Heya, Hoping I can get a bit of advice on the following. I've emailed Ashbourne mgmt to cancel my gym membership. I signed up in December 2017 with 3 months free and then started my 12 months in March 2018. My final payment is due to come on 1st of Feb 2019 at which point I would then cancel my DD. They have replied saying I have to pay a 3 months notice fee so will pay up until May. This sounds ludicrous but would I be in my right to just cancel my DD after Feb? Unfortunately, I've looked everywhere and can't find my contract and they have ignored my request to send another one:evil: Suddenly remembering why I never wanted to join gym in the first place. Any help would be much appreciated. thanks

Hi everyone, hoping this is a relatively straight-forward one. I am a member at Clifford Health Club (Nottinghamshire), which use Ashbourne Management for their membership payments. I emailed Ashbourne as I have moved house and I was wondering if I could end my membership as the gym is now a bit out of my way. Ashbourne replied saying I had to have moved 15 miles away, I haven't quite moved 15 miles away, fair enough I don't meet that requirement. It'll be a bit irritating but not the end of the world. The bit of the email that confused me was the opening sentence, "The contract that you signed and agreed to is for a period of twelve months, to date you have made three payments and we require a further nine payments in order to cancel." The contract I agreed to and signed was, indeed, for 12 months. However, it was part of a promotional offer - sign up (November) and pay nothing until 1st February. In my mind then, in April, I am six months into my 12 month contract, with 6 payments left to make, not the 9 that they have said I have left? That would surely make my contract 15 months long not 12? I was just wondering if I am able to argue the case with them about the 3 months they appear to have added on? Thanks for any help

Hi there.. after doing some research online this morning, I see that I am not the first person to fall foul of Ashbourne Management's poor customer service and blatant disregard of their own T&Cs. I informed the company via email that I would be moving out of the area and wanted to know their cancellation policy. I was told to refer to the T&Cs which I didn't have as I was not prompted to download a copy when I registered online for Clifford Health Club & Spa in Long Eaton, Nottingham. On checking their T&Cs it clearly states that I can cancel during the minimum membership period with NO further obligation if I move over 15 miles from the gym and provide written confirmation of this. I have moved over 80 miles away and provided them with my new driving license and also 2 bank statements showing the new address. My cancellation has been refused as they do not accept bank statements and I am unable to provide them with any other documents yet as I have moved back in with my parents and waiting for other docs to come through. I have told them I am not happy as bank statements are certainly a formal piece of ID (lenders and solicitors use these every day!), and by waiting for further documents to come through before they cancel will make me liable for an extra months payments I do not wish to pay (mainly out of principle!). I have raised the issue with the CMA who are now investigating, trading standards have been informed and I have also let the gym in question know. I have numerous email threads with Ashbourne Management but most of my points have been ignored and my repeated requests for their complaints procedure have also been ignored. My next DD is due to go out on 1st November - am I safe to cancel this? Thanks in advance for you help, Toni

Hello all, not sure whether or not this is worth mentioning on CAG forums but will post here anyway in case answers to this question might be helpful to other forum members. I joined 3SixtyFitness, in Newark on Trent, a couple of months ago. I paid for personal training sessions upfront and also signed a six-month contract, with Ashbourne Payments for use of the gym itself when I wasn't training. I rang the gym owner today to tell him that, owing to health issues/family troubles etc. I would have to cancel my gym membership. He said that would be no problem and that I should contact Ashbourne to sort it. I emailed Ashbourne today saying I'd informed the gym owner etc. and that I would be cancelling payments. They then sent me this: Hello The contract that you signed and agreed to online is for a period of six months, to date you have made 2 payments and we require a further 4 payments in order to cancel. Many thanks Ashbourne. Firstly, this is not true. I have actually made three payments, the first two were paid at the same time owing to the fact that I accidentally cancelled my direct debit and owed them, fair enough. Another payment was sent on the first of this month through a new DD they set up. I sent them an email along with screenshots of the payments from my account (and no other details!) and have yet to have a reply. My main concern however is that they want to continue charging me for a service I will no longer use. True, they haven't made me agree to a 12 month contract, but I'm still wondering if requiring me to continue to pay on a contract I want to cancel is legit. Again, this is probably not worth mentioning, but any advice about this would be greatly appreciated. Many Thanks.

Hi, first time poster here - found this site through searching if others had the same issue as me. Will try to be as concise as possible, but happy to elaborate if this will be useful. My child joined a gym to learn Karate in November 15 and after an initial session, we signed up on a 6 month contract @ £35. This was organised and managed by Ashbourne Management. I then decided to join in January 16 to learn MMA - also on a 6 month contract. Due to working too much, I struggled to make my lesson each week, but kept going when I could. It must be noted the gym didn't pull me up on my infrequent attendance or mention it in any way. As to be expected with young children, my child decided not to go any more. When I spoke to the gym, they told me I had to pay the 6 months regardless so I chose to keep making the payments, but attend a second lesson each week so the money wasn't wasted. The gym were happy to agree to this. I got more and more despondent with the gym due to a total lack of organisation, lessons changed on the occasions I could actually make it and a general lack of interest. As such, and perhaps this wasn't my smartest move, I sent an email to both the gym (strongly worded, bit overly angry, but got my point across) and Ashbourne Management advising I wasn't coming back and wasn't paying any more money. I referred to Clause 2 of the Ashbourne Contract and I quote: "...my right to terminate without liability if the facilities or services you provide fall well below the standard that you reasonably expect us to provide" My issue was that of disorganisation and as such, given I had paid far more than I actually used, I felt the position was square. I received a response from the gym refuting all my points and essentially blaming me for being lazy. When I replied to explain I didn't feel like I fitted in, I never received another response. I then entered into email dialogue with Ashbourne, and stated I only wanted to be communicated over email (and I've responded to every email sent). This has been ignored with both phone calls and texts. I raised my complaint with them who basically disregarded it, told me it wasnt a reason for them to terminate the contract and that I need to pay. On top of this, each letter I recieve has an elevated cost, where the current cost for each month is at £105 - this WITHIN a month of cancelling the Direct Debits. I feel I have paid enough and their Clause 2 facilitates this exit, they clearly dont. My last email to them asking WHY they rejected my complaint has been unanswered for 11 days. I would really appreciate some help on the best way to get out of this, ideally without paying another penny - but I am happy to listen to reason. Also - if anyone thinks I am being out of order and that I should "just pay", please let me know - I just want all of this to be over as the stress its causing me is doing me no good. Thanks for reading.

Hi all. I am desperate for help to see if there is any way I can cancel a 12 month contract before the 1st payment is due this december. I stupidly signed a contract for my 7 year old son who wanted to continue his karate classes having just been awarded his infant black belt. He has been a member since December 2013 and attended this local club weekly till 24th june this year where he earned his final belt. The teacher asked him if he wanted to continue into junior classes as he received his belt and he said yes in his excitement. I had 10 mins to fill in paperwork before the next class started and so I stupidly did not read the terms and conditions before signing. Worse yet, I filled in my details and signed before the minimum terms were filled in. My 7 year old subsequently changed his mind. I tried to cancel the contract a couple of weeks later, assuming it would be fine as he wasn't due to start till September when the first payment was due. Ashbourne told me they couldn't do anything without the teachers support. During the summer the teacher called Ashbourne to offer her support for my cause and she then told me she could do no more as it was up to them. Suffice to say they are not interested and they expect 12 payments of the £69. I wrote to them pleading for goodwill, and they have suspended payments till December 1st. At least the constant letters demanding arrears for payments that werent even due this summer have stopped for now..... If they won't offer goodwill, is there anything I can do? Im very worried I have no choice but to pay £828 for a karate class my son wont attend. Please help....

Hi all This is my first time posting so please bear with me if I don't make much sense! I joined a gym in January this year as it was on my way home from work and my sister had already joined. I was then unfortunately made redundant in May but managed to get a new job in June. My new place of work is now more than 15 miles from the gym and in completely the opposite direction to the route I now have to take home. I was (thankfully!) given a copy of the agreement and T&C's that I signed by the gym when I signed up. In the T&C's it states the following: "Your right to cancel this agreement We will cancel your membership during the minimum membership period without any further obligation on your part if you are not reasonably able to access the gym in the following circumstances. You must either (a) provide a letter from your doctor to prove that you have been advised not to use the gym for the foreseeable future for a medical reason; or (b) provide written confirmation (e.g. a letter from your employer) to prove that the location of your main place of work has changed and is more than 15 miles from the gym; or © you provide written confirmation (e.g. utility bills) to prove that you have moved more than 15 miles from the gym." I therefore got a signed letter from my employer on letter headed paper stating that as of 15 June my main place of work had changed and was now more that 15 miles from the gym and sent it to Ashbourne with a letter advising I would therefore be cancelling my DD, which I did. Ashbourne then wrote back to me saying they wanted a copy of my employment contract, so I emailed them saying I wouldn't provide this (as didn't want them having all that personal information) as I had already provided a letter as indicated I should in the T&C's. They then replied saying that I could only cancel if my place of work was 15 miles away AND if I had moved 15 miles away. So I wrote back advising them that the T&C's stated OR not AND, and as these were the T&C's that I had signed these were the ones I had agreed to and were bound to and that I had complied with them. I have since emailed them a copy of the contract I signed about 6 times and they ignore me every time and just keep sending letters demanding more money. Any help on how to get them to stop would be greatly appreciated. (I've also attached a copy of the clause I refer to) Thanks

Sighs and groans I'm sure from admins and members alike as this has no doubt been dragged up before, so sorry in advance if im treading over old ground I signed up with my local guy "heights" in around october last year, this was after a year away in whihc apparently they changed to using Ashbourne to run their accounts. At the time I had just left the army (was only in there just shy of a year) and had begun work in a local bank branch just around the corner so this worked like a charm, however after a month I was moved to a branch in the next town to us and a month after that my work load jumped as I was signed off to do more. This left going to the gym after work pretty much a no go anymore due to A) being drained by the end of the day (ill get my small violin ) and B) By the time I get to said gym its at the point of rammed full (this is before the Jan rush) Secondly to this money was needed elsewhere and like all people the first thing in my view to go was the gym, admitidly i did the wrong thing at this point and canceled my DD Ashbourne on the next payment missed gave me a call, I explained my situation saying it just wasnt working out anymore there and offered to pay the missed DD and call it quits its at this point I got the simple "no" reply alas I pleaded my case again and stated how it was unfair that I should now pay for a gym that I dont use, I was informed how gyms were a business and need to make money and this would damage them, I stated how I had paid a set up fee (because setting up a DD is a lot of expensive work) and the gym itself had made no outlay for me again "No" This has gone on now for a number of weeks getting a call or two every other day and 2 letters a week, I have called back again and offered to pay a get out fee or admin fee and been told no the only way out is to pay the full sum. Today I have been threatend to go to a debt collection agency which is worrying to say the least, along with a new amount owed of £124 keep in mind my membership is £37 a month which would run up to apparently owing for 3.3 months Now did I miss a letter on charges or something because that doesnt add up.... In short is there anything I can do? or is this just going to be a case of they have won by slapping me silly with spam and threating to throw me to debt collectors... I understand its a contract but christ you would get less abuse for being late with a credit card payment or wanting to close credit cards or current accounts

Hi there, I took out a Gym membership and have cancelled it. Now they are trying to chase me for a debt I do not owe. I cancelled due to poor service( I spent weeks trying to get information out of the gym staff about personal training sessions, and then they started double debiting me) I concocted this e-mail after having a look round. Could I get a second opinion or three before I post it? Thanks To Whom it may Concern, I write with regard to the account of ***ME*** I cancelled this membership directly with ***THEGYM***, in writing the day I cancelled the Direct Debit. I cancelled for a multitude of reasons, but the most prominent being when you decided to start double debiting my bank account and taking extra money, after the Gym had confirmed that the second account that you setup in error had been cancelled and no monies would be taken. I then had to waste my time contacting my bank and getting the direct debit cancelled myself, and arrange my own refund. I notice in clause 2 of the contract(a copy of which I was never given by the Gym and in which the 1 months rolling membership has been changed to 6) it states - “Your right to terminate this membership without liability. Your right to terminate this without liability is set out in clause 5. In particular, you may terminate this agreement at any time if the facilities or the services we provide fall well below the standard that you reasonably expect us to provide. “ I have found the services to fall below the standard I expect. No monies are owed, and I will not be paying any monies to you. From this point forward you may only contact me IN WRITING to the address on the account, or this email address. No more phone calls are to be made, and I request my number is removed from the system. This account is IN DISPUTE until you confirm the cancellation of it, and you may not pass it on to any debt collection agency or leave any notes on my credit file. Yours ***ME***

Not sure if this is the right place to post this but hope it is... I set up a gym membership in Jan 2012 a small gym actually owned by a school friend . I signed up with the type of membership standard 1 yr I was never shown terms and conditions and never noticed that it was a separate company taking the payments anyway I went into the gym and verbally cancelled the membership that June because we had to get rid of our second car meaning I couldnt get to the gym easily. The payments came out of my single account which mistakenly I rarely check, I agreed to pay the 12 months but the company took an extra 13 payments which i hadn't known about, I have got my bank to get the money back but Ashbourne rang and say because I didn't cancel direct with them I still owed the money. Any advice on what I should do? Sorry if it makes no sense I'm disappointed at the way they have just spoken to me on the phone.

Hi I cancelled.my direct debit with ashbourne management as I couldn't afford to go to the gym anymore, I cancelled this on the 4th December 2013, and got a letter from them a few days after, as I am debited from my account on the 1st of every month, what I noticed was that even though I I was debited.for December, the letter.stated that I owed an outstanding payment of £20.99, I'm sure as I have been reading alot about.this on the web and people having simular problems in the past I found this on the 'Office of Fair trading' website 'The judge also ruled that none of Ashbourne's contracts entitle the gym (or Ashbourne) to demand payment of sums which have not already fallen due where the consumer is less than 3 months behind with payment (and then only when the consumer is given a month to pay). He also ruled that the consumer cannot be required to pay where it is the gym that has seriously breached the contract.' is this the issue I'm having? Thanks

I've been at this gym for 6 months, 5 on the debit card since I had to pay 1 month up front cash. It's been getting worse since I joined with no signs of improvement. The toilets and showers are extremely dirty, with things breaking all over the place. A lot of the machines are broke, or damaged, dumbbells lose, lights hanging out of fixtures in the bathroom, insects everywhere, never clean, latches loose, floor uneven, so some machines are, none of the improvements told at joining have been introduced since. I also have OCD, in which is officially recognized by my doctor, so I can't handle this place no more with how dirty and dangerous it is. I asked the manager to cancel it with them, he said he tried but they can't do it. Even though someone else I knew left a month back. I have about 60 photos of the place in bad condition as evidence against them, and the gym manager can't even afford to finish a little painting he started, so they can't afford to fix all this. I could easily call health and safety and the place would probably be shut down, but I don't want to do that with him since he's cool. What Should I say to ashbourne on the phone?

We're having awful trouble with this company! My husband joined the gym in Feb this year because of it's long opening hours (he works nights so would use the gym between 8.30pm and 10pm) the gym owner then wrote a facebook message after around a month of my husband joining saying that he was changing the opening hours to close at 9pm...this is no use for my DH as he would only have around half an hour in the gym! So we wrote to the gym and ashbourne to cancel the membership due to this and now 3 months later we've had numerous amounts of threatening letters and they're now saying if he doesn't pay the £80 due plus the rest of the 12 months balance they will get debt collectors in. Any advice gratefully received....

Hi I'm new here, so please forgive me if I'm doing something wrong. I have a gym membership contract that is collected by Asbourne every month. The contract was for 36 months from May 2010 and I wish to cancel it. I have seen something about the OFT, but I don't know how I would cancel it. I have been paying now since May 2010, so in excess of the 12 months. Could someone please explain how I cancel this, can I just cancel the Direct Debit, or would that result in nasty letters and debt collectors. Unfortunately I cannot find the actual contract, but I do have the initial welcoming letters from both the gym and Ashbourne. Many thanks Arran

I joined a gym local to my area back in march (Cork Ireland) this year but due to unforseen circumstances have not been able to continue availing of services offered by gym etc. Am wanting to cancel my membership but apparently because its under a two year contract i would have to pay all sums due plus the balance of the monthly subscriptions that would otherwise have fallen due will become payable immediately less 5%.. Is there any option out there available to me that would not involve having to pay a s i have recently lost my job and unfortunately cannot afford to keep up monthly payments let alone being expected to pay remainder of subscriptions etc. If anyone could help i would be eternally grateful. Thank You.

I recently joined a gym which has a 12 month contract. I paid the first month in cash to the gym, and chose my first DD date, which was the 24th August 2012. I've only been there 5 weeks but I'm already starting to dislike the place as some weights are being broken, bathroom and showers in filthy condition. So I want to know If i have the right to cancel? The first month was cash in hand with the second being my first DD which was only 2 days ago. Don't these things usually have a 30 day time period in which you can cancel after your first DD payment? As the cash one wouldn't have gone to Ashbourne. Anything I can do? Such as call them and say I'm not happy and want to cancel?

Hi everyone, I am wondering if someone could help me with an issue I have with Ashbourne Management. I signed up in March at a Gym and my membership is a 12 month contract. Everything was alright for the first few months at the gym but in May then the mantainance of the building went down. The building has a major damp problem affecting both the upstairs and downstairs of the gym. There is big mould patches on the wall and ceiling ( I have taken photos of this) and the smell is absolutely awful. It actually makes me feel sick when I am there. I carried on going there until June but I just cannot carry on as I end up with a sore throat and cough everytime I have been. I have talked to the people who run the gym but they are just renting the building and the landlord is not doing anything. I have decided to cancel my membership as it states in my contract that I 'may terminate this agreement at anytime if the facilities or services we provide fall well below the standard that you reasonably expect us to provide'. I first rang Ashbourne and the man was very apologetic and told me to write a letter to the cancelation department and that there would not be a problem cancelling. I then wrote to Ashbourne stating that I would not longer be using there services and the reasons for cancelling and and I sent it recorded delivery. Well that was about five weeks ago and I never got a reply. So I rang them this week and the lady on the phone was absolutely horrid. She said that I could not cancel until I had a doctors note. I asked her why would I need a doctors note to say that damp causes serious health risks which is common knowledge and she just said that I did. She also said that if I didn't they would just add charges onto my membership and when I asked her what these would these charges be she said, well you will see! I am upto date with my payments as I was paying it monthly by direct debit and also I have paid an extra month when I have not been there as the contract says that I have to give them a months notice when I cancel. I have now cancelled my derect debit. Can anyone please tell me were I stand with this and thank you for taking the time to read

Hi group, Total noob to this so apols if I make any ettiquette errors. So to be succinct - Ashbourne signed up to 12 month contract (£65 per month), stopped attending, quit the club and told them, then cancelled the DD, Ash then letter hounded me for increasing amounts. Ended up paying them £135 to close the account (2 months + admin fee) as they were threatening £500 and credit agency reporting etc! (was this the right thing to do or should I have called their bluff? Seems they have a lot of bullying claims against them) 2nd, I want to leave LA Fitness and join a gym closer to work but was told the contract runs out in July. They have recently written to me to say they are upping my DD by £4 pcm as they are refurbing the gym. What can I do to get out of this contract quickly and painlessly? I am not satisfied with the gym anymore and don't want to pay more for a service I do not feel is fitting. Any help much appreciated, Thanks