Hi I'm new to the forums and I have been reading a number of threads in relation to Harlands and their debt collection letters on behalf of gyms. I have a rather complicated scenario but I would be interested to hear what people think. In September 2011 I looked for a gym in the local area and found one not too far from my home which was offering a six month contract at a reasonable price. I needed to find a new gym as the one that I had been using on an ad hoc basis was due to be demolished so I made a point of discussing this with the salesperson signing me up to the new gym before signing on the dotted line. As their gym had been refurbished in the May I agreed to a short contract. My agreement was with a company called Membership Collection Agency and is a very basic one page document. On their part of the document the contract stated it was for a minimum period of 6 months and states that during that time you cannot cancel your membership. On my copy of the document the salesperson did not put in a minimum term or even get me to sign. It mentions the clubs terms and conditions which were not given to me but which are apparently held by the reception at the club. I had no problems with the gym itself but only a month or so later I got tendonitis and wasn't able to work out at all until mid December. I went to the gym twice during the month and on the 17th December I turned up to find the place shut and a note on the door saying it was closed for refurbishment until the New Year. At no point had I been sent a letter saying this was going to happen. I went home fuming and tried to ring the gym to get an explanation but there was no answer so I rang MCA. Their reply was they no longer had anything to do with the gym and couldn't help me. As you can imagine I wondered what the hell was going on. So I looked at my bank account statements and found that a company called Harlands was now taking the direct debits from my account. MCA had never given me written notice to tell me that they were no longer the collection agency. The gym had never written to me to tell me of the change and Harlands hadn't bothered to contact me either. So I cancelled my direct debit because I now had an unknown agency taking money from my account and no club services. My contract states that The club can change this agreement at any time, If they do they will give me 1 months notice in writing at the address you have provided and by a notice on the club's notice board. I followed up my direct debit cancellation with an email to the gym and a couple of days later I got a note back stating that the dates for the refurb had been up at the gym as well as the change of collection agency. On the two days that I had made it to the gym I hadn't seen them as I only used a small section of the gym. They have admitted in writing that Harlands were responsible for notifying me of a change of contract and they apologised. They also told me any cancellation of membership had to be in a letter to the club so I drafted my reply that day and delivered it personally to their door. The manager also refused my request for a refund for the days the gym was shut because they felt it was upgrading the facilities for the members and therefore I would be getting a better service. Since January I have sent repeated threatening emails by Harlands asking me to pay the balance of the six monthly contract. They have also added on further charges. Interestingly I have received a letter from Credit Resolution Services threatening me with court and they have exactly the same address as Harlands. I should point out that each time I have contacted them they have promised to investigate and then just sent another threatening letter. I have copies of all the letters they have sent and the names of the people that I have spoken to. Frankly I have no intention of paying up but I would be interested to hear what other people think of the case.

So I wanted to stop the mess-ups of various DD's on my account, with the effort it takes for me to rectify (there's at least one every month) and so I've drafted these terms that I'm planning to put to avery copmany that wants a DD, or charge them for manual payment. How do they look? Individual Direct Debit Agreement Agreement Reference:DD/ THIS AGREEMENT is made the ***date*** BETWEEN: (1) DE whose place of residence is at ***home address*** ('the Individual') (2) (Company Name) whose registered office is at ***reg address*** (“the Service Provider”) WHEREBY it is agreed as follows:- 1) DEFINITIONS & INTERPRETATION: In this Agreement the following words and expressions shall have the meanings set out below: ‘Agreement’ to mean this agreement ‘DD’ to mean ‘Direct Debit’ ‘my account’ to mean my (my bank account) ‘my bank’ to mean (my bank) ‘my’ or ‘myself’ or ‘I’ to mean (me) ‘your’ or ‘Service Provider’ to mean (service provider) and associated companies ‘bill’ to mean the invoice for the amount owed to Service Provider for the provision of any services ‘transaction’ to mean the automatic attempt to collect, whether existent or non-existent the financial contents of my bank account by Direct Debit ‘credit reference file’ to mean any financial records held by any agency regarding myself and my financial affairs with more than one company under any credit agreement ‘credit reference agency’ to mean any agency that holds records on myself and my financial affairs with more than one company under any credit agreement Email address for the purpose of any email communication with myself: (email) 2) ENGAGEMENT: a. If the Service Provider’s usual commitments cover these points then please reply that this is agreed by return email and proceed to arrange a Direct Debit on the 1st of each month for the full bill amount. If the Service Provider is unable to agree to this please note the charge for manual handling. b. Both parties agree that further assurances than the Direct Debit guarantee are necessary in relation to the highly sensitive financial access to my bank account granted under the Direct Debit agreement, and that as part of the service provided by the Service Provider, good stewardship of my bank account, responsibility to take ownership of any disputes and the swift resolution of those disputes are fair and fitting responsibilities for the Service Provider to take. c. Service Provider and Individual understand and agree that the implementation of this Agreement will be enhanced by the timely resolution of any dispute between them. Therefore, each party agrees to cause any dispute between them to be considered, negotiated in good faith and resolved as soon as possible in accordance with this agreement. d. Service Provider agrees that any information or notification that affects any of my financial affairs with them will be communicated via email to (email address). Electronic records of sent emails will be deemed proof of receipt. Due to the nature of my residence I am unable to guarantee receipt of physical mail. e. Service Provider will provide a suitable email address which I am able to raise any issues or initiate any disputes, as covered by this agreement. Electronic records of sent emails will be deemed proof of receipt. 3) SERVICE PROVIDER WARRANTIES: a. DD to be set up to run on the 1st of every month, and must be collected no more than 1 (one) day after this date. Should the 1st of any month fall on a weekend or bank holiday, the collection must occur no later than the first working day after this date. Should any transaction be attempted outside these dates then Service Provider acknowledges I have no obligation to provide any funds in relation to the relevant monthly bill until the next due payment date, and will refund any charges applied to my account by my bank in relation to any attempted collection of funds before this date. This does not affect the total bill amount owed to Service Provider by myself. b. Errors to be investigated by Service Provider on receipt of notification email from myself; conclusion to be emailed by reply to myself within 2 (two) weeks. Failure to respond within the 2 week term deems full acceptance of responsibility by Service Provider for the disputed issue. c. Service Provider agrees that it is always the first to know that my credit reference file will be affected due to it being the originator of the payment information passed to the credit reference agency, and that therefore it is the most appropriate agency to pro-actively prevent my credit reference file being affected by any adverse and erroneous information regarding my payment history with them. Service Provider commits to ensure no information regarding any disputed transaction affects any payment history records held by any credit reference agency in my name in any way before any dispute is resolved. Service Provider agrees that any incorrect information being passed to any credit reference agency regarding my payment records with them is an instance of financial harm as defined in 5) Schedule of Charges, and should be rectified by Service Provider as soon as reasonably possible, and no later than 1 (one) month of any notification. d. Any charges applied to my account by my bank that are Service Provider’s responsibility and that arise from any issue covered by this arrangement are to be met by Service Provider as soon as reasonably possible, and no later than 1 (one) week of email notification from myself. 4) INDIVIDUAL WARRANTIES: a. I will not raise a dispute without reasonable grounds to believe, after investigation of my bank account records that an error has occurred and that error is the responsibility of the Service provider. b. Notification email provided to Service Provider in respect of transactions on my account to include evidence of charges eg. online banking screenshot, ensuring the details and screenshots are clearly identifiable as having been applied to my bank account. c. I will provide any and all information required by the Service Provider to enable the Service Provider to investigate the issues concerned without hindrance. 5) SCHEDULE OF CHARGES: a. Both parties agree that the below charges are fair and representative of the financial harm caused to myself, as well as the time and distress involved in rectifying the negative impact of transactions madfe or attempted in breach of this agreement on my bank account, and on any records held by any credit reference agencies in my name arising from the unfettered, automatic and ungoverned access to my bank account granted to the Service Provider by the Direct Debit agreement. Charge for manual payment: £10 monthly Charge for correspondence in relation to Service Provider errors: £15 per email Charge for errors by Service Provider or its agents to cover financial harm and distress: £50 per instance Charge for further administration of affairs in relation to Service Provider errors: £50 per hour, or any part thereof Signed for and on behalf of the Service Provider: Name:______________________ Dated: Title: Signed for and on behalf of the Individual: Name:______________________ Dated: Title: