I joined the Swansea branch during 2014 and am certain that I went down to the branch, filled out the cancellation forms and cancelled the membership before I left.

I've only just now been going through my financial statements and it turns out even after 3 years Harlands are still charging me the £9.99 a month.

I am trying at present to cancel my membership once again through the online cancellation form on the website of xercise 4 less; but I keep getting runtime error.

There is no way for me that i can see to contact either group through emails.

I also cannot login through the onsite portal to see my profile; as although my email address is correct; it still says I have no details relating to that email address.

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

I would love to get my money back considering I already cancelled but if I just did something wrong and had to cancel harlands payments through direct debit itself then fine - ill write it off as money lost. Just would love to get rid of them.

go get your money bank through your bank under the DD guarantee

you cancelled and the DD should have been stopped.

dx

After further reading I don't think it will be that simple.

I've just been reading about their cancellation policy prior to late 2015 - and I flat out assume that my cancellation paperwork will have not found its way into being cancelled.

I am unable to login to the member portal to see my account details to provide any proof otherwise.

I am also unable to cancel it electronically.

So I'm not sure that HSBC will actually even accept my complaint.

NOTE: Due to me thinking I had correctly cancelled my membership I did not check my statements after and in turn have not even managed to cancel the DD through my bank; because I simply don't know what things would happen due to that.

Any complete guidance is greatly appreciated on what to do next.

think you are reading far too much into it

you cancelled your membership [if or if not that did or did not happen or was or was not correct] is immaterial.

you cancelled.

the dd mandate should have been cancelled too

there is thus no longer any valid dd mandate in operation from that date

so go get your money back.

Apologies, it is in my nature to read into all the details and worry about them.

My worry is that if due to xercise 4 less' incompetence that they cancelled my account but didn't cancel the DD mandate; then should I still go into HSBC, cancel the DD directly by hand and then still request my money back?

If this is correct then how do I go about asking HSBC for my money back

- do I lodge a formal complaint directly, or do I speak to a branch manager

- and if so what do I tell him apart from the scenario I'm in.

Thanks for the prompt replies.

you ring your bank an invoke the DD guarantee

Again, sorry to be so stubborn / unsure - but is it really that simple? I've really got no experience with these sort of financial things.

yes it is

and theres no harm in trying.

Hi Dasulman and welcome to CAG

We've been dealing with gyms and Harlands for over 10 years so we know what we're doing.

If you know roughly when you told the gym you first wanted to cancel, that's fine.

Use that date plus 1 month and anything paid after that you should reclaim via your bank using the Direct Debit Guarantee Scheme. Tell the bank you cancelled the m/ship and the payee should have stopped taking DD's from then on, so you need a full refund from then on.

Let us know what the bank says.

They shouldn't really argue too much, apart from the fact that you've left it so long and have have to exercise due diligence yourself. You should have kept a tighter watch on DD's being paid out.

Don't worry at all about Harlands/CRS - they won't be happy if you get the DD's repaid but they'll do nothing about it because they have no legal basis to claim against you.

Hello and thanks for the reply;

Yes I'm a total idiot when it comes to checking statements,

after a few years i became physically afraid of opening any posts out of irrational anxiety

- fixing that has not been fun.

Since my post earlier I emailed with the branch manager

- my account for some reason has been listed as "rolling" despite me as far as my memory is concerned

- ever taking another foot in there.

Yet my account on the portal can't be accessed and lists me as having no details.

So evidently they've cancelled, deleted or blocked my account on there

- assuming a rolling account still has access to it (though it in theory should? )

Furthermore I received a request from the manager to receive a notification email that i should have received upon cancelling my account - but that also did not occur.

Bottom line is I don't have any proof that I cancelled my account and have not since returned.

This leads me to worry that if I do reclaim the money back that I am owed through HSBC; then Harlands / xercise4less can appeal it against me

- saying that I'm lying.

Is this possible?

Do they have a legal ground of which to take this on with?

thanks

no they haven't get on with it

you've wasted a whole day now looking for them to get out of repaying you

stop doing harlands job for them...

dx

Hi Das,

Contacting the gym or it's manager will get you nowhere.

Contact the bank without further delay and say you require a refund under the DD Guarantee Scheme of all DD's paid to Harlands since xxdate (this will be the date you cancelled the m/ship plus 30 days to allow the final fee to have been paid).

If the bank refunds as requested, Harlands will whinge like mad and demand they are refunded. But there's little they can do.

Let us know how you get on with the bank .

Reporting back;

Requested a refund for my directdebit, due to it going unnoticed for more than 12 months, the bank has not done so yet and has requested for me to call its helpline and to explain the situation to them before any action can be taken.

In regards to any responses from Harlands; ive only received the obligatory threat of the admin charge for £25 for 7th of april. From previous threats I'm lead to believe is impossible to enforce?

I believe in other posts of this nature there was also a letter that had to be sent off to Harlands as a means of cancelling the direct debit for their records?

Thanks for the help so far guys.

no need to do anything with harlands

did you not RING your bank

there was no enforceable DD mandate should have been done on the spot.

Hi Das,

Ignore Harlands/CRS for now and focus on the bank refund. They are unimportant in this whole process.

1. What was the date you cancelled with the gym ? After that date, you had to allow 1 further DD to be paid. All DD's paid beyond that should be reclaimed via the DD Guarantee Scheme.

2. What was the monthly fee ?

The bank has good grounds to question your allowing a DD to be paid since 2014 without you noticing or objecting. However, if the bank refuses to agree to refund the subsequent DD fees, tell them you require their findings in writing so you can lodge the necessary challenge.

Hello there guys, more news.

So after going at it with the bank, I finally got the return on money.

I also only reclaimed the total less 1 month to allow for the extra month's worth cancellation.

The returned money has not been taken back out in around 2 months, however im still waiting on confirmation that it is in fact staying with me; in the meantime I'm just not touching it until then.

The direct debit has also been cancelled.

I am now receiving messages from CRS, but ignoring them.

What's the next step? I remember reading about some sort of letter?

no ignore them all now

Hi Das and well done in getting the DD's repaid.

Harlands/CRS will not be happy about this but there's very little they can do except send more demands or begging letters.

Simply ignore these but keep us posted if anything new happens. They'll get the idea after a while that you're not worried by their empty threats.

OK so I can just ignore all letters and phone calls. Any estimates on how long it will take for them to give up?

well in total they have 6yrs

but we don't often see much unless they have your email address past 6mts

No point in guessing.

Because you've reclaimed the DD's they may make more of an effort after this. However, their demands should simply be ignored for now.

If they continue for too long, you can consider your next best move - eg, write to the gym's HO, threaten Harlands/CRS with court action, complain to The CMA and TS.

Read other threads for more info ...............