Hi all, Yesterday I signed up for the £24.99 monthly option at a lifestyle fitness gym. I went on this membership type because I don't like the thought of contracts, and I wanted to try out the gym for only a few months. It states on the confirmation email I received, that its basically month to month, with a £25 joining fee. [ATTACH=CONFIG]59928[/ATTACH] I just want to clarify, if I was to cancel say, after 3 or so months, I could do this with 30 days notice for any given reason? I've heard some nasty things about gyms after I joined, and so I just wanted to double check. For the record, the option I am on stated NO CONTRACT in caps, so they should honour that right?? Thanks, also if anyone has had an experience with this membership package, I'd be interesting in hearing.

I wrote an email in february to harlands asking to cancel my partners membership at the end of the 12 month period. I gave them her name and account number (which was wrong as I used unique pin from lifestyle fitness). however i asked them if they needed any more infomation to let me know and i will give it. They got back to me and stated the member ship would be cancelled, the last payment taken in march and use of the facilities upto april. I also cancelled mine at a later date in the same manner and again using the wrong account number. however they got back to me and stated it would be cancelled and no further payments will be taken. this was done correctly however my partners was not. In july i realised they were still taking payments from my account for my partners membership. I contacted harlands over the phone and they stated they had no evidence of this email I sent. I had also sent multiple emails to harlands during this dispute, around 6 questioning and asking for reasons and not one email was responded to from harlands. I proceeded to contact my bank who advised me to open an indemnity claim against harlands to recieve the money back that had been taken for the months of march to july which i did. I have since been contacted from harlands on the 3/08/15 stating to repay this balance and remove the indemnity claim otherwise an admin of 25 pound would be added if not done in the next 14 working days. I planned to contact harlands the following day. however I recieved another letter the following day stating that because i had not withdrew this the 25 pound admin fee had been added. this letter was dated 4/08/15. Some 14 working days that was. I have since phoned harlands who do nothing but pass me through to credit resolutions. The man i spoke to at credit resolutions asked me to send all evidence of the emails i have sent to the email i have provided which i have done on 06/08/15 so have not recieved anything back as of yet. The way harlands act is unproffesional and they have no customer service skills what so ever. So i have no reason to believe my evidence is going to get anywhere. in the meantime i am writing on this forum to recieve any advice over what i should do next and what powers harlands and credit resolutions carry to take this money. An example of the poor customer service is when i told the lady at harlands over the phone "i have sent an email to yous asking for membership cancellation in february", she says "you never sent me an email".... obviously not idiot woman im talking about the company that you work for and are currently representing on the phone lol!

Hi, I am facing increasingly aggressive demands from ARC Europe for payment of £320 (now threating to take me to Northampton Court with additonal fees) for a debt with LA fitness. Despite repeated phone calls to LA Fitness stating that I do not owe them money, and calls to ARC Europe saying the same, no one is listening to me and I am now have various threats stating that the amount I owe will be stepped up should I delay any longer. My monthly payment was only £50 so am not quite sure how they've arrived at such a high figure. I signed up for a 12 month gym contract with LA fitness in the middle of Jan 2014 and paid every month of my contract when it was due, up to and including the payment at the beginning of Jan 2015, and so was a paid up member until the end of Jan 2015. I cancelled the direct debit (to stop Feb's payment being taken) and told a member of staff in the gym that I would be quitting (in December) I'm fairly sure I called the head office as well, though it is six months ago now and LA fitness claim they have no record of the call. What is the best way to respond to their demands and should I do it by post or by e-mail? Many Thanks

Hi, I have a gym membership at the Altrincham Total Fitness gym active from October 2014. I went to the gym and spoke with an assistant a few weeks later and I showed him my student card asking to switch to student fees. He said it will not be a problem and he will process it. After the next payment came out, I saw i was still on the regular fees and when I asked if there is a problem, he said the manager has not been in since and will check it on the following week. However, I just had a look at my bank statement and it seems that the last payment from 02/01/15 is still at regular fees. On the 31st December I moved house - from Lymm to Manchester, however at the time of joining the gym at Altrincham was the closest one to Lymm (hence my choice) which is no longer true as there are a number of other clubs around me within walking distance. I have emailed the club asking to cancel my subscription as I cannot afford paying the higher fee plus traveling all the way to Altrincham and have also provided them with proof of address. Their reply was that the cancellation has been denied because I am still within 15 miles radius (they also helpfully provided me with a list of gyms, the closest of which is indeed Altrincham at 7 miles distance). Is there anything I can do to terminate the contract? I depend entirely on myself financially, I am paying for a masters degree, rent and bills and everything else on my own, already struggling with overdraft and I cannot afford going all the way to Altrincham on a regular basis? Thank you in advance. Any help will be appreciated. - L

Firstly apologies if this isn't posted in the correct place - new to the forum! So I have an issue with Harlands, seemingly like a lot of other people. I know a lot of this issue falls on only myself to blame but I do feel like I was not fully informed of what I was signing up to at the time and didn't realise how tied in to this contract I was. So I joined Swift Fitness in October/November of last year, when I signed up I didn't have anything really explained by any member of staff. He just set up the form to join on his little ipad device which was a pain in the ass to use and I can honestly say I was not aware I was signing up to a year contract that automatically renews and i would be unable to cancel - If I was aware I would not have chosen this gym. Once again my stupid fault for not checking and double checking. The 'ipad' that I used to sign up was difficult to use (in a way that it was difficult to read and just awful, I'm 22 and work in IT so it's not that I have an issue managing technology) I was also sat in the gym whilst filling in my details so it wasn't a good environment to fully read all the details that I was signing up to even if I could on this little screen. It wasn't until a week or so later a letter came in the post explaining that no matter what I am in this contract for a whole year that will renew unless I say I wish to cancel a month before the end date (November 2015) At that time I was okay financially and didn't see myself needing to cancel at any time, recently however I've hit bad times financially and personally and just could not see a way of being able to afford my membership this month or in the future. It was either not pay for the gym or not pay for prescriptions/bills which I deem more important in these circumstances. So unfortunately I had to cancel the DD and was going to write to the gym saying I wish to terminate my contract as there seems to be no chance I can manage the payments. I know this was wrong and I should have maybe dealt with this better but being put in the situation I am currently in a gym membership is the least of my worries. Harlands have sent me a letter saying that I need to pay fees and for this months membership (which I totally understand) but I don't know what to do as I know I won't be able to continue the future payments and want to leave the gym. Is there anything I can do?

Dear CAG, I have had similar issues as other forum members with LA Fitness engaging ARC Europe to chase for 'debt'. I received a number of letters from LA Fitness claiming I owed a months membership, then two, then that they were referring the issue to an outside agency. In fairness, I ignored this as I knew I did not, and had followed the cancellation policy correctly. Eventually I started receiving phone calls, text messages, emails, letters, and voice mails from ARC. The initial phone call I answered as it came up as a mobile number and I did entertain a couple of other calls to no result. They were fairly non-threatening, until they started escalating the costs and the severity of their threats to court and legal action. The language used was always hypothetical; 'if', 'could', 'may' etc. and because of that I was still fairly unconcerned about their legitimacy. However, I eventually received a call from a chap who was rather more threatening and aggressive in his manner - his tone and approach was quite invasive and he started putting immediate time limits on when I could pay by. He suggested that if I didn't pay by 8pm that evening there would be consequences in terms of the progression of the issue. That was enough for me, so looked on-line and found this website. It instantly validated my scepticism, and having found a couple of threads with example letters, used their content to draft the below and sent it to ARC. Given I was getting contact on a near daily basis, I haven't heard anything for a month so consider they have received and understood the letter. I would like to offer my thanks to the forum, and particularly 'slick132', for their patience in assisting others with their dealing with these companies. I can definitely understand how the nature of their communication would very easily scare many people into giving them significant amounts of money that they do not owe. I hope the below letter helps to prevent this as well. Best Dear Sir or Madam, I refer to my monthly membership at LA Fitness *location* gym. I visited the gym confirming my need to cancel. I followed this visit up with a phone call to head office. I cancelled my Direct Debit mandate via my bank after the months’ notice period on instruction. These actions are adequate notice of my cancellation of the gym agreement, as per the case of The OFT v Ashbourne Mgt Services Ltd in 2011. I am now being pursued for further payments from ARC which I will not pay. If LA Fitness or ARC continues to seek payments when I have cancelled my membership properly, I will report the matter to The OFT and Trading Standards without further warning. I owe LA Fitness nothing and I will not pay you any more. Yours faithfully,

Hi I joined a lifestyle fitness gym in October 2014, my job moved (but not my home address) so I didn't want to go to that gym anymore. I cancelled the direct debit in December 2014 - without contacting them. I knew they wouldn't let me cancel so thought no point in contacting them. I have since had a couple of letters from Harlands and CRS - the 'debt' now stands at £288.20. I know from research that they are all the same company. I have ignored every single letter... rightly or wrongly? I have never had a phonecall or an email chasing me? Now I have received a letter saying the debt will be passed to Zinc Group in 10 days. Just wondered if there was any advice on what to do next? Or just continue to ignore? I have been advised that these type of debt are not enforceable? Also, if the debt is enforceable, surely the 'debt' should somehow relate to the potential loss to the business etc? Thanks in advance

Hi All! I have been signed up with LA fitness since roughly October 2014. When I was signing my contract I stated I might change my job in few months and the person handling my contract was very friendly and assured me few times that it takes only 5 minutes to break the contract and there will be no problems, I only need a proof. In January 2015 I was going back to my country and wasn’t sure if I am going to go back. I wrote a letter and gave it to the person at the reception together with copy of proof of booking my flight ticket. She said I don’t need to worry and she will send it to Head Office. After few days she called me saying there are not enough information on the proof of booking and I need a copy of actual ticket (I didn’t have it as it was before check out). I was flying after two days and didn’t have time to bring it so I left it at that point and just cancelled my direct debit. I was back to England after few weeks and got a letter from LA Fitness with outstanding balance. I didn’t pay it and just ignored the letter. There were more letters and then ARC Europe started to chase me. I called LA Fitness saying I gave my letter and what happened to it and they said they never received it (because person at the reception never passed it). Some time ago ARC Europe called me and I confirmed I still live at the same address as I thought the call was from someone else. When I realized who are they I said that my cancelation letter got lost in the process and I don’t have any copy of letter or flight tickets anymore. The person from ARC Europe was very rude and hanged up. I got another letter now saying I owe them £440…..! And they are going to take my case to the court. I am not sure if the template letters you published are appropriate. I know it is partly my fault as I should bring my flight ticket but I went there few times before trying to cancel and they were making problems or there was no person available who could help me, that’s why I gave it up. I feel lost now. Could you advise me, please?

Hi, I see a lot of people have had similar issues and wondered if you could help me with my particular case: I signed up to my LA Fitness membership in August 2013, at the time the personal instructor told me to put my work address as the address on my account so that I would be able to cancel my membership at any time due to change of address (my home address is an hour away from where I worked). In May 2014 I changed jobs and moved closer to home I went to inform the LA Fitness branch and told them I'd like to cancel my membership. They told me I would have to call up their head office, which admittedly I did not do I simply cancelled my direct debit. In December 2014 after receiving numerous letters and phone calls from ARC, I called up the La Fitness branch and the manager told me to email him proof of my new address and the debt collecting would cease. However it has not, do you have any advice? Thanks

Hi All, This isn't really a dispute as such as they don't reply to any of my correspondence but I'm hoping to get some guidance as to what actions I could take next. Here's some background: - Made an online order 3 weeks ago for a weights machine @£550. - Payment made using V12 0% Finance (£55 deposit paid upfront and then monthly payments starting in April) - Delivery was agreed and confirmed for 23rd March. I took a day off work and waited in all day but package did not arrive. I tried throughout the day to contact them for an update but could not get through to anybody who knew about my order. Their contact number has 2 options. 1 for new sales and 1 for existing orders. Nobody picked up option 2 the entire day and not one response to my voicemails. The sales team (option 1) just kept putting me through to option 2 even when I asked them not to. It wasn't until 5.30 that someone actually helped me (I had to be very abrupt). At that point they told me the order could not be fulfilled and that they would contact me on the Friday (4 days later) to update me. - I then checked the website and it said items was out of stock until 4th April - Next day I phoned (again no luck) and used the Online chat to cancel my order due to poor service and the item being out of stock. Again, sales team were not interested. I was promised on three occasions that the manager would call me back within the hour and It never happened. - I sent an email to cancel the order too so that I had it in writing but guess what, no response. I just wanted to ensure that I had formally requested a cancellation within the 14 day cooling period. - I went about 7 days with no response or help. Just wanted confirmation that my order was cancelled and a refund of £55. - I contacted V12 finance too to tell them the situation - No response. - Last week I sent an online chat message saying that If I do not receive cancellation that I will leave a bad reviews online. Manager called and left voicemail a few hours later. Too late, I had already done it. She didn't even acknowledge my cancellation request in her voicemail. She just wanted to re-arrange delivery. You can read their reviews on Trust Pilot and see what other's also think of them also (not just me)" powerhouse-fitness.co.uk" i'm not sure what to do next. I know that £55 isn't a huge amount but it's principle and the customer service has been absolutely shocking. I'm more concerned about the v12 contract as I don't know where I stand on that. Any advise would be appreciated. Thanks Ryan

Low and behold.. another CRS issue!! I have spent a lot of time on these threads, trying to sort out my dreaded CRS issue dating back to Feb 2013! After using some of the replies in past threads, which i thank Slick very much for, i feel like i am at a dead end now. Background story goes.. Joined New Fitness Exchange in London in Feb 2013. This was a 12 month contract valued at £29.95 per month. I changed location (back to sunny Yorkshire) at the end of Oct 2013. I went to the gym to advise them of this before i left and was verbally told that was fine. I asked if i required proof and i was told no. I proceeded to cancel my DD. Months flew by, and it wasn't until August 2014 i got my first letter from them. This stated i owed a whopping £242.50 - inclusive of their ridiculous fees. I wrote to them and asked them to send me a copy of my agreement, because after thinking about it i never actually got one to take home, not only that, i was rushed through it when i joined so didnt really read it. (my bad really) They sent me a copy and it clearly stated the relocation clause. So i responded with my story of going in and letting them know verbally of my relocation. From reading my agreement, i realised i should have paid a final months membership - which i did not. So, thanks to previous posts on here, i sent out a letter offering my final month's fee as a settlement figure and asked for a response within 14 days. Attached is the whole email trail and their response. Any help would be very much appreciated LCOEN

Hi all, After some advice regarding LA Fitness and cancelling my gym membership with them. I am sorry upfront but this is going to be rather long as I want to give all the information. I joined an LA Fitness gym in Bedford on 11/06/2014. This was under a rolling 1 month contract. I paid monthly via a direct debit which comes out of my account the 31st of every month. I received an email from LA Fitness on 29th October 2014 to inform me that my gym was closing on 14th November 2014. LA Fitness informed me in the email that: LA Fitness had 2 gym's in my town, they shut the one I went to and transferred the membership to the other one. The gym's are not that far apart, only about 2 miles at most. I called the membership line on the 30th October 2014 to ask a few questions. I was worried as I biked to the gym, about where I could leave my bike at the new gym and whether the gym would be suitable for my needs, and about the cost of the new gym. I was told the cost would stay the same and the re-assured me over the bike situation. I went up to the new gym on Saturday 15th November and it seemed okay, nice and clean etc. The problem came when I went to go last night, Tuesday 18th November. Although the gym's are not far apart (and as I said I bike there on my way home from work), it is quite a bit out of my way for biking home. It took me about 20 mins longer to get to the new gym, different route and much more traffic. And, when I got in the gym at about 6.45pm, it was very, very busy (as you might expect I guess). I had to wait up to 20 minutes to get on some pieces of equipment, and I generally did not like it. Which comes to me phoning up the membership services helpline today to cancel my membership (as my terms and conditions state I should). I explained to the lady on the phone that I had nowhere to leave my bike when I got to the gym (there is a bike rack, but it was full), it is not convenient for me (the sole reason I joined the original LA gym was that it was on my bike route to and from work) and I generally didn't get on well there last night. She said that I could cancel but I need to give 30 calendar days notice and therefore my membership would not end until December 31st 2015. Again, my terms and conditions state that notice on the first day of the month following receipt of notice of termination, so again, they are right. However, do I have any rights here as they have shut my 'Home' gym? I have no wish to go up there again. They only gave me 2 days notice that they were going to shut my 'Home' gym before they took a full months payment (the gym didn't shut for another 2 weeks so had use of my home gym for 2 weeks). I tried to argue that giving notice was irrelevant as I no longer had a home gym. She said in the terms and conditions it allows them to move me to another gym. The only bit I can see that possibly refers to this is: But, not sure if that is what she is referring to? Sorry this is rather long winded, but wanted to give as much info as possible. can I get out of giving them the notice they say I owe as the transfer isn't suitable for me. Many Thanks.

Dear Consumer Action Group, Last March I cancelled my £47 per month direct debit with LA fitness. I signed up last May (2013), when I recall that I was told I'd have to pay until October 2013. Before I cancelled my direct debit, I called their phone number and the man told me that my contract lasts until October 2014, something I never knowingly agreed to. In 5 days they'll apply the "late repayment charge" of £40, and I assume in 19 days the debt collectors will be engaged. Tomorrow morning I'll go in to the branch to request a copy of the terms and conditions that I signed with them 10 months ago and a guarantee on paper that my contract with them ends in October. However I have read on the internet that LA Fitness does not respect such agreements, and extend contracts without customer permission, something I feel has already happened to me. My father says it's okay for me to keep paying until October when the contract allegedly ends, he'll help me out in paying it, but I don't want to lose £300 or more if I'm not using the gym. What can I do? Is standing my ground an option? Should I let them send in the debt collection agency? Many thanks, Adam

Hey! I joined Lifestyle Fitness on the 08/07/2014. When Harlands debited my account on the 08/08/2014, I was unfortunately short of money this day and the direct debit was returned. Unaware I received a letter from Harlands days later notifying me that the payment had not gone through and that I would incur a fee on top of the £17.99 direct debit, which I was more than happy to pay for my own recklessness. Unfortunately on the 21/08/2014 Harlands made a direct debit of £30.49 and on this occasion I was short by a couple of pence and my direct debit was returned yet again. I realised immediately and was very embarrassed to find out that this had happened a second time! I contacted Harlands to apologise and ask if it would be possible to arrange for the money to be taken out again. The woman who I spoke to on the phone was very polite, understanding and reassured me that it was fine because I contacted her straight away. I received no more letters from Harlands during September or October. As far as I was concerned money was in the bank and direct debits where set up to come out of my account as they where arranged to be. However, on the 27/10/2014 I received a letter from CRS explaining that my membership remains in arrears despite previous letters being sent to me. I have not received any letters from CRS it came as a total shock when this letter came notifying me that my account balance was an astonishing £320.13. Confused, I decided to contact CRS on the 28/10/2014. The man who I spoke to was extremely patronising and condescending. He assured me that it was my fault, despite the fact that I had spoken to somebody at Harlands and had arranged for them to debit my account again. I want to continue my gym membership. It is a 12 month contract, I have only paid for 1 month so far! I want to reinstate my direct debit and pay Lifestyle Fitness back for the months that haven’t been debited from my account. The man on the phone explained that I could either pay them £320.13 and be free from my gym contract and that I could set up a payment plan that incurred more fees. £2.50 charge every time I make a payment. Total nonsense. I explained I didn't want to leave the gym and he said that it would cost me £44 per month instead of £17.99 per month. Again total nonsense. I am appalled at how quick CRS have been to add their admin charges without warning! When I explained to the man over the phone that I hadn’t received any letters previous to the one I received on the 29/10/2014, he told me that it didn’t matter if I wasn’t notified anyway and that I still had to pay the fee because it was my fault. I found this obnoxious, rude and pretty unfair seeing as though I had actually made an effort immediately having realised payment hadn’t went through and was mislead into thinking that another direct debit had been set up. I have decided not to discuss anything further over the phone and I have written out a letter explaining this that I will send by recorded delivery to both Lifestyle Fitness and CRS/Harlands or whatever they decide to call themselves tomorrow. Just wondering if anyone has any advice they can give me I'm only 21 and I've never really dealt with anything like this before! Thanks Roxanna

I cancelled my membership to fitness first in person in their Old Street gym on 6 June and I received a paper receipt and email confirming that I had successfully cancelled. At the time they told me there was a month notice period I assumed the membership cancelled on 6 July. Now they finally claim the notice period is NOT one month but EIGHT weeks on 31 July!!! I found they were still debiting money from my account illegally. When I contacted the local gym in Old Street, the membership manager's reply was very abrupt and almost rude I contacted their head office. Their head office did NOT even reply. After waiting a week, I cancelled my direct debit and claimed the money back through the DD guarantee. Now they have appointed debt collectors even though I dispute I owe them any money. I have contacted the Citizens Advice consumer service who have passed the complaint to Trading Standards. I will be contacting the CMA next about their harassment. If Carrs continue to harass me, I will also complain to the FCA. I have been a member since 2011 but never again. What else can I do about this dishonest company?

Sorry for the long story, but if I had read this before joining I would have saved myself a ton of time and stress. LA Fitness (Guildford) is blatantly in breach of contract and my partner and I are currently in dispute with them. We recently moved to Guildford and were looking for a gym within a quick drive of our home that offered fitness classes. I don't use the floor machines or weights, just take classes.. I've been a member of at least 15 gyms in my life and usually attend classes 4-6 days/week. I know what I want and know exactly what to ask. I found that there were few options in my area, but LA Fitness was not too far so we went in to discuss membership. A manager/sales rep walked us around the gym and showed us the facilities. We weren't too impressed (not that clean or nice and an enormous pothole on the drive), but the fact that they had a variety of classes and were the only place easily accessible to us piqued our interest. We had a long discussion, explaining to our rep that we were there solely for classes (and only Yoga, Pilates, or Group Strength Training) and that we would only be attending in the evenings as drop-ins because of our work schedules. We said we did not use the machines, just classes and maybe the sauna. She said that would be no problem and gave us a class schedule, which showed classes we wanted, and explained we could either book online up to 10 days in advance or drop in, in the evenings as we wanted. We asked and she clearly stated that the were "NOT BUSY" and that we would have no problem getting into classes. This was stated multiple times and another manager even chimed in that they are really slow because there is no road signage. As we were heading out of town for Christmas/New Years, we couldn't begin using the membership for a few weeks so we asked to use the free 3 day membership advertised to try it out then we could join when we return. The rep/manager discouraged this stating that the membership price was at its lowest and would go up in the New Year. She even suggested we join that day and pay a fee to freeze the membership so we could lock in this special price, as that would be cheaper than waiting. We felt pressured and left to think about it. We were called a few days later and told that they would reduce the sign up fee so we could make sure we get this special price. We went in and signed up based on this information. We didn't want to pay more! Cut to.... We return from holiday and I log into the website to see what classes I could attend that evening. First thing I see is that the pricing did not go up at all and all new members actually received a free month. We had OVERPAID. At this point in time the price has even gotten lower and they are now contract-free. This wasn't the worst of it. EVERY SINGLE CLASS was booked. NOT ONE was available that evening or even for the NEXT 10 DAYS. There were maybe 1 or 2 slots for water aerobics in the middle of the day a few days away but nothing in the evening and nothing that I told the rep/manager that I wanted to take. The booking system only showed for 10 days out and they were 100% booked solid. I wasn't interested in booking anyway, but checked the next morning and it was the same situation, 100% booked. I called the Guildford location and explained the situation. The woman was completely bored with my plight and said that I could use the machines and that the classes were really busy. I explained that I was sold a membership based on the fact that there would be CLASSES for drop-ins, and I didn't use machines. She repeated herself and when found that I wasn't appeased she then gave me a number to call to cancel. I called and spoke with the rudest human in England. He said the same, that I could use machines and that I hadn't given him a good reason to cancel. I explained clearly that I was sold a membership based on the fact that I could take classes as a drop-in in the evening. His suggestion was to wake up at 6:00am to sign up for classes 10 days out and hopefully I would be able to make it. This was unacceptable obviously and I hung up frustrated. My partner went into the location and spoke with managers three times, including the same one who sold us the membership, and each time they told us we could cancel if we called the number, but when we called they would refuse citing "this isn't a good reason to cancel" and "classes are a luxury, not a right" and "classes are a bonus, not part of the membership". This was NOT what they had said when we joined and if they had, we obviously never would have signed on the dotted line. They never denied saying what they said about availability, but would not let us cancel. At one point they admitted that people were complaining and reduced the sign-ups to 3 days out, but this changed nothing. I tried wait-list because I felt I had no other options, but I never made it or it was so last minute I couldn't go. We never stepped foot in the gym to workout. We had paid 66 for the first month and cancelled our direct debit before they could charge more. They began to send us bills with extra fees and threatening us with collection agencies. We never stopped calling and emailing to explain our situation and they continuously refused and threatened us with bills. Finally, I did some research online and came across Citizens Advice. I explained what happened and they gave us great advice. Their words: "UK civil law defines a representation as 'a statement of fact, made during pre-contractual negotiations; as an inducement to enter into a contract'. As such, if a purchaser discovers that such a statement of fact is false, they could claim the seller has misrepresented the product and hold the seller in breach of contract. This could allow the purchaser to seek damages or rescission (be placed back into their pre-contractual status) or an indemnity for any expenses." They notified the proper authorities on our behalf (updating the info as we went along) then outlined our rights. As LA Fitness promised services that they could/would not provide, causing us to enter into a financial agreement that we otherwise would not, they were in breach of contract and the Consumer Protection against Unlawful Trading Regulations, 2008 (Section 5). They advised us that since we should try to resolve this with the company before proceeding with the courts, which we had done many times in person, via phone, and via email. They gave us a list of templates to use to send a certified letter, which we did, clearly what the situation (again) and requesting rescission of the contract and a refund of the monies paid, giving them 30 days to reply. They never replied by post, but they offered (via email) once to cancel as long as we paid the 3 months that had passed, which we refused. Then they offered to cancel and erase all outstanding monies owed, but refused to refund what we had paid. Again we refused. We shouldn't pay a pence to this company for services that they could not provide. Again, we've NEVER been able to use the gym for the purpose we joined! At the advice of Citizens Advice We have now filed a claim through the HM Courts. They charged us 25, but this will be paid back to us if we win. I fully expect to as they are clearly in breach and both my partner and I are happy to swear under oath what truthfully occurred. They have never denied stating these things and I would think that this employee wouldn't perjure themselves for the sake of this awful company. Hopefully justice will be served!!

I was after some advice please about success in cancelling gym contract I joined Total Fitness in April at £40 a month membership. Since then I have had my tax credits cut and this was paying for the membership. I have had to sell my car to bring money back into the homepot. I have sat down and tried to work out finances but I can't really afford it anymore, especially now I don't drive and have to factor in bus fairs to the gym. I appreciate that I am in a 12 month contract, but I simply cannot justify £40 a month on what I see as a luxury item rather than an necessity. Do anyone have any advice or template letters which might be able to help. Much appreciated

Hi there, I wonder if anyone can help me with this issue please? My Wife joined Lifestlye Fitness on a 12 month contract (Nothing was ever signed, although I believe thats irrelevant?) in August 2012. In June 2013 (10 Months later) she emailed the gym twice asking to cancel (due to a change in circumstances), to which no reply was ever received. She therefore stopped the Direct Debit with two months left on the contract. I wish she hadnt done this as paying the two months would have been much easier We then heard nothing else until November 2013 when 'Credit Resolution Services' sent a letter demanding £170+ for the 'debt'. The monthly fee was £12.99, so this is made up of admin fees etc. I wrote to them and offered to pay the remaining two months (£12.99 x 2 = £25.98.) but said we were unwilling to pay the massive fees. They wrote (a rather patronising) letter last week, explaining how there fees were perfectly reasonable and were caused by 'people like my wife..' HOWEVER: They did say they would take £80 as settlement as a 'goodwill gesture.' Now, if it was me, I would just tell them to get lost as I have pretty poor credit anyway, however my wife has an otherwise spotless credit history, which I am very anxious to keep. Are we better just paying the £80? I'd rather not out of principle, but I'd rather keep her credit file clean. Would a gym membership show on a credit report even though its not a credit account?. Thanks for your help.

Hi All, I've been reading through some of the other Harlands threads and there's some pretty solid advice so I thought I would give this a go. In October last year I went to Elite Fitness to get a gym membership. I was told they offer a 4 month student membership and since I'm a student I went for it! I was told it was 4 months initially but I could cancel after 3. I asked to sign up for the 4 month contract and all I had to do was fill out a small slip with details/bank details etc and it would be 24.99 a month through direct debit. A month later 64.00 was taken out my account (poss joining fee?) and 2 months later I missed a direct debit to which Harlands took a 25.00 'missed payment fee' on top of my original membership payment. I never received a copy of my contract by post or by email after I signed up. The 4 months passed and I cancelled the direct debit, now I've recieved a letter stating: "We have been advised by Harlands that your Direct Debit for your membership appears to have been cancelled for Elite Fitness. You currently have 8 months outstanding of your 12 month contract, a copy of which I have enclosed with this letter, therefore the amount due is £199.92, which equates to 8 months at £24.99 eachplus a fee of £50.00 for the 2 attempts to take the direct debit from your bank. Account settlement Payment can be made at reception with any Debit or Credit card or By BACS Transfer to: xxxxx Quoting your Reference Number with in the next seven days." Despite it stating in the email there was an enclosed copy of my contract there was not. I would have never intentionally signed up for a 12 month contract and I was obviously misled or lied to by the person who set up my contract. In addition to this, the owner of the gym has since claimed that the person who set up my contract is not allowed to set up contracts and denies that he did it. I am aware of 4 other students that signed up for the same gym, for the same contract and have all received similar letters or emails. Any advice would be appreciated, thanks!

Hi Everyone, Am currently finishing at Cardiff university, hence moving back home and trying to cancel my gym membership. Unfortunately when I filled out my gym membership I put down my parents address on the form to match where my bank account is registered. Therefore when I've tried to say am relocating back to this address they've said am registered to that address. Which begs the question why would I be going to a gym 37 miles from my parents house. I have now set them a copy of sky moving house showing I've been living in Cardiff in a rented accommodation and moving the sky back to my parents to try and show am moving. I have my doubts they'll see my point, mainly as they'll just go back to the point am registered at my parents address again. Ultimately I've only got 3 months left on my 12 month contract (£60), but I'd prefer not to have to pay it and see if what they are like after the 12 months. I would show a rental contract for the year but I rented the house through a mate so no contact was drawn up. Many Thanks, Mart

Hi I have been a member of DW fitness for quite a while now and decided I wanted to cancel my membership. I wrote a letter on the 25th October 2013 stating I was giving one months notice to cancel and that my last payment would be going out on the 2nd December 2013.I never heard anything back so thought all was fine. I then received a letter from ARC Europe Limited on the 12th February saying that I have ten days to pay £54.90 this includes a £15 admin fee. Taking into account I only payed £19.95 a month I'm not quite sure where they got this amount from. I straight away sent a letter Recorded Delivery to Arc Europe informing them I had sent a letter to DW Fitness stating I wish to cancel my membership.I also sent them a copy of that letter. I just wished I had sent my initial letter Recorded Delivery to DW Fitness. I then received a letter back on the 20th February to say I quote "Although you claim you gave our client written notice they have never received this.Therefore unless you are able to provide proof of delivery of your notice to cancel: the above balance remains outstanding and must be paid". I have yet to respond, any advice on what I should do next?

Basic summary; Have been member for nearly 2 years so well beyond the minimum 12 month period Club decided to raise fees by significant amount in February combined with T&C change My attendance has gone down due to a new job with a lengthy commute and I cannot allocate the time required to go to the gym Hence I wrote to the club 1 day after the change in T's & C's and price to cancel membership My mail requesting cancellation was not handled nor confirmed Contacted bank and cancelled direct debit Weeks go by and suddenly I get a text stating my account is in arrears I phone up and club manager states I owe them 2 months of membership fees I challenge his comments as to my knowledge, according to European law, when a company changes their terms & conditions or price the consumer needs to acknowledge and agree to these changes and if the consumer disagrees with the changes there should be an option to cancel the contract, which I have done Club states that they can change T's & C's and prices as much as they like when beyond the 12 month period regardless whether consumer agrees We can not come to an arrangement and after his repetitive denial I hang up Weeks go by again, no news, no invoices, no letters nothing Today I received a DCA letter stating "FINAL DEMAND" sent by Daniels Silverman Ltd. stating that I owe them x amount + fees and need to pay asap to prevent court action & bailiffs Please note again that I have not received ANY normal request/communication stating notices, reminders or invoices from the club Anytime Fitness HQ (which would be my next port of call) simply refuses to handle membership fee issues as on their website they state: "As each club is independently owned and operated, please contact your home club if you have a membership billing question. Use the Club Locator to find their contact information." I am fully aware that 9 out of times these letters consist of empty threats and bullying in order to scare people into paying but I would like to clarify my stance in terms of my legal position Purely out of principle I refuse to give way, I did not agree to their new terms, I have cancelled my membership accordingly, notified them in a timely manner, I have not used their services since nor should I be paying for them. If it matters, the total charge is well under £100. In my personal expectation it seems unlikely they will take this to court? Thoughts?

Hi, Bit of a strange one this, I took out a gym membership with DW Fitness on 28th April 2014 and that same day I found out that my Wife was pregnant. Thinking that the added monthly cost would be better spent elsewhere I called the gym the next day to ask if they would agree in this instance to cancel it as I have had not used the service and I could do with using the money elsewhere. The manager instantly stated that this was a 6 month agreement taken out in good faith, which I agree is correct, however, I kindly asked he if would consider. He advised me that he couldn't make that decision without speaking to someone at head office as it was not something which has happened before. I have sent an email as requested to the gym and i received no reply some 7 days later, I have again emailed him today and he has since left a voice mail to say that as he thought, he doesn't 'think' that it can be cancelled and the 6 month period must be honoured. Now, I was considered biting the bullet and completed the six months, however, in the past week my Wife has been rather ill with severe nausea known as HG for short. This has left her more or less bed bound for 4 days with no sign of improving at present, meaning I am now having to care for her and our 7 year old, meaning the gym is not likely to happen any time soon. I appreciate the 6 month contract agreement, does anyone know of any compassionate grounds where they may listen and understand my request? Many thanks Martin

Hi All, My wife and myself joined our local Lifestyle Fitness gym in October 2013. Due to unforeseen circumstances, we were unable to get to the gym for a few month's so requested that they freeze our membership until March 2014. This we put to the person at the gym. He said he would do this but failed to do so on time. He was apologetic but advised us to speak to Harlands about this. We didn't know who Harlands were. We thought they must be the gym owners, but now we know after reading posts on here!! We should have renewed our DD (as we cancelled it) in March but forgot. We have today received a letter saying that the direct debit payment had been missed and that a 25.00 admin fee would be applied, which I understand is illegal/unenforceable. When I asked them about my wife's membership which I had also requested freezing, they said that I had to speak to another department. (strange I thought). I then learn't that they had not cancelled her account and have sent it to their debt department. I am now mighty p'd off with this company as I want to be speaking to Lifestyle Fitness now some monkey debt collection/management company. Things to note. 1. We never signed a DD agreement. The gym guy sat opposite us and just asked us questions and completed it. No tick in a box or signature was asked for. 2. We have NEVER received any contract, membership details, cards or direct debit information and have never signed anything. I spoke to them today and foolishly agreed to pay half the admin fee (not knowing that they can't do this). Now I have read about them on here and after experiencing they way they have treated us today, I no longer want to do any business with this gym or their management monkeys. I read on here about the OFT and gyms here http://www.oft.gov.uk/news-and-updates/press/2013/62-13 I am pretty sure that we have a good case and should be able to just write a nice polite letter and tell them to bog off and cancel our membership.Can anyone advise on our rights? Another I noticed is that they kept referring to the "Data Protections Act" in emails and also when I spoke to them on the phone. They have never done this before so I guess they are trying to polish up their act... Can anyone advise on our rights? Many thanks for any advice you can offer. Rob

I was thinking of signing up for a membership but was advised by a friend not to. He said that for £40 a month its overpriced and ran by twits. Anyone else heard anything?