Yet another Harlands/Xercise4Less Thread

[BeckaS]

Hi,

 

I did something a bit daft and need to know where I stand.

 

I joined Xercise4Less in August or September 2015, went once and promptly forgot about it

 

 

things got very tight this month and I was looking at my statements trying to figure out what to cut

so nothing would bounce and was all "oh yeah, gym, I should cancel that"

 

Looked around for my member details and couldn't find them.

Cancelled the DD anyway since it would either have bounced or caused something priority to bounce.

 

 

Figured I'd get a letter which would include my membership info

and then be able to sort out paying whatever I needed to and cancel the contract.

 

Of course today I got the letter and there's a £25 admin charge and threat of another if I don't payup.

Now I know the admin fees are unenforcable but I can see this turning into some sort of circus

where they claim I owe them piles of money and refuse to let me cancel.

 

I know I should have cancelled my membership first but it was an emergency

(I figured paying my water rates was more important).

 

Part of me is "Meh, ignore them, they don't deserve money for services you don't use and what are they going to do?"

and part of me is "But I don't want to be bombarded with threatening letters even if the threats are empty".

 

Any advice on how to deal with this would be appreciated.

 

Thanks,

Becky

[dx100uk]

when did you last attend the gym.?

if you need money

i'd be inclined to go get all payments since then back under the DD guarantee...

[BeckaS]

I went precisely once for my induction in September 2014.

[dx100uk]

then IMHO you reclaim the lot back too 1 month after your last attendance.

others may think otherwise.

but we've never seen court done over doing a DD guarantee reclaim.

 

 

can you remember if it was a month on month contract

or a 12mth one you signed upto?

[BeckaS]

Yeah it was a twelve month one, but obviously the contract is up and it'll be month to month now.

[dx100uk]

well 2 choices

reclaim back to month 3

or

reclaim back to month 13

[12mts +1 for cancellation notice]

 

 

they most certainly have no legal right to payments after month 13

 

 

use the DD guarantee phone your bank

 

 

dx

[slick132]

Hi Becka and welcome to CAG

 

In your 1st post, you say you joined in Aug/Sept 2015. In post #3 you refer to the induction attendance in 2014.

 

Please confirm the date you joined.

 

Whatever date you joined, you're stuck with having to pay for a year .........

 

......... unless there are good grounds for cancelling earlier, like moving home, sickness, illness redundancy or change of financial circumstances.

 

If none of these applied, I would not seek any refund using the DD Guarantee Scheme as that would be wrong.

 

DX may be right, that court action is unlikely. However, I don't think that's a good reason to reclaim DD's that you agreed to pay. You were committed to paying for the gym membership until you cancelled, regardless of whether you used the facility or not. Also, the m/ship rolls on beyond the initial 12 months until you give proper notice to cancel.

 

If you cancelled at a time when you could no longer afford the gym fee due to a change in financial circumstances, then you could argue a case for cancelling and paying a month's notice fee (if you could afford it). It would have been better if you told the gym of the cancellation at the time, but that's history now.

 

Let us know about the date of joining; and about the circumstances of you being unable to afford the fees. Then we can advise further.

 

[BeckaS]

Yeah it was 2014. I don't know why I typed 2015 - sorry for any confusion.

[slick132]

No problem !

 

Can you confirm the date you cancelled the DD mandate and the date the last DD was paid.

 

Ignore any communications from Harlands/CRS for now.

 

[dx100uk]

aha not 13mts then...

[BeckaS]

I paid the last DD in March 2016 and cancelled the DD in April just before it was due to come out.

[slick132]

Hi Becka,

 

The bad news is, in my opinion, you owe a final month's fee for the notice period that you should have given.

 

The good news is that Harlands are usually too greedy to accept this offer, so you end up withdrawing it, and paying nothing more.

 

Write to Harlands saying :-

 

Dear Harlands,

 

I had to cancel my DD for my membership at Xercise4Less in [town/city] for personal reason. As I was beyond the initial 12 month minimum membership period, I was free to cancel.

 

I now know I should have given a month's notice and offer to pay you a final monthly fee of £xx.xx in full settlement of all that I owe.

 

If you accept this offer, please give me the bank details so I can make the necessary payment.

 

I will not pay by phone due to the trouble people have in getting through to Harlands/CRS. I will not pay any admin fees added by Harlands/CRS.

 

If you insist I pay admin fees or demand any amount higher than the month's fee that I owe, I will pay you nothing.

 

This offer is valid for 14 days and I will only deal with this matter in writing.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Get a free Certificate of Posting from the PO when you send this.

 

Let us know how Harlands/CRS reply and do NOT respond to anything other than a proper reply to this letter.

 

[BeckaS]

Thanks,

 

I'm off work on Tuesday so I'll get it sent then!.