Hi there, First, I'd like to say a massive thank you to everyone running and commenting on this forum. Your suggestions – Slick's in particular – have helped me tremendously in putting to bed what was turning into a very stressful situation I didn't need. Here's how I've managed to see Harlands off and settle in a way I'm happy with. 1) I read through absolutely everything thing I could on Harlands in this forum before commenting. 2) I had already been back and forth with my previous gym and "Credit Resolution Services" a number of times by email insisting my case to no avail. I had cancelled my gym contract with six months left to go as a result of loss of earnings. (Clearly stated in the gym's terms as a viable reason for cancellation.) The monthly membership was £69.00. Like many others, I sent my letter of cancellation and cancelled my direct debit. I had not paid my final post 30 day's notice payment. 3) Several months later, I got the letters I'm sure everyone here is familiar with demanding that I complete payments all the way through to what would have, had I not cancelled, been the end of my contract. A sum of £300+. After a huge amount of back and forth getting nowhere – both parties holding their line as stubbornly as each other – I adapted one of Slick's notes to the following: [A full history restating my case] With that said, I realise that I should have given 30 days notice to cancel my membership before cancelling my direct debit mandate. I am offering to pay a final month's fee of £69.00 to cover the notice period. I will not pay you any administration or cancellation fees – these unlawful and unenforceable. If you confirm in writing that you will accept the amount of £69.00 in full and final settlement of all that I owe, I will pay you promptly. If you fail to accept my offer within 7 days or you demand any other payment, I will pay you nothing and my offer will be withdrawn. If Harlands/CRS make any further demands for gym fees and/or admin fees, formal complaint will be made to the Credit Service Association without further warning. I will not call your offices for any reason but, if you are willing to accept £69.00 to end the matter, please state in writing your bank details and a reference number I can use to make the final payment. Yours faithfully, [name] * They quickly got back to accept. I had them confirm twice in writing, sent the payment, and haven't heard from them since (it's now two months later). Hopefully my posting here doesn't lead them to follow up, but for the help everyone here has given me, I'm willing to risk it. I realise many monthly memberships being disputed are a lot less than £69.00 per month, but this demonstrated to me that Harlands seems to have a threshold that if you can cross (giving them just enough to go away feeling like they've got something) they will concede. All of my communication with them was by email. I know it would be preferable to send by post, but I'm far too lazy for that, and if others are the same, better to communicate by email than not challenge the case at all. I hope this write up helps a few others dealing with the same situation, and thanks again for all your help.

Hello everyone, I am new here. Sorry if this problem has already been discussed before, but would really want some advice on the matter. I've joined exercise for less on the 18th of September 2017, and I wanted to join for a month to test out the gym, so the personal trainer there at the time said that I can join and cancel on the same day so that the charge would only be taken for September, they charged me 40 pounds, 20 for admin and 20 for the month. The contract I am on is a rolling contract. although on the terms and condition states that I shouldn't cancel the DD, but I did it anyway because I don't want them to 'accidentally' take another month's cash from me. Got an email from xercise for less (central support team) about arrears, called them and they told me I have to pay the October fee (20) and administrative fees( for cancelling) 25 ( 44.99 in total), Ive hanged up and complain to the gym front desk, they told me they will help contact harlands ( blah blah blah). Nothing happens until the 19 of October which Harlands sent me an email, demanding payment of the 44.99 or they are going to up the charges. I have written the reply below ( not yet sent), and was wondering if there is anything I should add or avoid? ------------- Dear Sir/Madam, Please note that the date I have joined xercise4less on the 18 of September is also the date I have filled in the online cancellation form which would have given you 30 days of notice of cancellation, I had been adviced by member of staff from xercise4 less in the Newcastle-under-Lyme branch to fill in the online cancellation form on the first day due to the fact that I was only interested to join for one month. No administrative fees will be given. Yours Sincerely ---------- Thank you for taking your time to read this. hopefully hear from you soon. Paarthurnax

Good Afternoon, I have seen a few posts about this here and would like to ask for some advice on my case. I joined the London fight factory gym in February 2017 and signed for a 6 month contract (£95) per month. Three months into the contract (May) I was transferred in work and to wales and could no longer frequent that gym. At the time I did tell my coach (and owner of the gym) that I was no longer going to be attending. Nevertheless, I carried on paying my monthly installments until the 6th month which was July, before cancelling my direct debit. What I didn't realize was that my last payment bounced and as I had cancelled the direct debit, it didn't go through again. Last week I received an E-mail, which contains half of my new address, not sure how they got that, stating that I owe them £247. I have already E-mailed them stating I will pay them £95 and nothing more (I now realize I probably shouldn't have). To which they replied that because I broke my credit agreement I was liable to all their fees. I have read in a few threads that they can't actually action any of their threats, but can they mess with your credit score? Also, as it was a genuine mistake, (I really thought that last payment went through) is there anything I can do? Thank you in advance.

Hi, I am currently having a problem with canceling an exercise 4 less contract. To cut a long story short, in June this year, I completed the online form to cancel my exercise 4 less contract. I did this after contacting Harlands who handle their financial dealings who e-mailed me back with details of how to cancel. I submitted the form and I heard nothing back from them, I assumed that all had gone well and the contract was now complete. A few weeks ago, I received a message from Harlands telling me that I had missed a payment and that I now owed that payment along with a fee for late payment. I phoned exercise for less to find out why they were still taking payments (something I hadn't noticed until I got the e-mail from Harlands) they told me that they had not received a cancellation form from me. I was advised to re-submit the form and the woman on the phone also told me she couldn't understand why I had received a message from Harlands as her computer was showing that no payments were missing. I re-submitted the form as requested by the lady on the phone now I am being pursued by Harlands I have also received an e-mail from exercise 4 less saying that I have not given them 30 days notice. I DID give them 30 days notice when I first submitted a cancellation form and if anything, they owe me money for failure to cancel and continuing to take payments they are not entitled to. They were supposed to cancel the direct debit themselves as it states on their cancellation form, but they clearly have not done this. Communication with them is so slow and I feel they are purposefully delaying responding to me in order to drag this out so they can just keep on adding charges. I still have the e-mail I sent Harlands back on June 12th 2017. I need help to figure out what to do to sort this as it is like talking to a brick wall trying to communicate with these people. Thank you

I signed up for the 12 month student deal £11.99/month a few weeks back decided to stop it as I no longer needed the gym. As I hadn't activated my account for their website I just cancelled the DD (which weirdly just said £0.00?). I realise that was not sufficient enough. Skip forward to yesterday, I receive the lovely email from Harlands saying I owe the first month's fee + the classic £25.00 admin charge - adding to £36.99 . I then go on X4L website and submit the cancellation form (saying I'm relocating and backing up with a bill). I then received an email today from X4L saying my account is in default and in order to move forward with the cancellation process I need to call "their support team on 0113 2038602" - which I checked online goes to Harlands. Now, despite not even setting foot in the gym I am willing to pay the first month's fee and even the second (as you have to give a months notice). However, that admin fee is not happening. How should I go about paying the month fee to allow the cancellation? I get the feeling I will have the "if you don't pay the full amount we won't cancel your subscription" which I want to avoid. Could anyone help me please? Thanks

https://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?424491-Harlands-and-Xercise-4-Less&p=5070263#post5070263 Hi Slick! Wow that thread is really interesting, can't believe Harlands have been chasing TwinMum for so long! I'm hoping you can help me with my issue with Harlands. I was also passed off to CRS after i kicked up a fuss they stopped chasing me. Now the issue i have is what happens if i rejoin that gym or join another gym that uses Harlands as its direct debit collector.. im assuming my name would flag up on their system showing I'm in arrears. The gym i was with was lifestyle fittness. Most the gyms in my area use Harlands:-/ In a nut shell, last year I cancelled my direct debit with lifestyle fitness. I then had Harlands chasing me to pay all these admin fees, I refused was passed on to CRS after i kicked up a fuss they stopped chasing me. Now the issue i have is what happens if i rejoin lifestyle fitness or join another gym, that uses Harlands as its direct debit collector.. im assuming my name would flag up on their system showing I'm in arrears. im kind of hoping it wont.. Does anyone know what might happen? Most of the cheaper gyms in my area use Harlands. Thanks in advance

I opened a Gym Membership with Exercise 4 Less Falkirk in around January 2015. At this time I signed up for a 12 month membership at the same time My sister opted for a rolling contract with them. At the time we asked if their was cancellation fee. We were told by the person on site, yes for my sister and for that there would be no cancellation fee if i completed my contract. (I now believe this may have been a complete lie to get me to sign up after what happened.) At the end of June this year I cancelled my membership with the gym via their online form. I received an email from them on the 22nd of July stating that they had taken note of this and would cancel my membership and my direct debit. There was nothing on this email stating there was a final fee. On the 6th of August they tried to take money from my account, the amount being the £14.99 normal membership fee. I tried to contact them about this by received to reply. Two weeks later I received a test message, not even a call demanding money from Exercise4less. The person on the phone was rude and less than helpful and didn't want to listen to anything they were told and told me they had sent me hundreds of letters, i had received none. the call was ended. I called back the next day hoping to speak to someone else Bbut was met with the same kind of attitude and telling me that I had to sort this was Harlands. Which left me confused to why they were chasing the money if I had to go through someone else to pay? I then tried to contact both parties through a intermediary site completed with screen shots of the correspondence I had with them and had no reply. I have now received a letter from CRS demanding £222.47. Which is the only letter I have been sent. I have not idea where i stand with this.

Hi all I mistakenly cancelled my DD for membership at Xercise4Less one month early meaning I missed the final months payment of £10. I received letters from Harlands demanding £35, I intended to pay but I was away at the time so I forgot. Then £60 which I disputed as being unfair. This was passed over to CRS who added their own charges taking the total up to £126.49 for an initial £10 missed payment. Again I sent CRS an email saying that I disuputed the charges and again offering to pay the £10. I received this long letter today, the bit about organised crime was quite amusing: Any advice? I'm getting phone calls and texts from them most days now. Thanks Dan

Hi there, First time posting, but in doing a bit of research before I delved into discussing a letter I received from Harlands, there seemed to be a lot of valuable information on this forum, so hoping someone can help with my specific situation. On 31st March I took out a gym membership with Xercise4Less on a monthly rolling contract with the following information in an email confirmation from that date: "You are committing to a single £20.00 admin fee payment and £19.99 per month for a minimum of 1 months. After this minimum term your membership payments will continue on a monthly basis. You have chosen to pay by monthly Direct Debit and we can confirm that the Direct Debit details provided by you are correct." "You have the right to cancel your Direct Debit Instruction at any time simply by writing to your Bank or Building Society, with a copy to us. Please note cancelling your Direct Debit does not absolve you of your Membership contractual obligations." The following dates had direct debits of £19.99 taken out: 02.05.2017 30.05.2017 30.06.2017 31.07.2017 30.08.2017 I since have been taking on more responsibilities within work that mean I am not getting to go to the gym at all, and as such have cancelled my Direct Debit a couple of weeks ago, and thus my membership (or so I thought, as had been the way at previous gyms...) However, yesterday I came home to the following letter: "Dear XXXXX, re: Your membership to Xercise4Less Harlands administer the collection of all payments due under your membership agreement with Xercise 4 Less. Your bank have advised us that your September instalment has been returned unpaid "instruction cancelled". You have therefore been charged a £25.00 administration fee which means you need to pay £44.99 to bring your account up to date. Call HARLANDS HELPLINE - XXXXXXXX immediately so we can collect this by DEBIT / CREDIT card and reinstate your Direct Debit over the telephone. If you wish to pay by another method, you must still phone to discuss your options. If you do not call us by 23 October 17 you will be charged a further £25.00 administration fee. Our telephone lines are open 8:00am to 8:00pm Monday to Friday & 09:00am - 12:00pm on a Saturday. Your sincerely, Harlands" My question then is how to handle this? I do not want to reinstate my DD / gym membership. I do not think they are legally allowed to charge me an 'admin fee' (?!), I do not want them to continue adding more lots of £25 to my 'account', and I'm not sure whether ringing them would be a good idea at all. Any help would be much appreciated!!

Hi I’ve read a few posts on here but would really appreciate some advice please? Around this time last year there was a fire in my apartment block and the whole thing burnt down. Without going into too much detail, I lost everything, only recently getting some normality back. At the time of it happening I dealt with all kinds of bills and redirecting mail etc. The most insignificant thing was the Xercise4Less Gym membership. I went into the gym, spoke to a girl on reception and explained that I had relocated miles away so need to cancel. She told me not to worry and that my membership was cancelled, everything was sorted. I never signed anything, was asked to pay anything or filled in a form she just took my details and it was as simple as that. Obviously I the next place I went to was the bank to cancel the DD (amongst other things) and never heard anything about 6 months ago when I started to get bombarded with calls from Harland’s/ CRS with requests for £80 fees Eventually spoke to a manager at the E4L Leeds office and they said they would reduce it to £60 something. Told them it was a joke and they’ve obviously been sending correspondence to a building site and I have been incurring fees since. I would have paid the £10 membership at the time if I was made aware– I even offered to pay the £10 there and then. They couldn’t care less really and told me that I’d had an email with full terms and conditions so they weren’t willing to accept any responsibility. The argument continued until I eventually hung up on them. Left it at that, I haven’t heard anything until now when I received a text message from Spratt Endicott which seems to be their new solicitor? What would be the best course of action here? All they have is my phone number and previous address but they haven't made any real effort to contact me except for leaving automated voicemail and text messages. Judging by the comments on here I feel it would be best to ignore the texts/ calls but don't want to land myself in hot water Surely this just isn’t plausible? Thanks

Hi my son has similar problems with CRS and cancelled his direct debit payments after 14 monthly payments had been taken . Does anyone know if by leaving it a little bit late and not cancelling after 12 months is he now liable for another 12 months like a sort of rolling contract ? He doesn't have a copy of his membership to check the small print . At present they want approx £200 + with CRS' additional fees .

Good afternoon. At the end of last month around the August bank holiday weekend (2017) I decided to cancel my direct debit to Fit4Less because of an upcoming medical condition. On the same day I sent a message to my local Fit4Less on their website contact page saying I would no longer be able to attend and so I have cancelled my direct debit. I had no response. on September the 4th i receive a letter from Harlands saying: Dear MR ***, re: Your membership to Fit4Less We are writing with regards to your membership for Fit4Less as we have been advised by your bank that your Direct Debit instruction has been cancelled and as a result we have been unable to collect your monthly installment of £44.99. Due to this payment being missed you have incurred a £20.00 administration charge. We would like to help you keep up to date with your membership payments and we understand this may have been a mistake so would kindly ask you to contact the Harlands Customer Service team on 01444449029* to pay the outstanding balance and reinstate your Direct Debit. Alternatively you have the ability to make a payment and reinstate your Direct Debit using our secure online payment service by following the link and using the details provided bellow. Go to *some url* You will need the following information to hand: - Ref Number -Credit/Debit card details -Arrears to be paid £44.99 Please note you will not be able to access the club until this balance has been cleared. We remind you that under the terms of your membership you need to provide 1 month's notice and therefore need to make another monthly payment. Failure to do so will result in further action so please contact us immediately to resolve and avoid this. If however you are having any problems with your membership or payments please contact the Harlands Customer Service team on 01444449029* or email us at *theire email* and we will be happy to discuss your account. We look forward to hearing from you soon. Telephone lines are open from 9am to 8pm, Monday to Friday and we look forward to receiving your call. Yours sincerely, Harlands " My monthly installments have been on a no contract Direct debit of £24.99. I understand I should have paid his final installment but do I have a leg to stand on if i refuse to pay the admin charge. I am also going to the hospital tomorrow for his condition so I am tempted to ask for a doctors note. Any thoughts? Many thanks!

Hi all, Very sorry for the long post, hope it makes sense. I have seen quite a few posts here regarding Xercise4Less but every case seems to be different and i just want to check what i have done is correct. I was with the gym for approx. 2 years, i changed jobs and could no longer attend the gym so i went into the gym and spoke to a lady at the counter to cancel my membership this was around the 21st May, at this point there was no mention that i needed to go online to cancel and no mention that i needed 30 days to cancel my membership, the lady simply said that my membership has been cancelled. on the 25th May the following months membership come out (i had no issues with this, maybe it takes a few days to go through etc) , on the 14th June i received a letter saying they haven't received payment, i ignored this letter as i had cancelled my membership and paid on the 25th (probably my first mistake?) I dont have the letter but before the 1st July i received another letter saying i owed £34.99, i emailed them trying to explain as this way i have records, they emailed back on the 2nd saying i need to cancel on the website, which i then did (figured i had nothing to lose by trying) I sent 4 emails sent to Harlands with Xercise4Less copied in between 13/07 and 31/08, I received no replies from them then on the 02/08 I received a reply saying they don’t have any records of me emailing them, I emailed them back explain again all the issues saying I am happy to pay the £9.99. On the 28th July I received the next letter saying i owed £69.98, i phoned the gym, they told me i needed to speak to Harlands, Harlands said i had to pay or speak to the gym about my cancelling (i was going round in circles for a few days. My final email to them was from your messages boards to which they didn’t reply. If you confirm in writing that you'll accept the amount of £9.99 in settlement of all that I owe, I will pay you promptly. If you fail to accept my offer within 14 days or you demand any other payment, I will pay you nothing and my offer will be withdrawn. On the 12 August CRS got involved sending me a letter saying i owed £104.97 On the 12th August CRS sent another letter saying i owed £171.47 On 28th September CRS said i owed them £171.47 and gave me two options, Legal Action or Outsourced to external agents if i don't pay. On the 18th October CRS said i still owed them 171.47 saying it is now being passed to Zinc Ltd. Suggestions on what to do now? Currently I am just ignoring them, i have received only a couple of phone calls which i didn't answer.

Hi, new user to the forums here. I signed up to Xercise4Less a couple of years ago, approximately Sept 2014, during my second year of university, and assumed that my contract would end after the minimum term of 12 months (naive I know). I only noticed recently that I was still being charged for membership, and immediately tried to cancel. Unfortunately the online form requires a W membership number to cancel, and I could not find the registration email they claim to have sent when I signed up, After unsuccessfully trying to call them several times and always being put on hold for ages, I cancelled the direct debit directly with my bank last month. I have since received multiple messages from X4L about my account being in default. I have not received any mail as I have moved house since (and not updated them because I thought my contract ended ages ago as said above). I called them and spoke to Harlands; and was advised I owed them two months membership plus a £25 administration fee. I'd seen various posts on this forum advising against paying the admin fee, so I refused, considering I'd already paid in excess of £250 for an unused gym membership. I was then told my details would be passed on to CRS. I sent them the follow email (with my personal details which I've edited out for this post): Dear sir/madam, I spoke to a member of your team earlier today regarding the cancellation of my Xercise4Less gym membership. My details are as follows: First Name: xxx Last Name: xxx Email address: xxx Mobile number: xxx I apologize I do not have a W number as this was never supplied, but your colleague was able to find my account from the above details. We discussed the fact that I had cancelled my direct debit last month and therefore my account in is default. I did this because I have previously tried to cancel my membership, but to no success due to lack of a W membership number. I was advised that I owed Harlands £44.98 in order to close the account. The breakdown is £9.99 for the defaulted month (August), £9.99 for the one month's notice I am supposed to give, and £25 for an administration fee incurred for cancelling my direct debit. I explained that I was willing to pay £19.98 for the two months membership, but I refused to pay the £25 administration fee. I was told then that if I refused, this matter would be passed on to CRS, a third-party debt collection agency. The legal status in this matter is that I am legally allowed to cancel my membership to the gym by cancellation of direct debit mandate. Please refer to item 16(ii) in this common law mandate in the High Court case of "The Oft v AMSL" accessible via (URL, I'm not allowed to post it here because I'm a new member ) or attached in this email. This email serves as further written evidence for request of cancellation of my gym membership effective immediately. If you insist on passing on my details to CRS, please be advised that I have moved homes and my address in NG7 2DQ is no longer usable, and I will not receive any mail sent there. My new address for correspondence is: xxxxxxxxxx The remainder of my contact details remain the same as stated above. I maintain that my final and only offer is to pay the £19.98. I would like to settle this matter as soon as possible . In the event that this is not the case, I reserve the right to reclaim all membership fees charged outside the initial 12 month contract under the Direct Debit Guarantee as I have not used the gym facilities since approximately February 2015 (you can advise me on the actual date since the gym has an electronic entry system), and my initial contract was for a period of only 12 months, which means I have been paying for nothing for the past 2.5 years. Item 16(ii) in the case referred to above can be interpreted in my favour that I have provided sufficient notice by conduct by not having used any gym facilities at all for an extremely extended period of time. Obviously this is not my preferred course of action as I wish to settle this amicably. All further correspondence is to be in writing, either in email or physical mail to the new adress above. I will not entertain any further communication by phone, and will also not entertain any requests that I call you. When you confirm to me in writing that you will accept the sum of £19.98 in settlement of what I owe, I will pay you quickly. If you refuse and insist on demanding for more from me, I will pay nothing. Best Regards, Does this email seem adequate and appropriate? I felt I was kinda pushing the boundary about the DirectDebit guarantee... And is there anything else I should do at this point? This is my first time dealing with such a matter, and would greatly appreciate any advice and input! Thank you!

Good evening. From the start... I've joined Trilogy gym(in northampton) on 18 oct 2015, 12 months £26PCM by direct debit. In may of 2016 i've been in need to return to my country (non-eu) with a plan on staying 1year+ then return to the uk. I bought an airplane ticket for 18 may 2016. On 14 may 2016 i wrote and sent a letter to harlands to cancel my subscription because i leave the uk for a long time. Hello, I want to cancel my membership with Trilogy because i'm moving to another country. Useful Info: Reference: xxxxxxxxx Account No.: xxxxxxxx Sort Code:xxxxxxxxxx Account name: xxxxxxxxxx Service User Number: xxxxxxxxx Service User Name: Harlands Services Ltd. Thanks, xxxxx. I got a reply on 16 may 2016, they asked for some proof. I didnt reply. On 17 may i canceled payments, on 18 i left the uk. I never contacted them. I got 2 e-mails from CRS and one from Zinc Group (and i kind of just found them, because i don't really open e-mails than i dont know who sent them, didnt know who CRS was until now): CRS:On 25 oct 2016 i got and ïnformal letter that i need to contact them about something. CRS:On 28 oct 2016 i got a "settlement offer"that says i got a debt of 282.50 pounds. Zinc:On 12 dec 2016 i got a "contact request" that says the same as previous with some "Zinc Reference and Client Reference". Also i got a letter from them sent to the "contact" address on my contract (I didnt know about this until a guy that lived there found me on facebook to ask if this is for me (lol)). The letter is written on 26 sept 2016 What can i do now? I plan to return in oct and i don't know what should i do. Sry for my broken english

Hi there, I realize there are a lot of threads regarding cancelling gym memberships to Xercise4Less floating around on these forums, but I am not looking to cancel my membership, rather, I'm trying to find out if there is any point in me challenging a bounced payment. I have been out of the country since today (7th), and received an email dated from the 6th, saying a payment was bounced due to there being insufficient funds in the account. Now I'm being charged a £25 administration fee, which seems absolutely ridiculous. Should I chalk this down as me being stupid or can I challenge it? I'm out of the country again on Sunday for 14 days, which is past their September 16th date where they want to charge me. Kind regards, Andreas

Hi, Just looking for some advice before I decide to contact/ pay CRS. I took out a 12 month membership with Xercise4Less, last year in jan 2016 but didn't really use it so decided to cancel. I wanted to cancel half way through the membership but I was told by a staff member that I was in a 12 month contract. I asked how to cancel my membership and I was told I had to give 30days notice. I asked if I can give my notice on the telephone now 6 month in which is ample notice, I was told I was not able to do that., the agent replied “no” and I had to give my notice 1 week in to December 2016 , which I did. Soon after I started receiving letters from Harlands, I contacted the gym they were not able to help, they said they would investigate with the head office, and was told repeatedly that someone would call me back. No one ever did. Meanwhile Harlands kept adding on charges saying “they were disappointed that I did not contact them” and they kept increasing the debt by adding charges. This was a lie since I contact them every time I received the letter telling them that I have been in touch with xercise4less repeatedly and they repeatedly keep promising to investigate and call back but they never do. Soon after I started receiving letters from CRS and My debt kept on increasing. But still no one from Xercise4less was willing to explain or help. I sent a letter to Pay 9.99 but I still don’t agree I owe them this, but to stop this harassment I made an offer. See letter below . Despite been told to send letters to my new address, they still sending letter to my old house. Can someone advice. In the last conversation I told them that they need to send me a copy of my agreement and a copy of my cancellation form I filled in online. And they still have not sent that, instead they just send another threatening letter promising court action. Please help. Thank you CRS letter 3.pdf

Hi everyone, I am brand new to Consumer Action Group and have been reading 100s of posts re: harlands/exercise4less..all of which I found extremely useful and only wish Id of seen this before signing up to the gym. I am sorry to bring it up again but I feel my situation is different to the threads that I can find because I just cancelled my direct debit 6 months in. I have been stupid, I just did not read any contract. I don't even remember being given a contract but obviously i must have signed something, I just remember being offered all sorts when i went with my friend to check the gym out. I was promised free PT sessions and that I could cancel any time it was a rolling month contract & no registration fee if i sign up today etc. The above all turned out to be lies so I decided to cancel, I have since found in my emails that this is an 11 month contract despite being told otherwise. I cancelled DD after 5m still owing 6m, I would be happy to pay the remainder of my contract due to my own stupidity in believing this guys word instead of reading, they have now charged admin fees and sending me letters saying I owe around 100. Judging by what I have read, I have dealt with this wrongly,should i just pay them everything to avoid this going up or should i argue the admin fees and offer to pay the remainder of the contract? I appreciate any advice, thanks in advance.

Morning everyone, Hoping you can help with another Harland’s mess. Tru gym- first joined 28th April, £19.95 p/m. As per sign up email; “You are committing to a single £0.00 Admin Fee payment and £19.95 per month for a minimum of 1 months. After this minimum term your membership payments will continue on a monthly basis.” First payment came out on 12th May- £19.95 Second payment was taken on 30th May- £19.95 Monday 12th June, notices went up around the gym saying they were closing down and would ‘cease trading on Wednesday 14th June 2017’. My direct debit was then cancelled by the gym/Harland’s on the Tuesday 13th June, without me having to do anything. Later that Tuesday/Wednesday the gym announced they were then staying open. I had found a new gym to join by this point and went ahead with joining this new gym so I didn’t reinstate my DD with Tru Gym. I thought that was the end of it until 13th July when I noticed I had been charged another lot of £19.95 on the 6th July, from a direct debit for Tru Gym that had been reinstated around the 4th July. This direct debit was reinstated on my bank account without any approval from myself. I signed up to the first DD, but not this second one. I spoke to my bank and raised an indemnity claim for this unapproved second direct debit. I emailed Tru Gym explaining what had happened and that this email should be taken as a cancellation notice of my membership with immediate effect. I then have an email from the gym manager claiming a refund would be processed for the mix up, and my membership would be immediately cancelled. I was refunded on the 14th July for a total of £19.95. I have spoken to HSBC twice on the phone who have confirmed the indemnity claim has been fulfilled as the gym have been refunded me directly. Harland’s are claiming this indemnity claim still shows as valid on their system, and as the bank are chasing them for it, if Harlands pay the bank, I will have to refund Harlands, plus the admin fee of £25. Harlands confirmed over the phone if I could prove the indemnity claim was cancelled by the 16th Aug this would close the case and I would owe them nothing. I spoke to the bank on the 8th August, who said they could send a letter to confirm the indemnity claim would be cancelled, I’m still currently waiting for this letter but will be ringing the bank later to chase this up. I’ve now received an email from Harland’s stating that as I have yet to clear my account I now owe them £69.95. “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. Please call the HARLANDS HELPLINE on 01444 449025 to clear your arrears by Debit/Credit Card and reinstate your Direct Debit. If you are unable to clear your arrears in full then we may be able to help you but you must call us to discuss this. If you do not contact us by 30th August 2017 your balance of £ 69.95 will be passed to a Debt Recovery company who will add their fees to your account.” Where do I stand with this? As the gym was closing down they cancelled the direct debit with me in the first place, do I owe them anything? Can anyone advise how best to proceed? Thank you, Jo

Hi, Just looking for some advice before I decide to contact/ pay Harlands. I took out a 11 month membership with Xercise 4 Less gym last year but didn't really use it so decided to cancel. My SnapDDA membership email states: The following payments have been taken by direct debit: I have made my 11 monthly payments and am therefore outside of contract. I cancelled my direct debit. I realise I should have contacted Xercise 4 Less to cancel the membership BEFORE cancelling the Direct Debit. I then received a letter stating: I have since also moved home and letters are currently going to my old address (my tenant kindly keeps them for me monthly). Please could anyone advise me on where I stand with all this and what the best course of action would be for me to take. Any advise and help would be greatly appreciated. I was thinking along the lines of this taken from Shabba180s thread: Im thinking of sending a copy via both email and normal mail to both Xercise 4 Less and Harlands: operations.manager.bolton email Xercise4Less Unit 1, Kirkstall Industrial Estate Kirkstall Road Burley Leeds LS4 2AZ c.service.icsharlandsgroup.co.uk email Harlands Services Ltd 2nd Floor, Rockwood House 9-17 Perrymount Road Haywards Heath West Sussex RH16 3TW I am in 2 minds whether to just pay the £34.99 and be done with all the hassle of sending further letters/ them adding on constant charges and taking possible legal action in future? How successful have people been in challeging their fees and has anyone been taken to court/ legal action taken against them? If I did want to just pay the £34.99 and be done with it what is the best way to ensure I get a proper cancellation/ no more demands from them? Many thanks in advance

Hello, I'm new to the forum. I’ve been reading some of your posts as I too received a letter from Harlands on 20 July demanding a missed payment and administration charge amounting to £42.99 after cancelling my Direct Debit (DD). My thoughts on reading the T&C on Fit4less and the advice given when I joined by the gym crew, was that I didn’t need to give any notice and cancelling my DD would be fine. Little did I realise that the contract with Harlands asks for notice! The letter advises me that 16 July payment has been missed and to contact Harlands by 3 August. Based on your threads, I did not call Harlands but sent them a letter on 24 July as follows: I refer to my membership at Fit4Less gym in XXX with Harlands’ unique reference number (XXX). My agreement with Fit4Less was on the basis of a rolling contract. The first payment of £47.99 was taken by direct debit on or just after 22 February 2017. This payment consists of £25.00 joining fee and the first monthly membership fee payment of £22.99. And then £22.99 was collected from my account via Direct Debit on or just after the 16th of every month I cancelled my direct debit mandate and this was adequate notice of my intention to cancel. I realize now that I should have given 30 days’ notice to cancel my membership so I am offering to pay one-month membership fee of £22.99 to cover the notice period, to you now. I will not pay you any administration or cancellation fees - these are penalties that are unlawful and unenforceable. If you confirm in writing that you will accept the amount of £22.99 in full and final settlement of all that I owe, I will pay you promptly. If you fail to accept my offer within 14 days or you demand any other payment, I will pay you nothing and my offer will be withdrawn. On 27 July I received my second letter from Harlands. Further to recent contact with our offices, Harlands can confirm that one months notice is required to cancel all Fit4less memberships. As you cancelled your Direct Debit too early without stating your wish to cancel, your account went into default. Please contact our offices to make your 30 days notice. We trust you find this in order. Does this mean I can make a final payment of £22.99? Will this require another letter to confirm how to make the payment to them without me phoning their offices? Will I have a default on my credit history, as I don't want this to happen, and I'd rather have a clean history report if it means just settling the full amount. Thank you for your help.

Hey there, I know that Xercise4Less and Harlands are notorious amongst these forums after reading through various threads surrounding them and their ridiculous cancellation process. I just signed up and posted this to get a bit of advice on my own situation, if that is okay. I have been a member of Xercise4Less for quite a number of years, now. It's probably verging on 4 or 5 years, and when I signed up it was all done via paper and pen, not online. I was not aware of all these extra charges which would be visited upon me if I were to cancel, and not aware of the cancellation process. I didn't even know I had an online account to cancel with, as I never did anything online. I decided to cancel, not because I was dissatisfied with their service, but simply because I am moving from Wakefield to London, and there's no Xercise4Less gyms near my new location and thus a membership would be pointless for me. My family are still members, and I have been happy with their gym up until this point with all the rigmeral. I cancelled my Direcf Debit in order to get rid of the payments, and I thought that would be that. As I said, I've been a member for 4/5 years, so I didn't even think I was in a contract anymore because it's just been rolling on and on since my initial 12 months. Obviously, because I cancelled the DD Harlands have started sending me letters about admin fees and extra payments. I rang them and told them I was happy to pay a final £9.99 for the final month, but there was no way I was going to pay the admin fees. They advised that it all needs to be paid and that they need to have a DD set up for me to cancel my contract. Where do I stand with this? Do I need to contact X4L, or Harlands again? Should I ring X4L and see what they can do? I basically just want to cancel a four year membership because I won't be feasibly using it anymore. Does it really have to be so difficult? Kind regards, Lucius

Hi I wondering if anyone could help me with a recent letter I received from CRS regarding Xercise 4 less. Since cancelling my gym membership via my bank and calling the gym to cancel this is the first letter I've received. My account balance is currently £207.47 with an added fee of £36 for tracing me - bearing in mind I've lived at the same address for 6 years. I rung them straight away to say I wouldn't be paying it as it's a ridiculous amount and that I thought my membership had been cancelled. I asked if I could appeal so they gave me an email address to write to, a number of emails have been sent back and forth. One stating the gym had an incorrect address and all previous letters had been sent there. from them trying to 'find' me my bill is now £207.47. I've stated I won't pay this but would pay a month and a late fee as if I'd received the first letter this is what they would be asking for, at the end of each and every email they say they could negotiate with the fee. Having gone back and forth with the company and going around in circles I've rung again today and a lady was on the phone I told her what I'd be willing to pay she told me I could reduce the bill by £40 if I paid today, I point blank refuse to pay for a bill that had it gone to my address in the first place wouldn't be so big. I'm due to have a baby in 3 weeks time and I'm really stressed about the situation, I cancelled outside of the contract and I just don't know what else to do! Sorry for the long post but if anyone could help or advise me I'd greatly appreciate it thank you. Just to add I cancelled in Feb and received this letter 19 June

Hi Guys First off thank you all for your advise on the site it has come in useful for me but I could do with a little more help if thats ok. I recently cancelled my membership with a gym called fitness4less. When I joined they said all i had to do was cancel my direct debit to cancel my membership and foolishly I took this at face value. I cancelled and then received the letter for Harlands saying I owed a months money + an admin fee. After a quick google search I found you guys and the letter from Slick. I amended it, sent it off and a couple of days ago I received a letter from Harlands. It seems to have done the trick but this is where I could use some more advice. The letter read, Dear Mr ***** Ref# ****** Further to you recent letter to our office. We thank you for sending in this information Harlands can confirm that the amount to cancel for the 30 days notice is £19.99. Please forward this payment over payable to Harlands as soon as you can. We hope to find this in order Yours sincerely Harlands As you can see they haven't given me any way to pay so my question is what do I do next? I'm happy to the £19.99 to draw a line under the whole thing but was wondering about the best way to go about it. Call them up or write asking for payment details? Thank you in advance for your help and for putting all this good info out there for people like me! Ni

I am hoping I can get some advice on my xercise4less membership. Summary of my story: Signed up at my University campus October 2015. I thought the payments would start after an induction at the gym and I never attended. Noticed I was paying and put a cancellation request in in march 2016, as I still had not attended the gym. Cancellation was rejected as I was in a 12 month contract. Forgot about this and was reminded when I noticed a payment on the 2/1/17. Gave notice again on 3/1/17. Cancelled DD as payments are made in advance. As my notice fell into a new billing month, by 1 day, xercise4less want another full months payment. I feel this is really unfair as I never even stepped on the premises of the gym and paid them 16 months. Spoke to their finance team and they didn't want to know and advised me to speak to the branch manager of the gym. I phoned the local gym and the manager was not in, so I left my details and was advised I would be called back. This was 2 months ago and I never heard back. I now have demands from harlands and CPS for £171.47 Any advice? Thanks Craig