Hi,

in December last year,

I began a 12 month contract with Xercise4Less on their £9.99 a month promotion.

When I began this contract I was 16 years old, and since then I've only been to the gym about three times.

I'm 17 now, and on the 16th November, I paid them for the 12th time.

In May/June this year I missed a payment and paid their £25 admin fee.

I really want to cancel my membership, and wanted to earlier but I knew they are very funny with that, and did try once, and was told I was still within my contract.

I waited until I'd fulfilled the 12 month contract, which, since the first payment was in December, should have been in November, if that's correct?

Last night,

I tried to sign in on their website and discovered that they cannot even find my email address on their system, despite them withdrawing £9.99 from my debit card each month.

Worrying about cancelling and how Harlands goes after people for months afterwards has been causing me a lot of stress for the last 6 months and I really want to cancel my membership as soon as possible.

What should I do to cancel my membership, now that I should be out of the contract and am still 17?

Thanks for any help regarding this issue,

Ulysses

EDIT: I should also mention that I signed up myself, and my parents were not involved whatsoever.

Hi Ulysses and welcome to CAG

Glad you posted here after my PM reply to you, and the "EDIT" info about no adult involvement is just what I wanted.

I wish you'd come here before paying the £25 admin fee as we'd have told you NOT to pay that in any circumstances. However, that's now history.

Send the following letter to X4Less Head Office :-

Dear sir or madam,

I refer to my membership at [xxxxx town/city] gym.

When I tried to cancel via your website because my initial minimum 12 month period was up, the system failed to recognise my email address.

In any event, I joined when I was 16 years old and am now 17. Accordingly I cannot be bound by your gym agreement with regard to payment.

Please accept this letter as my notice to quit immediately with no further payment.

Please also inform Harlands to cease all contact with me. If you allow them to harass me with ANY demand, I will make formal complaints to the relevant authorities without warning.

Yours faithfully,

Send this by letter and get a free Certificate of Posting which you'll keep for proof.

Let us know how they reply.

I will print this off tomorrow with the information and mail it. Thanks a bunch for the quick reply, I'll definitely let you know how they respond

Will they not conveniently 'lose' the letter, though?

That's why you will keep the free Certificate of Posting, in case they say they didn't get the letter.

Should I cancel the direct debit now, or give them the chance to do it?

Hi Ulysses,

Only YOU can cancel a DD.

If you leave it active, Harlands will try to use it to collect any money they believe you owe.

Cancel it immediately.

I'll be able to send the letter tomorrow, but do I need to do anything specific at the Post Office when I do? And definitely close the DD right now? (forgive me if I get a little annoying, I get really anxious about these sort of things, heh)

EDIT: Because of their thing about needing to give them 30 days notice?

Also, after looking online, I'm led to believe that their head office is the one in Leeds? Is that right? And do I put my address on the letter, or my membership number, or what else (If any) do I need to put?

Hi Ulysses,

All the info you need is in other threads here. You should read them whenever you can so you see just how Harlands, etc operate and how you're threatened with all sorts but they do nothing !

1. Take the letter to the PO and ask the counter staff for a free Certificate of Posting. Keep it for future use if needed. They'll take your payment and stick the letter in their post sack.

2. Send the letter to -

Xercise4Less

Unit 1

Kirkstall Industrial Estate

Leeds

West Yorkshire

LS4 2AZ

3. Put your address and your m/ship Ref. No. on the letter which should be printed off exactly as my draft above.

4. Cancel the DD mandate by contacting your bank at the earliest opportunity. Do it online now if you can.

We're here to help and support you so don't let this worry you. We've been helping folk deal with Harlands/CRS for many years.

Okay, I'll print it off at school and mail it afterwards, with the Royal Mail Signed for Delivery, and I'll cancel the DD now. I'll keep you posted.

The DD is cancelled

Please re-read item #1 above.

No need to pay for RM Signed For delivery. Get a FREE Certificate of Posting.

Prob too late now but no worries.

I posted it yesterday, and now we wait.

Wait, I have an email from them.

everything is fine [name of the email]

Cancellations Head Office

2:45 PM (4 hours ago)

to me

Thank you for contacting Xercise4Less. In regards to cancelling your

membership, we can confirm that your account has now been cancelled.

Your 30 days' notice period starts from the day you submitted your

cancellation form.

Please do not cancel your direct debit as Xercise4Less will do this

for you as part of the cancellation process.

We are sad to see you go and hope you have enjoyed your time with us.

Healthy Regards,

Team Xercise4Less.

Please note this is an automated response and this inbox is not monitored.

Regards

Central Support Team

Head Office

Xercise4Less

Unit 1, Kirkstall Industrial Estate,

Kirkstall Road,

Leeds,

LS4 2AZ

Hi Ulysses,

I think this is in response to the cancellation you made online.

Wait and see if they now reply to your written letter.

I trust you've already cancelled the DD mandate via your bank. If not do it now !!

I do not think you need to pay any more if you don't want to. And we'll be here to help you all the way.

I didn't get the opportunity to cancel online. I couldn't log in to do so.

Fine, but have you cancelled the DD.

You need to do that immediately.

I did that yesterday morning

Excellent, at least they can't get any funds out of your account via DD now.

Wait for their written response now.

So their email above was a reply to your letter.

Very quick reply and maybe that's why they didn't read your letter properly. If they did, they'd see that you have no intention of paying them anything more.

Harlands/CRS or the gym will be in touch when they realise the DD is cancelled.

What will they say when that happens?

Please pay us money that you don't owe us....beg beg beg..

Hi Ulysses,

Don't bother guessing what may happen.

We'll deal with them in response to however they contact you.

They sent a letter;

"Dear [My name],

re: Your membership to Xercise 4 Less

Harlands administer the collection of all payments due under your membership agreement with Xercise 4 Less. Youe bank have advised us that your December instalment has been returned unpaid "instruction cancelled".

You have therefore been charged a £ 25.00 administration fee which means you need to pay £ 34.99 to bring your account up to date. Call HARLANDS HELPLINE - 01444 449033 immediately so we can collect this by DEBIT / CREDIT card and reinstate your Direct Debit over the telephone. If you wish to pay by another method, you must still phone to discuss your options.

If you do not call us by 8 January 17 you will be charged a further £ 25.00 administration fee. The telephone lines are open 9.00am to 1.00pm and 2.00pm to 5.00pm Monday to Friday.

Yours sincerely,

Harlands"

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