I am a member at David Lloyd Brighton from July 2013 and I have one year contract term with them, this means I cannot cancel before the term without no paying the annual fee. My membership is Vantage that allows to go in all the UK clubs and use all the facilities everywhere. In Brighton do not to have tennis facilities, but they confirmed I could book tennis court anywhere for free as the Brighton club had this possible option for vantage members. I was not really sure if the sale manager was lying to me then I asked him to confirm in writing in the contract that my membership was “Tennis vantage membership” and he signed beside it to confirm this was correct. Then One month after I had to relocate for work in Berkshire I was using facilities in Heston where they have tennis. I started to use the facilities here until November where the IT booking system was upgraded allowing the booking through the web and is then I could not book anymore courts as they took away the option for guests to book courts in the club. I called my own club which confirmed that I could book court but the issue remained as technically I could not do that. My question is this one. Can I terminate the contract? Can ask damages for it? Do they need to refund the annual fee? I pay monthly 92£ and I am obliged by contract to pay for the full year if I cancel, is there anything I can do to have my rights back to book courts in any David Lloyd clubs as was confirmed in my contract by the sale manager in Brighton? I have attached copy of the contract and signature of the sale manager beside the sentence I have added.

Hi there, I'm hoping someone can help me out with my David Lloyd membership and bully boy Arc. It seems like so many people here have problems but I'm not sure where I stand. In Jan 2012 I signed up to a gym membership with David Loyds - I paid in advance for 12 months. I incorrectly assumed this meant I had a 12 month contract with DL. In the 12 months I had my membership I used the gym once and the pool maybe 5 times. This was because I found out I was pregnant 2 days after joining and within a few weeks I suffered Hypermesis for the rest of my 40 week pregnancy. I was hospitalised 4 times. I did not realise I could cancel my membership as I believed I was contracted for 12 months and there was nothing I could do. In Feb 2013 DL contacted to me saying they needed to take another years membership from me. I asked why and apparently that was what I agreed to. When I signed up for the membership the sales person explained the T&Cs and I stupidly didn't read them very closely. He explained them briefly - like "this paragraph is about cancelling - you can cancel if you lose your job" he also said "it's mainly for people who pay by DD". Anyway, DL wanted 3 months notice @£117 a month and payment for the month we were currently in - so £468 in total. I explained to them that this wasn't going to happen, a 3 month notice period seemed absurd and as a gesture of goodwill I would pay 1 month. They said this wasn't good enough and instead passed my details to ARC. ARC call me 6 times a day, I told them I dispute the debt and I also asked not to call but instead to write. They don't listen. I don't want to pay ARC £468 but they are wearing me down now. Am I in the wrong here? Thanks.

Hi I'm looking for a bit of advice. I have been a member of David Lloyd Newhaven Harbour (in Edinburgh) for a few years now, and in January I added my partner to my membership in a deal where the gym was offering 2 months free membership. I was told at the time that the 2 months free were at the end of the 12 month period - i.e. December and January. The final day of the deal was 31 January, and it was in the evening of 31 January that we signed the contract and made a card payment for the joining fee. Some of the terms and conditions for the new contract with this deal are: - Partners must join before midnight January 31st 2013. - 2 free months applies to whole membership. - Administration fee will be payable when joining where applicable. - Joining fee may be payable when joining. - This offer is only available when adding a partner and signing a new initial term contract on a standard membership type. - The 2 months free membership will be applied at the end of the initial period and is only available on a standard membership type. The two free months will only be given to those people who joined before 31 January 2013. -The 2 months free will not be given if the membership falls into debt or is frozen. It will also not be given if the membership cancels before the initial term is complete or if the membership is amended to a flexible membership type. I have decided that I want to cancel my membership and I got in touch with the gym via their online contact form asking for some information. I asked if, as someone who had been a member for a number of years but had since signed a new minimum term contract, I was required to give 3 months notice, or could i give on month's notice to end the contract at the end of the minimum term, as per the terms and conditions. As you can see above the terms and conditions for the '2 months free' deal state that the 2 free months will not be given if the membership cancels before the initial term is complete. I am not sure if this means if you give notice during the initial period that you wish to cancel at the end of the minimum period, that you are not entitled to the 2 free months, so I also asked the gym for clarification on this point. I never heard back from them, so I asked the same questions in an email to the Membership Relationship Manager. I got a reply from the Membership Relationship Manager who only partly answered my questions. She said that when my partner joined, I did start a new initial term, and she said the first payment was 1st February 2013 and that the membership will run until the last day of January 2014 "last payment 1st January 2014". She never answered re the notice period that I am required to give, or regarding the 2 free months. I replied to the email asking again for this information and have not yet heard back. I am getting a bit anxious that they are somehow trying to avoid giving me the 2 free months. The fact that she states in the email that my first payment was 1 February concerns me. I also don't understand the line in the terms and conditions which says 'The two free months will only be given to those people who joined before 31 January 2013.' Surely that conflicts with the top two lines - Partners must join before midnight January 31st 2013, and - 2 free months applies to whole membership? Does anyone understand the terms and conditions well enough to know where I stand her? I am getting very frustrated not getting answers to my questions from David LLoyd, and I really need to know where I stand before I can formally submit my cancellation. Thanks, Lynn, Edinburgh

Hi everyone. I'm new here and I'm sorry my first post is a moan. I joined David Lloyd in Aug 11. I had a minimum term of 12 months, which I completed. I only realized I had to provide 3 months notice in the 12th month so I did so towards the end of Aug 12. At this point I had moved about 100 miles away from the gym so rather than handing in the notice face to face I posted them a letter. In Nov 12 after the third month's payment (notice period), I cancelled my direct debit. When Dec 12 arrived, I started receiving automated emails from David Lloyd saying I owed them membership fees for the month. As I was busy I ignored this and assumed this was an error on their part as I had completed my notice period. I then received communications from a company called Arc claiming to be debt collectors acting on behalf of David Lloyd. At this point I rang David Lloyd who claimed that my membership wasn't cancelled as they hadn't received my letter. long story short, we settled on me just paying them one final month (Dec 12) - only accepted by me as I made the mistake of not using recorded delivery. I have email communications from my local David Lloyd stating that my last month of membership was Dec 12 and I have a receipt for the final payment which was posted to me. now despite no longer being a member, I continued to receive automated communications from David Lloyd and letters and emails from Arc. Initially I just ignored them as I had no outstanding debt with David Lloyd. However, as these communications kept on coming in and I began to get more and more annoyed I eventually wrote to both my local David Lloyd and Arc, questioning their competency and accuracy of information. David Lloyd apologized in writing and informed me that they had now contacted their head office and Arc to make sure I was not contacted again. Arc just said, David Lloyd passed on my details so they were doing their job, no apology. Yet since my last communications with David Lloyd, I have received more automated emails from head office David Lloyd and from Arc, now for payment of Apr 13's fee. Today I got a letter from Arc about possible filings in court. It put me in quite a bad mood all evening. I@m not bothered about any threats from Arc as my membership ended in Dec 12 and David Lloyd have acknowledged this on more than one occasion in writing. I have made several requests using email, to Arc to stop contacting me. My view is that I consider all their communications unsolicited and therefore harassment. I have no relationship with them and as I owe David Lloyd nothing, they have no right to pass on my details to Arc. I was just wondering where I stand from a legal point of view as part of me wants to file proceedings over harassment and a breach of data protection laws against David Lloyd and Arc. Any advice would be much appreciated.

Hi Guys I have recieved this letter from TBI now. Any advice on how I should proceed please? Does David D Jones even exist as I could not even find a website? Cheers

Hi everybody I have an ongoing problem with David Lloyd and now ARC Europe Ltd which I would like to share with you to see what your views are. I took out membership for myself, wife and 3 children at our local DL leisure club in August 2011. I knew it was a 12 month minimum contract, so i paid for a year upfront and signed a direct debit authorisation which would kick in when the second year started. On 1st Aug 2012 David Lloyd removed over £500 from my bank account with out any prior warning and absolutely no authorisation from me. I will cut this short and give a brief over view of what happened next. Once i discovered the money had gone I contacted head office of DL by phone. First the lady i spoke to said no such sum of money had been taken I gave her the date when the money was removed, and she said yes, she now sees it on her system I ask her why the money was taken, she says she will have to check, I wait on the phone. She comes back to say it is an advanced payment for 2 of my children for another years membership I ask if this is company policy........... not sure is her answer I explain that i had agreed to pay monthly by DD She says there is a note on the system to say I had been informed of this sum being taken, and had agreed I tell her I was not informed, and even if I was there is absolutely no way i would have agreed. I am livid about DL helping them selves to my money so write in to my local branch and I give my 3 months notice. I said to them repay my money and I will continue my last 3 months payment by direct debit, or take 3 months payment out of the money they took and return the remainder. They replied to me with a standard letter saying how sorry they were to lose me and my family as members etc etc. No mention of the £500 they had taken from me. I looked on the internet and found that my bank could take the money back if it had not been authorised, they did this. At this stage I was still prepared to pay my last 3 months membership, and paid the next month. They then send a letter saying if I do not repay the £500 "any monies outstanding will eventually be forwarded to our debt recovery agency" So I stop any further payments to DL. I wrote 2 times after this to explain that they had in effect stolen money from me, and then when I had taken back what is mine, they threaten me with debt collectors. I have never had a letter back from DL, apart from numerous standard letters telling me to pay what I owe them. The situation now is an invoice from ARC for about £880, which is the £500 plus 2 months membership and fees they have added on. Any advice would be welcome, thanks for your time.

I am disgusted David Cameron is to be on the comic relief red nose day show....after causing hardship and homelessness to so many families ....have tweeted along with others in a mass 8pm tweet to express my disgust. I only just heard about this.

Hello, this is my first post so any help would be great. I cancelled my David Lloyd membership last week, in writing, and received confirmation of the cancellation with a date of 28 February 2013. They have now written today saying they made a mistake and it should have read 31 March 2013. Does anyone know where I stand on this? I see lots of queries on gym membership but nothing specifically like mine. Would appreciate help please! many thanks in advance Gillian

Dear consumer action group, I have been defending a debt alleged by David Lloyd and being enforced by ARC since June 2012 now, I have run out of options and am looking for any advice you can give. The circumstances of this are that in March 2011 myself and partner took out a membership, this was a 14 month membership 2 months free and 12 months paid in advance, a sum of around £1400. Towards we the end of the membership a letter was sent confirming we no longer wished the membership to continue, then the problems started. The gym allege that they received the letter on the 4th April, had it arrived by the 1st there would have been no problem but as the notice was 3 days late they now state that the cancellation notice applies from the 01st May and invokes a 3 month cancellation period and £350 is now owed. We did not pay this and disputed it stating various arguments and after discovering the OFT guidance on fair notice periods and gym contracts over 12 months being unenforceable. We refused to pay and asked them to take us to court if they felt they could prove a breach of contract. After 3 months of back and forth emails and letters, ARC were recruited to chase this "debt" they were also told to stop wasting their time demanding payments and take us to court if they felt they had a case. This again appears to have fallen on deaf ears. The last email to them stated that consent was withdrawn for ARC to phone or text us and again advised them of the disputed debt and encouraged them to take us to court. Their reply was we will not contact you for 14 days but ill after that if a payment is not made. They clearly will not take us to court over this as they have been told throughout this is the only way they will ever see a penny from us, so how can this matter ever be resolved? Is it best just to ignore them having fully stated our stance? many thanks for any help you can give

Hi All, I'm new here - and to issues like this! Please be gentle ! I've tried to do my research first, so I've been through many different forums and articles reading the many accounts of people in a similar situation to myself. So - I've definitely got a bit more of an understanding after that, but would really appreciate your views and guidance on where I need to take this. There's many different posts out there, letter templates, responses, etc. Some quite conflicting, and situations not exact to mine - so thought a thread to ask for help was the best! Situation (apologies, probably one you've read a million times...) - Joined David Lloyd Warrington (Nov 2010) Can't find exact date, but looking back at banking history, first payment debited 1st Nov 2010 Originally signed up on the 'Young Person' rate membership @ £47.97pm taken by Direct Debit. - Membership all fine.. Until I got a promotion at work, which meant I was travelling up and down the country, working long hours on various projects etc. Spoke to DLL, I told them I knew I was contracted, but is there anything they can do? They said no. Fair enough, I thought. Not their issue I guess... Membership continues. - Turn 21 (July 2012) Receive a letter to state that my membership is increasing to the full adult rate of £76.00. I knew I was now outside 'Minimum Period' but wanted to start using the club again (not been for many months, so accepted this. - Sept 2012:| Outgoings increased, and had some banking problems. Had to cancel Direct Debits so that they weren't bouncing.. Paid 1st September's DD fine @ 75.00. Sent notice to cancel membership (at the time, did not know this was 3 months, thought outside of minimum period it was only 1) - Oct 2012 Received email from DLL to say i'd not paid (because my DD was canx). I'd forgotten about this, so paid it on my card. Paid DLL by card online on 31st October to bring me back up to date and to cover (what i thought was) my notice period. - Past few weeks Been missing calls from an 08 number, I now know it DLL. Answered the last one, a few days ago, but was in a meeting at work. I said I'd not got time to talk, and asked if she had a number for me to call back on. Agent said she would give me a callback later that evening. None received. - Today Received a call from 07814048788... Thought it was strange, and might be work related (as calling in work hours), so called back... The line didn't ring, and was Auto Answered by someone as 'Hello ARC'. Conversation goes as follows (...ish!) I told them I had a missed call, and asked who they were. The agent said they we're from ARC Europe Ltd acting on behalf of David Lloyd. I said, oh okay, how can I help? Agent asked 'So you've had a missed call of us yeah?' I confirmed. Agent then typed in my number to his computer (I didn't give him number, can only guess he got it from Caller ID). Agent says "Ah yes Mr Leigh Jones, You're in arrears with David Lloyd and you owe us £374.00. Can you pay that now? A bit taken aback, I said "Oh right, OK. I've not received anything in the post, have you sent something? His reply was "Yes, we've sent it today. You need to pay this as we've got legal proceedings pending for you" I was now a bit narked, and responded "That's fantastic, thanks. I'll look forward to reading your letter. Please make a note that I no longer want to communicate via telephone, and will only deal in writing." To which he responded "Right, well you best call us back" and terminated the call. As promised, I've come home to a delightful letter from ARC Europe Limited stating that I have 'bad debt' with David Lloyd Leisure, and the usual 'unless full balance is paid to us in 10 days we may pass your account to our Solicitors with instructions to prepare court proceedings" and than the usual waste of ink around how to make a payment. I don't think it's fair that I have to pay this as I've handed in a notice:-o... Although I know it's their word against mine - and i'm annoyed at myself for not thinking to do recorded delivery..! I need some help please... ]How should I move now? I've already missed another call from ARC earlier this evening. Should I answer the phone and try and talk it through with ARC? (Gut feel is 'No.) Are they able to 'black-mark' my credit file? Currently DLL doesn't appear on it, and I have a perfect credit file I really don't want to damage... ALSO... I'm led to believe that the agent that answered my call today is in breach of Data Protection. They didn't ask me for any personal details to confirm identity, just used my Caller ID to bring up my details, and started quoting what I owed (and my name!). I've worked in Call Centres for a major Mobile Phone network for the past 5 years, and we'd be in trouble for that! - Do I call them back, and try and express my complaint re this, or should I write? Any help that anyone can provide will be fantastic.... Sorry for the awfully long post, I think I've got a bit carried away...! Many thanks in advance, Leigh x

hello. please can anybody help me. i have been turned down at a tribunal for esa. the letter they sent me said i had 0 points and that i can look for work. at the assesment atos i recieved a mandatory 5 for blackouts i have (so what happened to those). if i went for a interview and brought up my illness nobody would employ me. a . disc degeneration b . blackouts c . on 5 different lots of tablets often makeing me sick d . unable to leave bed some days due to bad back e . numbness and tingling in left hand and pain in left shoulder. it really annoys me working all my life and never been on social and then they treat me like dirt when i need them. please help david

Hi, I am also having problems with David Lloyd. However, I am not sure if I am in the wrong or not... I joined in June 2011 on a 12 month contract.. This year I have really struggled financially after my partner being made redundant (I only work part time), and I sent a recorded letter in Feb this year stating I wished to end my membership and that I would pay Feb bill and then cancel the direct debit. I had a phone call saying the letter had been recieved but that I needed to pay the full 12 months. I was sent a letter in Oct 2011 saying the Ts&Cs had changed, and checked them online. I found no mention of a 12 months obligation and that the contract could be cancelled any time after 3 months. It was on this that I cancelled my membership. I notice that the Ts&Cs have changed again this year, though I recieved no notification of it, back to saying that the first 12 months must be paid for. David Lloyd are phoning me all the time to arrange a payment, as are ARC. I can't afford to pay, nor can I pay the £70 admin fees they are adding on (I'm not even sure if that is legal?) Today I was sent a letter saying that ARC are going to issue court proceedings. Will I need to pay the £191 they are asking for, and the further £50 they have randomly added on? And does anyone have a copy of the 2011 T&Cs? My hardrive crashed and I lost mine.

Hi Since February 2011, i have been pursued by David Lloyd/ARC (Europe) Ltd & Trevor Munn Solicitors LLB for £700. I have successfully fought them & received a letter from ARC (Europe) Ltd stating that they are closing my case & sending it back to their client David Lloyd. All i had to do was mention the Ashbourne Management case that is currently in the high court for unfair contracts & they backed right off. It is due to ARC (Europe) Ltd & Trevor Munns incompetence that Ashbourne Management got into hot water with the OFT. If anyone wants me to make a template letter similiar to the one that i sent to these bandits, give me a shout.