Here’s why you need to get to Diamond on Discovery’s Vitality program (with living proof of cashbacks)

As I’ve said in previous articles, that clock is ticking and many people say that it’s too complicated to take advantage of Discovery Vitality’s (and other) products.  If you take each “advantage” one at a time, then it all adds up to some pretty big numbers!  Here is some proof of some of the cashbacks, and they are awesome.  It is also quite a nice summary of all my articles on Discovery.
I hope that these real life examples will push you to understand each of the products better so that you too can benefit.

Disclaimer: I am in no way employed nor paid by Discovery to write these articles – I am a client of Discovery Health, Life and I have a Discovery Credit Card, and recently took out a VitalityDrive insurance policy.  I have Diamond status in the Vitality program.  

OK, let’s start with the big cashback items and show that there’s “Living Proof” of big cashbacks:
(screen shots of actual statements/emails from Discovery)


This is what your DiscoveryCard statement will look like when you reach Diamond to receive 20% off at partner stores (and an additional 15% if you are on Advanced level with DiscoveryInsure):


Here’s an example of over R1,100 cashback in a month:
(actual figures blanked for anonymity reasons)


Here’s an exceptional cashback month (over R2,100):

Did you notice the R1,000 discount from the iStore?  That’s a discount on a R5,000 spend – so the Mac cost R4,000 instead of R5,000.  See here for more info: How to get an iPad2 for R3,519 (= less 20%) using your Discovery Credit Card


Every 5 years on Discovery Life policy you will get a portion of your contributions back in cash (could be over R20,000 every 5 years):
See here for more details: Discovery Life – I’m getting a surprise ‘cheque’ in the mail after 5 years of contributions


DiscoveryInsure:
Apart from getting a free tracking device and lower excess, you can also earn points to get cashback on BP fuel (up to 40%) plus increase your partner discount when using your Discovery card.
For little effort, my insurance premium of R450 per month will be offset by getting R400 cashback per month on my BP fuel spend of R1,000 (that’s by buying 94 litres of petrol (at today’s petrol price of R10.60 per litre) which means I travel about 1,100 Kms per month.
So, my insurance is now costing me only R50 per month!  Oh, but what about the additional 5% (up to 15%) discount at partner stores – OK, so I might break even then… insurance for free - Wow! 
See here for more details: Discovery Insure and VitalityDrive:


For every R12 spent you get 1 Discovery Mile to spend at the Vitality Mall – so there’s more free stuff that you get by spending your miles – that’s usually all you get with all the other “normal” credit cards out there.  The variety of stuff in the mall is amazing – admittedly, slightly over-priced, but what the hell, it’s free miles.
See here Vitality Mall products on offer: all products at Vitality Mall
An example, get subscriptions for up to 70% off magazine subscriptions:

 
Here’s an example of some men’s magazines:

Some women’s magazines:
Some kids’ magazines:


Clicks cashback: 15%
Ster-Kinekor: discounted movies eg: R13 at a Junction movie house.  Kids under 16 go free
Vitality PrePaid: get 5% discount from GotPrePaid no matter what your Vitality status and pay with your credit card. 
Vitality Broadband: Examples of prices: R22 per GB, R188 for uncapped on a 384kbps line.
 

Free travel insurance: By activating the Discovery Miles benefit, you also qualify for free international travel insurance when you use your DiscoveryCard to pay for part of your international travel ticket. The DiscoveryCard travel insurance benefit covers non-medical claims such as baggage loss or delay, personal accident, cancellation and curtailment, travel delays, personal liability and much more. Click here for more


Travel rewards:  Enjoy your leisure time with added savings on flights, car hire and accommodation. Your discount depends on your Discovery Vitality status or VitalityDrive status or both.
 

The Discovery Vitality program is incredibly useful if you have attained enough points to reach Diamond status. You start at Blue status and have to work yourself up to bronze, silver, then gold and eventually, Diamond status.
Remember, too that you need to earn points each year to retain your status - if you're on Gold and want to retain Gold for next year, then earn the points this year.

You need to get to Vitality’s Diamond level which means that you need to get to Gold each year for three consecutive years – then on the 4th year you will be on Diamond. See here for instructions on how to get to Gold.

This is what your Vitality dashboard will look like when you’ve achieved Diamond Vitality level:

Here’s an updated Vitality points calculator for 2011 to keep track of your vitality points for the year: 2011VitalityPointsChecker.xls
which shows you what you can do to earn those Vitality points, and assists in planning your path to Gold (or even Diamond) Vitality status.

Note: for every year after that you need to earn Vitality points to stay on Gold otherwise you will lose the Diamond status… but don’t worry – the longer you are on Vitality, then the more points you carry over to the next year. 

 

Remember, if you're on Blue level then you're not getting the most from your Vitality subscription
eg. comparing Blue vs Gold benefits:
British Airways: 5% vs 20%
Kulula: 15% vs 30%
Southern Sun: 30% vs 45%
Magazine subscriptions: 1 vs 6
Discovery credit card: 10% vs 15% [20% if you're on Diamond]
Pick 'n Pay: 5% vs 8% [10% if you're on Diamond]
Contiki: 15% vs 20%

See here for some tips: It's easy to get to GOLD on Discovery Vitality
How to get an iPad2 for R3,519 (= less 20%) using your Discovery Credit Card



 
Here’s info to help you understand the DiscoveryCreditCard cashback small print: Discovery Credit Card calculator updated to include Max Allowable Spend at partner stores
Remember to push up your discountable spend by using your Credit card to pay for your fuel purchases: Paying for petrol using your Discovery credit card




DiscoveryInsure:
Apart from getting a free tracking device you can also earn points to get cashback on BP fuel (up to 40%) plus increase your partner discount when using your Discovery card.  See here for more details: Discovery Insure and VitalityDrive: Another HTT calculator to see how much cashback you get on your short term insurance


 



 

Well, if that’s not enough incentive to start to understand the products in earnest and start getting to gold... then I don’t know what will spur you on.
The above might not apply in the same way as it did for me – but if you don’t start investigating and understanding, then you might be wasting time and money.  As always, please add comments (or email me) if you see any mistakes or errors in my logic.

See here for more of my blog’s articles on the Discovery product suite: http://handytechtips.blogspot.com/search?q=discovery