after many years choosing vitality when premiums are cheaper elsewhere.
I think that’s called BRAND loyalty!!!!!!
VERY VERY SHORT SIGHTED Vitality Health!”
“The main point of joining Vitality was to benefit for keeping fit and healthy through steps and exercise. This in turn should be recorded by Vitality and hopefully reduce your risk to the company and your monthly payments. However, after a few months vitality stopped recording my activity and hence my premiums are going up. ( in addition, my wife also has a policy and she has never been able to connect a Fitbit to the Vitality system ) This is a great concept, but I am not sure that the companies system is robust enough to provide the service.”
“I was recently been hospitalized due to Covid 19 for 16 days in Frimley Hospital. Vitality called me and said they don't recognize Covid as a serious illness thus I won't receive any help. It's 2021, thousands have died. UK went into national lockdowns and still Vitality does not recognize Covid as a serious illness and will not help you. Avoid this company as they are a joke. They will not help you in times you need help. Go and search for better insurance companies. If you get Covid you will not receive any help. I learned it the hard way.”
“I have been a active vitality health member since 3 years ago. I joined mainly because attractive benefits which shows on vitality website. I did join Nuffield club with 50% discount and always being active member .
You have brown , silver, gold depending on your activity and commitment from vitality.
Believe me, you never get gold regardless how many times you go to gym per week.
After one year my subscription jumped from £70 to £97 which I am paying. The advantages of having Apple Watch and other offers is not as it shows on the website. I had to purchase myself a Apple Watch . The only free offer you get is one cup of Starbucks coffee which I never been bothered. For the first time today I did visit GP for health check and all I needed to pay was £20 up front as vitality website shows. The GP clearly informed that I was paying only for chat and minor check. I have to be prepared to pay for visiting specialist, blood test or any other hospital arrangement with tiny discount !!!!
So please think twice before you make your mind, finally I called vitality to cancel my membership, Very happy people when you join but for cancellation you need to be prepared to answer many questions and impossible to do the cancellation online,
So my award was to pay additional £40 admin fee for cancellation !!!
Very nice concept online but do not waste your money if you are healthy. There is more to come but I rather leave it for now,”
