David Lloyd/major Law claimform - £900 'couples' gym membership arrears from 2018

[BlossomFire63]

3 hours ago, slick132 said:

Hi Blossom, 

Your post above is very useful but can you provide more about :-

3. Did your email state financial hardship or something similar? Confirm the relevant wording that you used.

4. Did you pay the £60 to freeze the m/ship, then no more until you tried to cancel in June 2022?

5. and 6. Were these communications by phone or was anything by email.

7. Ignoring interest, what penalty charges have been added.

Lastly, please detail what amounts you paid to the gym or ARC since you told confirmed you could no longer afford the monthly fees.

3. I emailed DL to state ' can I speak to someone regarding my membership'. With DL you have to email any request or put a request through the DL app. Then they contact you within 3 days and provide a case reference number. Then a person from DL membership team called me and I verbally advised them I was in financial hardship. 

4. When I tried to cancel my membership they stated I could not cancel if it was frozen so I reactivated it. I gave formal notice to cancel my membership May 22 and paid £345 on 31st May. Then advised I need to pay a further three months as a notice period. 

5 and 6. My communications were mostly by phone. I did send an email to DL around May 22 disputing the membership period and that I felt misled about cancellation process. I do not have a copy of this email. 

I made two payments to ARC on 1.11. 22 and 1.12.22 of £100 on both occasions. 

ARC contacted me June 23 to ask why payment arrangement had failed. I advised ARC that I was in financial hardship due to changes in my employment. ARC agreed a payment plan of £38 per fortnight June 23. I failed this plan due to emergency car repairs.

[slick132]

Answer Q 7 please 

[BlossomFire63]

21 hours ago, slick132 said:

Answer Q 7 please 

DL has added £116 for late payment fee back in 2022. The original debt was for three months membership which equals £780. 

I completed SAR and DL came back to me with correspondence. I have pasted correspondence re membership in attached word doc and record of payments. Hope this helps. 

SAR - DL.pdf

[dx100uk]

those terms are really not fair.

they cant do that. 

dx

 

[BlossomFire63]

I am glad I did the SAR and there seems to be charges for membership post 1.10.22 when they confirmed the membership had expired. 

[dx100uk]

made sure we have everything in one mass pdf please

might be better to read our upload guide and the websites listed there too.

dx

[slick132]

Hi Blossom,

In their email of 15/11/21 DL say "as you are in your initial term period, we would not be able to cancel the membership at this
moment in time, your earliest leave date is 01/04/22" .

You started your thread saying the m/ship began in 2018 so please confirm the m/ship start date and the initial minimum term you signed up for.

They invited you then to confirm about possible illness, relocation or job loss yet I can see no  mention from you of hardship (it didn't have to be a complete job loss). Did you tell them about hardship you were experiencing  ?

[BlossomFire63]

Sorry my initial thread stating 2018 was an error. My membership started 21.08.2020. DL have sent me all correspondence via excel spreadsheet so I will try to  redact and convert to PDF at some point tomorrow. 

I have done another quick scan and these are the only communications where I have mentioned finances. 

2.6.21

Comment: I have been unable to pay my direct debit on time this month due to emergency outgoings. I will make payment on 13th June

4.11.21

RCB1= Incoming call - member wanted to advise she will make the outstanding payment on the 15th of November due to an work error not receiving full salary.

Member has been advised as long as the payment is made on the 15th there shouldn't be any issues getting in the cllub

8.1.22 Optimus added a note:

08 Jan 2022, 9:03 PM GMT

Member Telephone:

Comment: Membership  i will be paying this months installment on 20th January. I've been off work due to covid and therefore not been paid. Ive reinstated the direct debit.

[BlossomFire63]

Sorry my initial thread stating 2018 was an error. My membership started 21.08.2020. DL have sent me all correspondence via excel spreadsheet so I will try to  redact and convert to PDF at some point tomorrow. 

I have done another quick scan and these are the only communications where I have mentioned finances. 

2.6.21

Comment: I have been unable to pay my direct debit on time this month due to emergency outgoings. I will make payment on 13th June

4.11.21

RCB1= Incoming call - member wanted to advise she will make the outstanding payment on the 15th of November due to an work error not receiving full salary.

Member has been advised as long as the payment is made on the 15th there shouldn't be any issues getting in the cllub

8.1.22 Optimus added a note:

08 Jan 2022, 9:03 PM GMT

Member Telephone:

Comment: Membership  i will be paying this months installment on 20th January. I've been off work due to covid and therefore not been paid. Ive reinstated the direct debit.

[slick132]

From what I understand, you've not specifically told them you want to cancel due to hardship and you agreed to catch up with missed payments and freeze the m/ship(s). If I've missed something, tell me.

The other angle here you may be able to use is DL's greedy requirement for 3 month's notice even though you signed for a full 12 month period, not a shorter or "Rolling monthly, cancel anytime" contract.

[BlossomFire63]

No I haven't specifically advised about hardship. Here is all of my pdf evidence. 

Evidence DL membership.pdf DL emails 23 .pdf

No you haven't missed anything. That is correct yes.

Edited August 31, 2023 by BlossomFire63
incorrect file added

[slick132]

Looking at this objectively, DL mentioned 3 times they could consider immediate cancellation on certain grounds (illness, relaocation or job loss) on 16/3/21; 15/11/21; 25/4/22, but you never took the chance to cancel on grounds of financial hardship.

So as per my my last post, I think your defence needs to focus on DL's greedy need for 3 months notice to cancel.

Q. Have they tried to charge you any months they were closed due to Covid ?

[BlossomFire63]

No during the October, November 2020 lockdown of gyms I wasn't charged. Yes I agree I need to focus on the 3 month cancellation as my defence. I've prepared myself if they don't rule in my favour and managed to save the money to avoid ccj. 

[slick132]

Excellent, so even if a judge rules against you, you can avoid a CCJ damaging your CRA data.

We'll help with the defence but shout please if we get to within 5 days of the defence due date.

[BlossomFire63]

Thank you. Here are the payments to DL and payments to ARC.DLY Payments 2022.pdfDLY Payments 2022.pdf