Hi all, I've taken a policy with eCar insurance for an old, semi-functional rusty Mercedes (800 pounds worth) end of October 2011. It was an impulse buy of a young man with more money than sense I paid about 200 pounds premium as first payment, and it was about 100 per month afterwards. Unluckily to me, due to my taking the policy out so late in the month, the debit date was automatically set to be 27th or so, and in November it failed due to my not having that much before payday on my account. I was living between 2 addresses at the time, moving homes, and I didn't notice it happened until about 2 weeks in, I called and it turned out the policy was already cancelled, because rather than attempt to take the debit again they gave me a posted deadline, and cancelled the policy, so to continue being insured I'd have to take a new policy. I was very unhappy with that because I'd already paid that 200 pound premium, so I just let the car stand for a bit, and then sold it to one of those companies putting fliers behind wipers. The fact that I'd have to pay a cancellation fee on top of that was such an insult to injury to me at the time, that it hasn't properly registered with me it appears, another factor was moving and degraded access to mail at old address. Fast forward 4.5 years, it's April 2015 and for 2 years I've been living in Poland. Earning far less, but close to family is what matters to me at the moment, and I receive an email from CRS debt collection that I owe 800 pounds to eGroup and I can pay by phone, www, etc. Some bullet points 800 pounds is over 1 monthly salary here, of which I have none left by end of month anyway I have more debts in the 8k pounds area which are consolidated with MKDP which I've been repaying over last few years and still do monthly - no complaints there in 2012-2013 I had another car with eCar and at no point was it mentioned that I owed them money I contacted ecar now, and they stated they contacted me on 12/12/2011 about cancellation fee, and 'then in february 2015'. So it seems between 2011 and 2015 they somehow sat on that fee, multiplied it manyfold I imagine (though they were unwilling or unable to tell me how much it was to start with), then tried to contact me again at address I'd left 4 years ago, and gave it to CRS as 745 pounds. For several reasons mentioned above, I am willing to fight in on the beaches, etc etc How to best get the amount to be reasonably equivalent to what it was a penalty for (a car policy cancellation), and then if possible have it spread taking into account my current situation, living in a country with cost of living and earning power far less than those magical self-multiplying into hundreds of pounds debts? Are they realistically able to harm me, abroad, should it take the worst turn? Please help, as it has litterally made me consider moving into a van to finally escape those ridiculous fees forever!

I know that this isn't a big problem compared to most of the problems on here but I could use a little knowledge on the subject. My partner moved in with me in January after cancelling his BT broadband account, he paid his final bill but did not pay the £30 cancellation out of principle as he was unaware that was in his terms and conditions. They do not know where he lives and have no phone number for him but they do have an email address which has been passed to Walker Love (correspondence below). He is tempted to ignore the email but I am concerned as to where this could lead if anywhere. I have heard of unpaid debts mounting up over years and I do not want it to come back and bite him so I'd like to know what the real consequences could be? 'We've passed your debt of £37.50 to a collection agency. We've sent you several reminders but you still haven't paid us what you owe. So we've now passed your debt to Walker Love Collections, an authorised debt collection agency, to get in touch with you about paying it off. We've also added a charge of 25%, included in the outstanding balance above, to cover the cost of us handing over the debt.'

Looks like i've been stung here Took out a car insurance policy on 1st Jan 2015 with Asda money, not realising that my existing car insurance with Insurance factory had in fact rolled over from 2014 to 2015 therefore i was already insured and didn't realise it. Once i realised the error i cancelled the Asda money policy within the 14 day cooling off period, and returned my insurance document to them, expecting that i would be refunded the £125 i had given to them as a deposit, less any cancellation fee which i didn't expect to be much. On April 4th still hadn't heard anything. so emailed them so see what they were playing at as it had been 11 weeks, and 5 days since cancelling the policy without hearing anything from them via mail, phone, or email. They sent me an email stating the following; Hi XXXXXX Policy number: AMXXXXXXXXXXX Thank you for contacting me regarding your refund. The necessary calculations have now been completed. Please find below the breakdown of how this has been calculated: Paid: £125.21 Deductions: Days on cover (inclusive of Insurance Premim Tax of 6%) £30.67 Direct Debit Set up Fee £27.50 Cancellation Fee £45.00 The return Premium due is £22.04. Thank you again for contacting me, if there is anything else I can help with please let me know. Yours sincerely So there you have it. £22 refund for a £125 layout for a policy that was useless and not needed and ran uselessly for 12 days. Two questions spring to mind; Firstly, if i had an accident within that 12 days would i have been able to claim on both policies, if not then it was useless and may have been an invalid policy from day one Secondly i recall that during the PPI thing that one of the reasons for refund was if you had adequate insurance elsewhere aside from the policy you were being sold. Thoughts anyone ? Ombudsman maybe ? Does the ombudsman still charge the company that you lodge a complaint against, and if so is the charge more than the amount that i am looking to get back ?

Hello, I have stumbled across this website whilst trying to get some advice on a cancellation of a sofa my partner and I have purchased from SCS. This Monday (23rd March 2015) we paid for a sofa in full from SCS in store for a property we were due to move into. Unfortunately this property has now fallen through and we have tried to cancel our purchase from SCS to be told they have a non-cancellation policy, which obviously we were not informed of at the time of paying for the sofa. We haven't received any goods from SCS and the sofa isnt due to be delivered for 5-6 weeks. My partner has gone into the store to be told that he needs to speak to the manager, who wasn't around. He then called head office and this is when they told him about the non-cancellation policy and that we had signed a contract confirming this. However, we haven't signed a contract as we paid for it outright and was not informed of this policy. I have tried looking on their website for some information about this policy to no avail. then I itried to contact a consumer advice service which told me there isnt really any thing we can do as we agreed to this and that we do not have any consumer rights as it was purchased in store, not online. We were also told that SCS could agree to give us some money back but could keep some for the "inconvenience" even though we only paid for it on Monday and its not been manufactured or delivered yet. If anybody could please give me some advice on what to do about this I would be hugely grateful! Thank you

Hi I just cancelled my gym membership with xercise4less on 1 March 2015 a payment went out on 3 March 2015 but I think it may cover February's fee does this mean I have to pay membership for March too? I signed a cancellation form in xercise4less to cancel my membership the lady who was dealing with my cancellation said I shouldn't have to pay again end of March. After reading some reviews I thought I call Harlands to see if they have my cancellation. They said they do but I have to pay £9.99 on 28th March. I've cancelled my direct debit on online banking but could reinstate it before 28th March if I need to make £9.99 payment or will they add £25 on since I cancelled it now. Do you think I should pay £9.99 at the end of this month?

I joined Xercise 4 Less in January 2014, and paid £9.99 a month for 12 months. It was in January this year (2015) that I decided to cancel my membership. I cancelled by physically entering the gym and handing over a written statement saying I wanted to terminate my membership. This was then accepted by a member of staff who told me everything had gone through and I would be charged for the next 30 days (as I had to give notice) but this would be one final one off payment then I would no longer be charged, which I accepted. I waited for the February payment to be taken as expected, and only after this did I cancel my direct debit as I was under the impression from Xercise 4 Less that my membership had been successfully cancelled. However, 2 days ago I received a letter from Harlands stating that my payment for March had been returned unpaid 'instruction cancelled' and they would be charging me £9.99 for my 'unpaid' instalment and a £25.00 administration fee!! They also say if I do not pay by 26 March I will be charged another £25 admin fee!! I contacted Xercise 4 Less and explained the situation, they then proceeded to tell me that they couldn't find any 'record' of my cancelled membership on my file and basically accused me of lying. I told the member of staff the exact date and time I came into cancel and she said she would check CCTV (as proof) and call me back first thing this morning to confirm. Alas, I received no phone call (what a surprise!) and am now left with an unfair letter and a lot of unnecessary stress!! Any advice would be much appreciated, as I'm sure Xercise 4 Less are in some sort of breach of contract here somewhere along the line!! Many thanks

Hi all, I have been a member of my local DW Sports gym for around 2 years. I cancelled my DD with my last payment being 3rd Nov without letting the gym know. I did not attend my gym after September due to a knee problem that i was/am struggling with. Yesterday I received my first correspondence from the gym through "Major Law" in which it claims that they have prepared a county court claim and is ready to be issued against me. They also claim to have contacted me "previous correspondence sent to me by ARC" which i have not had one single letter. I find it pretty disgusting that I've been delivered this bill for £164.64 after being a loyal customer for 2 years and had no prior warning before getting this threat. Debt Balance £83 - I dont understand because it is more than my monthly membership cost x2 Court fee £25 - ?? Solicitors Costs £50 - ?? Annual Interest £6.64 ?? -------------------- Total £164.64 This is downright robbery. I am shocked and appalled that they play these moves. what can i do??? I've had a little look round the forum at similar cases but I've not come across one where the victim has been registered at the gym for a long time and cancelled the dd without notice. I have seen that people have sent letters informing DW of their intention to leave which DW have never claimed to receive. Please help me guys, i really dont want to pay £160 for DW dont deserve it. The gym i attended has got gradually worse and worse with over subscription, poor maintenance and moody staff. Thanks

Need some clarification folks... I have to cancel my Virgin Active gym membership as im moving home and home to them falls outside of a 15 mile radius from the nearest club to them. They have told me that i must provide proof to them, in which I have none at present and wont do for the foreseeable future. Also ive missed the cut off date to cancel for the end of this month... Even though its only a day late so i now have to another 30 days :/ (Wasnt aware of the "Cut off date" and also doesnt say anything in the T&Cs) Do i have to show proof if i don't have it? ( I would want to transfer my membership but cant because of living quite far away from their nearest club.)

Hi I came on this site to find out about my student loan deferment and realised that someone may be able to help me with a spot of bother I have got myself into. I went into a Three store 3 days ago to look at a phone I was thinking about buying. I ended up buying it on contract and was under the impression that I could cancel it and have my money refunded as I specifically asked the salesman "I can cancel this can't I" me meaning that I would not be worse off financially if I did. I went into store to cancel it because I decided it was too expensive and was informed that there was no 14 day cancellation option and I have to keep it. Is there any way for me to get out of this because it is not very economically viable? From what I have read some companies offer a 14 day cancellation service but are not required to by law if you go into store to sign the contract. Any information to contradict this would be gratefully welcomed. The phone and sims are unused and sealed. Thanks Jon

Hi. I'm looking into this for a friend (yes, that's actually true). The scenario is this: In August 2014 a car was bought on a Hire Purchase agreement from Black Horse. My friend was in a relationship at the time and this car and the costs was to be shared between two people. However they are no longer in a relationship. I believe the HP is in my friends name and not the other persons. She does not want to own the car as a single individual though. So my questions: - If the other person wants to keep the car for themselves is it possible to swap the entire agreement into their name? - If neither of them want to pay for the car is there an option to A- terminate? or B- sell the car privately? - If C- hand the car back and allow Black Horse to sell it then I assume they'll end up selling cheap and my friend still has a lot to pay back? - Are there any options I haven't mentioned above? In a sense, any solution where my friend can gain more than 50% of the outstanding value back is a winner. Thanks.

Hi, I took out a 14 day trial of David lloyds gym. I suffered a shock Bereavement so did not attend the gym as regularly as I would have liked. I attended in the last hour of my final day of trial. I formed salesman wanted to see me prior to me using the gym. Aggressive sales tactics ensued which were bullying. I informed the salesman that I did not want to join that nite... I told him I had had a recent sudden Bereavement and was tired and had come in to use the pool to relax. I also told him I had not been a to use the classes so was unable to decide if the gym was for me. More sales tactics. I was sent home to get my debit card. I returned stating I did not want to join. He then said he could take a joining fee but not submit my membership... He would give me three one day passes to use over the weekend. If I did not contact him on the Monday he would not submit my membership into the system. He also said there was a 7 day cooling off period. I was eventually worn down and gave debit card for the joining fee. I felt cornered... There was no way he was going to let me leave and he was not listening to what I was saying. I was mentally exhausted. I was given no copy of paperwork. As I left I turned round to notice him sniggering with a male colleague. I felt bullied into submission. This left me not feeling inclined to join the gym. Therefore I did not use the three one day passes. I Di not contact him by phone on the Monday saying I wanted to join. I sent a letter explaini g the above and stating I did not want to join the gym. 4 months later I find out two dd payments have been taken from my bank. I cancelled the dd. I wrote a letter to the salesman stating this must be an administrative error and to refund me my money. I have had no response from gym but not long after my letter... I have been contacted by arc europe chasing me for a ridiculous amount of money. A particular chap has been very aggressive on the phone. I have been threatened with solicitors. I have a long term disability which is being exacerbated by what I can only call this fraudulent sale by this salesman who is obviously more interested in his commission than acting professionally. Would appreciate any advice. Would appreciate any advice?

Hi all. Back on 4th November 2014 we ordered some new covers for our 2 sofas. We picked the fabric and the covers were to be custom made by the supplier of the sofas. On the invoice, it shows an approximate delivery time of 3-4 weeks. As the covers were to be custom made, we paid in full at the time of order. We contacted the shop at the beginning of December to see what was happening only to be told the fabric hadnt arrived from the suppliers and so they had not started on the covers. Just before Christmas we got a phone call to say the fabric would be delivered on 6th January to which we said we were not very happy but OK. 6th Jan, called....no fabric, will definitely be delivered by 13th of Jan. Rang today, still no fabric so said we were very unhappy and would like to cancel the transaction. Shop very defensive, said it wasnt possible and that the fabric had been dispatched and would be there tomorrow or Monday. Wife said, Monday or money back. On the back of the invioce one of the terms and conditions says " All delivery dates are quoted in good faith and are correct at the time of ordering however these dates are approximate and can be subject to change from our suppliers. Under no circumstances can ' Store name' be held responsible for delays in delivery due to unforseen circumstances. Nor will it constitute a cancellation " Also, "All orders that are specially made and custom built cannot be cancelled" Are we within our rights to ask for our money back if the fabric doesnt arrive on Monday? The quoted terms are normally for the furniture they sell and supply but they are now saying it also applies to fabric orders. I realise they may well have ordered the fabric but they have not as yet received it or made a start on making our covers. Any help or advice appreciated.

Hi, I took out a TV, Phone and Broadband(free broadband lite) package a year ago with the dreaded SKY. 24 hours later they informed me that the broadband was insufficient for my needs and therefore they would be charging me for a compulsory upgrade. I sent several letters complaining that I should have been sold the correct package in the first place and had I been, then I would have declined as it was over my very tight budget and I could have got cheaper elsewhere. After being taken around the houses, twisted and turned until my brain was ready to explode, never once getting a relevant explanation, I then sent notice of my intention to cancel once my minimum term contract expired. This notice gave 10 months notice: my contract states that my contract can be ended at the end of the minimum term by giving at least 31 days notice AT ANY TIME[. As I have stated, I gave them 10 months. After I gave notice I received 2 emails from them acknowledging my intention to cancel. My final subscription was taken by DD in December which takes me through to Jan when my contract ends. After checking my account to see if there would be any charges (phone calls etc,) that would be carried over after my final payment I was shocked, and amazed (ridiculous considering it is SKY) to find that an invoice had been raised for a further month. Upon contacting SKY and arguing with them for the past two days (very difficult when one is deaf and slurred speech) the latest email states that I have given TOO MUCH NOTICE. They now inform me that I can give no more than 2 months notice but at least 31 days. Considering that I cannot find anything to that effect in my T & C's and have also checked their online T & C's, how can they insist upon this? In addition, whilst this drama is going, on block me from changing suppliers by refusing to release my phone line.

Hi there! On Sep.26th.2014 I subscribed to receive 3 issues of What-Hifi Magazine for £3. On Oct.20th.2014 I was charged £3 by Direct Debit. I have received 2 issues but yesterday I was charged £24.95 upfront for 6 issues of the magazine which I don't want. I called their customer service and they told me that they cannot cancel the subscription due to their policy. Have they got the right to do this? What would you advise me to do? Thanks in advance for your help! Kind regards! Leandro

Hi, Firstly, sorry if this is the wrong section. I wasn't sure if it should go in the retail forum or not. Earlier this year I (an individual) entered into an agreement with a company whereby I rent a web server from them. At the time of entering the agreement the Distance Selling Regulations (2000) were still in force. There was no minimum term to this contract, and there's no obligation for me to renew at the end of each renewal period. I make manual renewal payments each month by logging into their website, and clicking 'Renew' next to the relevant service. The expiry date of the service is listed next to the 'Renew' button and the subsequent page allows for the selection of the renewal duration (1 month, 3 months, etc). If I want to cancel a server, I do not need to contact the company. Non-payment/non-renewal is considered cancellation. An administrative mishap last month led to their systems automatically deleting one of my servers which involves wiping its hard disks to the point where data recovery is impossible. This deletion has caused inconvenience and loss of data. I still have one server with them, but I am no longer able to trust them, and am worried the same mistake may occur with this server this month. I've therefore moved all data from it to another provider. Their current contract is still worded pursuant to DSR and allows a customer to cancel within 7 days without giving reason. I contacted the company informing them that I wish to use my right under the Consumer Contracts Regulations (2013) to cancel the server, and expect a pro-rated refund for the time remaining in this renewal period. They replied stated they did not believe my rights under CCR reply as I am on a "rolling monthly contract". However, it's my contention that every time I manually renew the server, a new contract is formed (for the duration of the renewal period I select) along with all the rights and protections afforded by the CCR. What do you think? Am I within my rights to cancel this renewal? Thanks

Hi everyone. Its my 1st post, apologies if i've done anything wrong on here. But i've been really worried and can't sleep tonight. i Wonder if anyone can help with this: I've been driving for 20 Years. I've never seen anything like this before. Paid the full years car Insurance online Got insurance Certificate, thought i was insured, got a 7 day cancellation letter, no phone calls notifying cancellation or asking for further information, think they are saying it's due to a failed credit check (their letter is below) I now need to get cover with another insurer. Do i now have to declare to the new insurer that i've had car insurance cancelled, or can i just go with one of the other quotes i got the same day i got this one? Do i get all my money back, i need it back first to pay for one of the higher quotes to get insured again. Full Details of what happened: Car insurance was up for renewal. Got quotes on several comparison sites. Chose one quote, rang the company, gave them reference, confirmed level of cover, excesses etc. Decided to accept cover, agent said best doing it online, or else i'll have to enter all your details and run it through again. Went online, clicked through the comparison site link for that companies quote. Paid the full years premium at once. 1st Email Received Thank you for confirming your intention to insure, We are currently processing your payment details, as you will already be aware to protect us against fraud we will be running a series of integrity checks on the information you have provided. If there are any issues with your payment, cover or results of our data integrity checks we will inform you of this by email or, if necessary, we will call you on the telephone number you have provided to us. Please note that your insurance cover is not binding until you receive a certificate of insurance from us. Got to email Proof of no claims, and copy of driving license within 14 days. I contacted my previous insurer again for copy proof of no claims Further Emails Received a few hours later: Certificate of insurance, Statement of Fact, Demands and needs, proposal information, Claims and break down contact numbers.. Basically everything you usually get when you get car insurance and you know you are covered. Knowing i was covered, and had time off, i went on a long motoring trip for a week to visit a relative, knowing i'll email my driving license and proof of no claims together when i get back. Got back tonight, was just looking through my emails on my PC when i noticed one from my new insurance company, Sent 2 days after taking out cover. "Please find attached an important letter with regard to insurance cover you have requested on your vehicle. This letter has also been posted to yourself at the given address and no further reminders will be issued. We recommend that you seek alternate insurance cover. Please note: Under the Road Traffic Act it is an offence to leave, drive or otherwise use a motor vehicle on the Public Highway without Third Party Insurance. Failure to return the certificate of insurance is also an offence under the Road Traffic Act." The Attached Letter URGENT 7 DAY CANCELLATION NOTICE We write to you in respect of your motor insurance policy for vehicle registration -------. We are authorised by your Insurance Company (see certificate of motor insurance for details) to act as their agents for the purpose of CANCELLING insurance cover in accordance with policy conditions and herewith give you notice that all cover is cancelled from -- December 2014. In accordance with our terms of business which were agreed to when purchasing this policy and that state: “We may, before and after entering into this agreement search the files of any credit reference agency or agencies who will keep a record of our enquiries. We may also disclose details about you and your conduct of this agreement to that agency or agencies. Such details are then used only to help make credit decisions on you or members of your household or occasionally for fraud prevention or to trace debtors. Where credit scoring calculations are used by us/the insurer, acceptance or rejection of your application will depend only on the results of the credit scoring process.” We regret to inform you that after such a credit scoring calculation was done, the result of which was unacceptable and due to this we are unable to provide any insurance cover for your vehicle. A full refund will be issued to you upon cancellation and once receiving a certificate surrender declaration unless there has been any claims during the period of cover. No further reminder letters will be sent about this matter. Cover will simply be cancelled. There will therefore be no cover in force after the above date and you must return your certificate of Insurance or temporary cover-note, if you received this by post you must return the original, where it was received via email you must email a Certificate Surrender Statement to cancellations Department. You are advised to obtain cover. Please note: Under the Road Traffic Act it is an offence to leave, drive or otherwise use a motor vehicle on the Public Highway without Third Party Insurance. Failure to return the certificate of insurance is also an offence under the Road Traffic Act. A Person may be prosecuted if a cancelled certificate of Motor Insurance or temporary cover note is produced to any person with the intention of deceiving that person into accepting it as genuine. ******************* WARNING ******************** After the termination of your insurance the Motor Insurance Database (MID) will show that no insurance cover is in force. This information is registered on the Police National Computer confirming no insurance cover is in force until replacement cover is issued

Hello, I am new to this forum but hopefully this will be useful. I have seen a number of threads regarding refunds of deposits paid and am growing concerned about my claim. Although this may be nothing particularly new, it may be useful to prospective customers who will think twice before they use Shiply. I got a variety of quotes from couriers, including from one which had an overall good score and had lowered their quote a number of times (I have email evidence) after a competitor put down an offer lower than theirs. After we accepted their quote and paid the deposit through debit card, they said they had made a mistake (which they obviously did not since they kept lowering their quote for our move) and they wanted to renegotiate, which we refused. We were consequently left with the job of asking Shiply to reimburse us our deposit, when it is the carrier who cancelled their commitment. My ticket has been opened for 5 days, with no action taken on Shiply’s end. I have repeatedly tried to speak with them directly on the phone – the customer service is constantly ‘unavailable’ (which makes me wonder if it exists at all). I wish to be reimbursed the £18 deposit directly on my bank account (rather than, as I understand is Shiply’s common practice, be given a credit on their website, which I am not going to use in the future). The amount is small but I understand this is a recurrent issue! Any advice would be appreciated.

I took out car insurance on the 7th January, choosing to pay monthly. The policy was approximately £600 a year, and payments were for £50 a month. I sent my proof of no claims off as requested to the local office and heard no more. The next payment came out of the account on the 23rd January for another £50 as expected. Then on the 5th February we get a letter saying the insurance has been cancelled due to not receiving the no claims proof and we owe a further £75 (apparenty £50 of this was for a cancellation fee they imposed) We did call the local office and spoke to an unhelpful lady, who couldn't pass us on to the manager as he was unavailable, but said he would call back the next day. A total £175 for less than a months insurance seems like a rip off to me. I don't want to pay the extra cancellation fee and don't see why I should, especially as they happily took the second payment at the end of January. The lady couldn't explain why we owed this much and said she wasn't prepared to speak to us any longer and hang up. My wife wasn't rude on the phone or shouting, but simply asked for an explanation as to why the policy was cancelled without warning and why so much was still owed when we had the policy cancelled on us within a month of it being taken out? Any suggestions where we go from here - straight to the fso?

Hi all, After some advice regarding LA Fitness and cancelling my gym membership with them. I am sorry upfront but this is going to be rather long as I want to give all the information. I joined an LA Fitness gym in Bedford on 11/06/2014. This was under a rolling 1 month contract. I paid monthly via a direct debit which comes out of my account the 31st of every month. I received an email from LA Fitness on 29th October 2014 to inform me that my gym was closing on 14th November 2014. LA Fitness informed me in the email that: LA Fitness had 2 gym's in my town, they shut the one I went to and transferred the membership to the other one. The gym's are not that far apart, only about 2 miles at most. I called the membership line on the 30th October 2014 to ask a few questions. I was worried as I biked to the gym, about where I could leave my bike at the new gym and whether the gym would be suitable for my needs, and about the cost of the new gym. I was told the cost would stay the same and the re-assured me over the bike situation. I went up to the new gym on Saturday 15th November and it seemed okay, nice and clean etc. The problem came when I went to go last night, Tuesday 18th November. Although the gym's are not far apart (and as I said I bike there on my way home from work), it is quite a bit out of my way for biking home. It took me about 20 mins longer to get to the new gym, different route and much more traffic. And, when I got in the gym at about 6.45pm, it was very, very busy (as you might expect I guess). I had to wait up to 20 minutes to get on some pieces of equipment, and I generally did not like it. Which comes to me phoning up the membership services helpline today to cancel my membership (as my terms and conditions state I should). I explained to the lady on the phone that I had nowhere to leave my bike when I got to the gym (there is a bike rack, but it was full), it is not convenient for me (the sole reason I joined the original LA gym was that it was on my bike route to and from work) and I generally didn't get on well there last night. She said that I could cancel but I need to give 30 calendar days notice and therefore my membership would not end until December 31st 2015. Again, my terms and conditions state that notice on the first day of the month following receipt of notice of termination, so again, they are right. However, do I have any rights here as they have shut my 'Home' gym? I have no wish to go up there again. They only gave me 2 days notice that they were going to shut my 'Home' gym before they took a full months payment (the gym didn't shut for another 2 weeks so had use of my home gym for 2 weeks). I tried to argue that giving notice was irrelevant as I no longer had a home gym. She said in the terms and conditions it allows them to move me to another gym. The only bit I can see that possibly refers to this is: But, not sure if that is what she is referring to? Sorry this is rather long winded, but wanted to give as much info as possible. can I get out of giving them the notice they say I owe as the transfer isn't suitable for me. Many Thanks.

Apologies if this has been asked elsewhere. I did search and didn't find anything. Motorcycle policy taken out online and paid for with Grove & Dean (Performance Direct); full business use declared. Grove & Dean representative calls to check details and then says there's a further fee because one of the intended uses is motorcycle training (not mentioned on website). Cancel policy straight away, before start date of policy. They retain a £55 administration fee. I was under the impression that distance selling regulations require a full refund to be made if whatever has been purchased online hasn't been used. Was I wrong? This company seems to be using this as a business model! Any comments would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Hi All, I am also having problems with David Lloyd, we took out a family membership in Dec 2012 at a cost of £140 per month, after using sporadically we decided after noticing the payments had gone up to £145 to cancel in May 2014. I wrote David Lloyd Ipswich a letter stating that I wished to cancel and gave my 3 months notice. In June we had not heard anything from DL so I called them up and asked if someone from membership team could contact me to confirm tha this had been action. I received no call and due to work forgot about the issue trusting that they would honour my request to cancel which would have taken effect fom 01/08/14. I noticed in late Sept on a my most recent bank statement that they were still taking payments by direct debit. I called and spoke to someone in their membership department and they said they have no record of cancellation but they would action it now and I'd have to pay till 01/01/15. Enraged by this I sent the following email: Re: Membership Account Number xxxxxxxx “Dear Catherine, I am writing with reference to our conversation this afternoon regarding the failure of David Lloyd to cancel the above membership contract as requested for the 1st August 2014. As we discussed I sent a letter sent to your gym on the 1st May detailing our wish to cancel the membership due to the cost increase and the fact that due to work commitments we were not using it. I came into the gym and asked to speak to someone regarding this in June to confirm this had been sorted but was told no-one was available from the membership team. The receptionist took my contact details and told me someone would call. I never received a telephone call so I assumed the matter had been dealt with and hadn’t thought anymore about it until I noticed this morning in my bank statement that payments were still going out. As discussed I am not happy paying this as we have completed the agreed 12 month membership contract and given the required 3 Month notice period in writing. I am not prepared to pay for another 3 months as your company has failed to action this stating that you had not received any letter. In your T&C and also your website it does not state that I had to send the letter via recorded delivery, had I know I would need it for this reason then I certainly would have. I also demand that the payments taken in August & September 2014 are reimbursed into our bank account forthwith. If I do not hear from you in the next 7 days confirming that this has been done I will have no choice but to forward this as a complaint to the Office of Fair Trading” I have received the following response: “Good evening XXXX, I have today received your email and have read the notes from my colleague Katherine. I have tried to call to discuss further however the number we have for you on our system is not connecting. I do understand your frustration in regards to the cancellation of your membership however we must follow the terms and conditions fairly and consistently to all members. We work closely with the office of fair trading to make sure our terms are fair for our members. Our terms altered in 2014 to include an immediate cancellation clause to allow members who have seen changes beyond their control to be able to cancel memberships but aside of this it was thought that a three month notice period remained fair. We do have to follow a three month notice period of cancellation. We can only process once intent to cancel has been received. Our process for cancelling members here at David Lloyd Ipswich is slick and I very rarely have to deal with emails such as this because of our strong processes. We do confirm cancellations to each member including their cancellation dates and times. From what I can understand you sent a letter via mail to us, unfortunately we have not received this letter here at club. Our terms do state that if you have not heard from us within 10 days to check the letter has been received. The terms also mention that a proof of postage is the safest way to send a letter if required. Although frustrating without the intent we cannot process ( I have attached a copy of the terms for you). I can see that you did leave a message at reception for us on 12th June 2014 for which we tried to call and made document of this on the 13th June. We left a voicemail on the number you had provided us and we also sent an email to the email address we had filled for you. Both of our actions have been documented. We did not hear from you following this until the current date of 27th September so unfortunately even then we knew nothing of your intent to cancel membership. I do understand your frustration but we have to abide by terms and conditions. I understand Katherine explained our immediate cancellation clauses but if you have seen a change in circumstance beyond your control for example redundancy/ relocation more than 10 miles from another David Lloyd facility/ illness or injury which prevents usage of the club, then please let me know so we can try and help where possible. Aside of this Katherine has placed a cancellation in for soonest point we have available to us 1/1/15. Katherine has sent confirmation of this to you. Please do feel free to call me on Monday between 8.30 and 3pm if you would like to discuss further. Kind Regards Louise Lord Member Relations Manager David Lloyd Ipswich” What do I need to do now?

Hi, I'd be grateful for any advice you could give me for a problem I'm having with my gym cancellation. I joined Reebok Gym in Mar 2014 on a rolling contract with no minimum period. After 3 months I wished to cancel the contract as I was due to have a foot operation and would be unable to use the Gym. I'd been previously told by the Gym that they only required a weeks notice but when I tried to cancel I was told that I was 4 days too late for that months cancellation and that I would need to pay for another full month's use of the Gym. They said that the weeks notice was for a payment holiday, i.e. not using the gym for a short period, not for cancelling the contract as I wished to do so. I signed the cancellation as they requested and went home and cancelled my direct debit as I felt it unfair that I should have to pay for a full month when they had told me verbally that a week was all that was required. Reebok sent me an email or two saying that they had not received the payment - which I ignored (as I did not use the gym at all ) I didn't hear anything from them for a couple of months and now I'm receiving letters and text messages from ARC insisting that I should pay and my fee has gone from the £146 to £172 and also threatening to take me to court. I object to paying the £146 cancellation fee as I maintain I was told verbally that only a weeks notice was required but accept that the contract states a months notice, if this the correct thing to do I am prepared to do this. However should I also have to pay the fee that ARC have applied? If I do not could it affect my credit rating? Can they take me to court? Any help, much appreciated.

Hi, I would like so advice on where I stand regarding a contract I have with O2. I have a 2yr contract with 1yr left and for the past 9 months have had constant problems with my connection and then the over the past 4 months it is very rare that I actually get a signal, so I have complained to them in writing regarding this and has requested that I wanted to cancel my contract with them without being charged for the full term of the contract as they cannot provide a useable service. They stated that I will be charged and then all of a sudden the week that they dealt with complaint relating to the fact that I do not get a signal and cannot use my phone I apparently went over my minutes and have a bill for £136. Any advice is appreciated to help me challenge O2 and the contract.

I just moved into a new flat 3 days ago, but I signed the tenancy agreement 7 days ago (I couldn't move in earlier because the landlord hadn't cleaned/maintained the flat in a good living condition). Anyway, the matter is that I just got a job to go abroad for 6 months (Exactly the duration of the tenancy agreement) and I don't want to be paying rent here for an empty flat. Is there any possible way I can get out of the contract before the initial 6 months term? there is no other clause in the contract. Thank you.

Hi, I've just moved house and wanted to cancel BT, the first CS agent hung up (or the line dropped) during the canx questions, the 2nd agent was rude unhelpful, asking umpteen "is there a reason ..." questions even after I'd answered several times and said i refuse to discuss it further. it took a request to speak to his manager before he accepted I could cancel my account and actually did it!! The information I received was also very inconsistent, on the call I was told I'd have to pay 30 days notice + £30 cancellation fee - which is outrageous (I'm just past the 12 months min term I agreed so that's not early-termination) and I've now received an email saying the service will be stopped in 1 weeks time! I will be complaining to BT/ofcom though I don't expect any joy there. but surely this is not legal? the £30 termination fee seems shady to start with and making me pay for 30 days then cutting the service in 7 surely must be illegal?? Spleen vented! I'm sure many other providers are no better but that's the last money BT will ever get out of me. Regards, Mark