Ashbourne Management Services Ltd **WON after claim issued**

[slick132]

Hi Basualdo,

 

Have you spoken to the manager of the gym to try and resolve this. That should be your first attempt. Say you want the 12mnths membership as advertised on the printed contract and you'll review your m/ship after 12mnths.

 

Do you have your own copy of the agreement.

 

If you get no joy with the local manager, write to the Co's Head Office saying they have altered the contract period AFTER you signed and the contract is therefore neither valid, nor enforceable.

 

Tell them you've cancelled the bank DD or SO for pay't, and that any attempt to collect from you using a DCA will be strongly defended. If they harass you about this, CAG will help you sort it out.

[slick132]

If you still wish to use the gym, I'd say you are happy to sign a new contract which covers 12 months, and that you refuse to be bound by the contract which you signed earlier and which was subsequently amended by the gym's employee.

 

Confirm that you have taken advice in this matter and understand the manual alteration to the contract AFTER you signed it makes it unenforceable. You have therefore cancelled the banks instruction to pay them. This will be re-instated when and if you sign a new 12 month contract.

 

Tell them you would like this resolved within 14 days and require their reply in writing, not by telephone.

 

If you don't want to use the gym, tell them you require a refund of the Reg'n Fee and the 1st months m/ship within 14 days, failing which you will take further action as necessary.

[slick132]

Good luck then, and I hope you can find another gym in the meantime.

[slick132]

Hi Basualdo,

 

Write to your bank immediately to confirm that the DD to Gym is NOT to be paid.

 

I don't know if you can transfer you m/ship but that is really no way to resolve this anyway.

 

Ltr to the gym saying, "for the reasons given in my earlier ltr dated XXth April which you have not properly answered, the DD in your favour has been cancelled.

 

I require the immediate refund of the monies I paid to you on date totalling £xx.xx. If you do not refund my money within 14 days, I shall taken court action against you for its return.

 

As this matter in "In Dispute", any attempt to collect further money from me will be in Breach of OFT Debt Collection Guidelines, Sections 2.6 and 2.8, and will be reported to the relevant authorites for action against you and/or any Debt Collection Agency you instruct."

 

Let us know what comes back.

[slick132]

And maybe add at an appropriate place:-

 

"In response to your ltr of xxth April, I must confirm that the alteration was made to the contract AFTER I signed it."

[slick132]

Hi G-Mac,

 

You should start your own thread for this using the NEW THREAD button at the foot of the General Debt Issues forum.

 

The points you make about the contract may be of help to you but you'd have to expect them to harass you for non-payment - seems they have a reputation.

 

When you signed, did you do so knowing it was initially for 36 months.

 

Get your thread running and help will come.

[slick132]

Hi Bas,

 

If you've already sent them a copy of the altered contract with your last letter, write to them saying they've had this already, they are wasting your time and you need a refund within 14 days or you'll take legal proceedings without further notice.

 

Head the letter - LETTER BEFORE ACTION

 

After that, you should file at court using Form N1 without wasting further time on them.

[slick132]

See here - http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/general/112076-new-county-court-fees.html

 

You would claim back from the Defendant any court fees paid. If you lost, you would not be liable for the other side's costs in a case like this.

[slick132]

Hey Bas,

 

Your fee is based on the small amount you want back from them.

 

They may counterclaim against you for the full amount and I'm not sure what that'll cost them. Dosen't mean they'll win though !!

[slick132]

Letter back headed ACCOUNT IN DISPUTE.

 

Tell them you are in dispute with the gym and are are about to file at court. They should therefore stop contacting you until the matter is resolved.

 

If they continue to purue this, it will be construed as harassment and complaints will be made to Trading Standards and other relevant regulatory bodies.

[slick132]

Report them to Trading Standards, by all means.

 

Hope you get the puter fixed soon !

[slick132]

Hi Bas,

 

This is excellent news - they realise their hand-amended contact will never stand up in court.

 

They'll still want the year's membership from you and will no doubt start chasing this again.

 

If you want your money back, you'll have to file at court. This will aslo resolve whether you owe them for the year or not. Bear in mind that you could lose your claim.

 

As a compromise, you could contact them and offer NOT to sue them if they agree NOT to pursue you for any more m/ship fees. If they won't agree, File at court.

[slick132]

Good,

 

Remenber to keep copies of all letters - this one will show you have tried to reach agreement before gong to court.

[slick132]

Write and say you're pleased they now acknowledge the contract was in interfered with after you signed it.

 

Because of this incident you do not feel you can trust this gym and made this clear to them shortly after.

 

You do not feel you have been treated fairly or reasonably and, as a consequence of their behaviour, you have no wish to have any further dealings with them.

 

If they agree to not seek any further monies from you beyond the £67 you've already paid, you will not take take them to court for the £67 to be repaid to you.

 

If they confirm within 7 days that they will cease any further attempts to collect monies from you, you wil not take further action against them.

 

If they do not confirm this in writing, you will issue County Court proceedings against them without further notice.

[slick132]

Hi Bas,

 

You could wait another few days for a proper reply to your letter. Or you could call them and ask if their demand is their response - ie, they're ignoring your offer to NOT sue them.

 

If they're not prepared to immediately confirm in writing that they'll let the matter rest with the amount you've paid so far, File your claim at court.

 

It will cost you £30 to File and you'll pay nothing in respect of any counterclaim they make. There will be no AQ fee to pay. If the case goes to a hearing there'll be a Hearing Fee of £25.

 

These fees will be added to your claim, so you'll recoup them if you win.

[slick132]

Hi Bas,

 

Sorry you signed off before I posted this. You may want to leave out the s.69 inerest as it's so small.

 

Brief details of claim:-

 

Money claim for return of monies paid to Defendant on signing up for gym membership for 12 months as follows:-

 

Registration Fee 50.00

1st mnth m/ship 17.29

TOTAL £67.29

Interest under s.69 CCA 1984 [calculate this as 67.29 x 0.00022 x no. of days from pay't, to date of court claim]

 

Plus s.69 interest at 1.5pence per day OR at such rate and for such period as the court deems just.

 

 

Particulars of Claim

 

The Claimant signed a 12 month contract for membership of the gym run by the Defendant and paid the Registration Fee and 1st month's membership.

 

While filling in the Health Check form, the Defendant's reception clerk crossed out "12 months" membership on the contract and wrote "36 months", saying this was their usual practice.

 

When the Claimant objected and queried this at the time and by letter, the Defendant maintained that it was a 36 month contract and Debt Collectors would enforce the payments if the Claimant did not continue to pay.

 

The Defendant has since agreed that the contract should be for 12 months only, but the Claimant has no wish to belong to a gym that treats its' customers in this way.

 

The Claimant would not longer feel comfortable using the facilities offered by the Defendant and has repeatedly requested a full refund of the monies paid as the facilities have never been used.

 

 

Adapt the above to reflect your case and File the form at court. Ask the court clerk to kindly check the form to see it looks in order. Take 3 copies of the N1 to court. They'll send 1 to defendant, 1 to you and keep 1 for their file.

 

Get your copies of all correspondence sorted into order and put in a file along with the contract and anything else you'll rely on (bank state't showing the payments or receipts).

[slick132]

Ltr to Ashbourne:-

 

I refer to your ltr of 17th June demanding £xxx.xx.

 

You will be aware that I have already commenced court proceedings against you and the amount you are demanding is fully disputed.

 

If you continue to harass me for this money while the court case is pending and, in particular, if you place a default against me with a CRA, I will issue further action against you for the removal of the default and for damages.

[slick132]

Hi Bas,

 

If they had any sense, they'd postpone collection proceedings.

 

However, they can, and probably will, continue to harass you 'cos they appear to be ignorant fools. Just ignore their demands but keep them to take to court - this may well count against them.

 

Make sure you have all your documents (contract, letters, etc.) neat and ready in a folder. You may have to copy everything for the court and for Ashbourne if you are told to file evidence before the court date.

[slick132]

Hi Tarantino,

 

Have you started your own thread for your case. Do so and send me a PM saying when and where you've opened it.

 

Check your contract to see if the 12 months on it has been amended to 36 months.

[slick132]

Hi Bas - this is looking good.

 

Just to be on the safe side, please write to sol'rs and say:-

 

You acknowledge their ltr of xxdate.

 

Before you discontinue your claim, you require confirmation in writing that neither Ashbourne, not anyone else instructed by them, will demand any further payments in respect of the contact dated xxdate.

 

Further, they acknowledge that the contract dated xxdate is henceforth deemed to be null and void.

 

When this is received, you wil accept their pay't in F&F settlement and discontinue your county court claim.

 

Nearly there now................

[slick132]

Hey Bas,

Oh I hope this is the end now.

So do I but, compared to the fights others have had, this has gone very well and quite quickly.

 

The letter to the sol'rs is really just a precaution. I don't want you getting this refund only to be hounded by these idiots for the monthly fees again.

[slick132]

Hi Bas and Congratulations

 

Great result for you, getting your money back as well as not being held to ANY contact period.

 

Adapt and send this ltr to court - http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/lloyds-bank/58011-directions-non-compliance-letters.html#post487345

 

I'll get your thread title changed to WON. Any donation to the site would be appreciated.

[slick132]

Hi Bas,

 

After this, I think you'll be fine with bank and CC charges.

 

Start researching now by reading the Reclaiming Guide in Link No1 in my signature below.

 

Start each new thread when you're ready to send off an SAR for info, or a Prelim Claim letter