Hi, I am new to this site.

My son received a letter from the bank the weekend stating that Harland s had tried to take money but there were insufficient funds to take the money. I phoned the bank for him and they are not charging him for this.

As far as I was aware he had joined the gym last September being told by the staff that he could cancel anytime. Being that he is aspergers I'm pretty sure they must have said this to him.

He told me that he phoned x4l when he had the letter and they told him he needed to make sure the money was in his bank by 24th which is tomorrow plus £25 admin fee for not leaving funds in his account. he was only 17 when he joined which they shouldn't have given him the membership which I didn't realise until now.

I phoned x4l this evening to explain the situation and ask if I paid the £9:99 would that be sufficient. The girl was quite rude, I said that he was only 17 and shouldn't have been allowed, told her that the girl in reception told him to alter his d.o.b to make him look over 18.

She said well he is 18 now, if he were still 17 then I would be obliged to cancel but he's not so it needs to be paid and unless the money in the account tomorrow the charges will increase.And that I consumptive this was said to him.

I have reinstated his harlands acc with the bank and I intended to put the £35 in tonight ready but after reading this site I am unsure what to do....please can you advise asap please.

Many thanks

Hello and welcome to CAG.

I expect people will be along later with advice for you, don't worry about Harlands etc. I'm sending you a private message, please look out for it in your Notifications folder at the top of the screen, in the grey strip.

My best, HB

Do NOT pay their unlawful fee!

Let them add them all they like, you WON'T be paying them.

I would also STOP that DD immediately!

Lodge a formal complaint with the gym, and stay OFF the phone.

DO NOT pay them anything, they are in the wrong here and you hold all cards here!

Thank you

Hi MW,

First off, we need some more info :-

1. Do you want the gym m/ship to continue.

2. If you do, are you able and willing to pay the £25 admin fee (which we always tell folk to challenge and NOT pay).

If you don't want to continue with this m/ship or you're unwilling to pay their admin fee, you should cancel the DD immediately. If you're too late and the DD has already been taken, you can simply tell the bank to reverse the DD and they'll refund you. You don't need to give a reason for this.

The gym were wrong to allow YS to sign up when he was 17 although he, too, was wrong to agree to fib about his DoB.

The gym cannot enforce the gym m/ship because YS was a minor at the time and he was coerced into signing by the change of his DoB. So, if you want the m/ship to lapse, you're free to do so.

The gym and/or Harlands will protest but there's nothing they can do and, if they harass you, we'll help you get the gym to tell Harlands to back off.

My advice would be to cancel and keep your money.

He doesn't want the mship to continue.i agree that he shouldn't have fibbed. Being Asperger's he's easily led and thinks everyone hs best friend. The girl told him he could cancel anytime and if he had any problems she would sort it which was clearly a lie. I will get him to cancel the dd there's n money In the account anyway but he will do it. I appreciate your response thank you

Definitely cancel the DD.

If they persist, then complain to the CMA, as well as Trading Standards, and if needs be your local MP.

Hi MW,

Ok, cancel the DD mandate immediately.

If the gym tried to take the DD but there wasn't sufficient money for it to be paid, YS will probably suffer a bank charge. If that was the only charge in the last 6 to 12 months, he could try calling the bank to get the charge refunded. If there have been other charges, you won't get this refunded.

Let us know if the DD has already been paid to the gym so we can help you get it repaid.