Discovery Members guinea ***s to new services that are launched

How do I even begin to describe my frustration with Discovery? I would consider myself a brand ambassador for Discovery; constantly telling my friends about how amazing Discovery Vitality is; how they should move to Discovery Insure – and there's a part of my heart that really believes that about Discovery too. I think Adrian Gore's ambitions to become like Apple Inc. are clearly evident in that Discovery locks one into the entire Discovery eco-system. It's the golden handcuffs... damned if you're in, damned if you're out.

I refer to three separate occasions where I was excited to use a product either from Discovery or offered by Discovery as part of a partnership with a third party; and in each case, my queries, challenges and the inherent system glitches have been dealt the same way: each one passing the buck and no-one taking responsibility for the error.

I do admit that staff members have tried, and that eventually one or two of the issues have been resolved (one of them still pending), but the concept is the same: A new service is launched by Discovery, with little to no support for teething problems and then the Discovery Members guinea ***s to new services launched. Worst of all is that no-one is willing to own up to the errors that

The first issue with Discovery took place with Discovery Insure took FIFTY THREE (53) days to sort out! Can you believe such a thing? A technical error on the app which displayed rewards from admyt as coming from Kaching, took fifty three days to sort out. Again, it was sorted out – but boy oh boy did we have to jump hoops to get it sorted. If I was given R1 for every minute I spent on the phone with Discovery trying to sort that out, I would be seriously wealthy.

The second issue with Discovery is still pending with Discovery Vitality. It concerns my Fitbit Alta HR which sends data from 'non-motion' exercises (such as riding on a stationary bike) from Fitbit to Discovery, but Discovery do not read this data. This affects the weekly Vitality Active Rewards and has been a frustration to deal with. A temporary solution was given to me with which I am satisfied, but a lot of annoyance, time-wasting and general stress could have been avoided if Discovery took ownership of it in the first place.

The third issue with Discovery concerns Discovery Vitality and their Weight Loss Rewards program. The first part of the program worked wonders, the second part – i.e. setting a new goal for the next cycle – has been an absolute nightmare in that a simple technical glitch in the app causes the app to be inoperable in setting that new goal. In what should be a simple issue to fix from the development team, has become a case of passing the buck – with no-one taking ownership of these issues.

Here are three cases where Discovery launch great new services and initiatives, but as soon as something goes wrong, no one takes ownership; the buck is passed again and again and even those very helpful and genuinely attentive and concerned staff members at Discovery, are helpless in the face of the mobile app team – who apparently are more interested in launching 'FANTASTIC NEW PRODUCTS AND SERVICES!' than providing support and maintenance for the existing ones.

All I can say to Adrian Gore is that Apple would be very unimpressed with the level of customer service. Remember, the back of the cupboard that no-one sees should still be crafted with the same fine craftsmanship than the front.

I hope that all my issues are timeously resolved.