Hi Everyone,

I’m a concerned Dad.

My 23 year old daughter signed up last year to David Lloyd gyms. I said she couldn’t afford it at the time, but off she went and signed up.

After 6 months, she realised she couldn’t afford it, so she stopped the DD, and wrote to them explaining that she was no longer able to afford the monthly fee.

Having supplied them with three months bank statements, as they requested as part of their T&Cs, they have decided that there has been no substantial change in her circumstances – like redundancy, etc.

Therefore they’ve decided she can afford it, and have now set debt collectors on the trail.

Whilst no major change has taken place, the reality is she cant afford it, and the statements clearly show at the end of each month my daughter averages around £12 in her account - and she is not frittering the money away she’s trying very hard to live within her means, and simply made a bad call.

She’s now stressed beyond words, worried sick about being taken to court, and has no ability to pay the remaining 6 months of £75/month, and yet DL say they cant’ help ‘because it wouldn’t be fair to their other clients’.

My daughter lives with her mother, who has stopped charging rent since December, and it seems that DL might be assuming ‘her parents can pay it’ – I don’t know, but I’ve never come across this sort of thing before.

If my company asked clients for bank statements for us to review and decide on if they could afford it or not, we’d be sent out of business.

I get business is business, and one should always read the T&Cs, but if you can afford it, you cant afford it – you cant get blood out of a stone. How does DL reconcile their behaviour with being a ‘well being’ organisation.

Any advice will be very gratefully received.

well the bottom line is debt collectors are not bailiffs and have zero legal powers

and the only people that can do court would be DL themselves

and as no gym has taken anyone to court in more than 5yrs now I wouldn't worry

so she has actually written to them and asked to cancel if so when was this?

Hi Stix and welcome to CAG

From what you've said, you were right that YD couldn't afford the m/ship. But that doesn't give her an excuse to cancel - she's not been ill, injured, relocated or made redundant.

Why did you or YD send the gym her bank statements ?

If ARC (Europe) are chasing YD, best policy is to ignore them for now but keep us posted.

The chance of them going to court (which is the only way they can enforce the debt) is virtually NIL !!

Hi,

my daughter and I have been communicating with DL since December, and now DL, a debt collection company and a law firm are now sending her letters.

As I'm an old git, I've said to her they wont take her to court for £400, and if they did, we can still settle on the court steps, but lets keep the comms going, and string this out for as long as possible. But she's young and nervous about this - which I understand.

We've written to them numerous times, sent them bank statements, but they dont care, saying it wouldn't be fair to their other customers if they made exceptions.

Have to say in 30 years of being in business I've never seen such a hard-nosed approach.

DL asked for her bank statements to prove a change in circumstances or that she cant afford the m/ship.

We sent them along with a letter asking them to provide details on how they would determine what she could or could not afford

- as it seems a rather subjective determination on their part.

But they refused to provide any statement on this.

They just reviewed the statements, showing the absurdly low end of month balances, and replied with 'pay up or else'

Hi Stix,

If you read other threads here, you would see other cases similar to your own with advice.

I assume ARC (Europe) and Major Law solicitors are the companies you refer to, but please confirm.

Read other threads and learn how others deal with this situation.

IMHO time to ignore them now

you should not of continued with the pointless letter tennis

nor send bank statements

they have ZERO legal right to see those

only a JUDGE can demand them.

Thanks, will review the other threads. Have made a donation, thank you all.

Sorry, yes those are the two companies that have made contact

Hi Stix and thanks for your donation.

Complying with ARC's requests for evidence simply encourages them to continue contacting you.

Now you need to ignore ARC and Major Law but keep us posted.