Its taken them a while to respond, but here is their reply: "21 March 2014 Dear XXXXX Re: Total Fitness Membership Number: xxxxx Further to your email dated 10th march 2014 regarding the cancellation of your total fitness membership. We confirm as per our previous correspondence membership is a commitment for a minimum period of twelve months regardless in changes in personal circumstances and cannot be cancelled within the first year. However we have agreed as a gesture of goodwill to allow you to terminate your agreement waiving the remaining balance upon payment of £100.00 cancellation and documentation confirming your relocation. We also note from your documentation you are relocating for six months, as you may be aware members may apply for their membership to be frozen for a period up to six months at a cost of £5 per month. This will be collected via direct debit from your nominated bank account on or immediately after the 1st of the month. Please note that the remainder of the twelve month membership agreement must still be honoured once the freeze period is over. Should you wish to freeze your membership, please confirm this in writing to the address below. However, should you still wish to cancel your membership we will agree as a further gesture of goodwill to cancel your membership with one calendar month’s notice. As we first received your notice to cancel on 28th February 2014, your membership will be cancelled as requested from 31st March 2014. We thank you for your co-operation in this matter. Yours sincerely" They're still maintaining their position, what should be my next action? Also on a side note, they called me on the 12th March to ask about the duration of my relocation (which was stated to be 6 months in the letter i sent them from my employer - its a work placement) asking whether i would be returning to Lincoln after that time period, i told that i would be based in Keighley after that so freezing my account would be pointless (they suggested this over the phone). I have since sent them written proof of this from my employer and received a confirmation receipt on the 17th March. Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks for your response slick132, i have sent them a very similar email to the one you just composed. Thank you for that. Ill post total fitness' response here when i get it

Thanks for your help guys, I'll write to them asking for a breakdown of the cancellation fee and my signed T&Cs as i do not have a copy of this. The current T&C on their website states this: "In unusual circumstances and at the Company’s discretion, the Membership can be cancelled by paying the current membership cancellation / administration fee. " This seems rather ambiguous to me as they get to decide what counts as an 'unusual circumstance' but ill get a copy of the one i signed as it might differ to this. I'll post their response here when i receive it along with my letter to them.

I'm currently not sure how to proceed with this, I have sent one email and they have responded but pretty much ignored what I said. Before i purchased the membership i was told there would no cancellation fee if i had to cancel the contract due to relocation for work. I admit my mistake was that i didn't get this in writing so I'm not sure if i have a leg to stand on when it's their word against mine. Here's the email i sent on 28/02/14: "Dear Sir or Madam Cancellation of gym membership. Member ID: xxxxxxxx I wish to cancel my gym membership with Total Fitness due to having to relocate because my employer has changed my location of employment (active from 31/03/14). My new employment location (Slough) does not have a Total Fitness gym nearby, therefore I will not be able to continue to use your facilities anymore. Before I signed up to the gym (in November 2013) I asked the sales person (Name of sales person) if there was a cancellation fee should I have to cancel due to relocation because of work and he informed that there would be no fee required should I have to cancel for the reason stated above as long as I can provide proof. I recently tried to cancel my membership at both the local gym (in Lincoln) and at head office but was told I would have to pay a £100 admin fee even though I provided them with the appropriate documentation from my employer as verification. It must be noted that I wouldn’t have signed up to the gym if I had been told about this fee (and I asked specifically about it), I feel I have been miss sold the membership and therefore believe that I should not be required to pay this fee. In addition to this here is an excerpt from the OFT Guidance on unfair terms in health and fitness club agreements which is relevant to my circumstance (with sections in bold being particularly relevant). ‘5 Financial penalties on members Paragraph 1 of Schedule 2 states that terms may be unfair if they have the object or effect of: (e): requiring any consumer who fails to fulfil his obligation to pay a disproportionately high sum in compensation. Other factors affecting unfairness 5.4 Many factors influence the fairness of terms that require full payment of the subscription from the member who cancels early. For example, does it reflect the supplier’s reasonable losses in such circumstances, were other membership options available to members, was the term clear and prominent, was the member misled, and what is the effect of other terms in the contract? Some of these factors may be relevant only to individual disputes, in cases where a term that is generally fair may nevertheless be unfair in a particular case in light of the actual circumstances. Sections 2, 4, and 18 of this guidance are also relevant, together with the discussion of Minimum Membership Periods in Part III. Circumstances beyond a member’s control 5.5 The fairest terms allow members to transfer their membership or to cancel the contract without penalty if the member, for example, has to relocate, or has suffered redundancy, or has a medical condition that prevents his use of the gym. Such terms take positive account of the interests of the member.’ I hope that we can come to a fair solution to this matter as I feel I should not have to pay this admin fee for cancellation however I am willing to compromise if the offer is reasonable. I would also like to add that my experience using the gym has been very positive and I hope my final opinion of the gym will continue to be a positive one. I look forward to hearing from you and appreciate your help with this matter. Yours faithfully" And here is their response on 5/03/14: "Re: Total fitness membership number: xxxxxxxx Thank you for providing documentation confirming your relocation to an area where there is no Total fitness centres. Unfortunately total fitness cannot be held responsible for a change in member’s circumstances and memberships cannot be cancelled in the first year as per the terms and conditions of the signed twelve-month membership agreement. Relocation is not an unusual circumstance and is therefore not a valid reason to cancel your membership. However as a compromise we are willing to allow you to terminate your contract with us, waiving the remaining balance of £280.00 upon receipt a £100.00 cancellation fee. Therefore, please forward a cheque for £100.00 payable to Total fitness 2010 LTD to the address below. Alternatively you may contact us on 01614402680 to make the above payment using your credit/debit card. Thank you for your co-operation in this matter. Yours sincerely" Any help on what I should (and can) do next would be much appreciated