Vitality Apple Watch Complaint

Dear Discovery

In September I never reached one of my goals. I was therefore liable for a penalty of R122.90 which is OK. An email goes out but it never gives a date of when the amount will be taken out. Another email then goes out and it states that I need to have funds in my account on the 27th or last day of October which I made sure I did. I have proof of this.

I was patiently waiting for the money to be taken out but it never happened. I then get an email stating that due to this the penalty is now R368.69 which is almost 3 times the normal penalty. Perhaps a 10% penalty would suffice and not 300%. I don't know how the company can justify such a large amount as it is purely a penalty fee. Discovery also gave no warning that there would be such a high penalty and this should have communicated. which it never was. I am sure other clients do not know this and it must be mentioed in the email. The potential penalty of around R368 per month over the 24 month contract amounts to around R10 000 which is double the price of the watch? I have concerns that this is a potential money making scheme for Discovery and has put me in a difficult financial position this month.

This is alot of money to pay in tough times. I have given my story to Discovery and no is interested and gives me the same generic response. If this had happened to me before then yes I would take responsibility. I am disappointed buy the lack of sympathy and good customer experience would be to try and rectify the situation. By sorting this out it could have a great customer experience for me but now leaves me wondering whether I want to end my relationship with Discovery Car, Discovery Health, Discovery Insure and Discovery Invest and I will weigh up my options.

Regards James Verster-Cohen