Help…I need some advice on cancelling my membership. I joined my local leisure centre gym on a special deal they were having just before Xmas 2011 .. no joining fee etc etc. I was shown round the facilities and all was fine so I signed up there and then. I recall asking, and got confirmation, that this was a monthly contract and I only needed to give 1 month notice to cancel. I asked because I had just moved in to rented accommodation on a 6 month initial tenancy so didn’t want to be tied if for any reason I moved on. After not using the gym as much as I had hoped, I decided to call the gym to find out how to cancel. This was on 4th April 2012. They asked if I was on a monthly or year contract, of course I had said monthly, they informed me as I had just missed the 1st of the month I had already missed this run so my notice would have to start from 1st May and hence another payment would be taken and membership would end at the end of May. Although harsh I have no problem with this. They then said I should send an email to an address provided to submit the notice. Within 5 minutes I received a response stating that I had agreed to a 12 month contract and I should contact customer services to discuss further. I raised it with customer services who then proceeded to send me a scanned image of the document I signed. Which, to my dismay, did show reference to 1 year however other details contradict this - the membership details show:- Membership Type: Active 1yr min Cont R D D Start Date: 01/12/2011 End Date: 31/12/2011 Instalments: 1 So although I now see that 1 year is referenced the end date showing Dec 2011 and showing 1 instalment now confuses me. I have contacted them twice, both times repeating that the sales person confirmed a monthly contract with one month cancellation notice, 1st questioning the end date, 2nd questioning both the end date together with the instalment number and both times they responded with “... you have signed for a 12 month agreement … the end date shows the end of the first instalment” the 2nd response also added that “…the number of payments is stated on the terms and conditions point 4a…” - and did not comment on why only 1 instalment was referenced. Please can someone confirm if I still have rights to cancel and how I should respond. I have not cancelled my direct debit as yet – but attend to do so after the 1st May payment is taken. Many thanks in advance for your assistance on this matter.

Hi there, I am a new CAG member so please be gentle.. I have reviewed many many of the threads already discussing the difficulties in cancelling David Lloyd gym memberships but have not found none that matches my very basic situation. My circumstances are this: My wife and I took out a joint membership in early February 2012. However, since then, we have both left our jobs so want to cancel our membership for financial reasons and because we will be going travelling soon. The contract states that the initial term is 12 months and that we need to give 1 month's notice before the end of this term to cease i.e. we have to wait (and PAY!) for another 9 months. I have of course read the T&Cs. Can anyone confirm if there is a cooling-off period we can use to end this agreement now, as we have been in for less than 2 months? Or does anyone have any tips on how to get out of it? Unfortunately, we do not have the excuses of being pregnant, being made redundant, having bad backs etc etc. Many thanks in advance!

*Noticed the title has a misspelling* Hello, I am currently a member of LA Fitness along with my wife. We are both on a 12 months contract which I pay monthly. When we joined LA Fitness we registered both of our names on the screens and was sent a Membership Agreement (Fixed-Sum Loan Agreement regulated) with our signatures which states a sum of £672.00 x 2 which is to be paid by 12 installments of £56 x 2; which is £112 for the both of us which I pay from my account. Note: A terms and conditions page was sent without our signatures. We are both 4 months in our 12 month contract. During our visits to the gym I have made a number of complaints and calls to clean the changing rooms as they are always dirty; thick dust on the air con, mold in the showers, broken gym equipment which increases the risk of injury (squat rack) and loose dumbbells which could at any moment come apart and land on you. None of my complaints were addressed or confirmed and nothing was done about it. A few days ago I was using one of the dumbbells and one end of the dumbbell came loose and landed on my knee; seems I have bruised it and will be seeing the GP as it's quite painful. I will be going in today to take any pictures of broken equipment and dirty facilities. I am now pursuing a way to cancel both of our contracts. My wife has her own contract with LA fitness which I pay for. Does anyone have any advice on what is the best way of going about doing this?. Attached is my agreements and terms and conditions. Personal details have been removed. Membership Agreement (remove spaces) http: //dl.dropbox.com/u/460884/1.jpg http: //dl.dropbox.com/u/460884/2.jpg Thanks. terms_and_conditions.pdf

Hello, I am having problems with my gym membership at Nuffield Health. I believe I was missold a 12 month gym membership (As the sales advisor said I would be able to change to a 3month contract as I was unsure when signing up and he said he would have to put down 12months on the system but this could be changed the next week when I came in). I have cancelled my direct debit and am wondering should I pay the bill as the sales person no longer works for nuffield and they are asking for payment. Kind regards,

Hiya, me and my husband joined with david lloyd december 2010. 2 weeks later discovered i was pregnant, had really bad sickness everyday all through my pregnancy but they wouldnt let me cancel my membership so iv never used the subscription anyway, my husband continued to use the gym. we signed up for 12 months so it ended in december 2011. we cancelled the direct debit at the bank and wrote a letter saying we were cancelling. We have since received several letters stating we owe £87.90 and also 3 months worth of cancellation!! We were never told this at the time of signing up to them! It does say in the contract yes, but we feel we were mis-sold the policy and they should make more clear the 3 months, which is a ridiculous notice period!! They say they are passing on my details to ARC Europe debt collection. Cannot afford to pay the fees as im only on maternity pay which ends this month and my husbands wage pays for bills etc. Anyone know what i can do? I am adamant that im not paying the fees when iv not even used the gym once since joining!

Heya. Me and my boyfriend joined a gym in a hotel close to our house. It was for six weeks as a promotional trial and when the date ended my boyfriend went to cancel it but was told by a very helpful girl at the desk that he can sign on and when he wants to cancel he needs to give 28 days notice. so...he joined again thinking that he could cancel after 28 days. now...when we first joined I signed for the 6 six weeks and he signed for the six weeks, two different documents but payed through direct debit from my bf account. when he signed another contract after those 6 weeks i was not present. now the trouble is that we wanted to cancel , and I found out that there was no possibility to cancel. after long discussion with one of the team leaders there i was offered a suspension of accounts for a year or reduction in the fee. I did not want to go for any options but my boyfriend went alone to talk with the woman and took the reduce membership. he realised that was another of their marketing/seling strategies and we want to know if we can do anything about it?

This has been an ongoing thing for some time and I was on here about 10 months ago discussing this very same case. I was at a gym, and signed up for a 12 month contract. Hit financial trouble and the gym said I had to pay anyway. When I couldn't pay any of the monthly fees they got CRS involved. I was advised on here that I shouldcontact the gym and arrange to pay the remaining £92. I did this and the gym front of house said I need to deal with CRS. I was told on here that they had to accept my payment. CRS added about £100 onto this for admin fees (it's laughable) and I was also told on here that this is technically not allowed. I moved house anyway and I signed up to the gym again and took out another year (strange how they allowed this ) (my financial situ is better now). I received a letter in my new address saying basically: ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 'Our records show that a balance of £192 remains unpaid.. A COLLECTOR from EQUIDEBT will be instructed to arrange payment with you: (IN RED) the cost of equidebt being employed will cost £79 This will bring your balance to £276. You can avoid this if you call us in 10 days and pay your balance of £197. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I knwo how this industry works, haha! They TRY to control you on fear and fear alone. I am wised up to this and will not allow my life which is moving forward to be dragged down by these **** bags! Can anyone advise..... are there any FORMS or any written documents which i can show the gym that they have to accept my payment of £92 (that i owe and am willing to pay). Please advise guys...

Hi group, Total noob to this so apols if I make any ettiquette errors. So to be succinct - Ashbourne signed up to 12 month contract (£65 per month), stopped attending, quit the club and told them, then cancelled the DD, Ash then letter hounded me for increasing amounts. Ended up paying them £135 to close the account (2 months + admin fee) as they were threatening £500 and credit agency reporting etc! (was this the right thing to do or should I have called their bluff? Seems they have a lot of bullying claims against them) 2nd, I want to leave LA Fitness and join a gym closer to work but was told the contract runs out in July. They have recently written to me to say they are upping my DD by £4 pcm as they are refurbing the gym. What can I do to get out of this contract quickly and painlessly? I am not satisfied with the gym anymore and don't want to pay more for a service I do not feel is fitting. Any help much appreciated, Thanks

Hi All, Back in 2010 my wife and I became members of Virgin Active, and my membership was a secondary membership tagged on to hers. All of the fees were paid directly from her bank account and I had very little to do with it except give her the money every month to cover my part of it. Then my wife became ill with a chronic disease and was unable to work as much as she used to or attend the gym, and we stopped going. But because of our reduced financial income some things were defaulted on, and this was one of them. This was passed on to ARC (fair enough) and we came to an agreement and have now paid for the years membership. Now, Virgin Active are contacting me, but not my wife, saying that I am still a member and the membership has rolled over. Furthermore, they want me to pay £43.95p for last month. I called them and was told that if I sent an email cancelling my membership and paid the outstanding fees, that would be the end of the matter. This was on the 26th of September. I sent the email and received no reply. Today (29th) I called them again to be told that they have received the email on the 28th, but because it wasn't sent on the 17th of the month I would have to pay another £43.95p for this month. I know that this is a major source of annoyance to a lot of people as it is plastered all over the internet. They're not asking my wife for any money, and she didn't email them to cancel here membership. This is money that we can't afford to pay, especially as we haven't had anything in exchange for it, and it just seems that every time I try to resolve the matter, they change the goal posts again. Please help.

I have been browsing this forum with interest and see there are similar stories, with very good advice from slick132. I am posting my story in the hope I can receive some advice as well. Last Thursday (28th July) I joined my local LA Fitness. I was given a cursory tour, the sales girl talked at me constantly and I wasn't shown the steam room - it was just pointed at. I was joined up on their computer kiosk, the terms and conditions weren't read to me or pointed out, the girl filled out everything and just told me where to sign. I asked if all classes were free and she said everything was included. I agreed to join for 12m, I was quite overwhelmed at that point and forgot to ask about cancellation. It was only when I got home I saw they had emailed the terms and agreement to me, stating no cancellation was allowed, unless you paid the full amount owing! The contract states I am tied in for 12months at a cost of £33 per month, £40 joining fee and then this is where it gets confusing..they sent a 'pre-contract' and an 'agreement' One states the first payment comes out on 5th August, the other that it's at the end of the month..so will I be paying £66 this month?! I decided to try the gym out anyway. However, the pool had too much chlorine in it, the jacuzzi was cold and the whole appearance was shabby. Tiles chipped off the pool, a big rusty basket in the corner and cardboard covering up damp patches. This was nothing compared to the steam room - a white cell with rust on the walls and stains on the seat. Nothing relaxing about the visit at all. I tried one more time on Sunday and felt so depressed I decided to cancel. I would add here that I subsequently found out Zumba classes have a charge. Ok, so, emboldened by stories I've read online, and articles about unfair terms etc, I drafted a letter to the LA Fitness HQ (addressed FAO the membership services team -as stated in the contract) basically laying out why I wanted to cancel and giving them a months notice. I haven't cancelled any direct debits as I don't want any black marks on my file. I have sent this recorded delivery, today. I live in Northern Ireland and had contacted ConsumerLine about this, the lady was really horrible and basically said I don't have a leg to stand on! She said it was my word against theirs re: charging for classes and I should have made sure to take a good look when I was shown round and it was all my own fault. Surely this can't be right? I understand I may need to pay some cancellation fee but can LA Fitness really demand £396 when I only went twice and cancelled after a week?! In addition to this (and this is not a road I really want to go down) I have bipolar disorder. One of the characteristics is impulsiveness, and I do believe the day I signed I was on a bit of a high. Also, I cannot take large amounts of stress, I take 2 different medications every day just to cope, and a lot of harassment from these people could push me over the edge. I have a GP who can verify this and also a psychiatrist.But as I said, I don't want to use my illness as a get out clause but I do want to make that clear, that sometimes I make decisions that aren't the best idea at the time, Thank you so much to anyone who reads this, I am sorry for the length....please, if anyone can tell me if they think I have a chance of getting it cancelled or anything else I can do, please reply.... Thank you xo

Hi all On February 4th 2010 I joined a Gym called “Club U Fitness” near Kentish Town West overground station (North West London). This gym is ran by Ashbourne Membership Management. I first heard about this Gym from a friend who said it was around £15 a month. I thought this was really cheap for a gym so I decided to head down and sign up myself. I got there and there was an American Guy running the gym who apparantly is the Owner and the “Celebrity” Gym Trainer. Anyway he spoke to me and I told him about a friend that comes here and shes paying £15 and is not tied into no long term agreements, I also let him know that was exactly what I was looking for. He said they were not doing that deal no more so he mentioned I could join for £35 a month and not be tied in or £25 a month and be tied into a 12 month contract. As soon as he mentioned 12 month contract this is when I mentioned that I was moving away from the area in August so there was no point in signing up for a long term agreement. I also told him I didn’t want to pay £35 a month because I went there expecting it to be £15 a month. This is when he said the cheapest way around it is if I join the gym on a 12 month contract costing £25 a month and then because I am moving away to University and I wont be able to access the gym I would be able to cancel it with no problem. I believed him and went to sign the contract and started training. So I paid £25 each and every month till my last payment made on July 5th 2010. I received my first letter from Ashbourne saying I needed to pay my original £35 a month and a fee on top of this, this was already wrong as I didn’t pay £35 a month I paid £25 a month. Anyway I sent of a letter explaining to Ashbourne that I was moving away and that I already spoke to the “Owner” of the gym and he said it was fine. They did not reply to me for ages, not one word! Then another letter come through saying I had to pay more this time so they completely ignored my first letter. At the time I was already living up in Sunderland (North East England) so it was hard communicating with them as they kept sending of letters to my parents address in London. After finding out they were demanding more money I sent of another letter explaining my situation. They finally got back to me saying ok we need you to prove this with two types of postal letters to your new address. I proved this straight away with a letter from my university that said I was moving into halls and a statement from the bank. This was sent just before I went on holiday in December. I came back from my holiday in January 2011 to find a letter which says I still have to pay of the amount they were asking for even though I had proved everything. I don’t see why it was needed for me to prove anything for them to just carry on demanding money. Ever since then my parents carry on receiving letters demanding money and I have wrote back to them with the same response about proving I am living away from home and I cant get to the gym. But they insist in me paying back £290. I then received a letter from Johns & Saggar Solicitors who are now chasing me down for a total of £340. They sent the letter on the 30th March 2011 and say I have 28 days from this day to settle my account to prevent further court acction. I have not replied back to Ashbourne since my last letter which they clearly ignore and I have not contacted Johns & Saggar Solicitors at all. Im not sure what to do. Any support and advice will be great. Many thanks

I searched the internet looking for advice or information about Ashbourne Management's history with customers, and was relieved to find so many people have had the same problematic experience as myself. Early summer in 2010, I received a phone call to my place of work offering me an exclusive gym membership at a price of £12 a month. Me and my partner had both just finished uni and were keen to 'get fit' after three years of poor lifestyle habits. We went to the Compass Health and Fitness Centre based in Scarborough to meet with a gym instructor and find out more information. He explained that the deal was for a limited time only, and there were only a few spaces left, immediately making us feel slightly pressured to join. We explained we were looking to join the gym, but not as a permanent measure as we had plans to go travelling at some point within the following 12 months, and didn't know when we would be back. The instructor explicitly told us that it would be fine, as we were able to cancel our membership at any time. At no point did he inform us that we were signing up for a permanent contract... which was in fact a three year contract!! Now this strikes me as slightly ridiculous anyway as I don't know anybody who would willingly want to agree to pay for three years of gym membership, and before this I had never known of a gym 'contract' that could not be cancelled. Shortly after signing up to what I thought was an ordinary gym membership, I took on a second job, and spent the summer working 60-70 hour weeks, my only day off being Sunday. I was exhausted, and had literally no time to use the gym. I felt it was pointless paying the membership, and seeing as though I was under the false belief that I could cancel at any point, I rang the gym and asked to cancel. They told me it was fine, and that I was simply to stop my direct debit. Of course, a few weeks went by and I received my first batch of threatening letters from Ashbourne Management ( I got two at once after a postal delay due to the weather) stating I owed them for two months, and now had administration costs to pay. I rung the gym up once again, who explained I had actually taken out a three year contract, and I should contact Ashbourne Management. Which I did. And was immediately told there was no way of cancelling my 'contract' unless I had a valid doctor's letter, or if I transferred the contract to a friend (I wouldn't recommend that to anyone). I politely explained that we were told we were able to terminate the membership at any point, which was the primary reason we joined in the first place, to which I was basically called a liar. I think it's really sneaky and unfair that the gym instructor acting on behalf of Ashbourne encouraged us to take out this dodgy contract when he knew full well we were leaving the country, and were under the impression we could stop it at any time. After speaking to Trading Standards, I was reassured that a verbal contract is just as strong as a written one, and that we should have every right to cancel the membership. However, from what I have read online in various forums like this one, ending the membership is by no means easy, and AM will eventually threaten me with negative points on my credit rating. I have written a formal letter to AM as advised by Trading Standards, and will be sending it by recorded delivery this afternoon. I am eager to see what the initial outcome is. I have already read of someone who took the company to court last year and won the case, which has encouraged me to gather any evidence and information against them. I really decided to post my story on here to see what anybody has to say, or hear any advice or comments from anybody, whether you have had personal dealings with the company or not. I think I'll need all the moral support I can get!

I tried to commence a gym membership with local LivingWell Health Club in January; I filled in my name, address, telephone number and email - but NO OTHER DETAILS on an application form, but did not have my bank account details - so was told to return with those details and finish completing the application. I returned with bank details - receptionist wrote on a piece of paper, but was not given form to complete, and awaited further contact by management. I had to pay an initial 1 month charge on-the-spot, to be able to start using gym and direct debit for rest of membership was supposed to kick in after then. Despite several attempts on my part to ask about my application, was told "not to worry" by receptionist staff. And, management never available. Even when I asked, or phoned and arranged to come to gym at a time when a manager was due to be in (!) Three months later, I received a letter from LivingWell telling me there was a problem getting money from my bank. I phoned the manager as requested, and - after a lot of pilava - was told it was "their admin error" and my direct debit had not been set up properly. I had to take time out of work to go and sort out and pay a lump sum for 3 months use of the gym in person. At this point, I asked to terminate my membership - but the manager informed me I was unable to do this and was tied in for 12 months. I disputed this - and said I had never signed up, but manager maintained this was the case. The direct debit was supposedly sorted out by me coming in person and paying the lump sum. After another 3 months, I got the ARC debt collectors (who are employed by LivingWell) clubs sending me impolite, urgent and pressurising phone calls while I was at work. 3 of these phone calls were rude, accusing me of being a liar, and threatening to take immediate legal action if I did not pay up a sum of £142 right then. I did not pay, but when I went into the gym (management, again not available to deal with!!) I asked for my original application and CCA; it showed that I had not signed the CCA or gym application. A staff member had filled in the top staff part and put "12 months", but I was never made aware of that or had knowledge of that. Therefore, I believe I am not liable - please can I have advice?? Especially on terminating and getting the ARC debt collectors off my back! Many Thanks!

Hello there, This is my first time posting so please bear with me. Basically, on the 14th January this year i made the unfortunate decision to become a member of Fitness First. To cut a long story short, after a few months I realised what a crappy environment it was and decided to get outside more. So.. I wrote a letter of cancellation and just cut my direct debit off. A little while letter the letters started. I ignored them. Turns out now that i signed a 12 month contract and i owe CARS £313. I sent them the attached letter (which i took from a suggestion of another member on a different thread) and have now received one back with a copy of my contract attached and further demands for my money. Ok, here are my issues as i obviously dont want to pay this back. 1) The contract was never explained to me in the first place. I know its he says/she says but the sales guy literally just said "yeah mate just sign this for the direct debit and I'll get your free gifts sorted". He was clearly rushing me and i just went ahead and did as he said. 2) Fair enough i was fooled into getting into a contract but surely they cant be charging me for a years worth of service they're not even going to provide me with? - For one, i was promised 2 free personal trainer sessions and that they would contact me about them after joining. Funnily enough they never did this. I really dont want to pay this bill on principle. If i have to i will offer the lowest repayment possible but i want to fight these con-merchants all the way. Advice for the next steps for me to take from some of you wiser people would be most appreciated. Thanks! P.s. They seem to have totally skipped over the point that i wrote a cancellation letter in the first place. I didnt get proof of postage so can i assume they 'misplaced' it? cars.doc

Hi all, Well, i joined fitness first back in august 09' and took out a 12 month contract. i worked out for just over 4 months and had to leave due to breaking my arm, notified fitness first of this and they asked for proof from GP which i sent directly to head office. no news for a week then a letter about missed payments. i called and they said they had not recieved the letter. after a while i then recieved a letter from C.A.R.S. Debt collection demanding £204, How? I am completely torn to peices over this and i am loosing focus of other important things like college and family. I really need help on how to deal with this, could someone please give me some advice. Thanks alot. P.S i am 17 years old, i signed up while i was 17 years old and the parent signiture of my contract was forged, i was not made aware of this when i signed the contract.