Hi All, Joined Lifestyle Gym last year. Paid a few months and only went once! My own fault, I just didnt have the time to go so I cancelled my direct debit.. Silly thing to do I know but I'm not refusing to pay.. I have the following breakdown from CRS of what I owe: - £113.33 - Membership Fees, due under the terms of your Membership Agreement (DEC 2017 onwards) - £50.00 - Administration Charges, incurred due to missed payments in December 2017 & January 2018 - £66.50 - Recovery Fee, incurred as the file was passed to CRS (both applied under the terms of your Membership Agreement) £229.83 – YOUR ACCOUNT BALANCE I am by no means refusing to pay but I just wondered are the fees they have charged here enforceable.. I have had a look around the forum and I don't think they are. If they are then of course I will pay but just wanted to check before I do. Thank you Tink

Good morning, first of all this is the first time i’ve Used a forum so pardon my ignorance. I was a member at lifestyle fitness on Hagley road, Birmingham. I paid for a 12 months membership and only went twice. I cancelled my membership and received a “Sorry you’re leaving” email. Maybe a year later I rejoined. The building having changed Hands to “TheGymGroup”. I was paying by the month and I was using the gym. I got really fed up with the gym and the lack of equipment . I quit my membership through the members app. Again I received a “Sorry you’re leaving” email. That was maybe 4 months ago. My lifestyle membership i think ended sometime in 2016. I realised to my Horror last week that the Gymgroup are still taking my £18.99 a month! I have contacted them and they said because I no longer have the email, there is nothing they can do. To make matters worse, she said that my lifestyle membership was still running! Now i’m Terrified that they have also been charging me for 2 years without me realising! I don’t even know how to contact lifestyle as they no longer run the gym . I have now cancelled my direct debits, which I will do in the future. I feel such an idiot. I just trusted the companies were professional! I feel so upset and totally powerless. It’s such a mess and I don’t know what to do

Hi there. I have had similar trouble with CRS because of the membership I had with the Lifestyle gym where I and my partner took 12-month memberships both. We then moved to a different city and kind of cancelled by the procedure except that my partner did this for BOTH of us and not me personally, no one never in the gym or Harlands told him that he cannot cancel for both of us (he was the one paying for them so we just decided it will be easier that way, I also was pregnant and super sick and just couldn't care less about the gym). He just carried on with the cancellation, it took him months to do it "properly" via phone calls and emails because there was always someone who knew nothing about it and always was told that to call or email here and there and there.. long story short- he cancelled eventually with the proof of our new address 100miles away with both our names on the bill. months later I got an email and ton of messages and missed calls from CRS. I ignored because I get a tonne of calls from these debt advisors and car accident people, but after a while, I realized it's for real, they are searching for me. I emailed telling the same I had just told you now and that I owe nothing, this has gone on and on for months, a couple of weeks ago I got an email with red letters about the court, you know what they do, won't recite it. I phoned harlands, I phoned CRS, my partner did the same.. I was left in tears on the phone because I was utterly stunned by the given attitude". They are not going to look into it, where the things went wrong etc. My partner left me his bank card n the table today saying- call them and pay them. And just something whispered in my mind- Google them. That's what I did and found this forum and I am hopeful now, this seems super unfair to me, and plus I am a stay at home mom, I don't get any benefits, I claim nothing from this country, my partner supports the whole family, I simply cannot afford to throw his hard-earned 200£ in the bin. What do I do?? Just ignore? Are you sure they cannot proceed with the court? Thanks a million for having this website and information, your advice is highly appreciated!!!!

Hello all, I was a university student who signed up to my local gym. My last payment to the gym was in February of this year. I believe the payment was set up at £19.99 pcm. I ran into some financial troubles in February and the direct debit for this membership was revoked by my bank (HSBC). I viewed the email sent to me by the gym group and assumed that next month when they came to debit my account, they would take the amount owed + the next membership instalment. I recently started receiving phone calls from CRS, of which I have not picked up. I then checked my emails and found one from them stating I owed them in excess of £300 due to late payments. What has gone from a (relatively small) 'admin' fee from the gym of £50 has now shot up over six fold. I will admit that I probably should have kept on top of this (phoning the gym/bank to discuss how payments should be made) but other reasons and a lack of checking my email account associated with the gym lead me to do otherwise. I suppose I am creating this thread for advice on how I should proceed with CRS with regards to this issue. I have already read that CRS have no legal power with respect to collecting debt owed. I also have read that it is not advised to answer their phone calls. However, I fear as time passes and the debt racks up, it may get to a point where I 'owe' them much more than the current £350 as they keep on adding 'admin' charges to my name. As a student who does not necessarily have those kind of funds, what would be the advised next step for me? I am hesitant to contact CRS to work out a payment plan without fully understanding my rights. If anyone could assist me, it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

Hi everybody, Today i received an interesting email, telling me that i owe money to lifestyle gym. Unfortunately i don't have my contract to hand as this was 3 to 4 years ago! I'm sure i never took out a contract of any such, but i don't have nothing to back it up. Not received any emails prior to this one either. just looking on best way to deal with the current situation. Wonder why after all this time they have now decided to chase me if i do indeed owe them money? (actual email copy and paste below) --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dear Miss xxxx URGENT - PLEASE CONTACT US IMMEDIATELY UPON RECEIPT OF THIS LETTER Re: CRS Ref No: xxxxxx Lifestyle Fitness Ref. No: xxxxxxx Following attempts to resolve your outstanding balance with Lifestyle Fitness, we have now discovered that you have moved to the above address. A charge of £36.00 has been added for tracing you. Your balance is now £309.26. 1. You contact us on 01444 449 165 to either settle £ 309.26 by Credit/Debit card or set up an acceptable instalment plan with us. Our office is open between 9am and 5pm Monday to Friday. 2. You send us a cheque/postal order/bankers draft for £309.26, payable to Credit Resolution Services and sent to 2nd Floor Rockwood House, 9-17 Perrymount Road, Haywards Heath, West Sussex, RH16 3TW. Please ensure a payment is made on your account within the next 7 days in order to avoid further action being taken against you. Yours sincerely For Credit Resolution Services Rob Avery Collections Manager --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Any advice would be appreciated

Hi, I have been receiving letters from Harlands regarding failed direct debit payments and admin charges etc, similar to many of the other posts on this forum. Back in August, I paid for two memberships with Lifestyle fitness(for me and my girlfriend), both of which were on a "flexible" contract which required a minimum one month commitment. Both of these direct debits were setup under my bank account. My girlfriend moved back home in September and I wanted to go to a more local gym and so tried to cancel the memberships. My girlfriend rang the gym up who informed her that only the owner of the bank account can cancel the contract. I sent an email off at the beginning of October to Harlands customer support including my name, bank account and sort code and asked them to cancel both direct debit agreements linked to my bank account. 10 or so days later, after hearing no response from Harlands and it being only a few days before the next direct debit payment was due to be took out, I decided to cancel both direct debits via my online bank account. After this, I had no contact from Harlands for around a month or so until I received a letter through the post addressed to my girlfriend with the whole admin fees crap. Strangely enough, I didn't receive the same letter for whatever reason. I think I read before in the T&Cs that you must give at least a month's notice if you're cancelling, which I didn't realise. I'd happily pay the last month's fee for my girlfriend but outright refuse to pay the now £50 admin fee. Is there anything I can do to get them off my back?

Hello, I am really hoping you can help. March 2016 I joined Lifestyle Fitness gym in my home town. My boyfriend got a job as a personal trainer there and we split in October 2016 and November 2016 I cancelled my DD. I sent via their online web form that I am cancelling and my reasons were due to a breakdown of an abusive relationship I no longer feel comfortable going into my gym. I didn't receive any correspondence back. Now, every few weeks I'm receiving threatening letters from CRS which seem to be getting increasingly more threatening. I have tried to call and explain why I've left which they were initially quite helpful and said they're going to contact Harlands to see what they could do. As of half an hour ago I received a phone call from them. I answered and the man on the phone couldn't care less.. . Just kept saying my reasons for leaving are not within the terms and conditions so therefore pay up. The call got quite heated, he wasn't professional at all! I got upset and told him to do one (not so politely) and hung up. I'm not looking for sympathy from them. Unfortunately, my reason for leaving (to me at least) feels like an exceptional circumstance. I'm reading a lot that states don't pay them anything as they're not legitimate. Is anyone able to offer some advice? What can I do to get them to stop and leave me alone!? It's at the point I'm scared to check the post to see more red letters. Thanks.

Hi All, I'm hoping you can help me I was a previous member of Lifestyle Fitness when the gym first opened December 2012 to which I signed up to a monthly rolling contract of £17.99. After cancelling my membership in November 2015 I was phoned weekly numerous times and then sent an email from the manager Jason Lombard trying to get me to re-join. I sent an email stating that I would CONSIDER it under the same terms of my previous membership i.e monthly rolling contract £17.99. After a phone call explaining this to him. I then received an email from him that a new membership had been set up (he never specified a type) I checked my bank account and a DD was in place however I had not signed anything neither did I receive a membership contract like the one where I initially signed up. I cancelled the direct debit immediately and no payment was taken. I have then been pursued by Credit Resolution Services claiming that I had entered into a 12 month annual membership at £17.99 and that I know 'owe' £397.60. These con artists continue to pursue me through SMS messages, Recorded phone calls and emails. Despite emailing and phoning them to clarify that I did not agree to this they have not been interested in trying to resolve this and are unable to send me a membership agreement. This begun on January 26th, 2016. I have entered the stage of 'Spratt endicott' solictors. I've also used Resolver and tried to direct message Lifestyle Fitness on facebook. As CAB advised me to send them a letter to the complaints department funnily enough there is no form of contact details for such a department. Please help

hello, Quick backstory, cancelled direct debit for lifestyle fitness as i moved away to Australia. Received letters at previous address(relatives informed me) from harlands at first saying i owed 1 month membership and admin fees as DD failed, so emailed harlands explaining my address move with proof of current address, to which they replied acknowledging the change of address which according to the lifestyle t&cs online is a valid reason for cancellation. However they wanted me to pay 1 months membership via phone/debitcard. I emailed them referring to my current location and reason for canceling offered to pay 1 months membership with no administration fees and never heard back. that was september 2015. Harlands sent repeated letters to my previous address over the last 9 months with ever increasing amounts that then changed to CRS. I ignored all correspondents due to goggleing harlands and reading numerous websites about there letters and the fact they never responded to my compromise email dated september. Anyway now been informed about a letter from spratts, looks the same format layout and text as others who have received their letters asking for £142.48, from what started as £9.99 debt with £25 "adminfee". should i ignore this letter also or email spratts explaining my email in September where i was happy to pay 9.99 sorry for the long post

Hi folks, I raise a claim via my mobile phone insurer Lifestyle Group. This is underwritten and owned by the same people as #protectyourbubble (Assurant). I go through all the process and log my claim for lost phone. My policy says that it will be dealt within 1 day. After 3 days I'm told it's been passed to the fraud department. This is due to a system that told them to do this!! Eventually get phone call from this guy Sam in fraud. He is are that I have a disability and suffer from depression. He asks challenging and private questions. At all times I am told I can cancel my claim. I start doubting myself and cancel my claim. I make alternative arrangements and get a new phone. After looking on google about protect your bubble, lifestyle group, assurant, (most bank packed accounts) are dealt with by thes people. Anyway 8 weeks later I log a complaint wi them and suggest that the fraud department bullied me, had caused exasperated my mental health issues and brought back bad memories. I also said that I have been at financial loss due to the way I was treated. The company decide my claim was valid and we agree a cash settlement for the claim...Not for my complaint. They have now offered me £100 for my complaint and I am not happy to accept. Having rad the FOS guidelines they may have breached disability discrimination legislation. I have advised the company I require £1,500 compensation and that I have evidence of the way the treated me. All calls recorded, and agents advised at time. They say they have now reviewed there practise and changed. My question is using the FOS takes a long time.m I've advised I will take legal action. Has anyon had xperience with this company and what letter should I send them. The are discussing my request but I suspect they will decline. Any help much appreciated.

Hi all, Yesterday I signed up for the £24.99 monthly option at a lifestyle fitness gym. I went on this membership type because I don't like the thought of contracts, and I wanted to try out the gym for only a few months. It states on the confirmation email I received, that its basically month to month, with a £25 joining fee. [ATTACH=CONFIG]59928[/ATTACH] I just want to clarify, if I was to cancel say, after 3 or so months, I could do this with 30 days notice for any given reason? I've heard some nasty things about gyms after I joined, and so I just wanted to double check. For the record, the option I am on stated NO CONTRACT in caps, so they should honour that right?? Thanks, also if anyone has had an experience with this membership package, I'd be interesting in hearing.

I wrote an email in february to harlands asking to cancel my partners membership at the end of the 12 month period. I gave them her name and account number (which was wrong as I used unique pin from lifestyle fitness). however i asked them if they needed any more infomation to let me know and i will give it. They got back to me and stated the member ship would be cancelled, the last payment taken in march and use of the facilities upto april. I also cancelled mine at a later date in the same manner and again using the wrong account number. however they got back to me and stated it would be cancelled and no further payments will be taken. this was done correctly however my partners was not. In july i realised they were still taking payments from my account for my partners membership. I contacted harlands over the phone and they stated they had no evidence of this email I sent. I had also sent multiple emails to harlands during this dispute, around 6 questioning and asking for reasons and not one email was responded to from harlands. I proceeded to contact my bank who advised me to open an indemnity claim against harlands to recieve the money back that had been taken for the months of march to july which i did. I have since been contacted from harlands on the 3/08/15 stating to repay this balance and remove the indemnity claim otherwise an admin of 25 pound would be added if not done in the next 14 working days. I planned to contact harlands the following day. however I recieved another letter the following day stating that because i had not withdrew this the 25 pound admin fee had been added. this letter was dated 4/08/15. Some 14 working days that was. I have since phoned harlands who do nothing but pass me through to credit resolutions. The man i spoke to at credit resolutions asked me to send all evidence of the emails i have sent to the email i have provided which i have done on 06/08/15 so have not recieved anything back as of yet. The way harlands act is unproffesional and they have no customer service skills what so ever. So i have no reason to believe my evidence is going to get anywhere. in the meantime i am writing on this forum to recieve any advice over what i should do next and what powers harlands and credit resolutions carry to take this money. An example of the poor customer service is when i told the lady at harlands over the phone "i have sent an email to yous asking for membership cancellation in february", she says "you never sent me an email".... obviously not idiot woman im talking about the company that you work for and are currently representing on the phone lol!

Hi I joined a lifestyle fitness gym in October 2014, my job moved (but not my home address) so I didn't want to go to that gym anymore. I cancelled the direct debit in December 2014 - without contacting them. I knew they wouldn't let me cancel so thought no point in contacting them. I have since had a couple of letters from Harlands and CRS - the 'debt' now stands at £288.20. I know from research that they are all the same company. I have ignored every single letter... rightly or wrongly? I have never had a phonecall or an email chasing me? Now I have received a letter saying the debt will be passed to Zinc Group in 10 days. Just wondered if there was any advice on what to do next? Or just continue to ignore? I have been advised that these type of debt are not enforceable? Also, if the debt is enforceable, surely the 'debt' should somehow relate to the potential loss to the business etc? Thanks in advance

Hi All, I have two mobile phone contracts with EE and both are insured. I lost them on the night of Thursday 1st Jan and made a claim on the 2nd Jan. The insurance is through a third party 'Lifestyle Group'. I was advised my claim required me to fill out a Claim form which they emailed me later that day. I then called up Lifestyle Group and asked an agent if it would be ok for me to sign the form using an e pen to save me having to print and scan the form, i was advised as long as the signature looked like my signature there would not be an issue. The claims process takes 3 working days and can take longer for complicated claims according to Lifestyle group. After 3 days I had no contact so I called to chase the claim and was advised I needed to sign it using a pen after printing and my claim required more info and they had sent me a letter. I asked why I wasn't called or emailed as per the instructions I provided numerous times and they advised me they tried but couldn't get a dial tone. This is a total lie, my phone was working and I was waiting for the call. I re sent the claim this time with a signature after printing and scanning and also complained to the CEO of Lifestyle group I also included senior staff from EE and Allianz (the UW). The CEO replied saying the matter would be investigated and complaints are taken seriously etc. I was then contacted by someone from customer relations who said she had listened to the calls and at no time was an e pen mentioned and the claim was with the assessment team and they couldn't provide any timescale whatsoever. I explained on the second call the advisor had not been through my details so the call would not be logged on my account and as such without listening to every call on that day how would they be able determine if an e pen had been mentioned. I then chased them up today and the customer relations team advised the claim was still with the assessment team and they could not provide any time frame for a decision. she also offered me a £20 cheque as redress for the e pen issue and said it was because I feel misled and they weren't able to trace the call. I am thinking of sending a follow up email but I have now been without a phone for a week, is there anything I can do? Can a insurance company say we can take as long as we like??

Hey! I joined Lifestyle Fitness on the 08/07/2014. When Harlands debited my account on the 08/08/2014, I was unfortunately short of money this day and the direct debit was returned. Unaware I received a letter from Harlands days later notifying me that the payment had not gone through and that I would incur a fee on top of the £17.99 direct debit, which I was more than happy to pay for my own recklessness. Unfortunately on the 21/08/2014 Harlands made a direct debit of £30.49 and on this occasion I was short by a couple of pence and my direct debit was returned yet again. I realised immediately and was very embarrassed to find out that this had happened a second time! I contacted Harlands to apologise and ask if it would be possible to arrange for the money to be taken out again. The woman who I spoke to on the phone was very polite, understanding and reassured me that it was fine because I contacted her straight away. I received no more letters from Harlands during September or October. As far as I was concerned money was in the bank and direct debits where set up to come out of my account as they where arranged to be. However, on the 27/10/2014 I received a letter from CRS explaining that my membership remains in arrears despite previous letters being sent to me. I have not received any letters from CRS it came as a total shock when this letter came notifying me that my account balance was an astonishing £320.13. Confused, I decided to contact CRS on the 28/10/2014. The man who I spoke to was extremely patronising and condescending. He assured me that it was my fault, despite the fact that I had spoken to somebody at Harlands and had arranged for them to debit my account again. I want to continue my gym membership. It is a 12 month contract, I have only paid for 1 month so far! I want to reinstate my direct debit and pay Lifestyle Fitness back for the months that haven’t been debited from my account. The man on the phone explained that I could either pay them £320.13 and be free from my gym contract and that I could set up a payment plan that incurred more fees. £2.50 charge every time I make a payment. Total nonsense. I explained I didn't want to leave the gym and he said that it would cost me £44 per month instead of £17.99 per month. Again total nonsense. I am appalled at how quick CRS have been to add their admin charges without warning! When I explained to the man over the phone that I hadn’t received any letters previous to the one I received on the 29/10/2014, he told me that it didn’t matter if I wasn’t notified anyway and that I still had to pay the fee because it was my fault. I found this obnoxious, rude and pretty unfair seeing as though I had actually made an effort immediately having realised payment hadn’t went through and was mislead into thinking that another direct debit had been set up. I have decided not to discuss anything further over the phone and I have written out a letter explaining this that I will send by recorded delivery to both Lifestyle Fitness and CRS/Harlands or whatever they decide to call themselves tomorrow. Just wondering if anyone has any advice they can give me I'm only 21 and I've never really dealt with anything like this before! Thanks Roxanna

Hi there, I wonder if anyone can help me with this issue please? My Wife joined Lifestlye Fitness on a 12 month contract (Nothing was ever signed, although I believe thats irrelevant?) in August 2012. In June 2013 (10 Months later) she emailed the gym twice asking to cancel (due to a change in circumstances), to which no reply was ever received. She therefore stopped the Direct Debit with two months left on the contract. I wish she hadnt done this as paying the two months would have been much easier We then heard nothing else until November 2013 when 'Credit Resolution Services' sent a letter demanding £170+ for the 'debt'. The monthly fee was £12.99, so this is made up of admin fees etc. I wrote to them and offered to pay the remaining two months (£12.99 x 2 = £25.98.) but said we were unwilling to pay the massive fees. They wrote (a rather patronising) letter last week, explaining how there fees were perfectly reasonable and were caused by 'people like my wife..' HOWEVER: They did say they would take £80 as settlement as a 'goodwill gesture.' Now, if it was me, I would just tell them to get lost as I have pretty poor credit anyway, however my wife has an otherwise spotless credit history, which I am very anxious to keep. Are we better just paying the £80? I'd rather not out of principle, but I'd rather keep her credit file clean. Would a gym membership show on a credit report even though its not a credit account?. Thanks for your help.

Hi Guys. I wonder if anyone can advise me on a Harlands/Lifestyle problem I have. My son was a member of Lifestyle for a couple of years. Last Sept he moved away for uni and his membership was 'frozen'. Unfortunately when he came home at Christmas and we tried to unfreeze his membership we discovered the membership had instead been cancelled. This meant he had to re-join and pay the joining fee again. This was apparently 'unavoidable'. I said I would go ahead anyways. When the confirmation email came through it said we were signing up for another 12 months. I rang the gym back (wish I'd got this in writing) and they said no no no don't worry that's just a standard email - you're re-joining on a rolling monthly contract (?) which we can freeze and you can unfreeze/cancel anytime. Son was home for 1 month then membership was frozen again 'til approx. Easter (although I said I would have to confirm nearer the time). Next a letter arrived from Harlands saying the membership is on an auto renewal. Again I rang the gym and the girl that had been handling everything said she'd contact them and clarify that the membership was frozen blah blah blah. She said cancel the d/d if that makes you feel better and she would sort everything else out. Again I wish I'd got this in writing! I didn't cancel the d/d as I knew it would need to be set-up again when son was next home for any length of time. Last week I noticed my online banking was going to take a direct debit for Harlands so I cancelled it before they could. Yesterday we got a letter demanding £12.99 (April's fee) + £25 admin fee. I have today emailed the gym - not going to do anything else verbally. All the staff that dealt with previous mix-ups have left. I have also copied in the regional manager. Still waiting to hear from them. What I need to know is do I pay Harlands? I don't want to ring them. Should I write to them explaining the situation? Membership and letters are in sons name - bank d/d was my account. Son is living 200 miles away and I refuse to pay gym membership for something not being used and which I feel ultimately has been caused by Lifestyles inability to get/keep staff who are capable of doing/meaning what they say. Reading other posts on here makes me feel like crying as I'm sure this could be the start of a total nightmare. Thanks in advance!

Hi All, My wife and myself joined our local Lifestyle Fitness gym in October 2013. Due to unforeseen circumstances, we were unable to get to the gym for a few month's so requested that they freeze our membership until March 2014. This we put to the person at the gym. He said he would do this but failed to do so on time. He was apologetic but advised us to speak to Harlands about this. We didn't know who Harlands were. We thought they must be the gym owners, but now we know after reading posts on here!! We should have renewed our DD (as we cancelled it) in March but forgot. We have today received a letter saying that the direct debit payment had been missed and that a 25.00 admin fee would be applied, which I understand is illegal/unenforceable. When I asked them about my wife's membership which I had also requested freezing, they said that I had to speak to another department. (strange I thought). I then learn't that they had not cancelled her account and have sent it to their debt department. I am now mighty p'd off with this company as I want to be speaking to Lifestyle Fitness now some monkey debt collection/management company. Things to note. 1. We never signed a DD agreement. The gym guy sat opposite us and just asked us questions and completed it. No tick in a box or signature was asked for. 2. We have NEVER received any contract, membership details, cards or direct debit information and have never signed anything. I spoke to them today and foolishly agreed to pay half the admin fee (not knowing that they can't do this). Now I have read about them on here and after experiencing they way they have treated us today, I no longer want to do any business with this gym or their management monkeys. I read on here about the OFT and gyms here http://www.oft.gov.uk/news-and-updates/press/2013/62-13 I am pretty sure that we have a good case and should be able to just write a nice polite letter and tell them to bog off and cancel our membership.Can anyone advise on our rights? Another I noticed is that they kept referring to the "Data Protections Act" in emails and also when I spoke to them on the phone. They have never done this before so I guess they are trying to polish up their act... Can anyone advise on our rights? Many thanks for any advice you can offer. Rob

Hi, I really need some advice with regard to Harlands. I joined Lifestyle Fitness last year on a 12 month contract. At the time I simply gave my details to one of the staff there and was given a membership card. I never signed anything nor was I talked through the terms & conditions. I used the gym 3 times and did not receive a proper induction and was just "left to it" and there never seemed to be any staff around to ask for advice. In August last year my husband was made redundant from his job and I contacted Harlands to ask if in the circumstances I could withdraw from the contract. I also told them I was unhappy with my experiences at the gym and said I had never signed or received a contract. They told me I had to pay the membership as it was not me but my husband who had been made redundant even though I explained he was the main wage earner. I have continued to try and contest this. In response to me not signing a contract they have said in their latest letter that "I was not required to sign anything as it was not a credit agreement and therefore did not require a signature to validate the membership. As I had made payments and used the facilities I was now legally bound over to pay it as they had emailed me the terms and conditions (I did find these in my spam folder). They are telling me I have to pay £221.43 or will take further action against me. I would be so grateful if someone could advise me of where I stand with this after searching the net I can't find an answer. Many thanks, Claire

Hello I am new here and have a question about lifestyle fitness gym. I am thinking about signing up to the 1 month membership@£24.99 a month. I dont have the money to do a year long contract so just want to take it month by month. My membership would start on the 6th of january and the first payment would be taken on the 20th of January from my direct debit. The second payment would then be taken on the 6th of February. Now say if I wanted to cancel after the first month, how would I go adoing it? I am just reading their terms and conditions, and not really to sure if it makes any sense to me. Below idpart of their t&c's: "5.The Direct Debit Payment Amount is due from you to us. You are obligated to make the "Minimum No. of Direct Debit Payments" stated with the first one being paid on the 1st Direct Debit Payment Date and then every month thereafter. You are obligated to make every Direct Debit Payment regardless of non attendance, except where the cancellation terms below are met. 6.If you fail to pay any monies due under this agreement or if any Direct Debit is returned unpaid or any cheque is returned unpaid or if any other form of payment is not honoured for whatever reason, you shall pay us on demand an administration fee of £25 (which we require to cover our costs of seeking to pursue such payment from you). AUTOMATIC RENEWAL 9. Once you have completed the Minimum No. Of Direct Debit Payments we will automatically continue collecting the Direct Debit Payment Amount every month. Your membership will be extended by one month for each payment (“Renewal Period”). This renewal Direct Debit payment amount may only be amended if we advise you in writing giving not less than 30 days notice. Please note if your membership included the benefit of a free period then we will stop making collections during that free period and recommence making collections on the renewal date. 10. You may prevent the Automatic Renewal at any time by giving notice to our Helpline (you should give us not less than 30 days notice). When the final minimum period payment has been taken you should also cancel your Direct Debit mandate directly with your bank. 11. Once you have completed the Minimum Number of Direct Debit payments you can cancel your Automatic Renewal payments by contacting our Helpline (you should give us not less than 30 days notice). After the final payment has been taken you should also cancel your Direct Debit mandate directly with your bank. CANCELLATION 12. Relocation: This agreement can be cancelled in the event that your new permanent address is more than 15 miles away from the facility upon receipt of a copy utility bill or bank statement showing the new address. 13. Long term (over 3 month) illness or injury: This agreement may be cancelled in the event of an illness, injury or medical condition which in the written opinion of a doctor or other suitably qualified medical practitioner prohibits exercise for 3 months or longer upon appropriate proof being provided. 14. Redundancy: This agreement can be cancelled upon appropriate proof of redundancy from your employer or other loss of livelihood. 15. Pregnancy: This agreement can be cancelled if you become pregnant upon the appropriate written proof being given. Please note – ANY Cancellation for the above reasons will not be effected until the appropriate proof is provided and received (in writing or via email) by Harlands or the club. 16. Breach: This agreement can be cancelled if we are in breach oof contract including if we do not provide facilities or services you may reasonably expect and we have fallen well below that standard. Does the above T&c's above mean that after the 20th of January I have completed my first minimum payment, and therefore if I wanted to cancel I would have to phone them on that date to cancel my subscription? I am just abit wary of signing up as no where on their site do they make it clear on how to cancel unlike other gym sites like fitness first. I haseen a few posts on the internet that trying to cancel is quite hard. As I wont be on a minimum 1 year contract, will it still beb hard to cancel my if I dont want to carry on?

Ok, this isnt too complicated but i wanted some advice first. When i joined my gym, it was Fitness first and i joined online opting for the 'Month by month' option. Essentially, you arent tied into a contract and you just pay the fee each month recurring. Recently though it was taken over by Lifestyle Fitness. Maybe i was a bit naive about this but i assumed my membership would stay the same and the gym staff said as much (i have nothing in writing). i rang today to cancel my membership as i have a new job and wont be able to make it often enough to warrant the cost, and the guy says im in a contract so they "might be funny about you doing that" and i would need to write to them or contact Harlands Group. Ive been with a similar Gym when i was at uni who got really vicious about me cancelling, so i cancelled the direct debit and moved back home, never heard from them again. Now im in a more permanent residence and dont want to cancel the direct debit in case their Debt Collectors arent all bark and no bite. So essentially: I want to cancel a contract with a company i never signed a contract with. quick edit: I have NO documentation or physical contract with either company.

purchased starter pack from this company and on 7th august £28.95 deducted from my bank account for refills. although i had no knowledge of this i accepted it as part of t & c,s. items have never arrived and despite numerous ignored emails and calling a telephone number which is never answered i am no further forward. any help appreciated

Hi, like many others i cant cancel my membership for lifestyle fitness(in stoke on trent) i am 5 months into a year contract but have been sacked from my part time job(i am a student) and have no income.. the phone number i have been given just puts you on hold for hrs. i want to write them a letter stating my intentions but cannot find an address, all the gym will give me is the phone number which noone answers.please help(first post so be gentle)

Hello, I am a first year university student and I recently cancelled the direct debit for my 12 month contract at the lifestyle fitness gym in Stoke 3/4 months into the contract because I was told at the gym that if I did this I would only have to pay a £25 fee for cancelling the membership and then my membership would be over. However, after cancelling this direct debit I received a letter saying I had to pay this £25 but when I rang up the number it gave to arrange this I was placed in a queue/hold for a significant amount of time which wasted my money and never went through to anyone. I then rang my the local gym I was going to who said they could not do anything about this and I would have to ring the number given. The number I have been given is for Harlands Group. I have rang many times now and every time I ring the number "places me in a queue". I find it hard to believe that there is somebody at the office on their phone all the time in Harlands and the call also always rings a few times first before it puts me on hold. I then recieved another letter in the post saying I now owe them just over £40 because I did not pay the first £25. Now when I rang the local gym they told me this fee will be a penalty for cancelling my direct debit and I will on top of this have to pay for my 12 month contract which is 16.99 a month. I told the local gym that I cannot get through to Harlands but they refused to help, they were very unpleasant to talk to and were not empathetic to my situation in any way, and they said I would have to keep trying the Harlands number. I have also now sent an email to Harlands about my situation but after 4 days they have not replied, but within minutes of sending my email I received a confirmation email. I am worried that my "penalties" for "breaching the contract" will keep increasing and I cannot pay these or reinstate my original direct debit as the only number that will enable to do this is forever on hold meaning I will just keep losing money as it is 10p per minute. I don't know whether I will still have to pay for the rest of my contract when the reason I stopped it in the first place was because I was told I'd only have to pay a £25 cancellation fee. This seems completely unfair and I feel like I can't get out of this issue and it will only get worse. Please give me some advice on what to do and what I should have to pay. Any help will be really appreciated. -Jak

Hello All, I need a bit of advise. I lost my phone in Sri Lanka as it fell out of my pocket in a cab and then the cab drove off before I had realised. I read the website, which stated i needed to contact the police within 24 hours and obtain a crime reference number. I was not sure if Sri Lankas crime reference number was sufficient and so I contacted a friend in the UK to ask if they could contact lifestyle services group for advise. The advisor stated that I should contact my airtime provider to block the sim and then I can wait until I am in the UK to get a crime reference number if I felt the sri lankan police could provide what was required. They also said I had two weeks to log a claim from the incident. As I was using as sri lankan sim, I did not need to contact the airtime provider as I still had the UK sim. Within 24 hours of my arrival back into the UK I logged a claim and went to visit the police station. Today, I have found out my claim has been rejected because I did not log a claim with the police within 24 hours and therefore did not meet the terms and conditions. As you can imagine I am left furious as I was advised by there representative of what to do and now the company have rejected my claim. Lifestyle group services state that at first they look to see if the terms and conditions have been met and accept/reject on that basis. An appeal considers any personal factors. Thankfully my friend noted the time, date and person he spoke to and they have the recording available. I have appeal, forwarded the email correspondence between my friend and I when I was out in sri lanka and explained why I could not log a call within 24 hours to themselves and how I was advised that I could sort out the police reference in the UK. I am awaiting a response from Lifestyle services group which could take 5 working days, but am expecting rejection as I dont see how they can give fair consideration when they are a profit making organisation. Do you think I will have a chance to take them to a small claims court?