I was a member of Advance Gym in Reading whilst on a placement year during University. After serving my 12 months statutory contract period and moving back to University I sent a letter (recorded delivery) to Harlands asking that they cancel the direct debit. Me being very bad with my finances it came to my attention 2 months later (December 2010) that Harlands were still taking the £39.00 membership fee. I phoned them up and they explained that it was an error on their part and that the money would be refunded the following week, sure enough on the 23rd December I received £78.00 from them. Fast forward to the beginning of March and I discovered that Harlands STILL had not cancelled the Direct Debit. This time round I had real problems getting through to them and calling an 0870 number on a mobile and being held in a queue to sort out their error meant that I was raging by the time I spoke to their customer service representative. So after kicking off and giving him an earful he said he had cancelled the direct debit and I would receive no more charges. He also said that I would receive a refund on the money that I had paid which stood at £117.00 for January, February and March payments. That conversation was on the 4h March, 7 working days later I had still not received a refund so I wrote a letter advising them of 7 more working days to pay the £117.00 or I would take legal action. That date has been and gone and the money still has not been returned. So I am kind of at a loss as to how to proceed from here, I really thought they would just pay up as they are in the wrong and have admitted as much by refunding me in the past with no problems. Is the next step the small claims court or is there other ways I can twist Harlands arm without having the inconvenience of court for a situation that they have created? Thanks in advance