[imagesource: Discovery]

Nobody celebrates a free smoothie harder than a person who has racked up Discovery Vitality points to do so.

Enjoy that Peanut Butter Bliss. Well done, we’re really proud of you.

Whenever the parameters of how you can earn and spend your Vitality points change, there’s an uproar of sorts. This week, it’s even led to claims that Discovery has killed the Vitality goose.

A letter published on Business Day by Anthony Peerie outlines why he’s so unimpressed with the latest changes.

He says his family have been Discovery Health members for decades and always enjoyed the “wonderful” Vitality rewards programme.

Dramatic music – until now:

Yet suddenly Discovery has killed the goose that lays the golden eggs. With a low-key announcement an onerous condition was inserted into the scheme — to earn lucrative Vitality airfare, hotel and car rental discounts the member must be a Discovery Bank account holder.

In one fell swoop Discovery has targeted hundreds of thousands of loyal Vitality members, and the price will be heavy. Offering additional discounts to Discovery Bank account holders would represent good marketing. Placing the entire highly successful Vitality reward scheme at risk via arrogant and poorly conceived conditions will alienate loyal members.

Why bother with Vitality if you are happy with your current bank?

Discovery Bank entered the market in 2019 and has sunk in excess of R10 billion into the venture so far. User growth has been steady and it now boasts 470 000 clients, up 42% from last June, and just over a million accounts.

Are people ever really happy with their current bank? I just stick with mine because I can’t be arsed to handle the admin of switching, and changing all the debit orders and so on. Maybe that should be my next New Year’s resolution – hold my bank accountable.

This tweet by Refiloe Ramogase, who has more than 12 000 followers, also set in motion ire directed at Discovery.

So Discovery has just given a middle finger to its medical aid members. Going forward, to benefit from its Vitality programme, you now have to have a Discovery Bank account as well.

— Refiloe Ramogase (@refiloer) September 20, 2022

In the replies, Discovery did its best to put out fires as the backlash grew.

Eventually, one important point was clarified:

Hi there, it is not entirely accurate, Vitality members still have access to all their benefits and rewards. Members are encouraged to open the free Discovery Account to have access to the new travel partners, this means all the new bank travel partners at no extra cost. Regards https://t.co/8jZjQQ5Hyh

— @Discovery_SA (@Discovery_SA) September 22, 2022

Business Insider SA unpacked how these changes work in this article late last month, stating they force “all members who want to book flight, car, and hotel deals to sign up as Discovery Bank clients, whether they want to or not”.

In a follow-up article less than a week later, Business Insider SA also illustrated how the discounts on some domestic flights are not as big as what Discovery advertises.

Discovery Vitality promises discounts of between 10% and 75% off flights for its members. But a real-world analysis shows that discounts advertised as 30% often can, in fact, be as little as 23% at checkout.

Vitality’s own internal calculations revealed that a discount advertised at 75% resulted in an actual saving of 61% at checkout.

You can read that in full here.

I don’t have skin in this game and like many things in life, it appears some of the backlash is based on people not understanding the nuances of the changes.

That being said, you can’t blame those who feel like they’re having Discovery Bank pushed on them.

[sources:busday&businsidersa]