Signed up for 1 to 1 PT Sessions for 3 months

paid each month, 3 months gone, its finished

all paid up....

nope ! they wanted another month because

their T & Cs are

you have to commit to an initial 3 months before you can cancel by giving 30 days notice, well then this is 4 months not 3, not logic and does not make sense

Now threatening court for a sum of £216?

I felt I had been sold a pup, told them at the time I could only afford 3 and since August we are back and forwards with emails. I paid for 3 months why do I have to pay a 4th month?

Madness

probably because in the small print it says something like - unless you cancel prior to the 3rd payment being taken its then a rolling contract.

at the end of the day gyms don't do court

they don't show on your credit file

any dca they then employ to scare you are not bailiffs and can do stuff all...

forum is due to upgrade soon so be aware the regulars might not be around

Do you have a copy of the T&C's?

IIRC, they arent allowed to hide terms like rolling contracts deep in the T&C's. They have to be clearly stated and inform you of it.

Hi JLG,

1. Tell us what gym this is about please.

2. Who is seeking further payments from you.

3. Did you join the gym and THEN sign up for PT sessions, or did you sign up just for the 3 months PT sessions at this gym.

4. Are they seeking any admin fees on top of the extra month's m/ship or PT fee.

Morning, this is not a puregym or any of them its a private gym, possibly a franchise.

You get an email with the T & Cs this is what it says...

Membership
You can cancel your membership by giving 30 days written notice upon completion of your initial membership length.

If within the 30 day period your membership is due for payment, a full payment has to be made.

Memberships are not pro rated.

To cancel a membership before its initial commitment there will be a settlement payment.

This settlement payment will cover the rest of the initial commitment payments plus cancellation notice period.

Background I signed up for a year £30 a month In Jan,

they said I wasn’t doing well in the classes,

I was the only one most of the time as I went to the morning ones around 9 as it fitted with my work better.

He talked me into 1 to 1's but i was not keen at first but said if only for 3 ok then lets try it.

I got injured before the end had to stop

I am still under treatment

I hurt my back and was unable to stand up straight,

to be honest I have days where it still really hurts.

I have spent over £600 on a highly experienced osteopath.

Although this is another issue it is linked to the reason I stopped but I would not have carried on to 4 months anyway I could not afford it

plus I had originally signed up for £30 a month not £216.

They cancelled the 12 months at £30 a month

one to the one 2 one PT sessions,

being a 3 month one membership.

They do 3, 6 or 1, not !!!!

The 4th the payment did not go as no funds in my account as I had not put them there because it had ended, or so I thought.

It was 3 not 4.

I had an informal meeting with owner, lovely guy and we was very sorry for all that has happened and they offered to carry my last sessions over to whenever I could return but to be honest I did not know at that point if I could and I still feel too afraid to try any gym again in case it happens again.

I have always had back problems but they went away long time ago, but there exercise strained it and pop, it went again.

I am self employed so lost money, had time off work.

Back goes - I am in the poop.

This is why I am so disappointed.

I loved going and I loved the people there,

2 trainers and the owner or investor,

not sure of his role,

but the way they are treating me right now,

I feel is appalling.

You would think they would understand that I had gone through enough and spent enough money by now but still they want to chase this money and I am appalled.

How can people be so horrible.

All because I did not write the exact words they wanted.

I did actually ask in an email at the time of the injury if I could freeze or cancel the membership because I was hurt, and a stream of emails for weeks followed.

They were sorry I had hurt my back la la la, but went on and on about this 3 month commitment in their T & C’s, and that I owed another month because I did not cancel it but I couldn’t because you had to commit to 3 months before you could cancel it with the 30 days notice, so this IS NOT LOGIC !!! and round and round we went.

At the time of the injury they demanded that I had to get a GP letter & that cost me £25 and took weeks to get, but the GP letter was different to the osteopath report, it was very basic but did not name the injury as the GP had not seen me for that because the osteopath fixed it the day after the injury.

The gym would not accept an osteopath report (even though it was a legal document) as they don’t recognise them as a medical professional but the GP could not fix my back we all know GP’s don’t do backs.

This is basically 2 issues,

I know but I will not give up because of guys like you behind people like me and whatever the outcome I can feedback and others can learn from this and we can all learn more.

They may well go to court and I am happy to as I very strongly feel the T & C’s are misleading and a con to get another month from the client.

There is more but will just stick with this for now.

I dont want to name the gym just yet.

sorry that was not a quick reply its rather long but want you guys to know as much as possible

They won't go to court over it. Or rather it's extremely unlikely they will.

Thank you, if they do I will update you.

gyms don't do court

pers id forget about it now

cancel that DD with your bank

block and bounce their emails back from now on.

dx

Hi again

" They cancelled the 12 months at £30 a month

one to the one 2 one PT sessions,

being a 3 month one membership.

They do 3, 6 or 1, not !!!! "

Can you explain what you meant here so we understand clearly.

Thanks

Hi yes thank you.

They wanted me to do the one 2 ones with a PT so £30 was cancelled and they went to £216 a month , big jump reluctant at first, agreed if only 3 months, then go back to classes at 30 a month.

They would review me in month 2, they never did they forgot to do my assessment they do 3, 6 and 12 month PT session memberships, I chose 3 month one not 4 I did not agree to pay 4 lots of £216 this is where I am in dispute, the T & C's are very misleading, not clear here they are again.

Membership
You can cancel your membership by giving 30 days written notice upon completion of your initial membership length. If within the 30 day period your membership is due for payment, a full payment has to be made. Memberships are not pro rated. To cancel a membership before its initial commitment there will be a settlement payment. This settlement payment will cover the rest of the initial commitment payments plus cancellation notice period.

I paid for 3 months so as far as I was concerned it was done, all ended.

I was hoping to go back to classes after I did my 6 sessions I never finished due to the injury, if I got better ie lower back issues.

They have emailed me twice today offering lower payment to pay off for them to leave me alone, its not the money its the principle of it, that they dont see that the T & C's are unfair and that I did NOT SIGN UP to pay them £216 4 times, only 3 times.

hope that makes sense.

How can you cancel something that has ended.

block and bounce their emails back now

no more emails.

.WRITING ONLY!!

They have emailed me twice today offering lower payment to pay off for them to leave me alone

That alone shows they know they havent got a leg to stand on. Block those emails, and ignore.

Hi JLG and thanks for the PM.

No need to hide stuff off the open thread here so please give a full update - ie who wants you to mediate and who will provide the mediation service.

Regardless of what you've agreed or not, do NOTHING further until :-

1. We know what is going on.

2. You have written confirmation about who is suggesting you mediate.

Remember we've been dealing with gyms and their admin companies for many years !

Hi many thanks for your input here. The gym is not a big one it has 2 PT's and a few who rent the space. There is a lovely guy, he really is a nice fella which makes it harder, who is the investor. I don't know why I cannot get him to see that by me not giving 30 days notice has cost the business any money whatsoever.

All my classes were cancelled by me. I "verbally" said at the time, "ok I will do just 3" I feel this is a con and I don't get why they cannot see its a con. You sign up to 3 months so for them to want 4 payments is unfair. I did not want to do 4 months of PT just 3 and then go back to classes.

Nice guy (is the investor), has been emailing me copying in the 2 PT's I had sessions with one being the Director owner so to speak, (membership is now cancelled by the way)

Demands are...

£10 late payment ! not legal

plus they want £216 for the 4th month. (now dropped to £113 see below)

Their T & C's are that you have to commit to 3 months before you can cancel and then you can give 30 days notice, oh so its 4 then, they did not explain that but because I signed it I have therefore understood it and are bound by it ! so they believe. NB If I had paid the 4th month would they have paid me back £216 if I said, but I only wanted 3 months I did not choose 4, NO I very much doubt it.

Informal meeting

He apologised profusely about how it had been handled ie the string of emails, how it had got out of hand etc. We discussed my experience of this gym its failings, it was a new business and they are still learning, also how he had had to have a word with the owner/director on a couple of occasions ! interesting !!! and of course the T & C's. I agreed to get back to him within a week with my decision of when to come back even if next year and to give sessions to someone else if I did not want to come back but there was no getting away from it I HAD TO PAY THE £216 but he would drop the £10 late charge, oh how very kind of you I thought, bearing in mind my injury todate has cost me £620 in osteopath charges (yes another issue altogether) 7 days later in an email when I mentioned that at the informal meeting he too felt they were not clear, he replied "No I said they needed to be more explicit" I have this in an email.

Mediation co are called resolve uk based in southampton Hampshire

They have said yesterday they want to go to this, that the decision would be

legally binding and this would mean

I would be paying out more because of the cost of mediation and on top the cost of what I owe them. ???? really I was born yesterday

So !! they are assuming that I am going to lose.

I have found out it is not legally binding if I don't agree and they can then decide to take it further if they wish.

90% of cases are resolved with mediation saving court fees etc. Judges look on your case favourably if you try mediation - yes mabye so but this is not a divorce !!!

Maybe they are trying to make and example of me

I have spoken to the actual company on how mediation works, if done in person we are in separate rooms. Mediator reads all info then goes from room to room with his decison. Thats it we dont even have to see eachother! Nice guy also threatens that he will bring the 2 PT's and a solicitor and I can bring blah blah blah, (more costs) but more bull because it's done with one person, the lawyer who is the mediator, also FALSE it can be done by telephone and then followed up with email, still £50 per hour plus VAT , for the time for them to read the info, but it could be a 2-hour session with all the emails I would produce, there must be at 30 least since August.

1st email re mediation

Mr Nice guy went on about the cost to them and to me and offered a sum, pay now and lets move on.

I replied yes thank you I am happy to go to mediation please set it up, he replied he would do this but in another email, but when I asked for a digital audit of my records he said "I cannot set up a mediation until you tell me blah blah blah. "Oh so you are backtracking now then the other day he was setting it up, but now he cant !!!!" He said that I could not have that much info and then says he needs me to tell him what I am bringing to mediation is it T & C's or negligence so he now is assuming that I am going down the negligence road. (I am not).

They have already given me my records but just PDF's off their system, but I will go down the GDPR route with them another day. He asked me to clarify what issue will I bring to mediation and of course I would have to tell him this if I went, but I know I dont have to.

I have not replied yet, but I DO NOT HAVE to give him any more info than what the issues is - that is it ! Mediation company said you have to state the issue but the rest is confidential you do not tell the other party, of course I know this, but some people would sing like a canary here, many are so vulnerable.

2nd email - few hours later, he drops amount by half

A personal one not involving the others, please can we sort this and he offered a compromise. I had not answered the first email

This last email is dropping the demand to £113, & could we go halves, he himself would have to pay out of his own pocket - but WHY? I did not cost the company any money this is absolutely ridiculous.

I cannot believe the lengths they are going to for £216, total madness.

Trading Standards

They advised me to send a recorded delivery letter asking as a gesture of good well, please drop this as your T & C's are misleading and unclear

I did this back in August along with GP letter and Osteopath report and a letter saying about my injuries and the amounts spent (still under treatment now) on osteopath plus 6 sessions lost

they declined and here we are another 10 emails later and an informal meeting now mediation or court or both !

For another day - I know all about GDPR that will cost them SO MUCH time.

This gym has had almost £800 from me and I have paid £25 for a GP letter and £620 on an osteopath, do the maths !!! an expensive way to get fit ey. It all started so well too, I loved going there, I am gutted.

I have to fold this up with I run my own business I get stitched up all the time, ie clients not turning up, costs me money they also sign a T & C when they come in but I dont chase them, whats the point, and if I owed this gym this money ie if it affected their business, a fairly new business, then of course, I would have paid it, fair enough, if it was my fault ie I did not read it, but on this occasion I have done nothing wrong because the T & C's are not clear, this is a con you cannot have a 3 month contract its 4 or more.

Other info I found out

I read on another forum - similar to my case

How has my failure to follow the correct cancellation procedure impacted negatively on your business or service?. It seems reasonable to assume that it hasn't. I would like you to provide in writing a breakdown of my arrears and of any costs incurred by you as a result of the cancellation of my direct debit or late payment. I understand this to be a basic legal requirement. He went on to say that it is not possible for terms and conditions of a contract to overwrite the law. In short it is not possible for a customer to sign away their consumer rights.

load of ole cobberes JLG.

lawyers, mediation, legally binding etc etc.

taking you for a ride.

I have blocked their email and sent this to them

Dear

Having taken advice, I believe that there is no debt.

Therefore, I do not expect to hear from yourselves again

I have a timeline and all evidence should they write to me to go to small claims.

The advice given this morning was...

I can refuse mediation (one of you lovely people said the same)

It should be me asking for mediation not the other way round

Keep a timeline of all of this, I already have and have been since it began

Keep a note of the Trading Standards reference, I have of course on my timeline

if they aply to small claims get in touch with the lawyer with the letter

If they reply I wont get it they will have to write to me

If it goes to court I am not worried, I sincerely hope many can learn or pick bits out from this incident. I will of course update you guys.

I am sad because I loved going there but I will NOT BE RIPPED OFF, this was totally unnecessary and unfair.

Mr Nice Guy was lovely so I am disappointed that it ended like this, he tried his best but he has a gym run by someone whose customer service skills are not the best!

Me not giving the exact wording and cancelling did not cost their business any money at all. The End, we hope.

Hope you sent them a SAR. If they were to go to court, it would be a long way off. They have to follow regulation and send you a PaP pack before any claim is applied for.

Cheers renegadeimp , yep that would have been stage 2 requesting an SAR, then I was going to claim my money back but if they give up this nonsense now I will just leave it but if they poke the bear !!! well ! lets hope they dont

Hi JLG,

Who did you send the email to (post #17) ?

Don't use email any more.

Is it only the gym who are seeking payment or is there a collection or admin company involved. Please name them.

You're over-thinking this whole issue and you need to get used to the concept of ignoring demands and not responding by email or phone.

Hi, I sent email to all of them at the gym

I have blocked their email

I have been advised by a lawyer that if they want to go court they will write to me and then I send that to him and off we go

It is only the gym atm seeking the money, no collection agency involved , not yet anyway unless a letter comes from one !

They have never called me, its always been email.

Thank you for listening everyone

Would you have to pay for the lawyer's time and letters ?

We've had so much experience with gyms, admin companies and collector, we can probably do all you need at no cost.

Keep us updated when you hear from the gym and DON'T reply to them by email.

Hi thank you I won't hear by email as I have blocked them from every account I have, even thogh they have only ever used my personal emall.

They could find my business email easily enough but its blocked them.

The lawaer may cost depends what I need if it comes to this but I am happy to pay to prove a point and to tell the world that its not fair and dont be bullied.

As I said before if I had cost their business money by not giving 30 days notice I would of course have paid but it did not.

I actually did ask in an email back in August if I could cancel or freeze it when I got injured and this is when it all started. Emails back and forwards ie did I want to cancel the membership or freeze it? and you need to this if you want ... and this if you want... it was very confuisng and at the infomral meeting nice guy apoloiges for how it had been handles.

From the CAB website , which I am sure you will be aware of.

if one deems T & C's unfair

“The term in the contract that’s preventing me from cancelling is an “unfair term” under the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999. It should be removed from the contract, allowing me to cancel my membership.”

If one feels they cant go back because of injury

“The Competition and Markets Authority advises that a gym contract is unfair if it doesn’t let a member cancel through serious injury or illness”

Also to add to this journey, in one email I felt my circumstances were extenuating, that I did not know when I cold come back and I felt they were extenuating, and he argued they were not. There is so much text between us I think any court would laugh, they will see I got injured in THEIR GYM, could no longer exercise, have spent lots on treatment and yet they still want more from me ! How they seriously can do this is beyond me. They are a very small private gym too!

The question is, is the lawyer experience in things like this. A lot of lawyers claim to be, but dont know the full ins and outs. Some even say unfair terms are ok as you agreed to them.