Gym says I owe £300!!!

[yuppiebusiness]

Hi guys!

 

Took out a gym membership 3 years ago, suspended it for a year but found out the payments had still been going out. Rang the gym who said they would refund but then changed their mind. Spoke to my bank about the situation and they refunded me the money.

 

Problem now is... two months after the bank refunded me, the gym has started emailing me saying my account is in arrears and I have to pay them the money back asap. The longer I take to pay them the more they'll add to the total I owe!

 

Can they actually do that??? I'm not sure where I stand in this situation. Please help!

[renegadeimp]

I wouldnt worry. Sounds like regular gym tactics to scare you and make you pay more. Have a read around this forum and youll see what i mean. We have some really knowledgeable people here that can help. be patient and theyll see your thread and advise.

[Nihil]

Hi guys!

 

Took out a gym membership 3 years ago, suspended it for a year but found out the payments had still been going out. Rang the gym who said they would refund but then changed their mind. Spoke to my bank about the situation and they refunded me the money.

 

Problem now is... two months after the bank refunded me, the gym has started emailing me saying my account is in arrears and I have to pay them the money back asap. The longer I take to pay them the more they'll add to the total I owe!

 

Can they actually do that??? I'm not sure where I stand in this situation. Please help!

This is probably going to depend on your situation, when you say you suspended your account... Did you call them to do this? Go in in person? Do you have any kind of idea of the time or date, and are you 100% sure it wasn't something you forgot?

 

And most importantly, what reason did they give for refusing the refund? If it was along the lines of "we have no record of your cancellation", you may be in a sticky situation. Is it a major gym with the resources or expertise to actually pursue the debt, and do they have a history of doing this?

[yuppiebusiness]

This is probably going to depend on your situation, when you say you suspended your account... Did you call them to do this? Go in in person? Do you have any kind of idea of the time or date, and are you 100% sure it wasn't something you forgot?

 

And most importantly, what reason did they give for refusing the refund? If it was along the lines of "we have no record of your cancellation", you may be in a sticky situation. Is it a major gym with the resources or expertise to actually pursue the debt, and do they have a history of doing this?

 

I rang the gym (DW Sports) to cancel my membership and suspension was promoted instead. All I needed to do, was email the dates to the email address the person on the phone gave.

 

I have proof of 5 emails I sent last year, that in total cover the period of Jan 2013 - March 2014. However, upon noticing in December that the payments were still going out, further investigation showed that payments had never stopped.

 

I forwarded them all to the manager of the gym, with a complaint and request for a refund. They state that the emails had been sent to a different email address and would therefore not refund despite proof I had attempted to suspend and had not used the service at all in the past year.

[Nihil]

I rang the gym (DW Sports) to cancel my membership and suspension was promoted instead. All I needed to do, was email the dates to the email address the person on the phone gave.

 

I have proof of 5 emails I sent last year, that in total cover the period of Jan 2013 - March 2014. However, upon noticing in December that the payments were still going out, further investigation showed that payments had never stopped.

 

I forwarded them all to the manager of the gym, with a complaint and request for a refund. They state that the emails had been sent to a different email address and would therefore not refund despite proof I had attempted to suspend and had not used the service at all in the past year.

 

If you have proof of cancellation I really wouldn't worry about it to much, if the challenge the charge backs you've got the emails to fall back on so the bank won't undo their decision. They are more than likely just annoyed because the charge backs cost them money, as they'll be charged by their bank for it.

 

It's their own fault for being silly enough not to cancel it in the first place or issue a refund when due though

[yuppiebusiness]

If you have proof of cancellation I really wouldn't worry about it to much, if the challenge the charge backs you've got the emails to fall back on so the bank won't undo their decision. They are more than likely just annoyed because the charge backs cost them money, as they'll be charged by their bank for it.

 

It's their own fault for being silly enough not to cancel it in the first place or issue a refund when due though

 

I really do hope that is the case and they are just trying bully tactics to recoup but as they claim my email proof was to the wrong email address I'm not sure if they are able to take it to court and if they do where i'll stand with it all.

[yuppiebusiness]

:'(

[Nihil]

I really do hope that is the case and they are just trying bully tactics to recoup but as they claim my email proof was to the wrong email address I'm not sure if they are able to take it to court and if they do where i'll stand with it all.

 

Unless it was one of the "do not reply to this address, it is not monitored" kind of addresses, you should be fine.

 

Even then if it was not clearly marked as such, listed as a point of contact on their website or given to you by an employee you'll probably still be fine.

 

Might be worth sending them some kind of letter challenging their claims, highlight that you have evidence of cancellation and that the bank supported you in reversing the funds and see what they say.

 

I'm not sure who would be best to go to regarding this if they continue pursuing this, maybe give citizens advice an email and see what they say. Most companies will back down if they feel the cost of pursuing a debt will be significant, especially if there's a high chance it can't be enforced.

 

This particular type of debt is a little outside of my area of expertise, but justified FOS complaints will usually also end in the company being forced to pay for wasting the clients time. So if there is any kind of regulator you can go to, I'd certainly do so.

[slick132]

Hi Yuppie and welcome to CAG

 

If you've already had the money refunded by your bank under the DD Guarantee Scheme, that's good as it puts the onus on the gym to prove you were in the wrong.

 

Quite simply, if they agreed to suspend the m/ship agreement but still took payments out, they were at fault and you were right to get the DD's refunded.

 

Tell the gym they have no right to any further money from you, in writing.

 

Let us know how they respond and we'll take it from there.