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Update: October 27, 2023CAVEAT: Please know that this entry was not meant to show you the features of a Peloton bike. If you need more info about the specs and benefits of using their bike, you could easily go to Peloton’s website. Instead, I’m here to tell you my journey:
- my not-so-successful exercise journey
- Hyatt introduced me to Peloton
- how we ended up getting a Peloton bike
- how I made this expense work for me
- how many credit card miles and points I earned during the purchase
- which credit cards to consider for this purchase
- which types of purchase protection do I get when I used my credit card
- other additional discounts we used to purchase our Peloton
My not-so-successful exercise journey
I joined a local gym in 2016, and was pretty consistent in going to the gym for a year. Then I stopped. I thought I could keep up with the habit of working out by just using the fitness center in our neighborhood. That fitness center was less than five minutes walk away from my house. Well, that never happened. A few years later, COVID hit our lives. While I’ve been working from home even pre-COVID, the more I found myself lounging, cooking, eating, and spending time with the family at home. We joined our local YMCA (a couple of minutes drive from home), and we went 2-3x, and never went back. We cancelled our membership.
As much as I love to travel, when I am not traveling, I’m really a homebody. There have been many, many days where I find myself getting up from my bed, walked to my computer desk (just two short steps from my bedside), and I just found myself working in front my PC. I take little breaks by going downstairs, but am mostly confined to my PC for 7-8 hours a day. After my work day, I’d be lucky if I go out for a walk or go on an errand. But on days when we don’t go out, I just sit in front of the TV and watch Netflix or some streaming platform. You get the picture!
Hyatt’s influence
In 2021, we began our journey towards earning Hyatt’s most coveted status – Hyatt Globalist. In 2021, our family visited 25 Hyatt properties. I am embarrassed to admit that it was during these hotel visits that piqued my interest in checking out the hotel’s fitness centers. If there was one thing I noticed in the properties we visited, most of them had Peloton bikes. Out of curiosity, I created my own Peloton account when we visited The Seabird Resort in San Diego. Since then, we’ve visited a few more Hyatt properties, and I found myself going on a Peloton bike ride during our stay.
My initial Peloton experience
To those who do not know, once you create a free Peloton account, and have access to a Peloton bike, (in my case, the access was free at the Hyatt properties we visited), you are able to get on the bike, and pick any exercise session shown on the screen. The sessions I joined were as short as 20 minutes to as long as one hour. Some sessions were all done on the bike by following an instructor that guided me and the class, other sessions were more of a body workout which involved some light weights.
As you could imagine, my Peloton usage only lasted while we were in a Hyatt property. Once we checked out, I started to look at possibly getting a bike not only for my use, but for the family’s use as well.
Let’s try to be fit at fifty = FITTY
I turned 50 in November. I have this running joke with a few of my close friends that the goal now that I’m fifty is to be fit….and I coined it as FITTY. So help me with this goal to be fit at 50…FITTY.
For my 50th birthday, my family bought me a drone (you know, the aerial camera). I love watching videos taken from a drone, especially the ones close to the ocean. The drone they bought me was worth $439 + tax. I held on to the gift for a few days after my birthday. I did not open the box. I kept it sealed. While I liked the idea of owning one, I was too scared to lose the drone. My lack of knowledge of owning one made me think that I might lose it while in-flight, or it might fall in the middle of the ocean, or I might leave the drone inside the plane, or lose it somewhere else. Trust me. If you knew me well enough, these things do happen to me. So I returned my birthday gift and got our money back. That’s nearly $500 with taxes. So technically, I didn’t get any birthday gift. That’s what I said to myself. HA!!!
My options to make this Peloton expense worthwhile
Peloton bikes aren’t exactly cheap. There were other bikes around, some were much cheaper. When I first heard of them, they were priced at $1900. But in the fall of 2021, Peloton lowered the price of its original bike down to $1495 + tax. Aside from purchasing the bike, there was also a $39.99 per month Peloton Digital and All-Access Membership fee. (This membership fee credit had since ended)./
I decided, this would be the gift that would replace the drone gift when I turned 50. It was not just for me, but for all of us at home. And knowing me, I needed to find a way to help justify the cost of this bike. Here’s what I learned:
Free 30 Day Home Trial
If within 30 days of Peloton Product delivery, you change your mind you can return it for a full refund and free collection on your entire order
Free delivery and setup
Purchasing a Peloton bike qualifies me to get a free delivery and setup. That’s a huge benefit in my books. I don’t need to go anywhere to pick it up myself, nor do I need to worry about paying for shipment and setup
Use the benefits from our Credit Cards
- Earn 5x to 10x Chase Ultimate Rewards – for those of us with a Chase Sapphire credit card, we could use our credit card to pay for the Peloton and get these additional reward points:
- Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card-Earn 10x total points on eligible Peloton Bike, Tread, Row and Guide purchases over $150 with a max earn of 50,000 total points. Now through March 31, 2025.. Click here for more details.
- Chase Sapphire Reserve® – Earn 5x total points on eligible Peloton Bike, Tread, Row and Guide purchases over $150 with a max earn of 25,000 total points. Now through March 31, 2025. Click here for more details.
- What does this mean? At $1,495 + tax, using myself as an example, that’s a $1,600 purchase. With this offer:
-
- Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card– = $1,600 x 5x = 8,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards (good for cash back or travel rewards)
- 8,000 points are good enough for a short round trip ticket somewhere within the US, or a free hotel night stay at a Hyatt
- Chase Sapphire Reserve® = $1,600 x 10x = 16,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards (good for cash back or travel rewards)
- 16,000 points are good enough for a discounted roundtrip ticket to Hawaii or to anywhere in the US, or 2-3 nights stay at a Hyatt Cat 1 or Cat 2 properties
- NOTE: This pricing was from my purchase in early 2022. This is subject to change.
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How I used my Flexible Spending Account
According to healthcare.gov – a Flexible Spending Account (also known as a flexible spending arrangement) is a special account you put money into that you use to pay for certain out-of-pocket health care costs. You don’t pay taxes on this money. This means you’ll save an amount equal to the taxes you would have paid on the money you set aside. I’ve used my healthcare FSA for health-related expenses that were typically not covered by my health insurance. One of the best examples was using my FSA to pay for my LASIK surgery over 15 years ago. We’ve used it to pay for our co-payment, for over-the-counter FSA-eligible items. Another great example – we used our health care FSA to help cover the expenses for our kids’ braces. I’ve used my FSA for expenses with my root canal. To use this for a Peloton bike, there has to be a medical necessity. In this case, it could be a prescription or a doctor’s note. And this didn’t happen overnight. For many years now, I’ve been working with my physician in finding ways to stay healthy, whether it’s through regular exercise and/or by having a healthy diet. So it wasn’t a shock when I asked him about this, and he was in full support and gladly wrote a note. He didn’t say that I should get a Peloton, but it was more in line with my need to go on a regular exercise program that could require the use of an exercise equipment.
Peloton referral
I have quite a few friends with Peloton Referral Codes. “Referral codes allow a new member to receive $100 off of accessories with their hardware (Bike, Bike+, Tread, or Tread+) purchase. In return, the member who shared the code receives a $100 credit with Peloton Apparel.”
If interested, here’s my referral
Use my Peloton Referral Click this.You will get $100 off accessories with a Peloton Bike, Bike+, Tread, or Row order. (Offer is subject to change)
Healthcare Worker, Military Discount
This was another discount we looked into since my wife is a healthcare worker. During our visit to a Peloton showroom, we were advised of the details of this discount. “All Members of the Military (Active and Retired), Medical Personnel (Doctors/Nurses/Pharmacists/
The Essentials Package is valued over $150 which comes with cycling shoes, earbuds, and dumbbells. We were told we could not combine the referral and the healthcare worker’s discount. We could only choose one.
I waited patiently
I finally decided to get a Peloton during the last quarter of the year. However, I didn’t have enough funds left on my Flexible Spending Account in 2021 to cover the whole purchase. So I decided to wait until the beginning of 2022 to move forward with the purchase. While waiting, I got my ducks in a row:
- Decided on which Peloton bike to purchase
- Obtained a doctor’s note
- Enrolled in a 2022 Flexible Spending Account funds (available Jan 1, 2022)
- Will use our Chase Sapphire Reserve for the 10x points
- Will use my wife’s Healthcare Worker’s Discount ($150 value on Essentials Package)
I finally ordered my Peloton bike
Before 2021 ended, we went on a few quick vacation getaways over the holidays where we stayed at Hyatt and Kimpton Hotels with Peloton Bikes in the fitness center. I was determined to get one.
January 1 – The New Year 2022 finally came around. I decided to begin the order process.
January 2 – I could’ve placed my order online, but there was a Peloton Showroom rep who stayed in touch with me the entire time. I could imagine that she must work on commission or perhaps, work on some kind of sales quota. I wanted to give her my sale. It’s the least I could do.
I called my local Peloton showroom, spoke with Brina Durdan. It was not a hard sell. I knew what I wanted, and was ready to buy. It was the easiest purchase. She made us verify my wife’s healthcare eligibility. I gave her our Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card information. She informed me of the next date of delivery. We were given a two-week window, around Jan 20th. But she said, I could check daily and chat with Peloton to see if the delivery could be pushed up.
January 3 – I submitted my Health Care Flexible Spending Account claim online. I attached my Peloton receipt, and my doctor’s note. I also chatted with Peloton and was told there was a next-day delivery available on January 4 between 8am and 12 pm. I grabbed that delivery date and time.
January 4 – Around 9am, the Peloton Bike was delivered. I had it set-up in our Master Bedroom.
January 6 – My Health Care Flexible Spending Account claim was approved for the full amount of $1,603.39.
Peloton FSA
Chase bonus points and statement credit
Chase also awarded me with over 16,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards, and issued a statement credit on my $39.00 membership fee.
At-a-glance benefits from the purchase
I’m a very visual person. I need to see the benefits tied to my purchase. So here they are at-a-glance.
My Peloton purchase takeaways
That’s it. That’s my Peloton journey. Blogging about this was the easiest. I’ve gone on a few rides so far since the delivery date and have gotten a few members of the family to give the bike a try. Honestly, the real challenge was not placing the order, it was not about getting the best deal or the perks that came with the purchase. The real challenge now is to put this equipment to use. I’m optimistic. If I could get myself on this bike every day or every other day, I’d be happy. I don’t want any excuse to exercise. It’s sitting right next to our bed. It’s a few feet away from my workstation. So, no excuses. I can do this. We can do this.
Any questions, just ask, and if interested in getting a Peloton, here’s my referral
Use my Peloton Referral Click this.You will get $100 off accessories with a Peloton Bike, Bike+, Tread, or Row order. (Offer is subject to change)
For a list of over 60 credit cards, click here.
Hi Jason, I also have health fsa account and was wondering how to get doctors note for lmn to be eligible? Is it simple as exercise is needed written on dr note? Thanks!
Hello….for me it was an easy conversation because for years, my doctor and I have been talking about ways for me be active and healthy. We’ve talked about diet, medications, lifestyle changes – so when I brought up the use of an exercise machine, he knew what needed to get done. He wrote a simple note – not exactly suggesting that I get a peloton but more about an exercise program for weight loss.
But I also suggest checking with your FSA on exactly what they would need to written on the doctor’s note.
Ok great info, thanks Jason!
You’re welcome. Whenever you do end up getting one, hope you consider using my link 🙂 https://account.onepeloton.com/referral/90803750cb714d97b37640f175ac1561?cfuList=bike&guestPassCode=19d76fa130dd4f91abf0db1f96c19f8b
Got it will do!