Excellent, so even if a judge rules against you, you can avoid a CCJ damaging your CRA data. We'll help with the defence but shout please if we get to within 5 days of the defence due date.

Looking at this objectively, DL mentioned 3 times they could consider immediate cancellation on certain grounds (illness, relaocation or job loss) on 16/3/21; 15/11/21; 25/4/22, but you never took the chance to cancel on grounds of financial hardship. So as per my my last post, I think your defence needs to focus on DL's greedy need for 3 months notice to cancel. Q. Have they tried to charge you any months they were closed due to Covid ?

From what I understand, you've not specifically told them you want to cancel due to hardship and you agreed to catch up with missed payments and freeze the m/ship(s). If I've missed something, tell me. The other angle here you may be able to use is DL's greedy requirement for 3 month's notice even though you signed for a full 12 month period, not a shorter or "Rolling monthly, cancel anytime" contract.

Hi Blossom, In their email of 15/11/21 DL say "as you are in your initial term period, we would not be able to cancel the membership at this moment in time, your earliest leave date is 01/04/22" . You started your thread saying the m/ship began in 2018 so please confirm the m/ship start date and the initial minimum term you signed up for. They invited you then to confirm about possible illness, relocation or job loss yet I can see no mention from you of hardship (it didn't have to be a complete job loss). Did you tell them about hardship you were experiencing ?

Answer Q 7 please

No, we will help you prepare the Defence for submission - we're working on this behind the scenes. Meanwhile, answer my Q's above please.

Evaluation of the OFT's enforcement action on health and fitness contracts (Published by the CMA 30th Sept 2016) - https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/557129/evaluation-report-of-oft-action-in-gyms-sector.pdf 48. In March 2013, the OFT closed its investigation into Bannatyne’s Fitness Limited, David Lloyd Leisure Limited and Fitness First Clubs Limited, as they each gave undertakings to the OFT to amend their terms and practices to make membership contracts transparent and give their members better cancellation rights. In summary, they agreed to: (a) extend rights for members to cancel their contracts early should their circumstances change in a way that makes attendance at the gym difficult or unaffordable – for example if they lose their job or suffer an injury; (b) make a commitment not to describe membership as being of a fixed duration, if the contract automatically continues on a rolling basis after the initial membership period has expired

Hi Blossom, Your post above is very useful but can you provide more about :- 3. Did your email state financial hardship or something similar? Confirm the relevant wording that you used. 4. Did you pay the £60 to freeze the m/ship, then no more until you tried to cancel in June 2022? 5. and 6. Were these communications by phone or was anything by email. 7. Ignoring interest, what penalty charges have been added. Lastly, please detail what amounts you paid to the gym or ARC since you told confirmed you could no longer afford the monthly fees.

Hi Blossom, The point you make about your DoB is not relevant in terms of your defence. To keep the necessary info together, please answer my Q's 1 to 5 briefly and together, bullet point format. For your defence, we may need to focus on your financial hardship when you tried to freeze or cancel the m/ship. Can you really not access emails from 18 months back when you contacted the gym - this could be key to showing their failure to treat you fairly when you needed this. Check for any relevant emails and let us know. If you can't find the actual emails, tell us instead what you believe you told the gym when you tried to freeze or cancel the m/ship. Again, please do this briefly.

Yes, DX is right - MajorLaw have threatened action in hundreds of cases here on CAG but taken NO court action that we've seen. They may well be seeing if court action is successful, now we are 12 years on after the High Court ruling against AMSL back in 2011. You need to do everything possible to defend using the most relevant point. Also, you mention needing to avoid a CCJ so you can buy a property. If Judgement goes against you, you can avoid this showing on your credit file by paying the judgement amount in full within 30 days (if able). Please give specific answers to my Q's above. Also, tell us :- 4. Did you make DL aware that you were in financial difficulty when you froze the m/ship and/or when you try to cancel it. If so, tell us details. 5. Do you have anything in writing or emails about this. If so, give us details. These last 2 points may be critical in terms of your defence.

Hi Blossom, Do you recall, when you gave the gym notice of leaving :- 1. Did you do it verbally or in writing. 2. Did you pay 1 last month's fee AFTER giving notice to leave. 3. What was the m/ship fee each month. You refer above to an arrangement - I did enter an arrangement with ARC but have not kept up with due to financial difficulties. Please provide brief details of what you paid, when, and to whom.

Hi Rob and thanks for the update. I'm pleased to hear you now have expert representation. When HMRC remain so pig-headed focusing stubbornly on their argument - "You received tax relief for EIS to which you were not entitled." - yet remain oblivious to the circumstances where you were all victims of FTR or Maxwell's fraud, you need all the help you can get. Please keep us updated with events. I wish you well !

Hi MU, Don't email them any more, ignore their empty threats. You encourage them every time you respond to them so don't !!

How much are you missing roughly ?

Hi there, It's simply NOT the bank's fault they can give you no information, updates or timescale - it's a requirement of the AML Regs. When you have full access to check the a/c's, it should be easy to verify if you now have all your funds, as held before. Let us know.

Hi B's, No point in speculating what may happen - wait until you hear back from the bank. Meanwhile, do you have facilities with another bank, in case Barclays decide they must close your accounts. If not, make this a priority in case you need it.

Hi The Unfortnate, Yes, please keep us updated ! Loads of folk fail to do this which really isn't helpful for CAG or our users.

Hi MU and welcome to CAG You've done it all correctly and are right to ignore their demands, etc. Continue to ignore but keep us posted about anything you're not sure about.

GG you really need to relax about this but perhaps the following will help. We've made it very clear that gyms or similar m/ships do NOT end up in court. However, if yours was the first case we've seen here on CAG that ended up as a Small Claim court case :- 1. You can defend any such claim and have a decent chance of winning. 2. The judge wouldn't care less that you ignored the demands or chose not to pay. 3. If you lost and a judge found you owed some money, you can pay in full within 30 days and have the CCJ removed from the Register. This would avoid the matter affecting your credit rating. So even in the worst case scenario, you can easily avoid this matter spoiling your credit score.

Understood thanks. I can only assume the firm will continue to provide good service for those in the group action despite the loss of the staff member who has handled the cases so far. Only you can decide if £200 is good value for having a firm represent your application to Stay the process. Have they said they'll represent you if you want them to, if the main hearing goes ahead. If I recall correctly, you have between £15K and £20K at stake if HMRC succeed. I think you still have a good case (maybe even better) even though it's different from the CACLtd scenario.

Sorry Schipoo but your 2nd sentence above makes no sense. Did the other cases involve FTR like your case, or not ? If they're about another fraudulent company, please say which. A couple of points - 1. Yes you can of course seek a Stay of the proceedings yourself but HMRC may be more likely to oppose it in your individual case, compared to a group action brought by a professional firm. 2. Only time will tell if HMRC accept the Robson ruling but I suspect they'll either challenge it, or they'll simply not recognise is as setting any precedent.

You mean you spoke to the firm running the Group Action ? Are you interested in joining their Group Action; or are they willing to let you join it ? If not, did you discuss or consider seeking a stay in your own case ?

If that was their reply to you after you wrote as DX suggested, now you simply ignore them and their threats. Keep us posted ..........

Hi GG, I've been helping here on CAG since 2007 and I've dealt with pretty much every scenario that can occur with gyms, health clubs, etc. Trust us and stop scaring yourself reading rubbish elsewhere. As DX said earlier, the rubbish you're reading is probably put there by DCA's. This will NOT affect your credit rating - end of !!

Hi JJ, Did you write to them as suggested ?