Hi, I am sorry for yet another thread on the same companies...I have been reading through a lot of them and it seems a common theme, but I struggled to see one that suited my case. So, I went to the gym for 13-14 months. When I was due to finish I asked the guy in there if once id finished my 12 month term I was OK to cancel my direct debit. the reply was 'yeah your only tied in for 12 month' So I then cancelled my direct debit and started at my new gym. I received letter from harlands saying the direct debit had failed and I now owed them the months fee plus a £25 admin fee. I tried to ring them a couple of times but ended up hanging up after being on hold for so long. Today I received another letter stating admin fees had been added bringing it up to 69.98. If I do not call and pay by 14 Jan then it will be passed to a debt recovery company....significant fees.... court action. I rang them and they said I need EFL to send the confirmation of cancellation. I Rang them they said there was no notice and nobody there would have advised me as I state. Therefore no letter to prove I cancelled. thankyou for any advice in advance Biscwits

I recently cancelled my direct debit to Xercise4less thinking this was an acceptable was to cancel my membership. However it seems it was not and I have received a letter from Harlands stating that I have been charged a £25.00 admin fee bringing the bill to £44.99. I cancelled the direct debit on the 2nd Feb with payments normally going out on the 4th of each month. Now does any of what they say have any legitimacy. I have read around on here and it seems I do not need to pay the admin fee (no matter how much they insist). However do I need to pay this months membership fee? I have just logged onto Xercise4less and have requested to cancel my membership with them. Can somebody please advise on what my next step should be and what I legal am required to pay. Thank you in advance.

Hello all, I apologise for what I can see is yet another post regarding these people. I am hoping someone can help me in this matter, I write on behalf of my son. A long story short..... Here goes. October 2015 my sons friend rang and offered him a complimentary membership to the local exercise4less gym. A brief chat and five minutes later my son comes in the room looking puzzled. He asks me.. Mum, why on earth did i give them my card details? I reply, you don't if its complimentary, basically Son I think you've been signed up for a paying membership. He rings his friend straight back and says sorry man Im not up for that, he says no problem ill get my manager to ring you. She/he rings back and says no problem its sorted. He receives an email on 14/10/15 saying in brief....... Mr.... Your membership was processed in error, I shall send down an email to remove/cancel, ( can't recall what word they used), fine he says great thank you. I told my son to check his bank and cancel any DD that was there, he said there isn't one set up mum so can't. We think things are ok, how wrong. January 2016 arrives and my son finds that they have taken £9.99 from his bank using his card. He goes straight to bank, they cancel his DD which has appeared suddenly and also cancel his current bank card. 12th February 2016 he receives a text message from xercise4less tell him to ring to reinstate the DD or he will be charged. He replied to the original email which states it was processed in error, asking them to rectify it. Following day, 13th he gets a letter from Harlands saying this..... Your bank has advised us that your DD instruction has been cancelled. The terms of you membership agreement mean that you have to repay all your instalments by DD. Therefore you must call HARLANDS helpline immediately to reinstate your DD. If you do not call us by 28th Feb you will be charged an administration fee. He tried to ring them on Friday, but there was no answer. He signed no paperwork, and has an email stating that it was processed in error in October 2015. They took money they shouldn't have done. He let this slide due to the sad circumstance that the friend whom initially rang him was killed in a hit and run beginning of January, so felt it hard to deal with asking for his money back. As a parent I always give my kids the tools they need to progress in matters of adult life but all I can do when I don't have the tools or any answers is look to others. So any help, advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance. Swiftvalley16

I signed up with xcercise4less about 3 year ago I signed up for a 12 month contract with them which I could pay monthly they reassured me it's only a 12 month contract then that's it I didn't really go to the gym as it is an assumed it would end at the 12 month mark before Christmas I checked my direct debits and realised they were still taking money I rang the gym they said they would cancel it I cancelled the direct debit an thought that's it I received a letter today saying I owe 207.47 am they've said they've sent me more letters which I haven't received that's why the total is so high iv had a read of th threads and I'm quite confused can anyone help?? Thanks

Hi Everyone. I know this is a topic that has been brought up many times but i need your help. I joined Xercise4less September 2015, the gym was far too busy because of how cheap it is and you couldnt use any of the equipment, the electronic entrance gates were always faulty, and it was a bit out of my way for me not to be able to workout properly so i decided to leave. I cancelled my direct debit without informing the gym. (i know this was a mistake). A few weeks later i received a letter from harlands saying that they had tried to take the direct debit but were unable to so i would have to pay an admin fee and my months membership. i rang harlands who told me to speak to xercise4less as i was wanting to leave the gym. I was told by the guy i spoke to from xercise4less that i signed up for a 12 month contract and that i couldn't just leave, my only option was to buy my contract out, and that if i bought it out then and there i could still use the gym until sept 2016 and i wouldn't have to pay the 'admin' fees. i sent a payment of around £99 to buy out the contract. I though that would be the end of it a few weeks later i received another letter from harlands saying something along the lines of 'Ignoring our letters wont make anything better and if you carry on we will be forced to pass your details onto a debt collection agency.' I rang xercise4less and they said they didn't know why harlands sent me the letter and they would contact them to tell them to cease sending me anymore. They also confirmed the payment of £99 i had sent to buy out my contract Again i thought that would be the end of it, the other day i received a letter from CRS (Credit Resolution Services) saying that harlands had passed on my details to them and that my new total was somewhere in the region of £166. They are also sending me text messages asking me to ring them. I havent spoken to anyone from either of the companies post CRS letter, i though it would be best to seek advice from you guys. Even if its just a template letter i can send to end this. Please help. Thanks

Hi all, Another victim of Harlands here! Was following slick's outstanding advice and thought everything was going well but having read a few horror stories I thought I'd check what my next move should be. Long story short: Cancelled my direct debit after 11 months, not 12 (oops). This was the end of April. Got the Harlands "you didn't pay your May instalment so now owe us two months' subscription plus a £25 default fee" letter on 18 May. Panicked, rang around a bit, told the X4L branch on the phone I wanted to cancel, was referred to the X4L membership team (in another office - Leeds?) who agreed that I could cancel if I paid a £29.99 on-the-spot admin fee - I asked for a full breakdown of this admin fee and the best the manager could do was that it was "for contacting Harlands". I thought "hang on, this sounds a bit dodgy", I want to find out more about this... ...and Google sent me here! 18 June I got the Harlands "you owe us three months' subscription plus a £50 default fee" letter. Checked my direct debit email they sent me and it contains these lines... I pinged off this in reply (I hope it is OK! Sent recorded delivery)... Wasn't expecting to hear anything from them but got a letter saying... Now I'm confused. Next move, anyone? (Just FYI when I get Harlands off my back I'm totally donating my £25 admin fee to this site - brilliant work, helped me loads already, thank you!)

Good evening all Thank you in advance for anyone that takes the time to read my post and can offer any advice. Firstly, I'm a bit angry for myself for getting into this kind of situation, I am normally pretty switched on and have never had a issue with any agreements I've made! I have read with interest a number of the previous threads regarding Credit Resolution Services (CRS) and Xercise for Less, but I feel my situation is slightly different and therefore seek some direct advice. My issue is with regards to cancelling my gym membership with X4L, though I fear I may have made some critical errors which may leave me liable to pay the fees requested. Here are the details: I have been a member with X4L since December 2012, paying £9.99 a month via DD with payments made on the 5th of the month. I have not missed a single payment up to my final payment on 5 Nov 2015. Shortly after my last payment on 5 Nov 2015 (exact date unknown) I sent a letter directly to the gym branch I visited informing them I am cancelling my membership and I cancelled my DD directly with the bank at the same time. Unfortunately I didn't send the letter recorded or have proof of receipt or postage. And I now also realise they required 30 days notice and should only have cancelled my DD after the next payment was taken in Dec 2015. (2 critical errors?) I went on with life, and heard nothing, but of course was making no payments as I had cancelled the DD and I presumed the matter had been dealth with. Then I recieved a letter this weekend (dated 17 March 2016) from CRS. It is the same letter many other members have posted basically saying CRS have been employed by X4L as my membership remains in arrears despite previous letters sent to me. As a result CRS fees of £102.50 have been added to the account which now has a balance of £207.47. The balance is made up of: CRS fee: £102.50 X4L Outstanding membership fees: £29.97 (£9.99x3) X4L missed payment fee: £75 (£25x3) So they are saying I have missed payments for Dec, Jan and Feb - Though they haven't said anything about March despite my DD date of the 5th of the month. I have not received any previous letters from X4L or Harlands or CRS - This is the first contact I have had. On phoning the gym to enquire about my membership status, they have said there is nothing on my account about any cancellation and they have received no letter informing them to cancel it. To add a further twist, I changed address about 2 years ago, and X4L did not have my current address, and therefore it would seem that any previous letters from Harlands have gone to my old address. (Not updating my address with X4L could be another critical error?) However, CRS have managed to look me up and find my current address, hence the letter sent to me this weekend. I contacted CRS today to make sure the letter was valid, and in a roundabout fashion they basically said it is my own fault because the membership was never cancelled and I have no proof of sending a cancellation letter. They also said it was my own fault because I had not updated my address with the gym when I moved and so I was liable for all the fees on the account. Then they said they were willing to accept £112.49 to close the account (instead of the £207.47 requested) and they would hold the account for 14 days because I stated I would be seeking advice first. Any advice would be greatly appreciated, but specifically I would like to know: Is cancelling my DD with the bank sufficient notice to Harlands to cancel my membership? Even if the T&C's for X4L state they must be given 30 days notice direct? Does not updating my address, and not having any proof of sending a letter mean I am in the wrong and should pay the reduced fee? I was almost inclined to pay the reduced fee to get the matter out of the way, but I suppose that's what they hope for every time! I am willing to pay the three months of membership fees of £29.97 provided my account is closed with immediate effect (though I haven't mentioned this) I have read some of the template letters that have been outlined by other users, but I'm not sure I'm in a place to use them considering all the details above. Many thanks in advance Martin

Hi I was wondering if people could help me please!! I cancelled my membership at xercise4less in november of 2015 and received a receipt of this cancellation in letter form. I told them that I had changed address and so if there was any issues to contact me via email or at my new address. I heard nothing from them until harlands attempted to take £34 out of my account which I spoke to them and said it was a mistake. I recently went to my old address to collect a parcel I accidently had sent there and found 2 letter one from Harlands saying i owed money and another from CRS saying i owed over £171 for admin charges etc I contacted Xercise4less and was told they have no record of my cancellation and as I have lost my receipt (its been 5 month since i cancelled) have said its out of their hands. Is there anything I can do considering they knew about my change of address and didnt have access to the old house until this week?? any help would be great

Hello, I've been receiving letters from Harlands / CRS for the last six or so months (I'm not actually sure how long, I wish I stored the old letters). They claim that I owe £186.47 due to cancelling my direct debit, failing to close my account and whatever extra admin fees they decided to throw on after each letter. I've already read a few posts about Harlands on here and I can see that plenty of people have been in similar situations. I originally submitted my cancellation request approximately 30 days before the end of my 12 month contract using the Xercise4Less membership website. There were no official cancellation options on there from what I could see but I did submit a request using the contact features on there and asked to be notified if I needed to cancel via. a different method. I called Harlands after one of the first letters came through and they said that they can't close the account without notification from Xercise4Less so I called the gym and they said that I need to speak to Harlands... I got quite frustrated with this and basically ignored the letters after reading that Harlands don't really have all that much power in regards to legally forcing me to pay up. It's gotten to the point where Harlands are threatening legal action and although I doubt they'll bother I'd rather deal with these claims before it gets the chance to escalate any further. I sent the following response to them last night: ------- Dear Sir or Madam, I'm writing in reference to a debt collection letter stating that I owe a sum of £186.47. These claims are in spite of the fact that I requested cancellation of my account with Xercise4Less / Harlands on two separate occasions; the first being 30 days before the end of my 12 month gym membership was due to expire and the second attempt being over the phone after receiving a letter from Harlands stating that my account was in arrears. As I mentioned over the phone to one of the customer service representatives at Harlands my initial cancellation request (submitted around 30 days before the 12 month period) was sent using the contact features on the membership area for Xercise4Less and explicitly stated that if there was an issue using that as a cancellation method to please contact me. From what I can see the contact form/feature I used at the time has now been replaced by 'Fisikal', some kind of ticketing system. Although this doesn't look much more professional either, there are some typos that need fixing... It's clear that phone calls don't seem to work in the resolution of this matter since I am still being chased up for debt that is solely a result of negligence on the side of Xercise4Less and/or Harland's side - either with staff or the systems in place. I'm well aware that CRS is just another branch of Harlands so I also contest claims that a fee has been incurred as a result of this credit resolution being passed on to 'them'. It's also important to note that trying to impose admin fees is unenforceable and can be reported to the Office of Fair Trading for investigation. Since you are threatening me with court action I want to be clear that I'm willing to contest all charges. I also request a detailed invoice proving that Harlands / CRS / Xercise4Less have incurred any actual losses. Regards, My Name Here ------ Now, I'm honestly not all that clued up on my consumer rights and feel like points in that email are me talking absolute crap. So far I've had no response but I'm a bit anxious about being called out on the points I made. Any advice? Thanks, -Strider

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.

Hi everyone, It sounds like I'm in a very similar situation to a number of other users on this site! I cancelled my gym membership at Xercise4Less Leeds in June after completing the minimum subscription (joined 25 June 2014 for 12 months, £9.99 a month). I thought that was the end of it, but this week received a letter from Rob Avery at CRS telling me I owed gym fees and admin fees totalling £207.47. Prior to cancelling I was vaguely aware of gym cancellation issues based on friends' experiences, so I made sure I'd completed the minimum period (never actually went to the gym apart from to join and cancel!). I went into the gym on 4th June 2015 and completed their cancellation form. I asked the member of staff to photocopy it and give me a copy with their signature, which they did and which I kept. (Having read the guidelines on this forum to cancelling memberships I realise it would have been better to have sent a letter as well with proof of postage - the Xercise4Less cancellation form unfortunately also didn't have a space for the member staff to print their name. There's also a section at the bottom saying "office use only" which I was told would be completed later - in hindsight I suspect this is where the problem started as I took them at their word and the form was probably never "processed".) I allowed the final payment of £9.99 to go out on 25th June 2015 and then cancelled my direct debit. I received no letters from either Harlands or CRS until the one I got this week (although they claim to have sent more) - the address on my cancellation form was however my previous address so it's possible they were sent there (not sure how they got my new address, but guess that's a separate issue!). The form did have my current mobile number however and the gym / Harlands made no attempt to contact me. Googling Xercise4Less and CRS brought me here, and having read some of the fantastic advice to other users on the forum, I sent a letter to Rob Avery (with reference numbers etc) earlier this week by recorded delivery as below (realise proof of postage was all that was required but wanted to be extra sure!): I refer to demands from Harlands / CRS about my gym membership. I used the gym's own cancellation form to supply all details required when I cancelled. The form was completed at the Xercise 4 Less gym in Kirkstall, Leeds on 4 June 2015 and handed in to the staff member immediately upon completion. I enclose a copy of this cancellation form, which I asked the staff member to provide upon completion – please note signatures from both myself and the staff member who took receipt of the cancellation form. I allowed the final direct debit to be taken on 25th June 2015 and then cancelled the direct debit mandate. Accordingly, I owe the gym nothing more and I'll pay nothing to Harlands / CRS. If you make any further demands, I'll make a formal complaint to Trading Standards. The optimistic side of me hoped that would be the end of it, but today I got a text from mobile number +447718775275 saying: Thanks for writing to CRS. Please call us on 01444 449165 between 8:30 - 5pm. Alternatively we can call you to resolve the issue if you would prefer that. I really wouldn't prefer that! Having read the advice on the forum I know not to speak to them on the phone, but this seems to indicate that they aren't going to give up quickly. Searching through my emails today I've found confirmation of my original direct debit instruction from NewMember@SnapDDA.co.uk, received on 25 June 2014 and which confirmed I was committing to paying £9.99 per month for 11 months with the first payment due on 25 July 2014, so I definitely hadn't ended my membership early and did everything that was asked of me as per their cancellation guidelines. I'd paid for the first month when I joined on 25 June along with their joining fee (£29.99 in total, paid by debit card). I realise they have practically zero power, but having read the other threads I really don't want to receive demand letters from CRS over the next weeks and months (and in due course their solicitors)! My question is - do I wait for the next letter / text to come before taking my next action, or (having just read Slick's advice to another user) should I pre-empt the next round and send a letter to Xercise4Less' main Leeds office with a copy of my correspondence with CRS, the signed cancellation form and the email confirming the direct debit instruction, and ask them to tell CRS to back down? I'm aware of the Watchdog expose and was wondering if this would be a way to expedite a resolution, considering their current bad press? (ever the optimist!) Sorry, realise this is a very long post(!), just wanted to explain my situation as comprehensively as possible - any advice you could provide would be very much appreciated. Thank you in advance!

Please can you help ? I cancelled my direct debit this month as I knew I didn't have the money to pay it . It was for £15.99 . I've now had a letter from Harlands saying as my direct debit was cancelled I now have been charged a £25 administration fee which means I now owe £ 65.99 . They have said I need to call and pay or further charges will be added . This was a 12 month contract which the gym has said ends in March. However,I can't find my contract to see if this is true . Thank you

Hi there, I am in need of advice as my daughter aged 18 is being chased for payment after cancelling gym m/ship In August last year myself and two daughters went into the gym (xercise4less) and each cancelled our m/ship. We had m/ship over a year and on monthly rolling contract. We were each given a slip of paper to confirm cancellation and advised one more direct debit would be taken in September and then they would cancel our d.debits. I thought all sorted until October when payments taken from all 3 of us for monthly d.d. Myself and one daugher appear to have now had our m/ship cancelled as she had moved away to Uni and I have my paper confirming the date we cancelled. The isssue is that my youngest daughter has lost the paper she was given in August to confirm she had cancelled. I contacted Harlands back in November to advise we had all cancelled and they said it was nothing to do with them and I had to take the matter up directly with the gym. Tried numerous times to contact the manager at the gym and they have repeatedly promised a call back and then not returned my calls. I did eventually talk to the manager in December (she is the person who dealt with us all back in August)!! She told me that my daughters account had not been cancelled and basically she would need sight of the cancellation form before she could sort it out ( I didnt tell her it we didnt have it!!) She told me she would action the cancellation of my account and send the paperwork to Harlands - I asked for written/email confirmation of this which she promised me - but I never received!! I have not had any further contact and so assuming mine has now been cancelled. We have also moved address and so presumably they have been sending any correspondence to our previous address. My daughter had a phone message a last week 20/01/2016 from CRS just stating that she needed to contact them within 5 days. I googled them and realised they are the debt recovery section of Harlands. My concerns are - how do I resolve this given we have no proof in writing that she cancelled last August ( although 2 of us were witness). I am aware from other posts that the charges they will have applied will now be considerable, £9.99 per month plus £30ish for each unpaid d debit and then other charges on top Will this impact her and my credit rating as the payments were from my bank account? I have considered writing a letter of complaint with proof of postage but I think this would mean we would need to give our new current address which I dont wish to do. What exactly can they do if we can't prove she cancelled as this is really stressing me out? Many thanks for any advice

I bought my dog and decided that time spent with and exercising her were better than attending a gym, so at the end of my 12 month contract last April I emailed Xercise4less cancelling my contract, hearing nothing back from them I then informed them by letter and cancelled my direct debit, 10 months, and numerous correspondences later, I'm still getting harassment and threatening letters from Harlands, their finance management company, who insist I broke contract by not giving written notice, they ignore explanations and insist I'm still accruing debt by not paying outstanding membership fees, I have wrote listing all payments made from my bank, they wrote saying that I'd taken out a new contract half way through the first, I'd transferred banks and theirs was one of two payments that got missed during the transfer, Xercise4less contacted me direct via phone and I set up a new direct debit with them there and thenbut wasn't aware I'd taken out a new contract and had received no confirmation signed or unsigned from Xercise4less that I'd done so. he last letter is threatening me with their solicitors Spratts. Am I best to i just ignore them as responding to explain just seems to be encouraging them. :-x May I add, that in all this, I have heard absolutely nothing from Xercise4less.

Hi everyone! I have read previous threads in this forum, but have began panicking and would much appreciate personal help! Long story short, my direct debit of £9.99 bounced on the 5th of August due to lack of funds, and I fully admit responsibility. I was on holiday until Tuesday, and returned to a letter dated 6th August saying that the £9.99 plus £25 admin charge will be taken from my account on the 16th, and will not be able to stop after the 14th (tomorrow). I emailed the company on Tuesday (after reading threads advising to stay off the phone) however have had no reply other than a generic thank you for your email which I received yesterday. In my email I stated I would be happy to pay the £9.99 on the 16th, however should they take the £25 I will be unable to pay my next monthly instalment and would need to cancel my membership. I was hoping they would waive the fee as this is a first time offence. I haven't used the gym in two months, so would be looking to freeze my membership anyway, but I don't want to cancel the direct debit if it will result in further letters and a damaged credit rating. I am desperate to get this sorted today so they don't take money I don't believe is theirs (admin charge). Any advice would be gratefully received! As a side note - I have since looked up my membership terms and conditions, and the email given at the time of joining says I have paid no admin fee and am paying £9.99 for 11 months. I joined in the gym, with a member of staff, however she charged me £10 admin fee and I was not told it was a year contract at any point. Is this enough of a reason to phone the gym and complain? Again thanks for any help!

Hi all, I've spent a lot of time reading threads in to Harlands and am pretty confident that my situation isn't really dire or anything, however I could really use your help. I terminated my contract at fit4less Croydon by terminating my DD in online banking. I had read fit4less T&Cs on their website which quite clearly said something along the lines of "we do not enforce long term contacts" "to cancel anytime simply contact your bank" Hardlands then sent a correspondence out but obviously I know how DD's work so I needed to make up a payment for the following month because of when I cancelled the DD, which makes sense and I was told i'd have access until a date in december. There is a clear payment over the phone on my bank statement to snapdda.co.uk. Shortly afterwards another correspondence came through, this time it said you owe £0.00 Weird? or what? Now it's January and suddenly I get this letter through with further fees added to make £79.98 On the 9th of this month collection passes to a dca (still these guys I presume) incurring fees and potential court action. I'm not too worried. I have spoken to the gym and they said to me about cancelling with a letter but luckily I had memorised what I read in their T&Cs and the lady admitted there was a "common problem" with this. The gym have offered to contact Harlands on my behalf to resolve the issue as I am supposedly in the right for paying my fees as requested before. I would like to get any opinions on what the likely outcome of this will be if possible. Thanks all J

Hi Everyone Thought I'd post this for everyone who's had experience of Harlands pretending to be a DRC so you all could have as a laugh! Summary: I cancelled my gym membership at my local gym for health reasons in February. Harlands, who were handling the finances for the gym, asked for proof from my doctor which I provided. It then took them TWO MONTHS to agree to cancel my membership early. Now they are chasing me for two monthly payments of £24 which equals £48 covering March and April because it took them that long to decide to accept the medical evidence I provided. PLUS they are now also chasing me for the usual unlawful 'administrative charges' which they add every time someone in their so called 'collections department' decides to fart. ere's the text of their rambling email to me which is their so called expert 'version' of events. Sorry it's soooooooooooooo long, but have a laugh on me!: "Further to your email of 13th July 2015; we apologise that there has been an error in calculating your balance. To explain how this has happened we should like to initially point out that the email you refer to receiving was not sent by Credit Resolution Services. We have been employed to deal with this matter only from 8th July 2015 onwards. Prior to that date the matter was being dealt with by the customer service department of Harlands. As a debt recovery company, negotiation is a significant portion of the work we carry out and as such we need the ability to easily amend the balance stated. This is not the case with Harlands who were employed merely to collect the payments due under your agreemen t and administer any requests for cancellation. Harlands can only close a file in one of three ways; by collecting the full amount remaining, by cancelling the full amount remaining or by passing the full amount that remained to CRS for further action. At the time your payments stopped you had eight instalments remaining to be paid on the minimum term you agreed to. Cancellation can be granted prior to completing the minimum term in certain circumstances provided sufficient proof is received. Cancellation of your membership was not granted, however, until after your March instalment became due, meaning that you were still in arrears of two months. Harlands could not close the file by collecting the full amount remaining because six of the eight months were NOT due. Harlands could not close the file by cancelling the full amount remaining as two of the eight months WERE due. Harlands therefore pursued you for the two months outstanding plus charges applied in line with the terms of your agreement in the hopes that once paid the full amount remaining would relate to payments which were not due and the file could be closed by cancelling this amount. Because you have not paid this, however, Harlands have passed the full balance (including the six months which are not due) to ourselves to collect. Because you have drawn our attention to this fact we have reduced your balance accordingly. As such you are no longer liable for 6 x £24.00 membership fees (£144.00) and we have also reduced the additional fees applied to this balance by £24.22. You remain liable, however, for £174.50, consisting of arrears already due on the date your evidence was received and additional fees applied in line with the terms of your agreement. Clearly this amount is greater than £88.00 but we should like to point out that Harlands email of 18th June does not in fact state that your balance is £88.00 as you allege. It instead merely quotes an earlier letter which stated that you should pay your arrears of £88.00 by 5th May 2015 to avoid further charges being applied. You failed to make this payment and so a further £20.00 administration charge was applied on 8th Jun e in line with clause six of your agreement (it was this that prompted the email correspondence you refer to) and on 8th July 2015 you have become responsible for our collection fees of £66.50 in line with clause eight of your agreement to cover our client's costs in employing our services. For the above reasons we must advise that the balance of £174.50 is correct and due. We are prepared to offer a further discount on this balance and accept the reduced sum of £114.50 as final settlement if you are able to pay this in one lump sum, 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, Collections Department" Good wasn't it! They obviously haven't got anything better to do with their time! Am I the only one who has no idea what they're on about? Presumably I should just ignore this as they have already agreed to cancel my membership in April and obviously there's no way I'll be paying their so called 'administrative charges'? However, am I still liable for the £48 covering the two months between my notification and their cancellation in April? I could just pay this in full and final settlement and tell them to go away but then again why should I, when they add those extortionate charges which so many people just pay because they get frightened? Any advice gratefully received. Cheers Everyone Baching Mad

Hi everyone. Sorry for yet another post dealing with Harlands. I've read through the other posts and I'm in a similar situation to many others on here. However, as a student this is still a potentially scary situation for me and I'd appreciate some advice. Basically, I started a gym membership with Xercise4less on the 18th of March 2013. I went intermittently, then moved into a new student house around September of the same year, and then moved house again in September 2014. I tried to cancel my membership by going in branch around December 2014 and saying that I'd relocated and no longer needed to use their gym. The lady at the desk seemed to say everything was ok, and I left. Last Thursday I was checking my bank statements and saw £9.99 every month go to Harlands, which, with a quick google, I found to be the direct debit for xcersize4less. I immediately rang the gym I'd signed up to, and requested to cancel my membership and to get reimbursed for all the monthly payments since December 2014. The man on the phone told me cancellations were dealt with centrally and I'd have to fill out a form online. I asked to see if there was any record of me cancelling back in Dec 2014, apparently there was no record. With their word against mine, I cut my losses on reclaiming the DD payments and cancelled my direct debit with them through online banking. I then filled in the online cancellation form, explaining my situation. There were also boxes you had to check to submit the form: "30 Days Notice: I understand that by submitting this form I am giving 30 days' notice to cancel my gym membership with Xercise4Less. During this time if my direct debit due date falls within this time, one further direct debit will be taken from my account. Direct Debit Guarantee: I understand that Xercise4Less will cancel my direct debit for me after the final payment has been taken in my notice period and I am not to cancel this myself. Direct Debit Cancellation: I understand that I should not cancel my own direct debit. Cancellation Confirmation: I understand that Xercise4Less will email me on the address I have provided above confirming my cancellation and until I receive the confirmation email after all membership checks and verification processes have been followed no action has been taken on my account." Today I got an email through saying the following: "Thank you for getting in touch with us, we have looked into your account and we can see that you are In Default, this means that you have either cancelled your direct debit or you have missed a payment. Please call the membership support team on 01132038602 so we can move forward with your cancellation request. Healthy Regards, Xercise4Less Team" I rang the number, and the guy said I'd cancelled the direct debit, and consequently incurred a £25 fee, on top of the final DD payment of £9.99, and another seemingly arbitrary payment of £9.99. He said if I agreed to pay up this afternoon, he could reduce the fee to £29.99, by graciously reducing the admin fee from £25 to £20. I tried asking if there was any way I could pay just the £9.99 DD fee I owed, but he basically said no. He said I had to ring back today if I wanted the reduced fee. I'm just a povvo student and really can't be dealing with extra £20 charges, but I accept that I should probably pay the next £9.99 installment. Looking on here, it seems like I might be able to just ignore their pestering and offer them the £9.99, but a few things worry me: - The fact I checked the boxes saying I shouldn't cancel my DD on the online cancellation form - The fact I spoke with them on the phone, which apparently is a bad way to do things Other threads on here show these fees could get significantly worse than £29.99 so I'm wondering if I should swallow my pride and take the easy way out, even if the fees are technically unlawful and unenforceable. Many thanks for the help.

Hi all, I'm new here (be nice!). Having read through a few of the threads here its hard not to notice a theme with these firms, however as I have never been chased by a company for money before I am nervous about it especially as Harlands seem to take things very far, albeit unsuccesfully! In September I contacted my Xercise4Less (Bristol) in writing to inform I was cancelling my membership and that my final DD payment would be in Ocotober. I did not hear anything back so I called the gym reception and whoever I spoke to said that as long as the payment in October is made it should be fine. My final payment was taken in October. Around 2 weeks ago I noticed a DD was still active in my online banking, therefore I cancelled it. Last week I recieved a letter from Harlands saying I needed to pay them my £9.99 DD and an admin charge of £25. After reading around the forums I decided not to call and instead contacted them in writing explaining that I had complied with the terms of my gym contract and would not be paying any money requested and informed them I expected to recieve written confirmation that this issue was now closed and payment requests withdrawn. I posted the letter on Tuesday first class and am yet to hear back since. I know it's still a bit early but I can sense this will become an issue and was hoping for reassurance and advice from the more experienced people in here. In the meantime I have also emailed the gym informing them of this and have simply been told they have no record of the request of cancellation and I would have to cancel again (meaning a reinstatement of DD and all the associated charges and another final payment I assume). I sense contact with the gym could prove pointless? Thanks for any help, adive reassurance! Cheers Max

Xercise4less opened a gym in our neighbourhood at the end of winter / early spring this year. Before the gym was opened, a group of people was selling membership in the shopping centre the gym is located in. My 14 yo daughter (who has a junior bank account) signed in. After the gym was opened, she tried to use it, but they refused her to enter, as she was underage. My daughter went to Xercise4less gym with mother and they filled canceling form. Recently my daughter found that she saved less pocket money than she was expecting to. The culprit is Harlands, that I now found is doing admin stuff for Xercise4less. They charge her account £14.99 each month. I believe they should not only cancel her membership but also return sign-up fee and monthly payments they gathered so far, at least. Reading other posts we have not disabled DD yet. What is the best course of action? Unfortunately, I have no dates, my daughter did not receive any paperwork nor proof of canceling form submission, but it seems this is typical for a cunny marketing practices of Xercise4less and Harland. £14.99 monthly is a lot of money for some teenagers (and is for my daughter). Xercise4less & Harlands practices are simply disgusting.

I cancelled my direct debit, a few weeks ago to exercise for less because the 12 months was up about 3 months ago. I didn't think anything of it, i thought it ended after 12 months but i was still paying i don't even go anymore. Today i got a letter from Harland's, wanting me to call them to reinstate my direct debit and charge me £34.99, even though membership is £10. Ive just cancelled my membership on exercise for less website, i didn't know that you could do that or i would have in the first place. I don't want to pay 34.99, ive payed it before when ive missed a payment, its such bull****! So i did some googling and found this forum, please help!

Hi there, I am new to the site so just wanted to say hello to start with! I am writing this thread regarding problems I have had since cancelling a gym membership at Xercise4Less in Leeds. I am writing in chronological order but the dates may be a bit out (apart from the most recent ones). I joined Xercise4Less on a £9.99 monthly rolling contract in October 2014, as I was at university in Leeds and wanted to use the gym. I never received a welcome email with my 'pin' to get in the gym, nor any terms and conditions or anything similar. Over the first few weeks, I went in multiple times to ask them to resend this email and amend my email address to the correct one, and was told that they would do and would send me the pin to access the gym. I was given a temporary pin and used the gym maybe 2 times during this period. However, I never received the email with my own pin or the welcome information, as I informed them. Over the year I was very ill, and had a lot of university stuff to sort out, and so not only did I not visit the gym I also didn't have time to chase them about my pin for gym access, although I had been in and requested it multiple times initially. I lost the temporary pin and so could not access the gym. Over the rest of the year I ignored the gym and completely forgot about the membership. At the end of the university year (June 2015) I left Leeds as it was the end of my final year, and moved back to Leicester. I cancelled my bank account and changed bank, and cancelled all outstanding standing orders (including the gym). I receive a lot of nuisance calls and texts on my phone so ignore all automated ones I got (some were from CRS but I had no idea they actually meant anything so I ignored them). I have now received a text from Spratt Endicott (7th December 2015) asking me to call them and quoting a reference number. As I have left the address I have received no correspondence about any of this so have no idea where to start. Any ideas? Thanks a lot in advance, sorry it's a bit wordy!

Hi everybody, I'm new to this forum - spent a lot of time reading other threads on the issue of Xercise 4 Less/Harlands/CRS last night and now feel a bit more informed than I did previously! But I would like some help to see if I have a leg to stand on here before I go into battle! I moved to Scotland in April, and subsequently joined the local Xercise 4 Less gym on the 27th on a 12 month contract at 14.99 per month. When joining, I also paid a £20.00 joining fee - taking my first total payment to £34.99. I find it important to state now that I NEVER set foot in the gym after joining. (This was confirmed by a woman I spoke to on the telephone last Monday, 12th October '15 - more on this later) I fell pregnant and didn't really feel like going then. I continued to pay for the membership and unfortunately lost the pregnancy at just 4 weeks. The company I was working for at the time - in short - went bust, and I was found without a job. I then found out I had fallen pregnant again and after losing my first pregnancy I certainly did not want to go to the gym due to my fears if anything else! For these reasons, I cancelled the direct debit with my bank online after approximately 3 months and 11 days of membership. My partner and I then moved into a new flat in the same town. With my direct debit cancelled, I did not find it appropriate to notify the gym of my change of address, as far as I was concerned, I was no longer a member. I also find it important to state at this point that I have been a member of other gyms in the past and they took cancellation of my direct debit payments as cancellation of the service they were providing and did not contact me further - I believed this would be the case with this company also. How wrong I was! On Monday, 12th October I received a letter from a company called CRS - I have found many letters the same on these threads so will just paraphrase: They say they have been employed by Xercise 4 Less as my membership remains in arrears despite letters being sent - I had not received these letters, but the gym remained to have my telephone number/email in their records, and I heard nothing from them through either of these channels. They say they have added their fees (£111.57) to my debt, and the balance is now sitting at £321.48 They then say they want to reach an amicable resolution and give contact details telling me to phone them. Stupidly, I did exactly that. I asked the man I spoke to why on earth I had to pay so much money. He continuously repeated to me that my account was in arrears. I had told him I was not happy to pay the fees, and also explained my reasons for leaving the gym. He froze my account for 7 days and demanded I prove I was pregnant by sending forms/paperwork to him. If I sent these forms the amount would be reduced "significantly" due to my pregnancy. I also phoned the gym and asked them what was going on. The woman I spoke to had confirmed that I had never set foot in the gym (she could tell from her electronic records). I asked her why I had to pay so much for a service I had joined but never took advantage of. She told me I owed the gym £219.00 and to sort it out with the Xercise 4 Less customer service team, and gave me a telephone number. I never phoned this number. I have done the basic maths after checking my bank account - - The payments made to Harlands totalled £64.97 - this is evident in payments taken from 11th May (34.99), 26th May (14.99) and 25th June (£14.99) ---thats just raised a question in itself, why did they take my joining fee so late, and why did they charge me twice in one month...surely they've taken 2 months of payment in one month?-- - If I was still paying for the gym, I would have only now paid them a further sum of approx. £25.98, another 2 months worth of membership give or take a few days. - Upon checking my bank statement for August I see they attempted to take £39.99 from me, but I had no notification from the bank that any payments had bounced, and we can see above that they haven't - I made the payments. I wonder why they were trying to take so much from me? So WHY do I owe them £321.48/£219.00 - I'm very confused as to which it is, as when the CRS "fees" are added, the total amounts to £330.57 - so is someone playing silly beggars?! Now...some questions! - From what I have read on other threads, CRS and Harlands are the same company - does this mean they have not sold my "debt" on to someone else and have no right to be using a different letterhead as a scare tactic? - Does the court ruling of The OFT vs AMSL in 2011 apply to me, and can I use it to back up my claim that cancellation of my direct debit was notice enough? - As I never used the service, do I have any differing cancellation rights? - As the amount I'm being charged is absolutely out of this world, am I right in thinking that this is made up of silly fees/penalties and as such cannot be enforced? Remember, I've been told as I'm pregnant the amount can be reduced significantly. Why/how if they are not just pointless unlawful penalties? - I will no longer speak with any of the companies on the telephone, and will only have written correspondence. As there are a few lingering days at the beginning and end of the membership I am happy to offer them a month's payment (£14.99) as a good will gesture and final settlement of fees owed. Is this within my rights and would you say this was sensible to do? - Do I speak with Harlands on this matter? I do not want to speak with CRS (although I realise they are one and the same). Any help would be greatly appreciated! I must admit I was very upset when I first received the letter but now I am furious that they are trying to take money from me, especially at a time when this so called debt amounts to the price of my baby's pram, car seat and changing bag all in one! Thank you in advance, Elvie

Hello.Like many others Harlands is atacking me with those scarry letters too.I don't know what to do..I canceled my direct debit so they can't take any money from me.I was planning to call them and pay,but first I decided to read what others did.So now I'm here and I have a hope that I will save some money.I can pay for them,but I can not understand why I have to pay so much administration fees...Here's the last letter.. [ATTACH=CONFIG]59564[/ATTACH] Can you help me?You are my last hope in this mess.. I didn't had long term contract.I paid monthly.

Hi everyone, I’ve been having issues with Harland/CRS and have had a few correspondence go back and forth with the help of this forum but I’m a little stuck with what to do next now and would love some advice. I appreciate that this is a little long winded but I didn’t want to leave anything important out…

The story so far;

After visiting Hone Gym is and chatting to a staff member they informed me that I could pay £20 for a months membership with no obligation, I made what I believed to be a one off payment with the website being what I perceive now to be heavily misleading. I didn’t realise until 9 months later that they had continued to deduct £20 from my account every month. I immediately cancelled the DD, had my bank raise an indemnity claim and thought no more about it. Roughly a month later on the 23/07/15 I received a letter from Harlands stating I had ignored their first letter (which I never received) and that the £179.91 that had been refunded was now £204.91 to include their admin fees. I replied with the following;
 Re; Hone Gym Membership Ref No: edited Regarding your statement that a letter dated 3rd of July was sent to me at my address, no letter was received. Please forward a copy of this letter. An indemnity claim was made as I had only authorised one payment to be debited from my account, not nine. The Hone Gym website has demonstrably been updated a number of times and has subsequently changed its wording to make it clear that further payments will be automatically debited. This was not the case when I approved a registration payment and a one month membership payment to be taken and goes against what I was told by senior staff at the gym. Namely, that I would have to action the payment each month and that I would receive a new pin for entry. As I was provided with misleading information regarding the ongoing deduction of funds from my account and the terms of the membership I consider this to be a breach of Section 5, CPUTR 2008. Please respond within 14 days or a complaint to the OFT will be made without further notice. Kind Regards Clueless Dan
 On 14/08/15 CRS sent a letter covered in bold red lettering stating they’d been employed by Harlands and I now owed £278.68. This was my reply; Dear Mr Avery Re; CRS Ref No: edited Harlands Ref. No:edited As I stated in my previous letter, the information provided to me both on the website and by staff members in the gym was misleading. I did not authorise the ongoing deduction of funds from my account after the first month and I consider this to be a breach of Section 5, CPUTR 2008. Firstly, with reference to the above account, I request that you send me a true copy of the credit agreement, signed by Daniel Johnson and entitled “IMPORTANT: PLEASE READ CAREFULLY”. I understand that this is my right under the legislation contained within section 77 (1) and section 78 (1) of the Consumer Credit Act 1974, and am entitled to receive a copy of my credit agreement on request. Your obligation also extends to providing me with a statement of account. I enclose a £1 postal order which represents payment of the statutory fee payable under the Consumer Credit Act. I understand that a copy of my credit agreement should be supplied within 12 working days from the date of this letter. I understand that under the Consumer Credit Act, creditors are unable to enforce an agreement if they fail to comply with a request for a copy of the agreement under these sections of the Act. Also, since you are a debt collection agency, I would also ask that you supply a signed true copy of the executed deed of assignment for the above referenced agreement. This is an obligation, whether you are the original creditor or not, under section 189 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974. In summary, I DO NOT ACKNOWLEDGE THIS DEBT AND THEREFORE REQUIRE YOU TO SUBSTANTIATE THIS BY PROVIDING THE FOLLOWING DOCUMENTATION BEFORE I CORRESPOND FURTHER : 1. True copy of original credit agreement 2. Statement of account 3. Copy of the executed deed of assignment from Hones Gym to Credit Resolution Services As you are aware, a credit agreement that is not properly documented and signed by the customer is totally unenforceable under the CCA and therefore is a complete defence to any court claim that is issued. Secondly, I draw your attention to the OFT guidelines on debt collection: Charging for debt collection 2.9 Charges should not be levied unfairly. 2.10 Examples of unfair practices are as follows: a. Claiming collection costs from a debtor in the absence of express contractual or other legal provision. b. misleading debtors into believing they are legally liable to pay collection charges when this is not the case, for example, when there is no contractual provision d. applying unreasonable charges, for example, charges not based on actual and necessary costs e. applying charges which are disproportionate to the main debt. I consider your charge of £73.77 to be disproportionate to the main debt and not based on actual and necessary costs. Take note at this stage, that any legal action you may contemplate will be both vigorously defended and contested and consider this matter to be “in dispute”. Thanks in advance and I hope to hear from you within the statutory time limit. I look forward to hearing from you. Yours faithfully, clueless Dan On 12/09/15 I received this reply. [ATTACH=CONFIG]59298[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]59299[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]59300[/ATTACH] Where can I go from here? I’m starting my second year of uni this week so really don’t need the stress and can’t afford the expense of just paying out. I appreciate that I could have been a little more thorough in reading through the documentation but took the staff at their word which was in keeping with the misleading wording of the website… Any advice would be hugely appreciated, Kind Regards Dan