I have been searching through the previous threads and have not found anything yet regarding my issue with them. Today I received a letter from CRS saying: We've been employed by Xercise 4 Less as your membership remains in arrears despite previous letters being sent to you. As a result of this, our fees totally £ 102.50 have been added. Therefore your account balance now stands at £ 192.46 They go on to say that they wish to reach an amicable decision if I call them and giving me 3 options for payment. I joined Xercise4Less whilst at uni in October 2014, never bothered going, and eventually cancelled my membership in May 2015. My membership was a specific student one where I paid £9.99 a month and could cancel any time. Some time in May 2015 I cancelled my DD, but I did not confirm in writing with the gym. Looking at my bank statements I have not made the May, June, or July payments totaling £29.97. If I have not cancelled my membership properly, which I expect is what has happened, then I am happy to pay these arrears. After CRS have added on their 'fees', they don't state what these fees are, it comes to £132.47, leaving an extra £59.99 added somewhere. I have read in many threads about not paying CRS' 'fees' as they are unenforceable penalty charges, and no letters have been sent to me. Should I write back to CRS and ask for a breakdown of my account balance, and if so, how should I go about it? I have called the gym today for more information, and they refused to comment saying it was all being handled by CRS. I asked to be sent a copy of my signed membership agreement, which the gym said that they didn't have, and sent me a blank one. Any help would be greatly appreciated, a near £200 payment is not something I want to make.

I received this text today: Please call CRS on.... Between 9 and 5 pm we sent. Letter a week ago and need to discuss this with you. Thank you. At first I thought it was a spam text until I put the text into Google and found out it is exercise for less/harlands. I cancelled my gym membership in April. I asked a staff member in the gym how to cancel and was told to 'just cancel the direct debit' so that is what I did. I have not received any letters from Harlands this is the first I have heard from any sort of debt collection agency. I was also told when I joined the gym that there was no cancellation penalty. What shall I do? I'm worried that this is going to go further and effect my credit rating. I was going to contact the gym I signed up in but saw that other people getting advice on here were told not to. Any advice would be appreciated!

Hi I am hoping someone can help me. I joined a gym (I know you've seen plenty of these) called Helio fitness which I lasted 2 months after that I decided I did not want to continue the membership. I went into the gym and spoke with the manager and told him I was going to be working away and that I could not continue with the membership. After a few months past I recieved an email from Harland CRS to say I owed £354 or round about that number (I filed the letter). After I explained to Harland by phone they told me they would get back to me. They did by quoting the contract agreement to me and basically saying I was a liar. I then replied by email because I have not given them my phone number. I wanted to see the signed contract before I continue this conversation. I did not sign anything and I used a friends bank account for DD, that is why I asked for a signed copy of the agreement. This was there reply! Dear Mr ****** Re: CRS Ref No: ****** / Helio Fitness Ref No: **** Further to your email of 7th July 2015, we apologise for the delay in our reply. In regards to your request that we supply you with a "signed copy of the agreement" we should like to advise that this membership agreement was entered into via an online sign up process called SNAP and as such no signed physical document exists. We have enclosed, however, a copy of the terms and conditions of the agreement, as well as all of the information transmitted at the time of joining, including the personal details you supplied (highlighted in green) and the product information supplied to you (highlighted in yellow). We shall suspend further action for a period of 7 days to allow you time to review these documents. Yours sincerely, David Castle Collections Department Do they have me by the short and curlys? Thanks

Hello I used to live in the midlands (now in york) and took out a gym membership back in April 2012 with the windmill village and golf course. I fell into a long term illness (just got over it) after being with the gym for about 3 months. I ended up having to leave my job and the last thing on my mind was the gym so I failed to pay the membership. After another month or so I got a letter from the infamous CRS demanding I paid the £430.56 in membership fees I still owed but because I couldn't pay in time I rang them and told them I could only afford to pay £10 a month. They agreed but then sent a letter out saying I owed the previous amount as well as a new £210 charge that had been added (£15 setting up fee and £195 handling fee which was £3 per instalment) which brought the total to £646.56. At the time I was no wiser and too ill to challenge any of this so just went along with it. I don't have a copy of the original gym membership agreement that I signed and so far I have paid off £410 of what I owed. Now I am better I searched online to see if these extra £210 charges were in fact legal and found all of your threads which lead me to starting my own and see if I can just pay off the remaining £20.56 that I owe to the gym then ignore the ridiculous charges CRS have added. I don't really know what my options are from here. Any help will be greatly appreciated. Rich

Hi Everyone, I have a few questions and I'm hoping to get some advice. I joined xcercise4less where I stay for university in Nov '13 on a year long contract and then cancelled the membership in Oct '14, which I believe means I paid for all 12 months of the contract. After I cancelled, letters were sent to my parent's address from CRS saying that I owed money. Now the "debt" has been passed on to Zinc and is somewhere in the region of £200. I spoke to them on the phone, which was probably ill-advised a few weeks ago, and, if I remember correctly, the majority of the charge was from admin fees. I didn't get much useful information past that. I realise that I didn't cancel properly, so I'm not sure whether I'm in the wrong and owe the full amount or if they're just trying to throw the book at me and charge me a great deal for admin costs. I'd imagine I'm liable to pay for a month of membership because I didn't give them notice, but I think that'd be it, right? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Hello I hope you can help me, I joined the local Gymetc in August 2014, in January I decided I wanted to cancel my membership so I wrote to the gym and sent a cheque for the 6 remaining payments. I didn't hear anything back so presumed it was all ok, I then received a letter to say my Direct Debit hadn't been paid, I rang the gym and told them I had sent payment by cheque to cancel as my friend had done the same and they said it was fine. Fastforward to another month and I received another letter from CRS stating that I was now being fined for failure to pay to the tune of £307.25 to include arrears and a penalty clause. I emailed them to advise what I had done and said that I was only willing to pay what I owed 6 months payments and if I hadn't heard back within 14 days then I would presume the matter was resolved. It took 6 weeks for them to email me to say they had contacted the gym and that I was lying and I still owe £307.25 they claim I only made 4 payments but I paid my first month up front by debit card and then a further 4 so I owe 7 if I am correct? I then received another threatening letter so I sent the standard holding email asking for a copy of my contract as I have never seen or signed anything I paid over the phone when I joined. I then received the following email back today very lengthy and now I am really worried, I need to renew my mortgage soon and am concerned that I will struggle if they have registered defaults against me. I have been in tears tonight and finally decided to join your forum for help. Please can anyone help? The Thread is below Dear Mrs xx Re: CRS Ref No: Further to your email of 1st July 2015 we would point out that you have entered into a legally binding agreement with GymEtc to pay a minimum of twelve payments of £21.99 by Direct Debit of which you have paid only four. Your only dispute to date has been that you allege to have paid the remainder of your contract by cheque. We suspended action against you, investigated this one and only dispute and have furnished you with clear explanation as to why your claims are invalid. Please explain, therefore, why we should not continue to pursue you for this balance which we have every reason to believe is correct and due? If you are unsatisfied with our conduct then we recommend you take independent legal advice, however, you will be unable to make a complaint to the Office of Fair Trading because they have not existed for more than a year. They were succeeded by the Financial Conduct Authority on 1st April 2014, however, as of 1st June 2015, we are not regulated by the FCA either. With regards to your dispute of the additional fees which have been added you have implied that it is your opinion that the charges you have incurred are unreasonable, unenforceable and unlawful. We dispute this position. In the case of Dunlop Pneumatic Tyre Co Ltd v New Garage & Motor Co Ltd (1914), when considering deciding whether a charge applied at a rate specified at the outset of the agreement was a penalty, Lord Dunedin set out that: "It is no obstacle to the sum stipulated being a genuine pre-estimate of damage, that the consequences of the breach are such as to make precise pre-estimation almost an impossibility. On the contrary, that is just the situation when it is probable that pre-estimated damage was the true bargain between the parties ( Clydebank Case, Lord Halsbury; Webster v. Bosanquet, Lord Mersey)." The above applies to the cost of £25.00 applied in line with clause 6 of the terms of this agreement, which you have agreed to be bound by, and states that "If you fail to pay any monies due under this agreement or if any Direct Debit is returned unpaid or any cheque is returned unpaid or if any other form of payment is not honoured for whatever reason, you shall pay us on demand an administration fee of £25 (which we require to cover our costs of seeking to pursue such payment from you)." £25.00 is the amount deemed by Harlands' directors as representative of their average costs in dealing with the administration involved with a missed or returned payment. When they submit for a payment by Direct Debit which is then returned, they are charged by the bank. This amount does not amount to £25.00, however, and we concede that the cost of the paper, envelope and franking of the default letters does not make up the entirety of the rest of the sum, however, as a business they have to pay overheads for staff wages, whose employment would not otherwise be required if it were not for the missed or returned payments and furthermore pay overheads for office space and increased usage of utilities, equipment, furniture and stationery to accommodate these staff and the processes involved with the administration involved with missed or returned payments, costing hundreds of thousands of pounds every year. It is our position, therefore, that all of these costs are incurred as a direct result of a breach of contract by those who default on their agreements, which, in this instance, is you. The above precedent also applies to the to our own collection fees, which are applied at the outset of debt recovery action to cover all expected costs associated with that action. This is in line with clause 8 of your agreement, which states: "If you fail to pay any amount due under this agreement for a period of more than thirty days, then we may pass the debt to a third party company for collection. The reasonable and direct costs incurred in employing the third party company will be borne by you including costs in tracing you if you have changed your address without telling us." To be clear, the addition of these charges in such circumstances is stipulated in the terms of your agreement. It is our position, based upon legal advice, that our charges are lawful and in line with all relevant guidance. We are unable to enclose a signed copy of your minimum term membership agreement, as this was entered into via an online sign up process called SNAP and as such, no signed physical document exists. We assure you, however, that despite this, it remains a legally binding agreement, and to our knowledge is fully enforceable. We have, however, sent in the post a copy of the terms and conditions of that agreement, as well as all of the information transmitted from the website at the time of joining, including the personal details you supplied (highlighted in green) and the product information supplied to you (highlighted in yellow). Our position remains as previously advised. If you are not willing to set up a payment plan with us, we have no alternative but to proceed with further action against you. We will hold this for a further 7 days. If you advise us again that you do not intend to pay, we will continue our collection procedure, but will not continue to enter into further correspondence as our decision has been made. Payment can be made by Credit/Debit card by calling us on 01444 449165. Alternatively, cheque/postal orders should be made payable to Credit Resolution Services and sent to CRS, 2nd Floor, Rockwood House, 9-17 Perrymount Road, Haywards Heath, West Sussex, RH16 3TW. A payment plan can also be set up if you are unable to settle in full, although we do charge a little extra for this. If you are experiencing financial difficulty, there are organisations who offer free debt advice and assistance such as Step Change (0800 1381111), National Debtline (0808 8084000) and your local Citizen Advice Bureau. Please ensure a payment or response is received within the next 7 days, so we can avoid further action being taken. Yours sincerely, David Castle Collections Department Credit Resolution Services and CRS are trading styles of Harlands Services Ltd. Registered Office: : 2nd Floor, Rockwood House, 9 - 17 Perrymount Road, Haywards Heath RH16 3TW. Company Registration No. 2982925. Consumer Credit License No. 526513. VAT Registration No. 799 7113 70. Authorised and Regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority for accounts formed under the Consumer Credit Act 1974 (amended 2006). IMPORTANT This e-mail is intended solely for the addressee, is strictly confidential and may also be legally privileged. If you are not the addressee please do not read, print, re-transmit, store or act in reliance on it or any attachments. Instead, please e-mail it back to the sender and then immediately permanently delete it. Although efforts will have been made to ensure that this e-mail and any attachment(s) are free from software viruses you should yourself ensure that they are in fact virus-free. Please note that Harlands Services Ltd does not accept any responsibility for any loss caused by software viruses. On 01/07/2015 20:30, Dear sir or madam, I refer to your email and numerous letters recently about my GymEtc Membership 3234. I have been unable to deal with this recently due to other pressing personal matters. The steady stream of correspondence from CRS has been an unwanted distraction at a time when it was least needed. If you continue with these lengthy intimidatory letters, I will make a formal complaint to the OFT without further warning. Please note I will not be paying any administration charges because, despite what you suggest, they are penalty charges. To enable me to properly consider your demands, please send me a copy of the membership agreement which I agreed to along with the related terms and conditions. Yours faithfully, xx On 20 May 2015, at 09:25, Credit Resolution Services wrote: Dear Mrs xx Re: CRS Ref No: 8275081 / GymEtc Ref No: 3234 Further to our previous correspondence, we apologise for the delay in our response. We have contacted Gym Etc regarding the cheque payment you allege to have made and have been advised that: "Thank you for your email. We do not accept cash or cheque for membership payments. This is untrue." Please advise us what has lead to you to believe that our fees are unlawful and unenforceable? To be clear, the addition of these charges in such circumstances is stipulated in the terms of your agreement. It is our position, based upon legal advice, that our charges are lawful and in line with all relevant guidance. For the above reasons it must remain our position that the balance of £307.25 is correct and the arrears of £219.29 are due. Purely as a goodwill gesture we shall be willing to accept the reduced sum of £242.42 as final settlement of this debt if paid in full within 7 days of this correspondence. Payment can be made by Credit/Debit card by calling us on 01444 449165. Alternatively, cheque/postal orders should be made payable to Credit Resolution Services and sent to CRS, 2nd Floor, Rockwood House, 9-17 Perrymount Road, Haywards Heath, West Sussex, RH16 3TW. A payment plan can also be set up if you are unable to settle in full, although we do charge a little extra for this. If you are experiencing financial difficulty, there are organisations who offer free debt advice and assistance such as Step Change (0800 1381111), National Debtline (0808 8084000) and your local Citizen Advice Bureau. Please ensure a payment or response is received within the next 7 days, so we can avoid further action being taken. Yours sincerely, David Castle Collections Department Credit Resolution Services and CRS are trading styles of Harlands Services Ltd. Regis

I had an agreement with Harlands to pay for my sons Kickboxing Classes. It was a 1 year agreement. I think I made 7 payments of £29 by direct debit (1 bounced and got paid late so got a £25 charge which I paid) I then moved address and my son stop going to the kick boxing classes, becauses of financial differculties the next direct debit bounced and the DD got canceled by the bank. I made the mistake of not taking any further action and since I had moved I didn't here anything from them. Now a few months later I receive a letter from CRS with a demand for £371.20 including a charge of £36.00 which says has been added for tracing me. I thought I had a debt of £145.00 which I would be prepared to pay so there must be charges of £226.20 added to this amount, but I have no explanation of how these are made up. Do I deal direct with Harlands and refuse to pay any extra charges or I am I in trouble because I didn't actually cancel the agreement when I moved?

Hi there, I signed up for a 12 month contract in December with a £15 pay nothing else till February, I moved out of the area in January and told the gym (who said it was fine) I sent them a confirmation email later reiterating my cancellation and they replied saying just let harlands know and it will be sorted. I didn't hear anything from harlands for a while so i assumed cancellation had gone through, I later checked my spam box (a once a month phenomenon) and found an email requesting evidence, which I sent them straight away (although admittedly 20 days after they sent the email). They rejected my evidence because my full name wasn't on all 3 pages (only 2 of the 3) and asked me send them something else, because I was renting and not lead tenant I had to request a letter from the council which took 3 weeks to arrive. I sent it over and they said I owed them £100. Considering I cancelled 14 days before my first direct debit was due, I don't think I owe them anything. They've been harassing my parents (at their address) and me, despite telling them I've sought advice from CAB. They've now referred me to CRS who have been harassing me every other day and want me to pay over £500. Can someone please help? The anxiety their harassment is causing me and my family is just not acceptable. Every letter I've sent them (including numerous copies of those posted by Slick in other threads) have come back with saying 'no, pay us'. I'm at the end of my tether! Thanks in advance Satin

Hi I need a bit of help, Back in 2007 I joined Roko gym which I stayed at for 2 years no problem. November 2009 I decided to give notice to leave as I wasn't ever using it. I wrote to them dated 1st November stating my intention and giving 3 months notice. The last day of membership should have been 31st January 2010. They wrote back saying I was to pay until the end of February as they received my letter after start of November. I was so annoyed by this I cancelled my DD and wouldn't pay them any more money. My last payment was 1st November 2009. What followed was the usual from Roko and CRS. I sent CRS a letter from this site in March 2010 saying I have no contract with them, I would not acknowledge any debt and would have no contact with them. After that they sent me a few more letters last one being June 2010. I haven't heard a thing since then until about 6 weeks ago I started getting texts again and 2 letters went to my old address (I could tell by the return address) which I sent back. Now they have found my new address and it's all started again!! Are they allowed to chase me now seeing as I haven't heard from them in so long? Should I resond or continue to ignore? The latest letter threatens legal action or passing to another DCA. Thank you

Hi Guys, I've ensured I have not spoken to these guys on the phone so far so a few emails below and some background; I'm being chased for debt I feel I do not owe. I moved to Eccles and heard about your gym which was more local than the gym I'd been using before the move, I found out they had a 7 day trial so I thought I'd give it a go. After the 7 days I had follow up calls from a representative of Your Gym, I explained that although it was a little more local the facilities weren't as good so I was unsure if I'd take a membership but I'd have think. Following that I received another couple of calls with the final one offering a deal; The deal was, if you're not sure you can pay £30 up front and that will get you 3 months membership, after that if you're not convinced you can cancel. I decided to take the offer and keep my other gym membership running so I could see which I used more, I hardly used Your Gym in the end preferring my old gym for it's equipment. I have records showing the calls I received, I have direct debits that show I continued with my old membership at the same time. I was told to go online and pay the £30 on the your gym website, which I did in good faith. 3 months later I had cancelled the Direct Debit as I didn't want to continue as per the advice from your gym, then I began to get letters from Harlands and subsequently CRS who are now saying I owe £164.47. It all went quiet after my last email requesting a copy of the signed contract (which doesn't exist as it was online) and all they've ever sent is a copy of a confirmation email! Now I've just had a letter through the door from CRS - we seem have gone from £15.99 (membership fee) to me owing £164.47 It's a joke that they do this. I've sent a letter to the gym, I've only corresponded with harlands via email, the gym haven't responded so I've just got this to deal with now. I've now received this from CRS; Dear Mr Further to your email of 18th May 2015 please be advised initially that Harlands is no longer regulated by the FCA as they no longer deal in regulated Credit Agreements and have allowed their Consumer Credit License to expire on 31st May 2015. In regards to your request for a signed document we apologise that Harlands have incorrectly used the term "signed" to describe how you entered into this agreement. We are unable to enclose a signed copy of your minimum term membership agreement, as this was entered into via an online sign up process and as such, no signed physical document exists. An online agreement is no more or less binding than a signed contract. A party must agree to the terms of a contract in order for it to become legally binding. Although this is usually done by the signature of those with authority to enter into the agreement, it is commonly recognised that parties can enter into a contract by any course of dealing, signifying their acceptance of the terms of the contract. In January 2009, the High Court in Grant v Bragg considered whether a contract was formed by two parties agreeing to the terms of the draft contract via e-mail. The Court considered it was enough for Mr Grant to have e-mailed Mr Bragg, accepting the contract's terms previously e-mailed to him by Mr Bragg's lawyer, and that it did not matter that neither party had actually signed the contract. The Court acknowledged it may have been the parties' original intention to be bound only on execution of the final contract, but maintained it was evident that their intentions had changed during the course of their e-mail correspondence. In the case above, the court believed it was clear the parties had intended to enter into the contract via e-mail, and that to hold otherwise would just serve to defy the commercial reality of the situation In the instance of the Your Gym online sign up portal you have been told that "You are committing to £15.99 per month for a minimum of 3 months. After this minimum term your membership payments will continue on a monthly basis." You have also been informed that by ticking the "I agree" button and then clicking the next step button you are indicating that you have read and agreed to be bound by the terms. You have completed this process and so are bound by the agreement. It is correct that only a judge may enforce a "penalty charge" however it is our position that all charges applied to this balance are to cover actual and necessary costs and thus are not penalties. Lord Dunedin set out in Dunlop Pneumatic Tyre Co Ltd v New Garage & Motor Co Ltd (1914) that: "It is no obstacle to the sum stipulated being a genuine pre-estimate of damage, that the consequences of the breach are such as to make precise pre-estimation almost an impossibility. On the contrary, that is just the situation when it is probable that pre-estimated damage was the true bargain between the parties ( Clydebank Case, Lord Halsbury; Webster v. Bosanquet, Lord Mersey)." The above applies to the cost of £25.00 applied twice by Harlands and also in regards to our own collection fees of £66.50. We believe, therefore; that these charges do not constitute a penalty and are thus fully enforceable. If you still doubt any of the above we would recommend that you seek legal advice but it is our intention to continue with recovery action against you for the sum of £164.47. Yours sincerely,

Hi I joined a lifestyle fitness gym in October 2014, my job moved (but not my home address) so I didn't want to go to that gym anymore. I cancelled the direct debit in December 2014 - without contacting them. I knew they wouldn't let me cancel so thought no point in contacting them. I have since had a couple of letters from Harlands and CRS - the 'debt' now stands at £288.20. I know from research that they are all the same company. I have ignored every single letter... rightly or wrongly? I have never had a phonecall or an email chasing me? Now I have received a letter saying the debt will be passed to Zinc Group in 10 days. Just wondered if there was any advice on what to do next? Or just continue to ignore? I have been advised that these type of debt are not enforceable? Also, if the debt is enforceable, surely the 'debt' should somehow relate to the potential loss to the business etc? Thanks in advance

Hi! After reading round other threads, the fact other people have been having the same problems has put me at ease yet, I am still a bit worried as to what to do!! I joined Xercise4Less in September 2013 on a 12 month student contract of £9.99 a month. Having moved away from University back to my parents home (which is nearly 200 miles from the Uni and therefore the reason I cancelled my DD), I cancelled my direct debit to Harlands. From looking at my bank statement, the last payment was received in February 2015 (completing the 12 month contract). However, I am aware of the 30 day notice period, the fact I should've wrote to Xercise4less and the possibility that I owe for March 2015 because of this. 26 May 2015, a letter was sent to my parents house from CRS stating that "we've been employed by Xercise 4 less as your membership remains in arrears despite previous letters being sent to you. As a result of this, our fees totalling £102.50 have been added. Therefore, your account balance now stands at £207.47. The lettter then goes on to how they want to reach an amicable resolution with you (which I think is a joke!) This is the first letter I have received from them as when I rang CRS (which I now know I shouldn't have done) the man stated that the previous letters had been sent to my old University address. (Obviously my error to not change my address with the gym) At first, I did not realise that I had cancelled my direct debit after February's payment and therefore emailed CRS with the following: "Further to my very recent telephone conversation with one of your Credit Collectors I would request a statement of dates payments were due and not received. I would be grateful if you would provide these within 7 days. On receipt of this information I will request details of payments made, from my bank and forward them to you. I would also confirm that having looked at on-line back statements provided to me by my bank, all payments requested were made by direct debit and honoured. As you can appreciate, this is the first contact I have had from you and I am understandably cautious about providing details of my personal account online. Can you also please confirm that no further action will be taken as I fully dispute any debt as well as confirming there will be no penalty charges levied against me. I look forward to your speedy response." Now im in a bit of a pickle.. when I rang the gym yesterday they said that I had paid up until February 2015 (which is correct) so I owe March, April and May (2015) which I'm willing to pay rather than the ridiculous amount of £207.47 that CRS claim I owe! However, I have not used the gyms facilities since February due to exams and revision so do I actually owe them the three months even though I didn't write to them just cancelled my DD? When I rang the gym to attempt to cancel properly yesterday, as I thought cancelling by direct debit was enough, the woman on the phone said my account is with CRS now and I cant cancel it until it's resolved. Does this mean that they will keep adding on fees and saying I have missed payments as the DD normally came out on the 2nd/3rd of every month and therefore June will probably be added onto it? I have read in other threads that DD cancellation is enough? Can you advise me what to do next please?! Any help will be greatly appreciated! Many thanks! MJC

Hi all, having read multiple threads about Harlands over the past few months and finally thinking that my problem was resolved, I have today come to the end of my tether with these cowboys. I joined end of 2013 and cancelled my DD in January 2015 as I hadn't been going for months as the facility was rubbish. I had completed my 12 month contract and wrongly assumed that I could just cancel my DD. I then received a letter from Harlands in March 2015 claiming I owed my Jan/Feb direct debits at £12.99 each, plus the penalty fee of £25. I didn't agree with this but I paid it to get them offs back and they told me I needed to cancel directly with the gym. Again, I accepted that I was at fault for now following the correct cancellation procedure, hence why I paid up. In March 2015 on the back of this letter, I contacted the gym at X4L Nottingham by telephone and spoke to the Manager, asking him what I needed to do to cancel to put this to rest. The Manager told me I didn't need to do anything as according to his end, I had already cancelled. I specifically asked if I needed to complete any forms and was told no. Brilliant I thought, this is over. I then received a further letter from Harlands later in March advising that I had missed my March payment and that I owed a £12.99 plus the £25 penalty. I took the letter directly to X4L end of March and talked through with reception what my issue was and said I wanted to cancel once and for all as I was tired of this issue. Once again I am told by X4L that I didn't need to do anything, no forms, nothing. The receptionist told me, face to face, that the Manager would contact Harlands (taking a copy of my letter) to advise that they need not pursue me and that the Manager would contact me the next day to confirm. This, by the way, is a new manager as the manager I had the previous telephone conversation with has left. The next day came and no call from the X4L Manager so I called them, the Manager confirmed they would sort this and that I did not owe anything and did not need to cancel. Great - matter resolved. Today, I have received a letter from CRS who I believe to be 'Harlands' own DCA?? I now owe £180.47. Wow - even if I owed my March, April and May gym fees of £12.99 per month and their "penalty fees" it should not come to this!! I called X4L and this time spoke with the sales membership manager who confirmed that if I did not complete a cancellation form, my membership won't be cancelled which is why I've been receiving the letters and I cannot cancel until the balance is paid. So, my issues in summary: 1. Harlands advised me that I needed to cancel directly with the gym, so; 2. I have contacted the gym by telephone in March 2015 and visited in person in April 2015 advising that I wanted to cancel, but was told BOTH times that I need not do anything as I was cancelled their end. 3. I have attempted to cancel twice now and have basically been blocked from doing so, whether this is due to a lack of knowledge and training on X4L part or not is not my fault - I have made two attempts to cancel to avoid further debts occurring. 4. I am not prepared to pay the balance of £180.47 in order to then be able to cancel the membership, as I have already attempted to cancel officially twice and don't see why I should pay a debt that has accrued because X4L has given me the wrong information. If they had allowed me to cancel in March or later in April the second time, the debt wouldn't even exist. I refuse to have any telephone or face to face contact with either of these cowboy outlets from today and intend on writing to them to outline my concerns and complaint. I could really do with some advice on what I should include in the letter and also what your thoughts are on the situation. I know that the penalty fees are not enforceable based on other threads I've come across, but at present this is a separate issue altogether. I just want to cancel, as I have tried to do on two occasions now!

Hello, I signed up for a years membership with Xercise4Less Leeds branch in October 2013. After the full year had passed, I emailed X4L querying what the cancellation process was I had moved out of the area and did not wish to continue my membership. I received an email back stating that I must fill out a form and send it to them, either by post or email. I did so and sent it back to them, I asked them for confirmation of receipt however no one replied to me. I waited a month before cancelling my direct debits. Since January 15 I have been receiving numerous calls a day, and have been sent many letters from ZINC collections. I have left voicemails / emails however I am just going in roundabouts trying to explain my situation. ZINC are demanding me to pay £126.49 that I supposedly owe. I paid every month of my contract and believe I cancelled it correctly. What would you advise me to do? I have copies of all emails sent, and bank statements showing the money left my account each month. I am worried that this collection notice is going to affect my credit rating in the future, will it? Regards mn11aah

Hello, I'm wondering if anyone could help with this problem I have.. I'll start from how I first got to know about it, literally just as I walk in the house as I return from work and hour ago to a letter on the floor, There is more below about the options I assume you dont need to see that part but I can write the letter in full if needed. Now for the information behind the letter. . I signed up to Xercise for less in mid-2013 I believe, I stopped going after Christmas of 2013 but continued to pay ( dumb, I know.). l left a letter saying I would like to cancel membership and would not be interesting in renewing, in an envelope addressed - "FAO Manager" with reception at the gym in question in November or December 2014. I noticed a direct debit had came out in January this year so checked my online banking and noticed the DD was still in effect, I chose to cancel it thought nothing else of it. Fast forward to today and you can see the letter I have received. I haven't received any other letters as they have stated. Nor do I understand how a total of 119.97 minus CRS' so called 102.50 fees has come into existence. I have phoned the gym and asked to speak to the manager or persons in charge at 17:20 today, was told I would get a call back in 5-10 mins as he was busy with a customer. I still haven't had a phonecall back and here I am seeking assistance. As a precaution I've been reading other posts about said companies in question, and noticed a post made by a user regarding "The High Court case of The OFT v Ashbourne Mgt Svs Ltd" and I wonder, do this also relate to me? I have been a member over a year my contract is techincally fulfilled if this is true they should just accept the DD cancel as my membership termination regardless of receiving it in writing from me? Thanks, Dean.

Hi I am writing this on behalf of my daughter who is studying abroad. My daughter joined Xercise4less in September 2013. In April 2014 she emailed them to give her intention to end membership as she was going to the states in May 2014 for 4 Months. There was no response. She was in the states with limited access to phone/email. On her return in September she realised that they had continued to take the payments from her account (she mistakenly thought they would take the mail as intention to terminate and cease requests for payment) She cancelled the direct debit immediately. She then embarked on a year abroad (which is where she still is) In April 2015 letters started to arrive from CRS at her parents (my) house demanding payment for arrears plus costs of £102.50. So total claim from CRS is £207.47 I have telephoned CRS twice and explained the situation. I have emailed Xercise4less. No reponse from either. CRS stated that they need permission to speak with me from my daughter, which they now have via email. Any advice welcome on how to end this saga. Many thanks

Hi, I'm hoping someone can give me some advice/assistance about a matter that is causing me some concern. In May 2014 I joined a gym in my home town of Hull over my summer break from university. I informed the gym at the time that I was a student and would be moving away, back to Newcastle, at the end of the summer. They said this was fine and I would be able to cancel it then. In November I begin receiving calls from an unknown number that left no message when they got through to voicemail. Eventually I got a letter through from the company, CRS, explaining that I was to pay the rest of my contract with the gym and several administration fees to CRS. I complained and informed them of my move and how I pre-warned the gym. CRS asked for proof of my current(Newcastle) address, which I provided. Since then, the letters and calls have not stopped, the amount owed has dropped from £275 to £150. As there is no logical reason why I should pay £150 of course I declined, and the amount went back up to the original £275 within a week. I have told CRS that I do not owe them any money and they are persisting with threatening letters and now text messages on my phone saying I must ring them immediately. As I say I am a student, I owe no money to the gym and the fees that CRS are claiming are simply something I cannot afford. I am feeling very intimidated by their correspondence now, so any advice on what I should do next would be greatly received. Today, (25/04/15) I received a letter through from CRS saying that they are now going to transfer the debt to another agency if I do not respond to them within the next week. Again, as someone with little experience in this area, these kind of threats do concern me greatly. Any help/advice offered would be greatly appreciated. Cheers

Hello, you all seem to be really clued up here so hopefully you can help me! In September 2013 I signed up for a gym membership at Xcercise4Less, which was for a year. When I signed up it was with some housemates that would not be in the area in a year, so when we asked how to cancel the girl simply said cancel the direct debit. After using the gym only for a few weeks I developed a hernia (unrelated to gym!), and so was advised not to go until after surgery. I stopped going to the gym, however continued paying for the contract as I was unaware you could cancel because of this. Come September 2014, the 12th payment came out so I cancelled the direct debit. Now starting a month ago it has been a mess of CRS, Harlands and Xcercise4Less harassing me and sending multiple letters for unpaid gym membership fees and then some additional extra? I emailed the gym directly and told them the situation however they stopped replying. I'm really skint at the moment and it is annoying me how I didn't even use the gym and they are still trying to come after me for money? How could I get around this? I emailed them saying I would pay my 1 months notice but they ignored that aswell. Would it be helpful to get a doctors note for the hernia? I've followed advice seen on here about not doing anything over the phone but I'm getting texts and missed calls every day and keep sending letters to my home address and worrying my mother. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Hi everyone, I joined Xercise4less in september 2013 and my first direct debit came out on the 5th sept 2013. I signed up online to a 12 month contract and never actually went to the gym, yet still paid for the 12 months before cancelling on the 13th month. I have recieved a letter dated the 26th march 2015 saying that the CRS are employed by x4l and my membership remains in arrears despite previous letters being sent to me (this is the first letter i recieved) They then say that they have added their fees of £102.50 and my balance is now £207.47!!!! I ignored this letter and then recieved another one dated the 16th april 2015 giving me two options.. either legal action or outsource to external agents. I have spoken to the gym to which they were extreamly unhelpful and rude!! And i have also phone CRS themselves. I have no idea what to do about it!

Hi everyone, i am new to this site and am unsure how to make a new thread for my particular issue? Any help!!

Hi, first time poster here, seeking advice on how to deal with a CRS letter. I've recently had a letter through the posted to me regarding a gym membership. I joined Xercise4Less Newcastle under Lyme branch in April 2013, and started on a 12 month contract in June 2013. In December 2013 we moved address and around about September 2014 I decided that I would cancel the direct debit on the understanding that I had competed my years 'contract', although I never received any details of said contract to my email address. I understand that I should have probably cancelled properly. 14th April 2015 I received a letter from CRS, saying that my exercise for less account is in arrears and I owe £207.47 with £102.50 fees added to this. I'm a bit shocked by the letter, but doing some internet research it appears that this is quite common, so I was hoping someone could give me some advice on how to deal with them.

Hi I am hoping somebody can help me, I cancelled my gym membership toward the end of last year, i went into my gym and filled in a close of account form and handed it into the lady at reception, i then waited a month an cancelled the direct debit as i was told i had to give a months notice. As far as i was aware the matter was now over until last week i received a letter from CRS Credit Resolution Services saying i owed £222.47 as my account was in arrears. I rang CRS and they claim the gym have no recollection of me handing in the close of account form in and and there for it has been classed as missed payments. Xercise for less have been sending letters out so they claim saying i have missed payments but these have been sent to my old address as i moved house mid membership, they had my mobile number but made no effort to get in contact with me. I spoke with CRS today and they was very off hand and said the best they can do is i need to pay £112.49 today or the matter will be sent for collection of goods totalling that amount. Can sombody please help me with this ? Kind Regards Daniel.

It seems i'm not the only one with these guys bugging me! i entered into a 12 month contract in May 2014 with the gym, at 9.99 a month. I made my last payment in December. I do acknowledge that I canceled early but i do have reasons. On a number of occations my person code would not work and i wasn't allowed access to the gym or classes, which wasn't very good when i was sat waiting for my aunty and mother to finish their session so we could go home together! I complained at the desk a number of times but no-one knew what was going on and no-one helped me. So as far as i could see i was paying for a service i wasn't getting. i recieved a letter a couple of week ago from CRS saying i was in debt of £192.46, i have since sent them an email (as i will only communicate via written word with companies like these) explaining my reasoning and also asking for a breakdown of fees, although looking at threads on here i have seen that it is likely that the fees are non-mandatory. I also have no emails or letters containing some sort of membership agreement so i cannot find out where i stand in this matter. I'm happy to pay the £40 i owe, but not the fees. As of yet i have had no reply to my email, but i don't want anyone going to my parents house as this is where the company still think i live! Any help would be appreciated, thank you

Hi I'm hoping I can get some advice. I joined Xercise4less in May/June 2013, I can't honestly remember if it was on a 12 month contract or not. I haven't been to the gym for months due to my new job in September 2014 I cancelled my direct debit. My last payment for £9.99 went out on 28 August 2014 and I heard nothing. I have today received a letter from CRS saying I owe £207, which includes £102.50 of their charges!!! I have contacted the gym who cannot help me because it's been longer than 3 months since I cancelled my DD. I moved house 12 months ago and so have received no letters from anyone regarding my membership because they have the wrong address details. They have however managed to send me this particular letter, which is the first I've had, the letter states I have had numerous letters sent to which I've not responded, this down to the fact they have incorrect address details. What should my next move be?? I accept I should have given them a months notice but even if that's as of today I should only owe £40 tops (oct - jan). Any advice greatly received.

Hi all again, I got a letter from CRS about a debt on the 20/12/2014. I've recently got a lot of phone calls to my parents house phone from them. I said to them "I request all further communication in writing" then hung up. I am still getting calls from theses people, and they said "I would need to send a letter to remove my number". Could anyone direct me to a template maybe? Many Thanks Andrew