Okay, sounds like they've been busy since their airing on watchdog! :'D

So, its been over 2 months since I made my offer with the stipulation that they accept or decline within 14 days. I have just received this via email, nothing by post; Dear Mr ******** Re: CRS Ref No: ******* / Harlands Ref No: ******** Further to your recent e-mail, we duly write. We would like to confirm we are willing to accept payment of £179.91 by debit or credit card to settle your account in full. Please contact CRS on 01444 449165 by 10 December 2015 to discuss payment. Yours sincerely, Nick Bright Senior Collector I've been careful to make sure that all my dealings with CRS have been via recorded delivery post so I have no idea which email they are referring to. Should I carry on ignoring or call them up and pay?!...

It's been a while, hope everybody is well... After receiving nothing via post I have had this sent to my personal email account today; > Further to your recent correspondence regarding repayment of your account balance. > > Please contact CRS directly on 01444 449165 to discuss payment within the next 7 days. A suitable repayment schedule can be organised. > > Yours sincerely, > > Nick Bright > > Senior Collector Would you deem this to be a suitable reply? Dear Nick I am not willing to discuss this matter over the phone as I will have no record of what has been agreed and no opportunity to seek legal advice before responding, please either reject or accept my offer by post. Kind Regards. .

I personally would feel it fair to offer them the money for the membership but not the fees. They'll have had 9 months payments at no cost to them as I haven't used the facilities, as I feel they have been misleading I feel this is fair for both parties involved. If you have a suitable template or could structure a letter I'd be very grateful. As soon as my student finance arrives I'll be sure to make a contribution as your help has been amazing. Thanks in advance...

I understand what you're saying, and yes I'm am largely responsible but it wasn't as straight forward as the staff member just starting I could pay £20 a month with no obligation. His explanation truly led me to believe that it was a one off payment and when that month was up is was up, my key code wouldn't work, etc etc. My negligence was in steaming through the sign up and not checking the T&Cs and not picking up on the DD's sooner. I agree with you, not picking it up sooner was my fault so I'm willing to offer the membership fee. I'm not willing to pay anything on top of that though as I do believe that I wasn't wholly at fault... Sorry for the confusion, I wouldn't have deliberately mislead you as it invalidates any advice given. Thanks again for your help.

Yes, thats correct. Option 2.

Slick, in reference to the staff member taking my details for payment. I signed up using my home computer and in one of the screenshot images of their system it shows what computer was used... Should I change the letter to reflect this?

Cool, I'll give it a go and get back to you. Thanks Slick

If it doesn't put you out at all I would be massively appreciative, definitely on the Christmas card list! :'D

No, the last correspondence was from them and included the T&C's and the screenshots. These were the main points they made; They aren't bound by the consumer credit Act as it's a minimum term membership agreement. They don't own the debt as they are acting as an agent. The OFT 2011 guidelines make no reference to "proportionate" charges. They haven't made any reference to what will happen if I don't act which frankly worries me more!

Yes, they'll continue to post to my home address and I will be notified immediately.

Slick, It doesn't appear that the T&C's have been altered. Yes, its stated in section 10 of their T&C's that there's a 30 day cancellation notice. Do you think that my negligence to have read the small print correctly after been mislead by the staff and general lack of transparency on the website will mean that I am liable for the membership cost?...

Hi Slick, thanks for getting back so quickly. 1. It was a tick box on a computer. 2. Absolutely, didn't step inside the place after the first month. 3. There were no statements by post, email or any other method. No notification was given of recurring charges. After returning from being outside of the country for a while I had to set up a few direct debts in quick succession, I just didn't pick up on it. It was my sloppy financial management but my focus was elsewhere... 4. They have sent me a screenshot of an email sent to me on the day of joining with my pin, querie info and some way down the page one line it says one month of minimum term payments will continue. They have also sent me a screenshot of this, whatever it is... I've had a look using a site called wayback machine, it shows there have been a couple of alterations but doesn't show what they are. fr[ATTACH=CONFIG]59312[/ATTACH]

Ah thank you, my bad!

Sorry the images are so small, as a new member I can't post hyperlinks or attach larger images. The major points they made were; They aren't bound by the Consumer Credit Act as it's a minimum term membership agreement. They don't own the debt as they are acting as an agent. The OFT 2011 guidelines make no reference to "proportionate" charges.

Hi everyone, I’ve been having issues with Harland/CRS and have had a few correspondence go back and forth with the help of this forum but I’m a little stuck with what to do next now and would love some advice. I appreciate that this is a little long winded but I didn’t want to leave anything important out…

The story so far;

After visiting Hone Gym is and chatting to a staff member they informed me that I could pay £20 for a months membership with no obligation, I made what I believed to be a one off payment with the website being what I perceive now to be heavily misleading. I didn’t realise until 9 months later that they had continued to deduct £20 from my account every month. I immediately cancelled the DD, had my bank raise an indemnity claim and thought no more about it. Roughly a month later on the 23/07/15 I received a letter from Harlands stating I had ignored their first letter (which I never received) and that the £179.91 that had been refunded was now £204.91 to include their admin fees. I replied with the following;
 Re; Hone Gym Membership Ref No: edited Regarding your statement that a letter dated 3rd of July was sent to me at my address, no letter was received. Please forward a copy of this letter. An indemnity claim was made as I had only authorised one payment to be debited from my account, not nine. The Hone Gym website has demonstrably been updated a number of times and has subsequently changed its wording to make it clear that further payments will be automatically debited. This was not the case when I approved a registration payment and a one month membership payment to be taken and goes against what I was told by senior staff at the gym. Namely, that I would have to action the payment each month and that I would receive a new pin for entry. As I was provided with misleading information regarding the ongoing deduction of funds from my account and the terms of the membership I consider this to be a breach of Section 5, CPUTR 2008. Please respond within 14 days or a complaint to the OFT will be made without further notice. Kind Regards Clueless Dan
 On 14/08/15 CRS sent a letter covered in bold red lettering stating they’d been employed by Harlands and I now owed £278.68. This was my reply; Dear Mr Avery Re; CRS Ref No: edited Harlands Ref. No:edited As I stated in my previous letter, the information provided to me both on the website and by staff members in the gym was misleading. I did not authorise the ongoing deduction of funds from my account after the first month and I consider this to be a breach of Section 5, CPUTR 2008. Firstly, with reference to the above account, I request that you send me a true copy of the credit agreement, signed by Daniel Johnson and entitled “IMPORTANT: PLEASE READ CAREFULLY”. I understand that this is my right under the legislation contained within section 77 (1) and section 78 (1) of the Consumer Credit Act 1974, and am entitled to receive a copy of my credit agreement on request. Your obligation also extends to providing me with a statement of account. I enclose a £1 postal order which represents payment of the statutory fee payable under the Consumer Credit Act. I understand that a copy of my credit agreement should be supplied within 12 working days from the date of this letter. I understand that under the Consumer Credit Act, creditors are unable to enforce an agreement if they fail to comply with a request for a copy of the agreement under these sections of the Act. Also, since you are a debt collection agency, I would also ask that you supply a signed true copy of the executed deed of assignment for the above referenced agreement. This is an obligation, whether you are the original creditor or not, under section 189 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974. In summary, I DO NOT ACKNOWLEDGE THIS DEBT AND THEREFORE REQUIRE YOU TO SUBSTANTIATE THIS BY PROVIDING THE FOLLOWING DOCUMENTATION BEFORE I CORRESPOND FURTHER : 1. True copy of original credit agreement 2. Statement of account 3. Copy of the executed deed of assignment from Hones Gym to Credit Resolution Services As you are aware, a credit agreement that is not properly documented and signed by the customer is totally unenforceable under the CCA and therefore is a complete defence to any court claim that is issued. Secondly, I draw your attention to the OFT guidelines on debt collection: Charging for debt collection 2.9 Charges should not be levied unfairly. 2.10 Examples of unfair practices are as follows: a. Claiming collection costs from a debtor in the absence of express contractual or other legal provision. b. misleading debtors into believing they are legally liable to pay collection charges when this is not the case, for example, when there is no contractual provision d. applying unreasonable charges, for example, charges not based on actual and necessary costs e. applying charges which are disproportionate to the main debt. I consider your charge of £73.77 to be disproportionate to the main debt and not based on actual and necessary costs. Take note at this stage, that any legal action you may contemplate will be both vigorously defended and contested and consider this matter to be “in dispute”. Thanks in advance and I hope to hear from you within the statutory time limit. I look forward to hearing from you. Yours faithfully, clueless Dan On 12/09/15 I received this reply. [ATTACH=CONFIG]59298[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]59299[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]59300[/ATTACH] Where can I go from here? I’m starting my second year of uni this week so really don’t need the stress and can’t afford the expense of just paying out. I appreciate that I could have been a little more thorough in reading through the documentation but took the staff at their word which was in keeping with the misleading wording of the website… Any advice would be hugely appreciated, Kind Regards Dan