Dealing With CRS - debt collectors

[Dutch1993]

Hi, I'm hoping someone can give me some advice/assistance about a matter that is causing me some concern.

 

In May 2014 I joined a gym in my home town of Hull over my summer break from university.

I informed the gym at the time that I was a student and would be moving away, back to Newcastle, at the end of the summer.

They said this was fine and I would be able to cancel it then.

 

 

In November I begin receiving calls from an unknown number that left no message when they got through to voicemail.

Eventually I got a letter through from the company, CRS, explaining that I was to pay the rest of my contract with the gym

and several administration fees to CRS.

 

 

I complained and informed them of my move and how I pre-warned the gym.

CRS asked for proof of my current(Newcastle) address, which I provided.

 

 

Since then, the letters and calls have not stopped,

the amount owed has dropped from £275 to £150.

 

 

As there is no logical reason why I should pay £150 of course I declined,

and the amount went back up to the original £275 within a week.

 

 

I have told CRS that I do not owe them any money and they are persisting with threatening letters

and now text messages on my phone saying I must ring them immediately.

 

 

As I say I am a student, I owe no money to the gym and the fees that CRS are claiming are simply something I cannot afford.

I am feeling very intimidated by their correspondence now, so any advice on what I should do next would be greatly received.

 

Today, (25/04/15) I received a letter through from CRS saying that they are now going to transfer the debt to another agency

if I do not respond to them within the next week.

 

 

Again, as someone with little experience in this area,

these kind of threats do concern me greatly.

 

Any help/advice offered would be greatly appreciated. Cheers

[honeybee13]

Hello and welcome to CAG.

 

I'll move you to the gym membership forum, where CRS are well known. The guys should be along later with advice for you.

 

I'll leave a link for you to follow from the original forum.

 

My best, HB

[dx100uk]

so how did you cancel?

and what was the original timespan you signed up for?

 

CRS are a DCA

a DCA IS NOT A BAILIFF

and they have

NO SUCH LEGAL POWERS.

 

they also have no legal remit to add ANYTHING to a debt they do not 'own'.

[their letters will state 'our client']

 

you need to name the gym company too.

 

I would suggest

unless someone states otherwise

you stop all comms now

 

if the owners of the debt were actually going to do anything

other than send silly threat-o-grams

they would have done this by now

 

dx

[Bazooka Boo]

Definitely STOP talking to these clowns over the phone!

 

Deal with the gym directly, in writing, and always get ''proof of posting'' which is free from the PO counter whenever you send them anything.

 

Keep a diary of events also, especially in regard to the telephone harassment, if they persist, then you can report them to your local police station for the criminal offence of harassment.

 

The telephone harassment letter is here------> http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?387367-Harassment-by-Telephone-**Update-21st-April-2014**

[slick132]

Hi Dutch,

 

No need to feel intimidated by Harlands or CRS. They love to try it on, adding their admin fees and claiming that you must now pay the full years' fees because you're in arrears.

 

You need to write to Harlands telling them to back off but we need some info first.

 

Please tell us :-

 

1. When you told the gym you were cancelling or leaving them.

 

2. How did you do this - by phone, in person, letter or email - or did you simply cancel the DD mandate without informing the gym at that time.

 

You need to make sure Harlands has your Uni address or that you get told about all letters sent to your home address.

 

We'll help you with a letter to send to Harlands once we have the info we need.

 

[Dutch1993]

Hi guys, thanks for all the responses and continued advice..

The gym is Gym 24 Seven in Hull. When I joined up, I gave the gym the date that I would be moving away. They asked for some student ID and then told me to write the date down and that should be taken care of. After the final September payment, the money just stopped leaving my account so I, maybe wrongly, assumed that was that.. Then in came the CRS bombardment.

Thanks again for all your help, Dutch

[slick132]

Hi Dutch,

 

Did you cancel the DD mandate with your bank ?

 

We would not expect Harlands to stop taking DD payments within the first 12 months unless there was a very good reason. I'd be very surprised if the gym told Harlands about you leaving for Uni.

 

We'll help you draft a letter for Harlands/CRS when you reply here.