OK, this never went away (I kept getting threatening letters and the amount went up and up) and I wanted to give as much information as possible as I have taken legal advice that I think people in a similar situation may find useful. The FCA cannot help or investigate Harlands in my case since a) My membership was not a Consumer Credit Agreement (CCA) but a Membership Agreement and therefore unregulated, and b) Harlands' credit license lapsed in late 2015 so they are no longer regulated by the FCA. Trading Standards agree that this is dubious practice and certainly sounds unfair, but is within the realms of the contract so they will not intervene. They deem that there is insufficient evidence of charges being large enough to be considered penalty charges. Trading Standards recommended going through ADRS resolution services who cannot help as they do not take on consumer issues. I have seen no evidence of anyone on here escaping charges. Repeatedly ignoring letters leads to escalation and further charges. In my case if I don't pay then the only option is to either take it to court myself (claiming Harlands have breached contract by refusing to cancel my agreement) or let Harlands pass it on to further collections agencies (risking costs and a CCJ in the event that it goes to court). This has been going on long enough and it is the opinion of the legal professionals that I have spoken to that it will be cheaper to negotiate a payment with CRS/Harlands than go to court. They're total f-ing sc*mbags but they've won here. I rang them and got the £180 fee knocked down to £75. Could have saved myself time, money, and stress just paying half of that straight away, but £75 is far, far cheaper than solicitors/court fees/risk of a CCJ. Yes it's Harlands intimidation tactics, but what they're doing is legal so I have to suck it up.

So, no response from X4L and I thought this had gone away! And then... Letter from the Harlands-at-another-desk people CRS... So the good news that sounds like they consider my gym membership cancelled. The bad news is they are now fishing for as much money as possible. Was considering a letter along the lines of... You cannot take any further action on this as the amount is in dispute I am willing to make a payment of £9.99 in full and final settlement. This constitutes one month's notice. I consider any additional charges from yourselves to be punitive illegal penalties Am I in the right ballpark or should I be doing something else? Cheer in advance, QB

Update from X4L... No idea what he's on about there! What's my next move?

Thanks folks, appreciate the help. The email was from SnapDDA who it turns out is just another name for Harlands! I'll get that letter sent off tomorrow and keep you informed. Cheers!

Hi all, Another victim of Harlands here! Was following slick's outstanding advice and thought everything was going well but having read a few horror stories I thought I'd check what my next move should be. Long story short: Cancelled my direct debit after 11 months, not 12 (oops). This was the end of April. Got the Harlands "you didn't pay your May instalment so now owe us two months' subscription plus a £25 default fee" letter on 18 May. Panicked, rang around a bit, told the X4L branch on the phone I wanted to cancel, was referred to the X4L membership team (in another office - Leeds?) who agreed that I could cancel if I paid a £29.99 on-the-spot admin fee - I asked for a full breakdown of this admin fee and the best the manager could do was that it was "for contacting Harlands". I thought "hang on, this sounds a bit dodgy", I want to find out more about this... ...and Google sent me here! 18 June I got the Harlands "you owe us three months' subscription plus a £50 default fee" letter. Checked my direct debit email they sent me and it contains these lines... I pinged off this in reply (I hope it is OK! Sent recorded delivery)... Wasn't expecting to hear anything from them but got a letter saying... Now I'm confused. Next move, anyone? (Just FYI when I get Harlands off my back I'm totally donating my £25 admin fee to this site - brilliant work, helped me loads already, thank you!)