ARC/ DW Fitness Membership

[Murphyunders]

Hi I have been a member of DW fitness for quite a while now and decided I wanted to cancel my membership.

 

I wrote a letter on the 25th October 2013 stating I was giving one months notice to cancel and that my last payment would be going out on the 2nd December 2013.I never heard anything back so thought all was fine.

 

I then received a letter from ARC Europe Limited on the 12th February saying that I have ten days to pay £54.90 this includes a £15 admin fee. Taking into account I only payed £19.95 a month I'm not quite sure where they got this amount from.

 

I straight away sent a letter Recorded Delivery to Arc Europe informing them I had sent a letter to DW Fitness stating I wish to cancel my membership.I also sent them a copy of that letter. I just wished I had sent my initial letter Recorded Delivery to DW Fitness.

 

I then received a letter back on the 20th February to say I quote "Although you claim you gave our client written notice they have never received this.Therefore unless you are able to provide proof of delivery of your notice to cancel: the above balance remains outstanding and must be paid".

 

I have yet to respond, any advice on what I should do next?

Edited February 24, 2014 by slick132
Added paragraph spacing

[slick132]

Hi Murphy and welcome to CAG

 

I've added para spaces to you post above, to make it legible.

 

It would be better if you had proof of postage or a Signed For receipt for the cancellation letter, but you don't so let's do the best we can without them.

 

1. Did you send the cancellation letter by post, or hand it in personally.

 

2. Did you use the gym regularly up until 2nd December or not.

 

When we get your answers, we'll draft a letter to ARC, who can whistle for the admin fees and m/ship fees !!

 

[Murphyunders]

Hi Thank you for putting my message into paragraphs

 

I sent the letter through the post

 

No I did not visit the gym regularly prior to December 2nd.

 

Since writing my letter on the 25th October to cancel my membership I never paid a visit.

 

To be honest I can't remember the last time I used the gym, probably late summer.

Edited February 24, 2014 by Murphyunders

[slick132]

Hi Murphy,

 

Before you send the letter below, please just confirm that you were not still in the initial minimum m/ship period and that you were therefore free to cancel .

 

If so, based on what you say above, I think you should write to ARC as follows:-

 

Dear sir or madam,

 

I refer to your letter of 20th February.

 

I do not have proof of delivery of my cancellation letter, nor do I need it. If the gym lost it, that is their problem and not mine. Gym's and their admin companies have quite a reputation for "losing" such letters.

 

Unless you or the gym have proof that my letter was NOT received by the gym, you should accept the copy cancellation letter already provided by me.

 

I have already paid all I owe for the membership period and the notice period, the last payment being made on or around 2nd December 2013.

 

I will not be paying any admin fees charged by you or the gym as these are unlawful penalty charges and not enforceable.

 

If you make any further demands in this matter, they may be referred to The OFT as a formal complaint.

 

Yours faithfully,

 

See how they respond ..............

 

[Murphyunders]

Hi

 

No I wasn't still in the initial membership period and I was free to cancel.

 

I will get that letter sent off today and let you know how they respond.

 

Thank you

[Murphyunders]

Hi

I have received a response back from ARC. This is what they said.

 

"Please note that ARC ( Europe) Ltd is a debt collection "agent" acting in good faith on the instructions received from a "disclosed" principal, namely DW Sports Fitness.We are therefore authorised to write to you in connection with the above matter and to instruct Solicitors in contemplation of Court proceedings where we consider it appropriate to do so.

 

We have acted in accordance with our client's instructions and within current collection legislation and guidance. We reserve the right to produce our correspondence to any Tribunal, regulatory body or investigating authority to prove our compliance and good conduct in this matter.

 

We note your comments that you are unable to provide proof of your notice to cancel being delivered to our client. Unfortunately we are unable to assist further without this proof. We confirm that the administration fee is permitted under the Terms and Conditions.

 

We are instructed that the above balance remains outstanding and must be paid. please therefore contact our office to arrange payment on this account."

 

I am thinking of writing to DW Sports Fitness Head office and OFT what do you think? I also would like a refund on all my postage costs which are now mounting up, as I send everything Recorded Delivery. ( I have learnt my lesson there!!)

[slick132]

Hi Murphy,

 

I think a complaint about your case to DWF's Head Office will be a waste of your time and energy. The gym will be uninterested, even though ARC's actions work to the detriment of the gym.

 

I would send this as a last letter to ARC but use normal post, not RM Signed For delivery :-

 

I refer to your letter of xxdate.

 

Admin fees are, indeed, mentioned in the gym's T&C's. However, that does not make them lawful, or enforceable at law.

 

I have nothing further to add about proof of receipt by the gym of my cancellation.

 

Further demands from you will be ignored but the matter will be reported to The OFT as a formal complaint.

 

[Murphyunders]

Hi

Thank you for your reply.

 

I will send ARC that final letter then. I did mention to them in a previous letter about postal refunds, they said send proof in order to get a refund, which I do have.

 

I doubt very much I will receive any postal costs back.The amount they are asking me to pay is also wrong but I thought I would keep that up my sleeve for a later date. So should I make a formal complaint to OFT and send all correspondence to them?

 

[slick132]

I think you should forget about the postage costs and focus on the main topic.

 

They won't repay any postage for you.

 

Send that letter and let us know if and how they respond.

 

[Murphyunders]

Hi

 

I received a letter yesterday from Major & Co Solicitors acting on belhalf of DW Sports Fitness.

 

Dear Sir

 

We act for DW Sports Fitness and have been instructed to contact you for recovery of the above debt which we understand is still outstanding.We have been referred to previous correspondence sent to you by ARC ( Europe) Limited and are not aware of any reason as to why payment is not due.

 

A County Court Claim has now been prepared and is ready to be issued against you in Northampton County Court.The following costs will be added upon issue.

 

Debt balance £54.90

Court Fee £15.00

Solicitors Costs £50.00

Annual Interest £4.39

 

As you can see the issue of Court Proceedings will mean that the amount you owe our client will increase by £69.39

 

You are required to send payment today.Please call our client's agent, ARC (Europe) Ltd, directly on the their Legal Help Line.

 

If you ignore this letter we may proceed to issue the claim in 14 days time and without further notice.

 

The debt balance they are asking me to pay is wrong.I paid student rates of £19.90 a month, not the full membership rates of £39.90.Obviously the other £15 is ARC's admin fees.The acting solicitors are also adamant all calls MUST be directed to their client's agents, ARC ( Europe) LTD.

 

Any advice on my next move would be gratefully received.

 

Thank you

[slick132]

Hi Murphy,

 

More hot air from ARC and their pet Sol'r !!

 

See a similar case here - http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?413713-DW-Gym-Transfer-from-one-gym-to-another&p=4493771&viewfull=1#post4493771

 

Reply to Major & Co along the lines of :-

 

Dear sir/madam,

 

As ARC Europe have decided to pursue this matter which they know is in clear dispute, I will be making a formal complaint about them to The OFT.

 

If you decide to make any further threats or demands, this will be considered to be harassment and will be reported to the necessary regulatory authorities.

 

Are you not duty-bound to assure yourselves that an amount is either not in dispute, or it is definitely owed before you issue threats of court action. Or do you simply make demands because ARC Europe say you should.

 

I note you say, "We have been referred to previous correspondence sent to you by ARC ( Europe) Limited and are not aware of any reason as to why payment is not due." However, I suggest my recent communications with ARC Europe confirm very clearly the existence of the dispute and the exact reason why further payment is not due.

 

Issue court proceedings by all means, so I am given the chance to defend and show why I owe nothing more for the gym membership. Otherwise, I suggest you refrain from making further demands.

 

Yours faithfully,

 

Edited March 19, 2014 by slick132

[Murphyunders]

Hi

 

Thank you for your quick reply as always.

 

Would you recommend I send that letter Recorded Delivery?

 

As I will be saying in the letter "Issue Court proceedings by all means" will they have to respond to my letter first or could they just go ahead and do it?

 

I am a bit nervous of putting that in the letter in case they do.

 

Thank you

[slick132]

Hi Murphy,

 

I can understand why you may be nervous of telling the sol'rs to go ahead with court action. But, in the last 5 years here on CAG, I have maybe seen 3 cases where court action was actually taken and one of those was a CAGger won his case against AMSL when he took them to court.

 

Gyms and their admin Co's do not normally take cases to court but, if they did, they'd want it to be a case they are likely to win. I suggest that yours is not a case they would choose to test in court. Also, if they DID take you to court, we would offer you all the help and support we could.

 

Would they take court action without replying to your letter ? I very much doubt they will take court action at all. They threaten it so often but it just doesn't happen.

 

Send the letter by normal post and get a free Certificate of Posting at the PO counter when you send it. Or you can use RM Signed For delivery but it costs more.

 

You must only say in the letter what you are happy with. This is, after all, your letter and not mine. However, if we allowed CAGgers to be intimidated by (normally) empty threats from Sol'rs or DCA's, we would have to give up helping here and go home !!

 

Let us know if you send the letter.

 

[Murphyunders]

Hi Slick

 

I totally understand what you are saying and of course I believe you are right.I perhaps feel intimated due to my age.

 

I will write the letter but may not mention to go ahead with Court proceedings.

 

I was going to add a few other points to the letter but would just like to know your thoughts before I do so.

 

1.I was going to ask the solicitors to send me a copy of the contract I signed and to highlight where it states I needed proof of postage to cancel my gym membership.

 

2. Why after sending my cancellation letter in October 2013 and making my final payment in December 2013 , did DW Sports Fitness not send me any correspondence regarding the matter and pass it straight on to ARC.who then contacted me in February 2014.

 

3. The balance that ARC wrongly maintain I owe, is in itself incorrect.

 

As I have 14 days to respond I won't be rushing to write the letter:-)

 

Thank you

[slick132]

Hi Murphy,

 

It is right that you only say what you want to, so leave out the invitation for them to take court action.

 

Re the further points you make, my letter basically tells the sol'r to back off and not get involved just because ARC want the sol'r to try and scare you. It therefore makes little sense to ask the sol'r to supply you with info. Dealing with your points in order :-

 

1. Don't ask any one to provide proof or info about the need to provide proof of postage. You've already said in the previous letter that you don't have the proof but also that you don't need it.

 

2. Who knows and, frankly, who cares. They've done what they've done and you maintain they are wrong.

 

3. The amount ARC demand is often wrong because they include rising admin charges as well as the balance of the years' monthly fees. But again, why care what they demand when you are asserting that they are WRONG and you've paid them all you owe.

 

You really don't need to question these details when the bottom line is simply, "I owe you, and will pay you, nothing more.

 

[Murphyunders]

Hi Slick

 

Sorry it's been a while. This is a copy of the letter I sent, as yet no response, hoping that is that. Many thanks for your time and advice.

 

 

Dear Sirs,

 

Thank you for your letter of the day of 14th March 2014.

 

I note you say “We have been referred to previous correspondence sent to you by ARC (Europe) Limited and are not aware of any reason as to why payment is not due”. However, I suggest my recent communications with ARC (Europe) Limited confirms very clearly the existence of the dispute and the exact reason why further payment is not due.

 

Are you not duty bound to assure yourselves that an amount is either not in dispute, or it is definitely owed before you issue threats of Court Proceedings.

 

I can confirm that in accordance with the terms and conditions operated by DW Sports Fitness, I have fully complied with the requirements for cancellation of my membership.

 

In particular, I gave more than one months notice in writing addressed to DW Sports Fitness on the 25th October 2014 and cancelled my direct debit of £19.95 ( Not £39.90 that ARC (Europe) Limited claim my membership fee was) on the 2nd December 2014. I ceased using the facilities a few months prior to cancelling my membership.

 

As the appropriate notice was given, and as your clients would appear to have mislaid the said notice, it is submitted that the default is with your client and not me.

 

If you persist in issuing Proceedings, TAKE NOTICE that a copy of this letter is being retained and will be produced to the Court Hearing of the Proceedings to support my application to have the Proceedings dismissed, and to have the costs of the Proceedings awarded to me.

 

Yours faithfully

[slick132]

Hi Murphy,

 

Thanks for the update but when did you send that letter to Major & Co.

 

The last para of your letter above is not as good as it could have been but no worries - it's done now.

 

In any event, it's good that they've not replied but I think you may still hear more from DWF or ARC.

 

[Murphyunders]

Hi

 

28th March.

[slick132]

Thanks Murphy.

 

That's almost 2 months of silence which is good for your case.

 

If they want to pursue a debt using solicitors or not, lengthy delays between actions will reflect badly on them.