Virgin Active & The Strange Payment Letters

[fkofilee]

Okay so here we go ladies and gents.

 

Im tied in for 12 months with Virgin Active In my local area... I love the facilities it has and its a very good front end product, but the administration side of it? Not So Great.

 

My dilemma is this. Virgin are kicking off about me refusing to have a DD set up on my account.They refuse to let me in until i sign a DD mandate form and this has happened about 3 times...

 

However if you see the attached letter, youll see that I owe nothing... Why?

I circumvent their requests for DD by paying them in advance for the next month 5 days before its due... (On their advice i might add)

 

I have checked my T&Cs and it doesnt state i am limited to pay via DD for my gym services or contract.

Now its gotten to the point where i made payment on the 29th November but they sill took the DD from the current account i have.

 

So much so , Barclays have now put a 13 month ban on Virgin taking or attempting to set up any DD at all.

 

So My question is this, how to do I make Virgin Active understand that A Direct Debit is not the way i want to pay if im not required to by their contract or law?

Edited December 5, 2013 by fkofilee

[renegadeimp]

Edit your name out of that letter.

[fkofilee]

Damn It... I completely missed that part

 

Thanks IMP

[Conniff]

As you've already made payment, do as they say and disregard the letter.

[fkofilee]

I have, Do i have to pay by DD by law though? Or can i pay via CPA?

[Conniff]

There is certainly no law or regulation that says you have to pay by DD. They usually try to blackmail you into using DD by offering a discount if you do, but the real reason they would like DD is because it puts them in charge.

 

 

You will notice on the DD form that is say 'varying amounts and varying dates', that gives them complete control. If a payment fails on the normal due date, they can think, 'payday is probably on the last day of the month, so we will try again then or on a Monday as that is Pension day etc.

 

 

You can pay them monthly early by setting up a Standing Order with the date set a few days before normal payment is due.

[slick132]

Hi Fko,

 

Normally, the gym's T&C's will specify the payment options and these are normally either annually paid in advance or monthly by DD.

 

In your first post you say, "........ kicking off about me refusing to have a DD set up on my account."

 

But you then say, "........ but they still took the DD from the current account i have."

 

So, when you joined, did you sign a DD mandate or not ?

 

Or did they perhaps take the payments from your bank via a CPA (some gyms require a 2nd means of payment so they can collect a monthly fee even if the DD fails).

 

Please clarify