Gym membership cancellation woes. Any advice?

[pikey]

Some opinions from the PH massive required...

I have a friend who's cancelled her gym membership and is being chased for extra month's money after cancellation. She doesn't think she owes them any more, they're pushing threatening debt collectors and she's about to cave in. I think she shouldn't.

Details:

• Been a member for >5 years and says when she joined it was on a 'non minimum length' contract basis. Can't locate original joining paperwork
• She advised of cancellation by email 2 weeks before the next DD date, & cancelled DD
• They said their form must be filled in, cancellation would only be accepted on the 1st of a month, 1 month's notice must be given
• Bit of conversation with them, but they said these terms are the club rules
• They applied to take next month's payment, which failed. Letter received saying they have prevented her accessing the facilities until she pays.
• Letter received saying they will add £30 onto the debt and referred to ARC Europe Ltd for collection next Monday.

Their take:

• Have to give a month's notice, but haven't

My take:

• Unfair contract - saying cancellations not accepted until a certain day, then enforcing an extra month.
• They have prevented access to the facilities/services (their words), so why should she pay for something she can't possibly use?

What will the debt collection company do? Telephone, write, visit, take to court, bailiffs? Can they enforce anything before the court says the debt is valid? Will this be on her credit file? Should she formally open a dispute with the gym to say she's disagreeing the debt exists?

Googling "ARC Europe" I note that they are not the best people to deal with:
http://whocallsme.com/Phone-Number.aspx/0193225100...
http://www.www.blagger.com/db4/company_id/4458/com...

Anyway, clearly this won't go away on its own and I'm interested to hear what you lot think...

[Fats25]

I can hazard a guess as to which Gym this is! Would the name be related to a previous Davis cup captain per chance?

[Fume troll]

If she wants to fight it, it might be better to pay it first. The main issue is your credit rating suffers if you do it the other way round.

Cheers,

FT.

[pikey]

Not Virgin Active / David Lloyd / LA fitness.

[pikey]

Fume troll said:

If she wants to fight it, it might be better to pay it first. The main issue is your credit rating suffers if you do it the other way round.

But is it that easy to mess with someone's credit rating?

Ie. I decide that you owe me £50 and as you haven't I sell it to a collection agency?

[RichBurley]

I think if it is a monthly contract, then 1 month's notice is perfectly routine. The woman has given 2 weeks notice, by email. The woman hasn't found out in advance, what the requirements are for giving notice. She can continue to use the facilities for the period of the notice; whether she does or not is a matter for her.

From the explanation, I don't think the gym has done anything wrong.

[pikey]

RichBurley said:

I think if it is a monthly contract, then 1 month's notice is perfectly routine. The woman has given 2 weeks notice, by email.

But their rules have meant it's 6 weeks (ie. they didn't accept the cancellation until a certain date)

RichBurley said:

She can continue to use the facilities for the period of the notice; whether she does or not is a matter for her.

They've written to her confirming she cannot.

[Cotty]

Tell her to write back advising the reason she cancelled the membership is because she injured herself on one of their machines. See if they want to persue it then

[Martial Arts Man]

Credit rating won't be affected. If she has been a member that long, it won't be a Consumer Credit agreement. At my old gym, we could only sign people into 2 year maximum length, according to the law. She hasn't got any credit from them, so there's no way it could affect this.

If it was a Consumer Credit agreement, there would be no clause for cancelling.

Personally, and this is speaking from the experience of trying to chase errant members for money; don't worry about it. Ignore them. Are they really going to take her to court for £40? Nope.

Eventually they will give up.

(last year I had nearly 50K of bad member debt on my books, of which I have recovered very little; it's part and parcel of running this type of business)

[Tom_C76]

pikey said:

RichBurley said:

I think if it is a monthly contract, then 1 month's notice is perfectly routine. The woman has given 2 weeks notice, by email.

But their rules have meant it's 6 weeks (ie. they didn't accept the cancellation until a certain date)

RichBurley said:

She can continue to use the facilities for the period of the notice; whether she does or not is a matter for her.

They've written to her confirming she cannot.

They've only suspended the membership in the notice period for non-payment. Most such things work on a per calendar month basis, the gym will have that clearly in the contract she signed.

[esselte]

Cotty said:

Tell her to write back advising the reason she cancelled the membership is because she injured herself on one of their machines. See if they want to persue it then

I'm assuming she reported it to the gym at the time..?

[Vron]

I had a similar experience when moving house to an area where there was no "Branson" gym. I was a diamond member which was sold to me as a minimum term of 1 year. I tried to cancel after 4 years to be told it was a minimum of 1 year's notice and only then on the anniversary date of your contract.

A snotty letter to their head office resulted in threats of debt collection. They then told me to ask to send proof from my solicitor that I had moved house and then they 'may' cancel my membership. I wrote back saying they didn't require proof that you lived locally to join so why prove you have moved away to leave? Anyway eventually they said OK and cancelled. Depends on how much you want to fight it. There is lots of info on the net and the OFT did some research into Gym contracts and decided anything longer than 3 months notice is an unfair contract term.

[pikey]

Vron said:

I tried to cancel after 4 years to be told it was a minimum of 1 year's notice and only then on the anniversary date of your contract.

Wow! I take it not many of those get to court..

[pikey]

Martial Arts Man said:

Are they really going to take her to court for £40? Nope.

How about for £160? (Expensive gym!)

Anyway, how does it work - what does the debt collection agency do? I presume they just bug & hassle people, pretend to be solicitors, load costs, generally bully? Do they have to go to court and have the court agree it's a debt before they're allowed to start claiming goods?

[bazking69]

£160. For a months gym membership!!!

[esselte]

pikey said:

Martial Arts Man said:

Are they really going to take her to court for £40? Nope.

How about for £160? (Expensive gym!)

Anyway, how does it work - what does the debt collection agency do? I presume they just bug & hassle people, pretend to be solicitors, load costs, generally bully? Do they have to go to court and have the court agree it's a debt before they're allowed to start claiming goods?

I think there has to be a court order before the bailiffs can go in to retrieve goods..

[JamesIIIII]

just cancel the DD and that's that. Sorted

[esselte]

JamesIIIII said:

just cancel the DD and that's that. Sorted

You need to read the OP....

[Tiggsy]

all sounds pretty fair by the gym....she pays to get a months use of the gym and cancellation is one months notice. So she paid for the month she emailed them during and has to cover the next full calendar month.

[NDA]

esselte said:

Cotty said:

Tell her to write back advising the reason she cancelled the membership is because she injured herself on one of their machines. See if they want to persue it then

I'm assuming she reported it to the gym at the time..?

Yes, mentioned it to 'Mike/Steve/some other random name' who told me to rest the injury.

Actually I quite like this approach.

You could pay and then sue for the recovery of the cash through the small claims court.

How much money are we talking about?