Hi Slick,(this is twentydollarjim's partner writing) Thank you for all your suggestions. You have been extremely helpful. Here's what happened since we last posted on here: Harlands sent me a response to my initial query which was to see the original e-mail which stated about the DD and the copy of my terms and conditions. When I eventually received the letter (they sent the first letter to the wrong address) it was an e-mail explaining all about the direct debits but in the To section it was an e-mail that I didn't recognise - it looked like it was an e-mail address which was internal to the company. They thought that justified as evidence even though I had never seen the e-mail! They failed to send me the terms and conditions I requested. In response to that, I took your advice and I wrote to my bank requesting a refund through the Direct Debit Guarantee scheme and sent them al the correspondence from Harlands. I also cc'd the letter to Harlands as well as a response to their letter. A couple of days ago I received a text from my bank stating that my case was closed. I checked my bank and the £160 was refunded back into my account. As I found out, the case was passed from my local bank to their management and then to Head Office, which I was told was not unusual but more often than not management could deal with most issues relating to DD guarantees. As I understand, the law is now starting to crack down on gym memberships and I can completely understand why. I wouldn't have known to contact the bank regarding this type of query so I really do appreciate your help and support throughout this case. Many thanks again!

Thanks for the information again Slick. My partner does not want to continue the membership. Yes, she did write the letter explaining points 1 and 2 and their response along with the attachments was 'Further to your recent letter regarding the continuing membership period on your member, please find enclosed the original e-mail we sent to you on the 19th June 2011 which explains your payment schedule.' The person she spoke to on the phone said the terms and conditions they sent her originally (copied at the start of this thread) were invalid as they did not correlate with her original membership. However they have failed to send her the original terms and conditions. Thanks for the advice, my partner will try to contact the bank and follow your steps when writing to harlands. My partner has not tried to contact the bank and she has only received the letter yesterday. It turns out they sent it to the wrong address Thanks again

Thanks for the advice Slick. The company stated that the original terms and conditions were sent to my partner in an email last year which was never received. They have now forwarded a copy of the email they supposedly sent and there is no indication on it that it was actually sent to my partner's email address. I've attached a copy of the email to this message. We fully intend to write to them again as there is no proof that it was sent to my partner's email address. What is your opinion? Thanks again. http://www.mediafire.com/?8owy2mloo8gr7lt http://www.mediafire.com/?mw5ir6jbf42s21w

Hi there, thanks for the response. Yes, it's for 1 person for 12 months. Last year it was paid in one payment. A monthly direct debit wasn't in place. Thanks again, Jim

Hi guys, My partner has just been direct debited £160 for a second year of membership at Helio Fitness - http://www.heliofitness.co.uk Initially she only signed up for 12 months. However, because the direct debit was in place, they're refusing to reimburse her claiming that she 'should have cancelled the direct debit'. In the terms, we can't find anything relating to annual charges not being refunded. Can anybody help? Terms and conditions from Helio Fitness' website - > PRINCIPLE TERMS > 1. This agreement commences either: If you are on the club’s premises, once you have indicated your acceptance in the Declaration section of this web sign up process. > OR > If you are not on the club’s premises, once you have indicated your acceptance in the Declaration section of this web sign up process and then either entered the clubs premises or after a period of 7 days has elapsed, whichever is earlier. > 2. Your membership starts immediately. > 3. You will be entitled to all the rights and privileges exercisable for the Type of Membership chosen. > 4. You cannot transfer this agreement to anyone else. > > FEES AND CHARGES > 5. The Total first payment amount is due from you to us, is due immediately and is payable on the 1st Direct Debit Payment Date. This amount is not refundable in any circumstances. > 6. The Direct Debit Payment Amount is due from you to us. You are obligated to make the Minimum Number of Direct Debit Payments stated with the first one being paid on the 1st Direct Debit Payment Date, the second on the Second DD payment date and then every month thereafter. For the avoidance of doubt, you are obligated to make every Direct Debit Payment regardless of non attendance, whatever the reason for non attendance may be. > 7. If you fail to pay any monies due under this agreement or if any Direct Debit is returned unpaid or any cheque is returned unpaid or if any other form of payment is not honoured for whatever reason, you shall pay us on demand an administration fee of £25. > 8. You agree to advise us immediately of any change to the Members Details provided. > 9. If you fail to pay any amount due under this agreement for a period of more than thirty days, then we may pass the debt to a third party company for collection. The reasonable costs incurred in employing the third party company will be borne by you including costs in tracing you should you have changed your address without telling us. > > RENEWAL > 10. In order to extend your membership after completing the minimum number of Direct Debit payments, we will automatically continue collecting the Direct Debit Payment Amount every month. Your membership will be cancelled immediately you cancel your Direct Debit. Each payment made is not refundable under any circumstances. This Renewal Direct Debit Payment Amount may only be amended if we advise you in writing giving 30 days notice. Please note – If your membership included the benefit of a Free Period then we will stop making collections during that Free Period and recommence making collections when this free period has finished. > 11. During this Renewal Period the only way to cancel your membership is by cancelling your Direct Debit Mandate directly with your Bank. > > GENERAL TERMS > 12. You agree to comply with the Rules of Membership which are displayed prominently in the Club and relate to opening hours, use of facilities and your conduct. We may make reasonable changes to these Rules at any time provided we give you advance notice of the change. > 13. If we take no action or let you off any breach of this agreement or give you extra time to pay or comply, it will not stop us enforcing the terms of this agreement strictly at a future date. > 14. We may assign the benefit of this agreement and our rights thereunder to a third party on notice to you. Your rights under this agreement will not be prejudiced. > 15. This agreement is governed by English Law. > 16. We may terminate this agreement with immediate effect on notice to you if you are in breach of the Clubs Rules. In this event you will not be liable to pay any further Direct Debit Payments, provided such breach is not deemed by us to have occurred primarily in order to qualify you for a refund. > > Yours sincerely > Harlands Many thanks for your help, Jim

Thanks again, I'll be sure to post the outcome. All the best.

Thanks again for the help! Well I have to speak to another department at Next on Friday so I'll raise the query again. Either way, it's probably not going to help now as I'm going to be credit checked by the employment agency tomorrow! Ah well, fingers crossed it'll pass.

Well it turns out that Next are now dealing with the account again. Apparently there is no way they can remove the default from my credit report. All they can do is mark it as satisfied if the balance is paid in full, which won't be done until the first Friday in April - so April 8th! Does this sound accurate? Thanks again.

I suppose I'd better give them a call then. I'll post the outcome shortly! Thanks again for your help!

Thanks again. Well in this case it's an agency who runs the credit check on behalf of RBS. There is no formal interview per se. So as far as I can tell, the agency just run a general credit check (whatever that might be) and see if it passes. I'm all up for contacting Roxburghe but is there any way to be sure that they actually have the power to remove the default from my credit report?

It's with Roxburghe. The default was registered in April 2008. I'm considering paying it off in full but if they don't remove the default from my record I'll be much worse off.

It's in the region of £400.

Hi there, thanks for the reply. It's the credit check a bank runs in order to assess whether or not an individual is suited to working in a banking/financial environment. Basically I just want to know how likely it is that I will pass such a credit check bearing in mind that I'm not applying for credit and haven't applied for credit for several years. Thanks again.

Hi guys, I'm in sticky mud at the moment. A bank job that I'm in the process of applying for relies on me passing a credit check. According to my CreditExpert report, I now have a 'fair' credit rating - 700+ points. There's a red mark on the there which is a default - I'm trying my best to sort this out. And there's also a green mark on there saying that my account hasn't been searched for the last 6 months which is apparently a good thing. The question is, will I pass a standard credit check? If not I'm going to have to try to get the default removed which sounds like a time consuming task - time is what I don't really have much of! I was hoping that if I called the debt collector in question and offered to pay the full amount that they'd clear the default for me. Any thoughts guys? Help would be much appreciated. Thanks, Jim

I will do. Thanks for all your help Cerberus.

I can but I won't be able to do it for a week or so. I'm in the middle of a move and my printer is at the other house. It looks pretty authentic to me though.

Yes it does. So what dx100uk said doesn't apply then? Thanks again.

They did, I'm just wondering where they sourced it from. Could it be possible that it's just a copy of a copy? If HFC can't provide it then is it still valid?

Thanks for the response dx100uk - but I'm slightly confused by the abbreviations! I didn't realise I could go directly to HFC once the debt had been passed on. If HFC can't provide the paperwork then what happens with Credit Security Limited? Thanks again.

That's what I'll probably have to do. Didn't realise they could obtain a CCJ on a debt so old. The debt no longer appears on my Experian report either... I take it that doesn't make much difference either!

Thanks again Cerberus. The amount is just under £800. A debt of £3000 was recently written off due to the company being unable to provide the original credit agreement so it's not all that bad!I'm not really in any position to offer a full and final payment as work is sketchy at the moment - I'm a temp.

Thanks for that. Nope, no unfair charges.It's not a massive debt. Over the years I have made payments to the account but I have no way of confirming the amounts as I've had several different bank accounts and worked with a debt management company a few years ago. Frustrating that they're asking for the full amount.Doesn't a company like Credit Security Limited purchase the debt from HFC at a reduced cost anyway?Just wondering what kind of deal I can negotiate.Thanks again.

Hi guys, On July 7th I posted a letter (no recorded delivery) to Credit Security Limited requesting a copy of a HFC Bank credit agreement taken out on January 9th 2004. They responded a few days ago, with a letter dated July 26th, and enclosed a copy of the original agreement. My question however is this - in their letter they've acknowledge the fact that my letter was dated 7th July, which would leave a period of 13 working days between our exchanges. Am I in a position to refuse to pay now or should I respond to this letter with something else? Admittedly it is a debt of mine. Thanks for your help, Jim

Thanks for that, much appreciated. I believe it harks back to 2007... not quite long enough!

Only Advantis Credit LTD have contacted me