I have recieived another letter, this time from Spratt Endicott. (18th Feb 2016) 'We act on behalf of the above named client. They have instructed us to write to you concerning the above debt due to them. Failure to reply to this notice in 7 days may result in legal proceedings to recover the above balance unless you contact us to discuss your payment proposals. Any claim resulting in proceedings will include additional costs payable by you. You should also note that if Judgement is obtained you may find it difficult to obtain credit from other sources as the judgement will be registered and remain on your credit file for 6 years. Please contact us to discuss your account so that we may come to an arrangement that is affordable and sustainable in line with your financial circumstances and therefore it will not be necessary to issue proceedings. If you require free financial or legal advice we would recommend that you contact your local Citizens Advice Bureau or Step Change [...] We hope it will not be necessary for us to issue proceedings and that we will hear from you without delay' I've still not sent a single letter to them and it feels as though it's got to a point where I would like to start getting it sorted. I've also been getting texts, calls and voicemails from them about three times weekly.

I have 2 letters from CRS (they are both exactly the same, date and everything). The letter states that my account balance is now £201.50, with their fees of £66.50 added. They then have a section of 'options' for paying them and mention numerous times that I should call them, and they said they will cease further letters for 7 days (obviously I'm past 7 days now).

I've asked my mum to keep an eye out for any letters for me, and she says she hasn't received any. I just got a text from CRS saying 'Please call C R S on 01444 449165 between 9 and 5pm. We sent a letter a week ago and need to discuss this with you. Thank you.' Trying to get her to have a look for the letter

Ok I'll refrain from calling. I have another big problem.. I have changed address, so the letters are getting sent to my mums house who I don't see often. And I don't know how to change my address with them, I went into the actual gym to ask and they were no help at all. All the gym ever says is 'just call Harlands'

In that case it would be two direct debit mandates I think? We have literally just cancelled the direct debit for both the memberships, and managed to get the unpaid transaction fee back from the bank. Yayy! I have read through hundreds of threads about Harlands, it's reassuring, but lets be honest.. I'm young, I don't know much about this stuff, I'm an easy target. Luckily I found this site Getting worried because loads of people are telling me I have to call them.. but then again they haven't dealt with Harlands before so they don't know what the best thing to do is

Thanks for replying! I'm worried about the admin fee because it is stated in the contract, which I signed. Also, a bit more info, my boyfriend paid the admin fee (he didn't have a choice, they took it out of his bank first chance they got). Should we both cancel out memberships, even though it's only mine that they're chasing money for? Then again we can't tell which is which, but won't they start chasing him for money too? Our first payments for the gym got taken out on the 2nd Feb 2015, we can't remember the exact date we joined though. It was early January 2015. I don't know what a Direct Debit Mandate is, but they are both being paid from the same account. The last fully paid ones were on the 1st September, then on the 1st October there weren't sufficient funds in the account for either memberships. They then took £40 out on the 12th October, covering one of the memberships admin fees and the actual membership. We have also just noticed that the bank has also starting giving him unpaid transaction fees, agh what a mess. Also, I have just noticed that in the most recent letter, it says that I'm £105.00 in arrears, then further down in the letter it says that my balance is £135.00. I don't understand how this is calculated.

Hi, I urgently need advice on dealing with Harlands, Here is the story so far. Me and my boyfriend signed up to our local Lifestyle fitness gym, under a 12 month contract. Both memberships were set up to be debited from his account. 8 months in, he got a letter saying that there weren't sufficient funds to pay his membership, so they were asking for the £15 for the months membership, and a £25 admin fee. We went into the actual gym and asked if the other membership (mine) had been paid for, and they said that only one of our memberships was suspended, so one must have been paid. I then got a letter saying that mine hadn't been paid, with them asking for the same amount (£15 membership and a £25 admin fee). Because I had not changed my address with them (completely my fault) my letter got to me late, so when they tried to take the £40 out for my membership, they couldn't take it, and I got a letter explaining a charge. 'Your bank have advised us that our submission of £40.00 to cover the previously returned instalment plus the administration charge has been returned "refer to payer". You have now incurred a further £25.00 charge and are £60.00 in arrears.' 'Your next instalment is due in a few days time but we will not make another submission until the outstanding £65 is paid'. They then carry on to say I had to call by 27/10 to avoid further charges. I didn't call as I was unable to contact them during their opening hours due to other commitments. I have recently received another letter which states - 'We refer to our previous letter and note that you have not contacted us. You have now incurred a further £25 charge and are £105.00 in arrears. Under your Membership Agreement, you have promised to pay this debt. If you continue to refuse to honour that commitment, we will have no option but to take further steps to collect the outstanding balance. We want to help you resolve this situation but you must call us. Ignoring our letters is only resulting in further charges being added. If you do not contact us by 13th November your balance of £135.00 will be passed to a debt recovery company who will add their fees to your account'. I've tried to read up as much as I can on what to do, but I'm just really confused now. Do I call them, so it doesn't get passed on to a Debt recovery company, or do I email them and only leave a paper trail? My dad had told me I need to call them and pay them the £135.00, but I don't understand how it could cost them £75 in administration. I can't afford to pay it and I don't know what to do because they just keep putting more admin fees on top of it and I feel like its going to spiral out of control.