Picklebear, Welcome to the forum. It appears you have a simple choice a) Challenge their pettiness, get harrassed for months on end and it might ultimately (however unlikely) end up in court where the outcome is not certain and the cost could be considerably higher. b) See if a more senior member of staff will agree to waive the fee which, even if agreed, will probably still end up as (a). c) Accept their pathetic ways and pay for a further month. If you choose ©, see if you can pay now and cancel any Direct Debits, otherwise you have to let them take a final DD payment and I wouldn't trust these [problem]s not to overcharge you just because you're leaving. No doubt far wiser members will be here before too long to offer advice.

The saga continues! I have now received a letter from spratt endicott SOLICITORS [sic] who are apparently acting on behalf of “Xercise 4 Less”, not Harlands. Have the mighty Zinc Group dropped in the ratings? Failing to reply within a time may result in legal proceedings, by all accounts. No doubt my better half will receive similar before too long. I have read many other related threads here regarding Zinc, Major Law and indeed spratt endicott (one which had a rather splendid outcome!) From that research I assume that I should respond with; “clearly in dispute, no right to pass the matter, breach of OFT” etc. and complain (yet again) to Trading Standards and also CMA. Being more objective, it is entirely possible that H£L & X4L have not provided any background in their instructions so s&e may not know, for example, that I have proof of cancellation at the gym. Is there any point in giving them any further information or should I ‘keep my powder dry’? I am so tempted to just say “see you in court!” I have been following the fortunes of my fellow victims of these [problem]. See Slick, it can actually seem worse when substituted! However, I do understand the logic behind it. By the way Slick, I haven't contacted Which! Magazine but I am now certainly more motivated to do so. As always, thanks to all for the help and support.

So, a little update. We have had further calls and text messages urging us to call CRS urgently. Today I received another letter from CRS with the opening statement; “We regret that despite our attempts to reach an amicable resolution to your account…….” So, when I offered to pay the amount for the months’ notice, £22.98, (after properly cancelling at the X4L club in person and in writing) that was not sufficiently “amicable”. Now they want to charge us in excess of £350 “amicably”. Today’s letter contains the apparently inevitable threat to pass the account balance to the Zinc Group “one of the UK’s leading providers of debt recovery solutions”. I expect my wife will receive a similar letter very soon. From their website “Zinc Group delivers results through a sensitive approach, where reputations and preserving your Customer Relationships are essential” Well that’s reassuring! The letters, texts and calls are disturbing, as they are designed to be, but I have managed to persuade my wife to follow the advice we have found here. There is, of course, some uncertainty of the outcome and that will always cause anxiety.

Hi Rob, You have my sympathies. I am in a similar dispute with Harlands=CRS after cancelling an Xercise for Less (X4L) Direct Debit (DD) and membership. Harlands and X4L work hand in hand to try to extort extra payments from people legitimately cancelling their memberships. Harlands say they cannot cancel, it has to come from X4L. X4L say theycannot cancel because Harlands say the account is in default. Want they want you to do is re-instate your DD so they can [problem] you for admin charges and penalties. If that doesn't work they harass, threaten and intimidate you in the hope that you'll call them and make a card payment. I am eternally grateful for the support this forum gives. I recommend that you read some of the other threads and follow the advice you get here. If Slick says give them your address then do so by recorded letter so they can't deny receiving it. As Slick points out, if they don't have it, they could take it to court and they could win because you are unaware and unable to defend your case. Best of luck.

Thanks again. I'm fairly sure any fair court in the land would ask them why they didn't take the original offer and find against them or, at absolute most, grant only the amount in lieu of notice.

Hi jd25, I am having very similar problems with Harlands and the Bristol X4L gym. I cancelled my DD, after the minimum periods had expired, but the day before handing cancellation letters in to the gym. When I cancelled, the staff reminded me of the notice period so I offered to pay the extra amount right there and then. The gym staff said that was not possible and that I would have to "sort it out" with Harlands. Repeated calls to Harlands ended in long waits eventually terminated by them. I then found this forum and I am grateful that I did. There appears to be some sort of collusion whereby X4L and Harlands blame each other while trying to rack up extortionate penalties. I have cancellation letters signed and dated by staff at the gym, followed up by confirmation e-mails to the gym and to Harlands and yet I am still subjected to Harlands’ relentless “harassment machine”. I recommend that you follow the advice you receive from this forum, remain determined and resolute, and know that there are others here who share your ordeals.

Thanks for your replies dx100uk and slick132. Without this forum I would probably have caved in ages ago. I have spent a lot of time worrying about this and my wife is convinced that we'll have bailiffs at the door despite my assurances. There must be a way to stop these bullies behaving this way. I have been looking at how to complain to the CMA but it seems that they are unable to act on individual complaints but can respond to a "super complaint". It occurs to me that I am a member of the Which? organisation that has the power to make a super complaint on behalf of consumers. I am going to try to get them to investigate these questionable, if not actually criminal, business practices.

First, I would like to thank everyone who has contributed to this site and this forum in particular. It has given me support, courage and information, without which I would have probably have given in to the bullying and harassment of Harlands (H£) and their questionable business practices. I would like to share my ‘journey’ along the relentless grinding mill that Xercise4Less, (X4L) H£ and CRS subject us to so that it may (hopefully) encourage others to stand up to them. I offer my apologies in advance for a lengthy post. Our story began in February 2014. The gym was being installed in Bristol and my wife and I joined in a porta-cabin outside the building. I signed up for a rolling monthly membership and my wife signed up for an 11 month minimum contract. We paid initial membership fees in advance and agreed to Direct Debit payments from my current account for subsequent membership payments starting after the gym opened. The gym opened in May 2014. We made payments each and every month from June 2014 to April 2015, the minimum terms had been fulfilled. My wife had used the gym but by April 2015 had not attended for many months so we decided to cancel our membership. I cancelled the bank DD on 4th May 2015. To my shame, the ONLY time I actually entered the X4L gym was on 5th May 2015 to hand in our cancellation letters as required by the gym T&C’s. I told the staff that I had already cancelled the DD and they said that was a problem due to the notice period. I offered to pay any outstanding amounts, there and then in the club, but was advised that it was not possible and I must call H£ to “sort it out”. They gave me the phone number. I repeatedly tried to call the number which rang forever and eventually dumped me into a “voicemail is full” message and terminated the call. This raised my suspicions. I searched the web for Xercise4Less + Harlands on my phone and immediately found many references including this forum. I consider myself very fortunate because this prompted me to go back into the gym and ask a staff member to sign and date a copy of the cancellation letters so I had some proof, which they did. On 6th May 2015, having read many threads in this forum, I sent an e-mail to Harlands, copied to the operations manager of the gym, informing them of the cancellation and offering to pay the outstanding amount due for the notice period. Based on the advice found here I stated a limited time offer, refuting any fees or penalties and instructions that all communications must be in writing to me only as the payment agreement was only with me. H£ sent a response that they could not deal with cancellations, they must be instructed by X4L. X4L say “contact H£”. To me, this appears to be evidence of some collusion between H£ and X4L to deliberately obfuscate and delay cancelations to try to maximise exit payments. On 11th May 2015 I re-sent, by e-mail, the cancellation letter to H£ emphasising in the e-mail the fact that we had fulfilled our contractual obligations to the club, had evidence of the cancellations and were willing to make the final payments due, once again copied to the operations manager of the club. I got nothing after the “e-mail received” auto responder. On 15th May 2015 we received letters claiming outstanding subscription payments a “1 month cancellation fee” (which is not in the T&C’s) and “Default fees”. On 17th May 2015 I sent a further e-mail stating; “I have offered to fulfil my financial obligations to Harlands but you have chosen to ignore this offer and pursue a completely unnecessary waste of time for all concerned.” I told them that I would report them to the relevant authorities (and why) and gave them a final chance to accept payment for the notice period. On 17th May I submitted a complaint on the Citizens Advice website as that appears to be the only way to report something to the Trading Standards Authorities. My submission included the following; “Their letter states “under the terms of your membership agreement, you simply have to pay a 1 month cancellation fee”. There is no such fee in the terms and conditions. I believe that this a fraudulent claim for payment. I believe that Harlands‘ decision to ignore my offer of a fair and reasonable settlement and send letters with exaggerated claims is an attempt to mislead and intimidate and amounts to aggressive commercial practices as defined in the “Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008“ (CUTR). CA responded that they have passed the complaint on to Trading Standards (TS) as a criminal act may have taken place. Despite the advice on here I did try calling the gym on several occasions which proved utterly pointless. Since May we have had the usual stream of letters from Harlands and then CRS along with numerous calls and texts to my wife and I on our mobile phones which I consider to be harassment because I specifically requested all contact to be writing and only to me. The last letters from CRS (22/8/15) threatened either legal action or outsourcing to external collection agents. I believe that these threats and the ongoing harassment is further evidence of criminal behaviour under CUTR so I made a further complaint to CA which they have added to the TS case. I have discovered that CUTR was amended in 2014 so that a consumer, who is subjected to aggressive business practices by companies pursuing them for an alleged debt, can counter claim against those companies for damages to reflect any alarm, distress, inconvenience or humiliation suffered as a direct consequence of a trader using aggressive business practices. I am seriously considering that as an option. I will post any further developments. Thank you all once again.