Hi, Just wondered if anyone could give me any advice. Joined Xercise 4 Less Jan 2013 - on a 12 month contract. Didn't go very much - in fact I hadn't been since July 2013. Realised April 2014 that they were still taking £9.99 month and cancelled the direct debit - directly with my bank. Didn't realise the problems this would cause! I have today received a letter from Harlands claiming they sent me a letter on the 22 April 2014 asking me to pay £9.99 outstanding subscription and £9.99 cancellation period - plus now a £25 default fee - because I didn't respond to the last letter - which I never received! I rang them immediately - to say I hadn't got that last letter and while I might be prepared to pay 9.99 outstanding (and even 9.99 for cancellation period) I was not prepared to pay £25 for default fees. They then offered to drop this as a 'goodwill gesture' to £12.50. I then asked to speak to a manager -who told me the same thing. They said their records show that this letter had been sent - and it was my word that it hadn't! I said that I would be getting some legal advice and so they have frozen my account for 2 weeks - but if I don't pay them by the end of the month they will add another £25 to that. I probably could afford to pay them - as in we would do without some things - but I am outraged that this happens! They can charge me although I never received a letter?!! For the principle of the matter I would like to know if I have to pay the £25 (or perhaps £12.50 they offered me eventually) - or if I can not. I'm happy to pay the other £20 i apparently owe - although I do think that it is rather unfair to be placed on a rolling contract - when I only signed for 12 months - but I presume this was in the small print and I should have been more careful. Or maybe I should save myself the hassle and pay up before it becomes £50? Many thanks for any advice:) Sarah

I joined Gymetc in November 2015, cancelled my direct debit in October 2016 after phoning the gym and being told I should cancel my direct debit. 2nd November 2016 my first letter from Harlands - I phoned them explained I had cancelled, I was told to phone the gym as they hadn't cancelled my membership. When calling gymetc said I should provide written notice of cancellation, I emailed them the same day asking them to cancel my membership and also mentioning I had contacted them by telephone in October. Another letter from Harlands 30th November 2016 adding more money onto what they say I owe - I again called explaining and they said they would get in touch with Gymetc as they hadn't received notification of my cancellation. I called Harlands a week later asking if they had a reply from the gym which they hadn't. They were chasing it. 10th January letter from CRS (Harlands) adding more fees. I again called and they we're again calling Gymetc to query. 8th February another CRS letter - the one where they threaten legal action. Since cancelling I found out I didn't start paying my 12 month contract until January 2016. I therefore believe I owe two monthly amounts to complete the 12 months, £21.99 x 2 = £43.98. I found CAG and started reading similar stories, I will no longer talk over the phone and have ignored text messages and calls since. I sent a letter to Harlands/CRS using a template I found on here. I offered £43.98 and a response within 14 days. I've received a letter today declining my offer of £43.98. It starts by saying cancelling my direct debit was not adequate notice of my intention to cancel. It mentions the case of the office of fair trading versus Ashbourne Management services ltd. It waffles on about all the charges and that I owe £196.48 but they would be willing to accept a reduced sum of £146.48. What would you advise I do next? Many thanks for your help!

I am seeking some advice, I signed up for a gym membership in January 2015 under a 12 month contract in GymEtc Preston, Lancashire. In May 2015 I had to move back to Northern Ireland I asked a receptionist at the gym if I could cancel my membership but they told me I couldn't as it is a contract I took their word for it. As I was moving and had no job to go to I had to cancel the direct debit. I cancelled the direct debit in May 2015, my last payment was 1st May 2015. Harlands/CRS act on behalf of the gym (which I wasn't aware of at the time of signing up) they then started sending me letters chasing me for money - a total of £410. I agreed to pay them £15 a month beginning October 2015 and because I was paying instalments they charged £2.50 per installment which then added another £100 onto the balance making it £510. It wasn't until recently I started looking into this more and reading reviews on Harlands/CRS, which aren't good as all. I had already paid 4 installments of £25 to the gym before I cancelled the direct debit. If I had of stayed with the gym at £25 a month I would a paid a total annual cost of £300. I then called Harlands/CRS to see why the amount was so high to which they said there were 9 months of payments left on the contract totalling £225. Also 2 x £25 for missed payments, a debt recovery fee of 36% which was £99 and £36 for tracing me to my new address. The only terms and conditions of the gym mentioned on their website are; - If you fail to pay any monies due under this agreement or if any Direct Debit is returned unpaid or any cheque is returned unpaid or if any other form of payment is not honoured for whatever reason , you shall pay us on demand an administration fee of £25 (which we require to cover our costs of seeking to pursue such payment from you). - If you fail to pay any amount due under this agreement for a period of more than thirty days , then we may pass the debt to a third party company for collection. The reasonable and direct costs incurred in employing the third party company will be borne by you including costs in tracing you if you have changed your address without telling us. In the terms and conditions it states: CANCELLATION •Relocation: This agreement can be cancelled in the event that your new permanent address I s more than 15 miles away from the facility upon receipt of a copy utility bill or bank statement showing the new address. I have since spoken to the gym and they have waived all their fees and said they would backdate any debt agency fees for my relocation to the month I moved (May 2015). I have already paid Harlands/CRS £105 and they are still wanting £99 for their fees. Are the fees they are charging enforcable by law from what is mentioned in the contract terms and conditions? I contacted the FCA to see what they could do and it turns out that Harlands/CRS are no longer regulated by the FCA so they can't do anything about it, however they were regulated by the FCA at the time I became a member of the gym. They said any rules would only apply if the agreement with the gym was a consumer credit agreement, which I emailed the gym and they have replied saying it is a consumer credit agreement. I then complained to the Financial Ombudsman as stated in my terms and conditions that I could do so: "CONSUMER CREDIT ACT 1974 (”THE ACT”) You have a right to complain in relation to consumer credit matters to The Financial Ombudsman Service. CRS sent me a letter to confirm the receipt of the complaint to the Financial Ombudsman. They also added, Please be aware that the contract you entered into is not a credit agreement and therefore outside of their jurisdiction to deal with. We can confirm the administration fees of £25 are stated in your contract. It is also stated you would be liable for our debt recovery costs and trace fees. In view of this we maintain that all fees are valid and legal." They have attached a copy of terms and conditions which are Harlands terms and conditions and not the gyms, which is not what I signed up to originally. Then they have also increased the balance from the agreed £99 to £212.50. The issue is no longer regarding the gym as they have waived their fees from the month i moved back home to Northern Ireland. The gym have told me it is a credit agreement, Harlands/CRS have told me it's not. I have already paid them £105 and they are still wanting £99, plus for paying that back by instalments another £2.50 per instalment charge would be added!!! I don't want anything going on my credit file and definitely not a CCJ/DEFAULT. What should I do? ***PLEASE NOTE: ANY PHONE CALLS I HAVE MADE TO HARLANDS/CRS HAVE BEEN RECORDED ON MY PHONE SO I HAVE PROOF OF CONVERSATIONS MENTIONED*** I would be so grateful of any help I can get. Thank you in advance

Hi all Me and my partner both joined a Harlands gym in October 2016 and it has been the worst decision we ever made. When signing up we weren't given a tour round to see the facilities or offered any free-day passes or anything like that and was told me needed to sign a 6 month contract which was £22 via DD before we were even allowed in the gym. We reluctantly agreed because the gym is our local was disappointed to find that there was a severe lack of equipment in the gym and was very unsuitable for our fitness needs. For example it didn't have a squat rack, a bench press, and the dumbbells only went up to 30kg and there was only a single pair of each weight available. Some of the equipment machines were also unusable as a few of the tread mills and cross trainers were constantly out of order, and to top it all off they were constantly redecorating the gym so it stunk of paint/solvents and there were always painters and decorators walking around when you were walking off. Considering the size of the gym was also very very small, it was constantly overcrowded and the paints sometimes bumped in to you when you were working out! After three months of disappointment and telling the gym staff our concerns, me and my partner informed a member of staff on the reception that we would be cancelling our DDs because of the above reasons and the fact I had also been made redundant so we couldn't afford the memberships anymore as well as running a household. The member of staff agreed and said that was fine so I thought that would be the end of the case. A month after this the letters and harassment from Harlands began. They said that we had cancelled our DDs before the contract was up and demanded all monies owed to be paid as well as admin fees. After reading this forum quite a bit, I decided to heed other users advice of completely ignoring them which worked for a while. After a few months of this, Harlands passed the debt onto CRS who are calling me and my partner every single day and sending us sham letters saying that if we don't pay the debt they will send bailiffs round to our house to collect it! I know these guys are chancers and bank on people getting scared and paying, but I am determined to not let them win. The amounts both me and my partner owe are roughly £180ish each after 4 months of £22 membership fee and then the same on top in admin fees. We last paid our memberships in January 2017. Has anyone got any advice for me on what to do or should I just keep ignoring them? I really don't mind sending a strongly worded letter to their head office or the manager of the gym but don't know how to word it or what to include apart from the obvious. Ideally I just want them to bugger off and leave us alone! Thanks in advance for all your help!

Hi Morning all, Decided to join Exercise4less 4ish years ago,Went 3 times cancelled my DD Nov 2015 I know I didn't read small print regarding membership,recieved letter demanding £9.99 + £25.00 admin fee,So i called them up was told I would need to fill in an online cancellation form which I did, Ive heard nothing since until yesterday when letter arrived demanding £171 inc fees of £66.50 , Any advice appreiciated, Many thanks, Paul.

Evening you beautiful lot. 1st time poster, be gentle! Lowdown- Cancelled my gym membership as per the gyms advice, which was to email the gym, cancel the dd on my account via the bank, then that's pretty much it. Receive a dd from "Harland group" for £32,00. No thanks- cancelled, indemnity claim put in, as i had no clue who these people were, after cancelling my gym membership in may. Have received a letter since then saying "we weren't informed that you were cancelling, so we have correctly collected the funds". Wrote them an email stating i had cancelled as per detail through the gym, with the email thread linked to it. Come home to another letter today, but now for £57.00 for the liberty of the £32, plus a lovely Admin charge. whatever that is. I've seen that we shouldn't really contact them by phone, but don't fancy having another letter through, or someone knocking on my door for £57 . Whats the best way to deal with this? Any help would be mega. Thanks!

Hi all! Thanks for all your advice on these forums! They've helped a tonne and I've tried to keep well informed. I thought I'd just ask for some advice to make sure that I'm not doing anything wrong 26 Nov 2015 - Xercise4Less Membership for 12 months 26 Dec 2016 - Last payment made of £9.99. At this point I filled on the form online and cancelled my DD. And then the troubles and the letters started... 28th Jan 2017 - I sent a letter to Harlands using the templates I found on here stating: - I cancelled my DD on 28/12/16 as adequate notice of my cancellation of gym agreement - That I will offer a further £9.99 if they confirm in writing in 14 days this as full settlement of all amounts due. 1st Feb 2017 - Letter from Harlands stating that "All cancellations go through the Xercise4lEss website and that unless they have confirmation from the Xercise4Less head office to cancel, they cannot action my request" As per advice from this forum, I've ignored all further emails, letters and phone calls. 9th Jun 2017 - Letter from CRS stating an account balance of £171.47 and that I have 10 days before the balance is passed onto Zinc. I'm pretty sure that I should ignore further letters but was just wondering if there was something I missed or something that I should do? Again you guys are great! Fortunately I have the means to pay for this if it came to do it but I am not paying out of principle but it makes my blood boil to think of the kind of people they manage to extract money from

Hi. I have been reading the very helpful posts re Harlands and would like some advice on my current issue with them please. I joined a local gym with no contract and 2 months ago my direct debit bounced. This was entirely my fault and I immediately paid cash at the gym instead. I then received an email from Harlands advising me that as payment had been rejected I owed them 19.99 + 25.00 admin charge. (At no time have I ever been informed that an admin fee applies, nor have I ever signed a contract). They said they would be taking payment of this £44.99 in 10 days time. I replied to their email telling them I had paid cash (19.99), and that I was not advised of any admin fee, and that I had cancelled my direct debit therefore do not attempt to draw on it in ten days time as I had already paid the gym. They did, of course, and I then received another letter telling me that as the dd had been returned I now owe them 69.99. I replied by letter, setting out the facts, and telling them to contact the gym to confirm that my membership is not outstanding. I also phoned them twice. I also paid this months 19.99 in cash to the gym, and have now received a Harlands letter telling me that I now owe them 94.99 - the letter states that "they note that I have not contacted them", when I've phoned twice, send one email and one letter. I have now set up another dd with the gym to start on 1st June - but we've set it up on my mum's bank account so they can't attempt to take this "arrears". My question is - should I pay them the original £25 admin fee to get them off my back? I was at fault as there weren't sufficient funds, but on the other hand I have never signed a contract or been informed of any admin fee. I am not in arrears at the gym, although Harlands are still trying to take 1 x 19.99 as well as their 3 x 25.00 Any advice of where I legally stand would be much appreciated. They have given me until the 22 May before they pass it to a Debt Recovery company many thanks

My son was billed by Harlands for a cancelled DD and an admin fee. I did not want to get into copious amounts of correspondence with them over the issue, so I advised him to pay the £39 claimed. I then issued a Moneyclaim online summons to Harlands for the £39 plus the court fee. They did not bother to defend and a judgement was entered against them. A final letter to them advising that if they did not pay the judgement within 14 days a bailiff would be appointed at a further cost of £77 plus bailiffs fee. Within 48 hours they had paid in full. If ever I have a dispute with a company, I always pay in full to avoid any possible credit rating issues, and then retrospectively sue. To me, this is easier than entering into months of fruitless correspondence.

Hi everyone, It seems I'm not the only one being hounded by CRS on a daily basis. I was bought a gym membership in my own name (without my knowledge initially) last year as a Christmas present. It was my local gym at the time. I went to the gym for around 10 months before the gym were given notice that I was moving away from the area. They had a couple of months notice. My parents didn't send this recorded delivery as they never thought this would happen. A couple of months passed and I got a letter from the gym saying that I hadn't given notice - I had already moved at this point and my parents (who started the contract) received it. They were given notice once again saying that I had moved out etc. My "debt" was then passed to CRS who are phoning me several times a day. I have explained to Harlands that they have passed my details to a third party without my consent - I did not start the contract and I never paid a penny for anything in my name. My parents started it and paid it for me as a present. Harlands refuse to talk to my parents on the phone. Harlands also refuse to discuss anything with me as it "has been passed downstairs to CRS". From where I'm sat I'm being chased for a debt I don't owe. I didn't start the contract, I didn't sign anything and they were given notice (by my parents). CRS tell me that they will be sending letters to me if I refuse to speak on the phone. I've explained I don't live there anymore - so they tell me they will give the debt to their solicitor who will trace me and I'll be charged for it. Any thoughts guys? The original debt was about £75 I think and now we're at £280 ish...all "admin charges" and "penalties" of course. Thanks, LittleFanta

Hi, I am new to this site. My son received a letter from the bank the weekend stating that Harland s had tried to take money but there were insufficient funds to take the money. I phoned the bank for him and they are not charging him for this. As far as I was aware he had joined the gym last September being told by the staff that he could cancel anytime. Being that he is aspergers I'm pretty sure they must have said this to him. He told me that he phoned x4l when he had the letter and they told him he needed to make sure the money was in his bank by 24th which is tomorrow plus £25 admin fee for not leaving funds in his account. he was only 17 when he joined which they shouldn't have given him the membership which I didn't realise until now. I phoned x4l this evening to explain the situation and ask if I paid the £9:99 would that be sufficient. The girl was quite rude, I said that he was only 17 and shouldn't have been allowed, told her that the girl in reception told him to alter his d.o.b to make him look over 18. She said well he is 18 now, if he were still 17 then I would be obliged to cancel but he's not so it needs to be paid and unless the money in the account tomorrow the charges will increase.And that I consumptive this was said to him. I have reinstated his harlands acc with the bank and I intended to put the £35 in tonight ready but after reading this site I am unsure what to do....please can you advise asap please. Many thanks

Hi, Having an issue with these people not rush fitness anymore because apparently they have nothing to do with it now. So my story is, i signed up to rush gym in October 2016 and as i am told this is a 12 month contract which i didn't really understand at first because when i signed up online i saw something about no contracts but anyway. In January 2017 i wanted to cancel my gym membership as i could no longer afford the fee's as i was unemployed and the direct debit was coming from my mums account who is also unemployed and is claiming benefits as she was diagnosed with breast cancer and she stopped working. I then called my gym (rush fitness) and was answered by a women whos name i do not know now because its been a while anyway i explained the situation to her and she said yeah thats fine i will get that cancelled for you and you can cancelled your direct debit too. Got silence and peace of mind for a while now, until around the 20th feb when i recieved a letter from harlands saying they were unable to collect my installment and they added a £25 pound admin charge...(17.99+25.00=42.99 arreas) i called harlands and told them that i had cancelled my membership in jan and was told to cancel my DD. They replied with not their issue and i should contact the gym and i should re-instate the DD and pay the admin charge which i just cut the phone on him as he was very blunt! I called my gym and spoke to another rep and this time it was a male, i explained the situation to him and he then went on to saying that i couldnt cancel over the phone and he doesnt know who i spoke to and i couldnt remember her name either. He told me the only way to cancel was online so i should re-instate my DD for the time being but i dont have the money so he said i should contact harlands about that. i went online and again went through a cancellation process and recieved an email saying that i ahve to provide proof in which i did reply that i was not currently working and my mums medical issues and how we couldnt afford it. On the 18th of march now i recieved a phonecall which i missed on my phone but still have the voicemail of from connor from rush gym who contacted my to say that i hope everything has gone well and my membership is cancelled and if i wanted to leave feedback.(i heard this voicemail late). On the 23rd of march 2017 i then received another letter from harlands saying that they refer to me from their previous letter and my arreas have doubled to £85.98.... now im getting annoyed as hell! in the same letter it says and i quote word for word 'if you do not contact us by the 6th of april 2017 your balance of £193.92 will be passed on to a debt recovery company who will add their fees to your account. So somehow the charges jumped from £85.98 to £193.92 if i didnt contact them. i tried calling a few times but no answer so again i got advice from other people and they said to just ignore them they cant do anything to you and all these charges are not enforceable by law! Then the letter from CRS came on 25th april 2017 saying that they have been employed by rush fitness as my membership remains in arreas despite previous letter being sent to me and now they have are charging me £263.73. Where do i stand now? Any help is much appreciated and slick132 if your reading this i see you are the genie in these situations! can post pics of letter in a PDF format if needed!

Hi all, Receiving the usual CRS monetary demands after they're claiming that I am in arrears. I have looked for advise as a lurker on this forum before and have sent one letter to them but it's gotten to the point where I would like personal advise on what to say (if anything at all) to Harlands. The second letter I received from them is a bunch of waffle that seems to want to scare me into paying but I am not sure what to reply with - hence me coming here. Some background - I joined Xerise4less (Hull branch) on a 12 month contract in September 2015. I fulfilled the contract and e-mailed Xerise4less requesting cancellation on to two separate occasions: on 29th October 2016, and 12th November. I only received an e-mail back on 15th November telling me that my cancellation was being processed. Worth noting that I didn't attend during the last 6 or so months of the contract. Due to monetary concerns and the fear that I would be charged another £9.99 (one month according to the contract), a fear that I felt was founded to their lackluster response time, I cancelled my direct debit with them a day or two after receiving the e-mail. This triggered the CRS dispute and now they want £207.47. Fast forward to 7th February 2017 and I receive a letter stating the following: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Letter no.1 from CRS Dear Mr.XXX, We've been employed by Xercise4less as your membership remains in arrears despite previous letters being sent to you (NB - I did not receive a prior letter). As a result of this, our fees totalling £102.50 have been added. Therefore, your account balance now stands at £207.47. We want to reach an amicable resolution with you! (NB - What followed was the usual giving of options for me to pay or continue with my membership) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Receiving this was quite the shocker so I went online and stumbled upon people experiencing the same issues on this forum. After reading the countless threads and following the advice of mst notably slick132, I sent them the following letter back: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Letter from me Dear sir or madam, I refer to your letter of 7 February 2017, referencing: CRS Ref No. xxx, xercise4less Ref No:xxx. This is the first letter I have received regarding this matter. For clarification my current address is: xxx I joined on minimum 12 month agreement in September 2015 and paid the full 12 months as well as an additional month. I sent an e-mail requesting that xercise4less cancel my membership on 29 October 2016. I received an e-mail back on 15 November 2016, notifying me that my cancellation would be processed. Because of this late reply and my current financial hardships I cancelled my direct debit mandate soon after to ensure that no further money would be taken. This was also adequate notice of my cancellation of the xercise4less agreement, as per the case of The OFT v Ashbourne Mgt Services Ltd in 2011. However, I now realise I should have given Harlands or the gym a month's notice before cancelling the direct debit. I now offer to pay one final month's fee of £9.99 to end this matter. I will not pay any unlawful admin fees added by Harlands/CRS. Before I pay, I need you to confirm in writing that my payment will be accepted in settlement of all that I owe. My offer is valid for 14 days and, if you make demands for any higher amount, I will pay you nothing. I look forward to your reply. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- After reading the multiple threads I knew I was in for a fight. The second letter I received is the one that caused a bit of concern - my mum is worried about bailiffs although I've assured her that they won't come. This is it (warning long post): ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Letter no. 2 from CRS (8th March) We wish to advise that cancelling your direct debit was not adequate notice of your intention to cancel. The terms of your agreement specifically state that you must give notice in writing. We have received similar claims before. You are mistaken with regards to Mr. Justice Kitchin's ruling. Such a statement does not appear anywhere in Mr. Justice Kitchin's judgement. A legal precedent can only be drawn from a ruling but the statement you rely upon appears in the Penal Notice issued specifically to Ashbourne Management Services Limited, advising them what they must and must not do. This only applies to Ashbourne Management Services Limited because contracts 1-13 examined in this case were found to be unfair and thus unenforceable. Xercise4less contracts have not been supplied by Ashbourne Management Services Limited and have never been deemed unfair by a judge. There is, therefore, no reason to believe that the terms regarding how a member may terminate their agreement will not be enforceable in other instances. We are unable to accept your offer of £9.99 as sufficient to settle this debt because more than one month has passed without payment. As you did not complete the cancellation procedure, the club were bound by the contract to hold your membership open for you. A service has been provided during this time, at cost to the club, whether you attended or not. With regards to your comments that our charges are penalties, it is our position that all charges applied to this balance are to over actual and necessary costs and thus are not penalties. Lord Dunedin, when considering whether charges stipulated at the outset of the agreement were penalties, set out in Dunlop Pneumatic Tyre Co Ltd v Motor Co Ltd (1914) that: 'It is no obstacle to the sum stipulated being a genuine pre-estimate of damage, that the consequences of the breach are such as to make precise pre-estimation almost an impossibility. On the contrary, that is just the situation when it is probable that pre-estimated damage was the true bargain between the parties (Clydebank Case, Lord Haisbury; Webster v. Bosanquet, Lord Mersey).' The above applies to the charges of £25.00 applied by Harlands and also in regards to our own collection fees of £66.50 both of which are pre-estimates of the average costs incurred from defaulted agreements, but which vary from case to case and cannot be precisely calculated in advance. We believe, therefore, that these charges do not constitute a penalty and are this fully enforceable. For the above reasons it must remain our position that the balance of £207.47 is correct and due. We may be able to negotiate on this sum, but would require you to contact one of our telephone negotiators on 01444 449 165 in order to do so. Payment can be made (NB - Address, no. etc. they give with intent for me to pay) Please ensure a payment or response is received within the next 7 days, so we can avoid further action being taken. Yours sincerely, David Castle -------------------------------------------------------------- I guess my request is - Was my first letter sufficient? What should I respond with? Should I respond? Help is greatly appreciated Thank your for your time!

Hi to all community, I am here newbie but before I register with you I read through many other related threads and now I know that Harlands and 'friends' is a [problem] company and they don't have any legal rights. I would like to get help with this just to make sure that I do the right thing. my situation: I decided to join Xercise4Less gym on 31st of May 2016. I signed for £9.99 11 month's contract membership. After 4 month's I read very bad reviews about this gym and all other threads related. I decided to cancel my membership through their website twice but their reply came back negative. After I called Harlands and asked if it's possible to pay all the rest installments and she answered yes you can but it is not possible to cancel membership with them. in the end I agreed to pay all the rest and also I cancelled by myself my DD with them as I know that they keep taking people money after term. Now after 8 month's I received letter from Harlands on 10th of May 2017 saying that: Dear ... Harlands administer the collection of all payments due under your membership agreement with X4L. Your bank have advised us that your April instalment has been returned unpaid 'instruction cancelled'. You have therefore been charged a £ 25.00 administration fee which means you need to pay £ 34.99 to bring your account up to date. Call blah blah blah so we can collect this by Debit/Credit card and reinstate your DD over the telephone. If you wish to pay by another method, you must still phone to discuss your options. If you do not call us by 23 May 17 you will be charged a further £ 25.00 administration fee. Our tel. line open blah blah blah. Your sincerely, Harlands Harlands I would be really thankful if you could help me with this further. Thank You, meistar91

Hi everyone After a quick Google, I see I am not the only one having issues with Harlands and Xercise4less. You will like this one. Please bare with this one as it is a little long winded. My son and I joined Xercise4less in (I think) October 2016 as my son wanted to join a gym and we went along to see all about it. I went with my son as he was/is under 16, he is 15 and I knew there would be some kind of parental consent required. After chatting to the sales rep, I explained that I was involved in a very nasty accident just weeks earlier which resulted in broken ribs, torn muscles and limited movement in my arms and he advised that me joining the gym would help with any rehab, so upon this advice I joined at £9.99 a month. My details were taken and a membership set up. Then it was my sons turn to sign up. The sales rep took the details of my son, but rather than putting us down as some kind of family membership, they gave him his own (min age 18) membership so he could visit the gym on his own. We paid our joining fee and left with our Xercise4less goody bag. Please note that I had no knowledge of any age fixing. Cut a long story short, due to my injuries sustained in the accident, I am on light duties at work and I am still unable to fully partake in any gym activities and we have only been once or twice to the gym since joining and on both occasions, I just observed my son. I dont allow my son to go alone as he is just 15, so we are canceling his membership aswell. Heres where the fun starts. I recently found out that I could cancel my membership due to ill health and went to my local gym to see how. After explaining my situation and that my son would have to end his membership, the sales rep was very understanding as said that they will help me sort it out. The documents I took to prove ID was our passports and also my 10 page doctors report on my physical and mental injuries after my accident. First was the cancellation for my son. The scanner was not working to scan documents, so the sales rep used their own mobile phone to take images of my sons passport and forward those images to their company email. They then went through the process of cancelling my sons membership. A few days later, I received an email to say that my sons membership was cancelled. Happy days (or was it)!! Then it was my turn to do the cancellation form. Again, the sales rep whipped out their phone and took images of all 10 pages that contained sensitive medical information. Long story short (again) after 30 minutes of trying to send more than one image (you can only send one image on the cacellation page) we ended up taking an image of 2 pages on one picture to send. I got an email a day later saying that this was not an accepted form of doctors letter and all I needed was a doctors note from my GP saying I could no longer continue with any gym activities. COME ON, you just had a 10 page document telling you I am not fit and have a prognosis on some conditions of 18 months!!!! What with one thing or another, I missed a payment due to insufficiant funds in my account and received an email from Harlands saying that they will be applying a charge of £25 and that they will attempt to take £34.99 out on the 22nd. I called them up to explain that I do not get paid until 25th and that I was in dispute with Xercise4less due to me having to make an appointment to see my GP to get a doctors note. The person I spoke to said they will postpone the direct debit until 8th May to give me time to get my note and to sort things out. On 24th April, they attempted to take funds from my account I called them and they denied they had. I then asked if my sons membership had been cancelled and this is what I got "I am sorry, but I can not discuss his account with you as we need his consent to discuss his account with you". After I explained that he is under the age of consent at the age of 15 they said that is not what his records say. Apparently, the person selling us membership falsified my sons age so that he was able to give him a full membership instead of a family membership. They entered his D.O.B as being born in 1991 and because his age according to their records is over 18, they would not discuss it further. I then asked about my account and the details I gave were incorrect so were unable to proceed with the call and advised me to contact the gym. Another admin cock up shows me living at another address a mile down the road. They didnt enter my postcode correctly at sign up so Harlands can not discuss my account with me either. SOoooooo, I go back to the gym and ask to speak to the gym manager because this time I wanted to speak to the organ grinder. He was a helpfull guy who took my email and he asked me to send a PDF of my 10 page medical report to him. He said "Thank you for sending this over to me, I have forwarded this on with a request to terminate. If I require any other information I will be in touch other than that please assume it has been terminated correctly. Thanks again for your time today." Today I have received a letter from Harlands saying that their submission for £34.99 had been returned as "return to payer" and that a further charge of £25 will be added making a total of £59.99 in arrears. This is because they attempted to take it out on the 24th which they denied they had. The best bit is that the letter says that I must call them before 9th May to avoid further charges. THEN TALK TO ME AS THIS IS MY SONS ACCOUNT THEY KEEP ADDING TO WHO IS UNDER THE AGE OF CONSENT!!!!! I can only assume that they are sending letters to the other address I dont live at. Please advise as nobody wants to talk to me BTW, should I cancel my direct debits with the bank?

Hey Guys, It hasn't taken me long on this site to realise that you have dealt with a lot of situations regarding Xercise4Less and Harlands/CRS so, whilst that is comforting, I am still rather nervous as they continue to demand extortionate amounts! I'll keep it as brief as possible: Currently I am working abroad in Valencia, therefore I wished to cancel my Xercise4Less membership (I had membership for over 12 months.) I used their website for cancellation on the 19th December and received an automated email, saying I would receive official confirmation within 30 days. On the 9th January, this email arrived, mentioning that my account had now been cancelled. It further mentions that my 30 day notice started from the day of initial cancellation (19th December), and a direct debit payment went out on that very day (9.99 monthly rate). Therefore, when I received the second (and more official) cancellation email, I decided to cancel my direct debit, as I believed that the December 19th payment would be my notice payment. This however was not the case, and I received a letter from CRS to my parents' home address in the UK, demanding 207.47! am aware that it is absolutely pointless contacting them via phone, so I am only emailing them. I responded to their letter, mentioning how I received an official confirmation letter. However, yesterday they replied with this: On 18 November 2015 you entered into a Membership Agreement with Xercise 4 Less. You agreed to pay £9.99 a month and give a months written notice when you wished to cancel. As your payments were not honoured and you failed to rectify your breach of Agreement charges were applied to your account and your file was referred to ourselves. Xercise 4 Less have not received the relevant notice from you to cancel your Membership. If notice had been given correctly in December 2016, as per your correspondence, you would have still been liable to pay your January 2017 instalment as your notice period, this was not received. What I think has happened, is that I fell short of the 30 day notice by only a number of days, as I cancelled my direct debit a few days after I received the email of cancellation on the 9th January. I am willing to admit to them that I made this mistake and that I will pay 9.99, but the 207.47 payment is outrageous. ny help you guys can give would be hugely appreciated, and if I have missed anything out then let me know! Thanks!

So I've seen numerous posts about Harlands and the problems people have had with them. This one may be more on me though. I went to my gym's (Simply Gym) website to see how to initiate cancellation and it simply said to cancel the direct debit with my bank. I did this, then a week later (28th February 2017) I received a letter from Harlands saying that I owe them £14.99 plus £25.00 admin charge. I then proceeded to look up my membership and it turns out that I am on a 12 month contract and the website states that they will expect every payment in this membership. I should say that the reason I cancelled was due to being a student and wanting to save a bit extra money each month. As I say, I understand that in this instance I may have breached T's & C's so if I have to restart the DD to continue the monthly payments, I would understand but I'm obviously hesitant to pay the £25 charge. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Hi All, I am new to CAG, and I just lost the previous message I wrote So starting again, I read previous post about Xercise 4 less and their customer policy. Just like to say, what you are doing is amazing. Getting to my story: We (me and my boyfriend) signed for Xercise 4 less membership in August 2015, before they opened on 28th August 2015. We knew it was 12 month contract, so we kept it for a year, even we didn't use it much. But we wanted to cancel as soon as contract came to the end. We went to the gym on beginning of September to cancel our membership, receptionist mentioned something about Website. we get on the website, I am really sorry I looked everywhere for cancelation link , but I couldn't find it. My boyfriend went to the gym to ask they referred him to the Website. I logged on my profile again with same effect. And the story goes on for a while. Finally we've gave up, gone to the bank to cancel our DD. And everything was fine till yesterday, we received two debt collection letters from CRS, with no previous communication. (we changed the address, so that may be the reason). Each letter asking for payment of over £200, for both of us is over £400. Obviously we called CRS start saying our story, guy just stopped me in the middle said I need to pay minimum of £76 per person, and I have "let say a month" to pay after which they will take a court action against me. We went to the gym requested to talk with the manager, I thing everyone knows what happened there :/ We are not willing to pay as we don't believe we owe them anything. As far as I got the point from previous posts We should ignore any form of communication and write them a letter informing we don't accept any charges as we find them unlawful. I would appreciate any help or advise, as after reading the forum I expect to be harassed by the company for next few years and I would rather not. Many thanks Kasia

Hello, I am really hoping you can help. March 2016 I joined Lifestyle Fitness gym in my home town. My boyfriend got a job as a personal trainer there and we split in October 2016 and November 2016 I cancelled my DD. I sent via their online web form that I am cancelling and my reasons were due to a breakdown of an abusive relationship I no longer feel comfortable going into my gym. I didn't receive any correspondence back. Now, every few weeks I'm receiving threatening letters from CRS which seem to be getting increasingly more threatening. I have tried to call and explain why I've left which they were initially quite helpful and said they're going to contact Harlands to see what they could do. As of half an hour ago I received a phone call from them. I answered and the man on the phone couldn't care less.. . Just kept saying my reasons for leaving are not within the terms and conditions so therefore pay up. The call got quite heated, he wasn't professional at all! I got upset and told him to do one (not so politely) and hung up. I'm not looking for sympathy from them. Unfortunately, my reason for leaving (to me at least) feels like an exceptional circumstance. I'm reading a lot that states don't pay them anything as they're not legitimate. Is anyone able to offer some advice? What can I do to get them to stop and leave me alone!? It's at the point I'm scared to check the post to see more red letters. Thanks.

Hi, Ill try to keep it brief. I was a member of xercise for less Milton Keynes on a rolling contract paying £19.99 a month, never failed a payment but realised i wasn't using it, i called them up to ask what the cancellation policy was and they said cancel your DD, simple as that! I later got a letter from CRS saying i had not paid and there was a admin charges on there, i discovered i had to do it online which i immediately did, as i had no DD in place i called the gym explained what happened and that i wanted to pay my notice period. The girl their that answered the phone said no don't worry about it as you were given the wrong information by us and even said this was the 3rd time it had happened this week that she knew about so she would pass on all the information to the manager and would write to head office and get the debt wiped out. I thought nothing of it until 4 weeks later i got a letter to say my fees had gone up. I called CRS who were rather rude and aggressive and said there would be court action if i did not pay even though i explained the gym were contacting the head office to get it wiped off. I then called the gym again and got Sarah, again i explained what happened and she informed me that the manager had since left and has no way of tracing my case but insisted after taking everything down that she would contact the head office and ask them to recall the debt and thanked me for being so understanding, this was in January! Last month i got yet another letter from CRS my debt had risen to £201 I must of got about 4 calls, voicemail's and texts a day from them i contacted them and they agreed to put the case on hold for 30 days i contacted the gym and i spoke to Sarah and told her after sending an email to customer services they replied saying i had to pay, i argued the case again with Sarah who then became rude and said there is nothing further she could do i had to go by that email. I asked her if she could send me a copy of the email she sent to head office so i could argue the case and she said she would do it when she had time. I have since emailed her 2-3 times requesting this email and she is not replying or giving me the information. I have now been sent a final 10 day letter from CRS saying they would pass my case to Zinc if not paid I contacted them and they have agreed to put it on hold for a further 30 days. I have been emailing customer services and they are flat out refusing to wipe the debt out. GIve said the them and the gym i have no issue to pay the cancellation fee but this has been going on 5 months and i feel the unlawful fees being added on were not my fault as the gym was acting on my behalf and advising me all along. Im so annoyed if they had just accepted the cancellation fee i would not be in this position!

Hi all looking for some advice here as im really stressed out with Harlands and not good in these situations. I joined a local womans only gym last year, its not a normal Gym as the training nights are only on a Monday, Tuesday and Thursday at 7pm. I have confidence problems, servere anxiety and suffer panic attacks so i thought this womans only gym would be good for me. The first half of the year was ok, it was very quiet and i could cope, but recently the owner has taken on loads of new woman and i started having panic attacks and not being able to cope, i was hiding and had to stop going. This gym is £150 a month as you get nutrition plans etc ( I know its a lot of money, i was very stupid ) i went to my Doctor and got a letter saying i suffer from anxiety and unable to cope and have acquired medication and psychological help to help me cope and group situations trigger my anxiety. It says in Harlands Terms and Conditions: 14. Long term (over 3 month) illness or injury: This agreement may be cancelled in the event of an illness, injury or medical condition which in the written opinion of a doctor or other suitably qualified medical practitioner prohibits exercise for 3 months or longer upon appropriate proof being provided. Which i have done, however i got an email back from Harlands saying: "Cancellations for medical reasons are only permissible upon the grounds of long-term medical incapacity. Such incapacity cannot be pre-existing and must prevent you from attending the gym." My condition is pre-exsisting but it does not state this in the Terms and Conditions at all, they have just added this 'pre-exsisting' part in the email to me. Can i use this against them? Also at the end of the email it also says "Your membership payments are required to be paid up to date irrespective of whether your request for cancellation proves to be successful." What should i do next? I cannot afford to pay £150 a month for a gym i cannot attend. My next payment comes out on the 4th April. Please can anyone help ~ L

Hi everyone, I missed a payment due to insufficient funds in my account on the 4th of December 2016 for £9.99. I have been reading a number of the threads in this forum detailing similar issues of having a £25 "administration fee" placed on top of that £9.99 I owe them for a total of £34.99 to come out of my account today. I have since contacted my bank and cancelled my direct debit with Harlands. I am happy to pay the £9.99 that I owe them, but I am not happy to pay a penalty charge of £25 (which I have read in other threads is unenforceable). I have cancelled my Xercise 4 Less membership today and I am due to pay them £9.99 for December, and another £9.99 in January to finally end the membership. I am happy to pay both of these payments of £9.99 My question is do I need to be worried about cancelling this direct debit, causing any further problems, or can I simply pay them the 2 payments of £9.99 and be done with this shady company? Thanks in advance for your time.

Hi all First time poster but like a lot of people on here I have started to receive emails/ phone calls from CRS with regards to my Xercise4less membership cancelling- sorry in advance for the long post, wanted to give as much background as possible! Any help on how to approach this situation would be welcome!!! I moved out the area of my X4L after finishing uni , and admittedly didn't cancel the membership for a few months, I was switching from a graduate account to a different bank account I was looking through my DD and saw that £9.99 had still going out of my account to Harlands. i sent a cancellation request on 28.11.16 giving my most up to date address, and citing that my reason for cancelling the membership was moving out of the area. I had no correspondence about this membership, apart from a confirmation email from the gym about my cancellation, until my parents received a letter at my home address on the 8th February saying " Your membership remains in arrears despite previous letters being sent to you, and as a result our fees totally £102.50 have been added. Therefore your account balance now stands at £207.47" Obviously alarmed at this, I rung the number on the letter and said that I have confirmation of my cancellation of my membership, and was asked to forward this over. I did so, and heard nothing back until February 16th when I received an email from CRS. In this email they said that they had thought I had not given notice, but now that they have proof that I did they had knocked off £9.99 from my account and that I now only owed £197... They said I should have made a final payment on 25th December, but that payment had not been made as my account was in arrears. Now following this, I looked in to the bank account ( one that I no longer use but was paying in to monthly to clear my overdraft) and I can see that at the time the DD was refused. I get that I am at fault here, but still not happy with the additional £197 fees or the lack of correspondence before the initial letter. If I had received anything before this I would have sorted straight away, especially if all I owed was two months of membership fees! I replied explaining that firstly this was the first correspondence I had received from CRS or Harlands about my account and also that I did not understand where these additional fees have come from. Since then I have received a breakdown of fees on my account that included x2 membership fees, x3 admin fees, recovery fees and trace fees! All in line with various clauses in my 'agreement' ( Assuming this is the gym contract) As well as this they told me they sent letters to my previous address in Newcastle Under Lyme ( even though when I cancelled my membership I provided my most up to date address) I have since replied to the email asking for a copy of the contract where these clauses have come from, and have also forwarded the cancellation confirmation from the gym with my reasons for leaving and my updated address on there- waiting for a reply- will update when this comes through. Just wondering what I should do for the next step. I don't want my credit score to be affected, and don't want any action taken against me. I am now getting daily phone calls or texts from CRS. I'll happy pay the x2 months membership fee I am owed, but not happy to pay for the remaining fees- especially the 'trace' fee when I have provided the correct address to contact me, but not sure what the legal implications would be Any help really appreciated here!

My son has a membership with this bunch, he tried to use the gym a month ago and was refused entry as he had apparently not completed a health questionnaire. He had never completed one in the preceeding 11 months. He completed one on his phone in front of the receptionist, but because her system was not 'real time' so it would not show up for a few hours, she would not let him in. He told her that he wanted to cancel hi membership as it was over 12 months, and than cancelled his DD with his bank. Today, a month on, he received the famous Harlands letter asking for £14.99 and £25 late payment fee. Not knowing any better, and looking to get a mortgage and we have drummed into him the importance of a good credit rating, he rang up and paid it. He has also cancelled his membership through the website which states they will take one more months payment. I am going to wait for them to claim the next month and confirm his membership has been cancelled, then I am going to hit them with a Moneyclaim online summons for the total amount. A) he should not have been refused access or given a manual form to complete (he never received any notification they were introducing this health form. B) the £25 charge is punitive and not legal. C) he advised the receptionist, as a representative of the Company, he was cancelling his membership. It will be interesting if they come down from head office in Leeds to Essex to defend a £75 case, but lets see how they like it when the shoe is on the other foot. If they do decide to come and defend (as an individual I can insist the hearing is in my local court) it will cost them a dam site more than it will cost me to issue the summons, and as I work from home, I can spend an hour at the court. I have sued 5 or 6 Companies in the past 3/4 years and I am yet to lose a case. Although in fairness, they all pay up as soon as they get the summons

Hello I am looking for some advice but couldn't work out how to create a new post? I joined a gymtec gym in May 2013 on a 12 month contract but became unwell late 2013, early 2014 I was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia I wrote to my gym cancelling my membership due to developing a disability and being unable to use the gym due to severe muscle pain, limited mobility and fatigue. I included a copy of my consultants letter confirming diagnosis and also informed the gym I was struggling financially due to divorce proceedings and now supporting myself and my step daughter on only my income. I heard nothing but cancelled my direct debit the following month in April 2014. I the recieved a letter in Jan from CRS on behalf of Harlands to say I owed £186 for unpaid membership fees and associated charges. I wrote to the gym stating I wanted to deal with them and explain I cancelled and why I did and included a copy of my original letter and the consultants letter. I've heard nothing and had another CRS letter threatening CCJ. I've emailed the gym again and stated clearly I had a material change in circumstances that prevented me from using the gym. What should I do next? Have CRS ever obtained a successful CCJ for gym membership? I can prove I am disabled and this condition developed and was diagnosed during the contract corresponding with my cancellation I can also prove I was struggling finacially at that point too due to the divorce. I was hoping to get some advice from Slick as he seems to be the guru on all things Harlands/gym related The threat of legal action feels very intimidating but can they really do anything? Thanks