Hi everybody, I'm new to this forum - spent a lot of time reading other threads on the issue of Xercise 4 Less/Harlands/CRS last night and now feel a bit more informed than I did previously! But I would like some help to see if I have a leg to stand on here before I go into battle! I moved to Scotland in April, and subsequently joined the local Xercise 4 Less gym on the 27th on a 12 month contract at 14.99 per month. When joining, I also paid a £20.00 joining fee - taking my first total payment to £34.99. I find it important to state now that I NEVER set foot in the gym after joining. (This was confirmed by a woman I spoke to on the telephone last Monday, 12th October '15 - more on this later) I fell pregnant and didn't really feel like going then. I continued to pay for the membership and unfortunately lost the pregnancy at just 4 weeks. The company I was working for at the time - in short - went bust, and I was found without a job. I then found out I had fallen pregnant again and after losing my first pregnancy I certainly did not want to go to the gym due to my fears if anything else! For these reasons, I cancelled the direct debit with my bank online after approximately 3 months and 11 days of membership. My partner and I then moved into a new flat in the same town. With my direct debit cancelled, I did not find it appropriate to notify the gym of my change of address, as far as I was concerned, I was no longer a member. I also find it important to state at this point that I have been a member of other gyms in the past and they took cancellation of my direct debit payments as cancellation of the service they were providing and did not contact me further - I believed this would be the case with this company also. How wrong I was! On Monday, 12th October I received a letter from a company called CRS - I have found many letters the same on these threads so will just paraphrase: They say they have been employed by Xercise 4 Less as my membership remains in arrears despite letters being sent - I had not received these letters, but the gym remained to have my telephone number/email in their records, and I heard nothing from them through either of these channels. They say they have added their fees (£111.57) to my debt, and the balance is now sitting at £321.48 They then say they want to reach an amicable resolution and give contact details telling me to phone them. Stupidly, I did exactly that. I asked the man I spoke to why on earth I had to pay so much money. He continuously repeated to me that my account was in arrears. I had told him I was not happy to pay the fees, and also explained my reasons for leaving the gym. He froze my account for 7 days and demanded I prove I was pregnant by sending forms/paperwork to him. If I sent these forms the amount would be reduced "significantly" due to my pregnancy. I also phoned the gym and asked them what was going on. The woman I spoke to had confirmed that I had never set foot in the gym (she could tell from her electronic records). I asked her why I had to pay so much for a service I had joined but never took advantage of. She told me I owed the gym £219.00 and to sort it out with the Xercise 4 Less customer service team, and gave me a telephone number. I never phoned this number. I have done the basic maths after checking my bank account - - The payments made to Harlands totalled £64.97 - this is evident in payments taken from 11th May (34.99), 26th May (14.99) and 25th June (£14.99) ---thats just raised a question in itself, why did they take my joining fee so late, and why did they charge me twice in one month...surely they've taken 2 months of payment in one month?-- - If I was still paying for the gym, I would have only now paid them a further sum of approx. £25.98, another 2 months worth of membership give or take a few days. - Upon checking my bank statement for August I see they attempted to take £39.99 from me, but I had no notification from the bank that any payments had bounced, and we can see above that they haven't - I made the payments. I wonder why they were trying to take so much from me? So WHY do I owe them £321.48/£219.00 - I'm very confused as to which it is, as when the CRS "fees" are added, the total amounts to £330.57 - so is someone playing silly beggars?! Now...some questions! - From what I have read on other threads, CRS and Harlands are the same company - does this mean they have not sold my "debt" on to someone else and have no right to be using a different letterhead as a scare tactic? - Does the court ruling of The OFT vs AMSL in 2011 apply to me, and can I use it to back up my claim that cancellation of my direct debit was notice enough? - As I never used the service, do I have any differing cancellation rights? - As the amount I'm being charged is absolutely out of this world, am I right in thinking that this is made up of silly fees/penalties and as such cannot be enforced? Remember, I've been told as I'm pregnant the amount can be reduced significantly. Why/how if they are not just pointless unlawful penalties? - I will no longer speak with any of the companies on the telephone, and will only have written correspondence. As there are a few lingering days at the beginning and end of the membership I am happy to offer them a month's payment (£14.99) as a good will gesture and final settlement of fees owed. Is this within my rights and would you say this was sensible to do? - Do I speak with Harlands on this matter? I do not want to speak with CRS (although I realise they are one and the same). Any help would be greatly appreciated! I must admit I was very upset when I first received the letter but now I am furious that they are trying to take money from me, especially at a time when this so called debt amounts to the price of my baby's pram, car seat and changing bag all in one! Thank you in advance, Elvie

I'm having an issue cancelling my rolling contract with Xercise 4 Less. I handed in my cancellation directly to the branch over 2 weeks ago and still haven't received any confirmation of my cancellation request despite asking for this 7 times now. Thus far I've been given no explanations and been told twice they'd ring me back to no avail. I've noticed on the Harlands website it says I'm not allowed to cancel my direct debit or I'll incur penalty charges. If the gym is refusing to communicate with me about my cancellation, am I within my legal rights to cancel the direct debit after the 30 day notice period has passed? I'd also be interested to know if they have a legal obligation to respond to me as a current customer. I really can't understand how any company can get away with treating customers like this! Any advise would be greatly appreciated.

A study by Checkmarx and AppSec Labs specifically looked at the security of hundreds of the most popular apps found in the respective platforms’ app stores, testing them for security risks and vulnerabilities. According to the report, 40 percent of the iOS apps tested were found to have vulnerabilities rated as “critical” or “high severity.” Android apps fared marginally better at 36 percent. Android isn't that far behind, but this is 'another' one in the eye for those that continually brag Apple are safer.

oh dear I have received the same letter as kjm987. Having read the thread I am not looking forward to communications with Harlands. It has however been ver helpful to read this before I emailed them so thanks to all who posted. I have sent an email and will see if I get a response. I too missed a payment on 26/10/15 and they now say they will take £9.99 plus £25 admin fee on 6/11/15. I am cancelling my direct debit as I am on income support and really cannot afford such charges.

Hi, I'm after some advice for my son on how to deal with a letter he received today from CRS. He joined Xercise 4 less in Bolton when he started Uni there in September 2013, he paid £9.99 monthly by direct debit when he joined he was told it was a 12 month only membership. However he decided that uni was not for him and in Easter 2014 he returned home. As he hadn't completed the full 12 months, he continued to make the direct debit payments and thought that once the twelve months were up his membership would automatically finish and his payments stop (he's only just recently told me about this all) To cut a long story short, they didn't and he didn't realise until he checked a bank statement in June of this year, he contacted the Bolton branch who said they would cancel his membership and he advised them that he would cancel his direct debit. He thought that was the end of it as he has had no further communication from them until he received the letter today from CRS. The letter states his Xercise 4 Less membership remains in arrears despite previous letters being sent to him, he has received no correspondence, and as a result of this his account balance stands at £207.47 (£102.50 are their fees). He has tried to ring them regarding this but was unable to get through and the manager was unavailable at the Bolton gym. I've seen numerous posts of a similar vein on here and was just looking for some help on how I should advise my son to handle this. Any assistance would be much appreciated

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Hi, can anyone help please? I took out a one year membership with Xercise 4 Less gym last year but didn't really use it so decided to cancel after about 11 months. I cancelled my direct debit but, didn't contact Xercise 4 Less to cancel my membership (which I now realise was a bit silly!) but I only had a month to go so figured that when my direct debit didn't go through they would just cancel my membership. I had no contact from Xercise 4 Less to query why my direct debit wasn't going through or if I wanted to continue my membership, so I assumed all was fine. However about 3 months later I get a letter, dated 29 July, from CRS Credit Resolution Services saying that "We've been employed by Xercise 4 Less as your membership remains in arrears despite previous letters being sent to you." (which I did NOT receive) "As a result of this, our fees of £102.50 have been added. Therefore, your account balance now stands at £207.47". I then e.mailed Xercise 4 Less giving them notice that I wished to cancel my membership with immediate effect as I was under the impression that it would end automatically at the end of the 12 month period. My contract with Xercise 4 Less was for £9.99 a month so even if my contract continued after the initial 12 months until I gave them written notice of cancellation, the maximum I could owe them would be 3 months membership totaling £29.97 so how they came to the figure of £207.27 I do not know! I also understood from other threads on this forum that CRS's fees were penalty charges and so not enforceable by law, so I decided to wait for a response from Xercise 4 Less and ignore the letter from CRS. I had no response from Xercise 4 Less to my cancellation e.mail and I then received another letter dated 19th August from CRS threatening Legal Action, or passing to a Debt Collection Agency if I did not contact them within 10 days to arrange payment. Again I ignored this letter. I was then out of the country for a couple of weeks at the beginning of September but when I got back there was another letter from CRS dated 10 September saying that if they did not here from me in 10 days they would pass my account balance to Zinc Group Ltd "one of the UK's leading providers of debt recovery solutions". As I only read the letter when I got back to the UK yesterday, the 10 period is almost up. In between these letters I have also had various texts and automated phone messages asking me to get in touch with CRS. A few days ago I also had an apparently automated email response from Xercise 4 less, to my cancellation e.mail (which I sent back at the end of July!) simply saying that they had received my email and would deal with my query shortly. I am happy to offer to pay the one month's membership fee for the last month on my 12 month contract or even, at a push the 3 months' membership up to the point of my cancellation e.mail but I really don't think I should pay CRS's fees as they seem extortionate to me just for writing a few letters, and as I understand it they are not enforcable in law, and these companies just try to scare people into paying them lots of money. Please could anyone advise me on where I stand with all this and what the best course of action would be for me to take. Any advise and help would be greatly appreciated. Many thanks in advance Stuart

Hi, My company employed a receptionist in June and her contract said: "The Employee's salary is £20k per annum. Upon successful completion of probabtion period the employee's salary will be raised to £24k." Her probation period expires soon and we are not happy with her, but would continue to hire her on limited tasks. However we believe that she does not deserve her increased in salary of £24k. We are wondering how to hire her on a similar type of job, but not incerase her salary to £24k. One colleague mentioned firing her, and hiring her with another contract the next day. I think this is too "doddgy". I suggest explaining to her that we do not believe that she "succesfully" completed her probation period, however we would continue to hire her at £20k and would not increase her work load, as we originally planned. Any advice on how to to keep her and not increase her salary depsite her contract would be helpful. Thank you.

I had a quotation for a concrete garage from a local agent, part of the quote included the separate price for the base to be slightly extended and skimmed. This did not say estimate, it said quote. The person that does the bases apparently does not work for agent but they provide him with work, I'm not sure if they get any commission from his work. The agent quoted £800 for the base complete with prep to completion and said it would not change. The base builder came to view the job and said its £950 and that hes doing it cheaper as it should be £1100. When the base is done I have to pay him not the agent. I called the agent to tell them as I agreed to have the garage from them based on the overall quote but the person that did the quote was not in that day and the lady said she would inform her when she was back in which was last Tuesday 18th and she has not called me to discuss this as yet, I have a feeling she isn't going to either. How do I stand, should the agent compensate me for this extra £150 or do I have to just accept it and pay the extra? How should I go about handling this situation?

Hi I claim ESA(IR) and I am in the Support group, my partner wants to work, but it will be 16-20 hours per week. So obviously I will inform DWP if this goes ahead. But can anyone advise how it affects my benefit? If he earns £130 per week, is that taken of my ESA Claim or does my claim stay the same and he keeps the money, as I read that my partner can work upto 24 hours, but it might affect my benefit on the benefit letter. Can this be for more than a year, as it seems if it was me working the maximum would be 12 months. Thanks

Hello Slick132, I was looking at a question you answered for a member regarding xercise4less and was hoping you may be able to assist me also? I recently signed up to this gym after recommendation by a friend, initially contacting via email which then turned into a day pass followed by a barrage of calls from sales members asking me to come in for a "chat" Eventually they persuaded me to join however I had some doubts as I asked for my agreement only to be told this would be sent via email. I made the initial payment however did not receive any information and when queried the gym blamed a system error and my details however sent me a few emails. I decided after a few days this was not for me after being involved in a heated, almost physical altercation with another member of the gym. I have asked politely to leave but they are telling me as I signed in the gym I "waived all rights to a cool off period" and "any privilege to leave has been removed from me" and are trying to insist I stay even going as far as to bar the member who was involved in the fracas which in turn left me no choice but to play middle men between the two gyms as they decided on the person's fate (Without him ever knowing) I have spent hours on the phone to countless branches and staff who all say they understand my situation and can help me then ultimately say they cant and to speak to the next person up (who is conveniently never available) and now I am growing frustrated that they are trying to delay and stall me into a corner so I cannot request to leave. I can 100% guarantee I was never made aware of the no cooling off period otherwise I would never have signed. If possible could you advise on my next steps in order to protect myself and still get the desired outcome as currently I am in need of any guidance I can get. Initially I signed up on Friday 24th July and I made it clear I was unhappy on the proceeding Monday via email (which received no response) and in person on Wednesday which was when I was informed of my rights by the receptionist (which they have conveniently forgotten about now). I have sent out numerous emails to supposed managers and even an area manager with no real response. Please accept my apologies if this is not the correct way to go about seeking advice I am just extremely desperate for some help. Many Thanks

Hey there! Beth here. I've never really done this before... more of a forum skulker than anything, though recently I've come to blows with Harlands after my years membership with Xercise4less was up (A membership which I never managed to utilise due to illness). Essentially the difficulty is that I was told by staff at my gym before signing up that my contract would be paid in full after a twelve month period and that I would have the option of continuing on to a rolling contract afterwards. They also told me that it was easy to cancel my place should I desire. I signed up happily and began my gym sessions. I managed two before realising I was having quite severe difficulties breathing and went to see my GP. He then gave me a diagnosis of Asthma and I stopped attending the gym. I enquired as to cancelling due to illness and the gym insisted I couldn't cancel until my first years payments were up. I was angry, but I conceded and continued to pay 9.99 a month for the 12 month period. I'd signed up in February of last year, so when bills continued to be taken from my account pertaining to march and then april, I cancelled my direct debit, having been told that this rolling payment was optional. I emailed the gym and informed them that I had cancelled and a week later Harlands sends me a letter. This letter tells me that there is a cancellation fee of £9.99 (something I was never told when signing up) and that I have incurred an administration fee of £25, plus another months membership fee's of £9.99! I ended up taking the cowards way out and called to say that I couldn't pay the administration fees, but that I would pay the cancellation and last months fees if it would get them off my back. They agreed, though added I'd still need to pay the NEXT month and so I would have to set up a direct debit. I set the direct debit up over the phone with a member of staff, paying the cancellation fee and last months payment and he said that my final payment would be taken out and that would be the end of it. Today I received a letter that states that they are disappointed that I failed to respond to their previous correspondence and that I have failed to pay my July instalment, which I set up the direct debit for on the 22nd of June. They've charged me another £25 along with the 9.99 I expected to have to pay (Though why I would have to pay for July when I requested cancellation in June, I have no idea) Blah. It's become an increasingly stressful process. Anyway, apologies for the essay! That's my issue and any help is appreciated, though take your time ^^

Hi all, having read multiple threads about Harlands over the past few months and finally thinking that my problem was resolved, I have today come to the end of my tether with these cowboys. I joined end of 2013 and cancelled my DD in January 2015 as I hadn't been going for months as the facility was rubbish. I had completed my 12 month contract and wrongly assumed that I could just cancel my DD. I then received a letter from Harlands in March 2015 claiming I owed my Jan/Feb direct debits at £12.99 each, plus the penalty fee of £25. I didn't agree with this but I paid it to get them offs back and they told me I needed to cancel directly with the gym. Again, I accepted that I was at fault for now following the correct cancellation procedure, hence why I paid up. In March 2015 on the back of this letter, I contacted the gym at X4L Nottingham by telephone and spoke to the Manager, asking him what I needed to do to cancel to put this to rest. The Manager told me I didn't need to do anything as according to his end, I had already cancelled. I specifically asked if I needed to complete any forms and was told no. Brilliant I thought, this is over. I then received a further letter from Harlands later in March advising that I had missed my March payment and that I owed a £12.99 plus the £25 penalty. I took the letter directly to X4L end of March and talked through with reception what my issue was and said I wanted to cancel once and for all as I was tired of this issue. Once again I am told by X4L that I didn't need to do anything, no forms, nothing. The receptionist told me, face to face, that the Manager would contact Harlands (taking a copy of my letter) to advise that they need not pursue me and that the Manager would contact me the next day to confirm. This, by the way, is a new manager as the manager I had the previous telephone conversation with has left. The next day came and no call from the X4L Manager so I called them, the Manager confirmed they would sort this and that I did not owe anything and did not need to cancel. Great - matter resolved. Today, I have received a letter from CRS who I believe to be 'Harlands' own DCA?? I now owe £180.47. Wow - even if I owed my March, April and May gym fees of £12.99 per month and their "penalty fees" it should not come to this!! I called X4L and this time spoke with the sales membership manager who confirmed that if I did not complete a cancellation form, my membership won't be cancelled which is why I've been receiving the letters and I cannot cancel until the balance is paid. So, my issues in summary: 1. Harlands advised me that I needed to cancel directly with the gym, so; 2. I have contacted the gym by telephone in March 2015 and visited in person in April 2015 advising that I wanted to cancel, but was told BOTH times that I need not do anything as I was cancelled their end. 3. I have attempted to cancel twice now and have basically been blocked from doing so, whether this is due to a lack of knowledge and training on X4L part or not is not my fault - I have made two attempts to cancel to avoid further debts occurring. 4. I am not prepared to pay the balance of £180.47 in order to then be able to cancel the membership, as I have already attempted to cancel officially twice and don't see why I should pay a debt that has accrued because X4L has given me the wrong information. If they had allowed me to cancel in March or later in April the second time, the debt wouldn't even exist. I refuse to have any telephone or face to face contact with either of these cowboy outlets from today and intend on writing to them to outline my concerns and complaint. I could really do with some advice on what I should include in the letter and also what your thoughts are on the situation. I know that the penalty fees are not enforceable based on other threads I've come across, but at present this is a separate issue altogether. I just want to cancel, as I have tried to do on two occasions now!

Hi, I need some input, I am a consultant for a UK based company, and was asked if I wanted to move abroad to paris, the salary was the same as UK at the time but over the year the euro has decreased in Value over time to the point it is significantly less, (2-3 thousand less) The contract I signed did not take into account any changes in exchange rates hence I fear there is nothing I can do about it, would you recommend negotiating a better salary (they have said it is non- negotiable) or joining a workers union to help me out Thanks

Hi I am hoping somebody can help me, I cancelled my gym membership toward the end of last year, i went into my gym and filled in a close of account form and handed it into the lady at reception, i then waited a month an cancelled the direct debit as i was told i had to give a months notice. As far as i was aware the matter was now over until last week i received a letter from CRS Credit Resolution Services saying i owed £222.47 as my account was in arrears. I rang CRS and they claim the gym have no recollection of me handing in the close of account form in and and there for it has been classed as missed payments. Xercise for less have been sending letters out so they claim saying i have missed payments but these have been sent to my old address as i moved house mid membership, they had my mobile number but made no effort to get in contact with me. I spoke with CRS today and they was very off hand and said the best they can do is i need to pay £112.49 today or the matter will be sent for collection of goods totalling that amount. Can sombody please help me with this ? Kind Regards Daniel.

It seems i'm not the only one with these guys bugging me! i entered into a 12 month contract in May 2014 with the gym, at 9.99 a month. I made my last payment in December. I do acknowledge that I canceled early but i do have reasons. On a number of occations my person code would not work and i wasn't allowed access to the gym or classes, which wasn't very good when i was sat waiting for my aunty and mother to finish their session so we could go home together! I complained at the desk a number of times but no-one knew what was going on and no-one helped me. So as far as i could see i was paying for a service i wasn't getting. i recieved a letter a couple of week ago from CRS saying i was in debt of £192.46, i have since sent them an email (as i will only communicate via written word with companies like these) explaining my reasoning and also asking for a breakdown of fees, although looking at threads on here i have seen that it is likely that the fees are non-mandatory. I also have no emails or letters containing some sort of membership agreement so i cannot find out where i stand in this matter. I'm happy to pay the £40 i owe, but not the fees. As of yet i have had no reply to my email, but i don't want anyone going to my parents house as this is where the company still think i live! Any help would be appreciated, thank you

(1) Agreement in possession of landlord not signed by the tenant. (2) Agreement in possession of Tenant not signed by Landlord or dated What is the validity of this agreement. Notice of Termination ================ Location of the property not stated correctly and the postal address is missing. Company registration number stated as VAT number. Therefore is the Notice Valid?

Hello CAG, Sorry if this is in the wrong forum, please feel free to move if incorrect. Long time lurker, only ever posted once before (against NCP - and won!!), just hoping someone can give me some helpful advise on an issue I now have. purchased a Sony TV from Tesco in April 2012. It had a Tesco 1 year warranty and also has a manufacturers 1 year warranty as well. No issues until now, but this weekend turned it on, and there are lines across the screen (horizontal), happens on all inputs/channels, checked cables etc etc, definitely the TV. Not impressed because I paid the extra for the 'name' and I thought I was making a bit of investment rather than paying less for a cheaper model. Phoned Sony and got through to some rude woman in Egypt?! who said go away. I then spoke to a guy at Sony in Scotland who was helpful, but they said being as it was after the manufactures warranty had expired there is nothing they are prepared to do, and the cost of repair would probably be more than actually buying a new TV. To me, a TV should last a lot longer than 2 years 8 months.. ie without a fault that effects the general operation of it... Whats also annoying as this is the 'upstairs' telly, which isnt used half as much as the TV downstairs so this is even more annoying! Is there any kind of act that even though the manufactures warranty has expired, I can 'lean on' as the consumer that the goods are not of good quality and have not lasted a reasonable amount of time... I cant really say to Sony that the TV was faulty upon purchase as the lines have only appeared now... Any help greatly appreciated, and keep up the fantastic work that you guys do here.

Hey guys, I signed up for the 1 month minimum contract with Xercise 4 Less back in February 2014 after 3 months I decided to cancel this month to month direct debit as I had to return to my home country. Apparently, this is not the way to proceed with this contract, as I have just received a call requesting a payment of £220 from some credit collection company. They claim that they have sent me many letters but since I am a university student my address changed and I have thus not received any of the letters they supposedly have sent. (They claim that I owe them membership since May 2014) Is this legal?? I understand that I am liable to pay the last month termination fee but are these admin/late/cancellation fees legal? What is the worst that will occur if I do NOT pay these fees? Advice on how I should proceed with this matter is greatly appreciated ! (Sry for bad English, I am international student. I can clarify some parts if needs be) -PepparKakor

Hi, I signed myself and my girlfriend up for gym memberships back in June of this year. I then had some financial difficulties and couldn't pay the gym memberships. I had no idea how to deal with letters for both my girlfriend and myself, I have spoke to Harland's a few times and tried paid them a few times. Although they keep adding charges I had no idea till this evening that I didn't have to be paying these. They passed my account on to another company crs I think, I have moved home and have no letters or correspondence will them. All I know now is I'm due to pay £40+ on the 10th of this month to fix arrears and charges on my account this is a repeat payment till June of 2015 and another £38 on the 17th for my girlfriends arrears and charges. I will silly and naive and also my girlfriend was some what worried when we received these letters. After reading posts on the forum tonight I wonder if anyone could give me my best course of action as I feel I am being took advantage off. Thanks

I was with exercise for less for 18 month. In may this year I canceled my direct debit and told the gym via email I was. I moved house. I've heard nothing from them for 5 months but got a letter from crs debt collectors today wanting a balance off over £200!! I went to the gym to see what was going on. They still had my mobile number on their system but have not contacted me once, they may have sent me letters but as I've moved I've not received them. The gym say they need proof off the email but I no longer have that account as it was hacked. Where do I stand? Any help appreciated. Thanks

Hi, Just wondering if someone can offer a bit of advice, I'm not sure of the name of the company involved as it is my sister who has been given the fine however I can get that info if needed. My sister went to an excercise 4 less gym which has a private car park. She was going for a PT session at the gym but isn't a full blown member of the gym. The gym has a car park near the town centre and any vehicles that they believe aren't visiting the gym get £50 fines. The receptionist never asked my sister to sign in or fill in any forms upon her arrival. needless to say, my sister received a £50 fine. She spoke to the gym who confirmed that she was at the gym at the time and had a pre booked appointment with an instructor. They said they will contact the clamping company and tell them she was visiting the gym and all would be fine. The clamping company have rejected this stating that my sister should have signed in at reception to confirm her car details. Again my sister was never asked to do this at the gym... but either way the gym have said she was visiting the gym so i don't see why they still refuse to leave it. They have now threatened that if it is not paid in a certain amount of days she will get £100 fine and if that isn't paid they will take court action. Is it worth her letting them take it to court. Personally I feel they are being unfair and if the gym are happy to give evidence to prove she was visiting the gym I'm not sure they would have a great case, But.. I'm not the expert. Anyone got any advice?

Hi there, I googled Harlands after receiving a letter from them and sure enough it led me here! I've been reading through other peoples issues but wanted to post my own. I joined my local Xercise 4 less on a month by month bases in mid 2012. In November 2012 I switched to a year contract as it was cheaper. The final payment for this contract was on 19 December 2013. So on 9 December I posted the gym a letter of cancellation, as they require 30 days notice. As I did not hear from them I cancelled my DD on 15 January, as it was about to come out again on the 19th. Then on the 27th of January I received a letter from Harlands stating I had to pay £9.99 outstanding balance, £9.99 cancellation fee and their lovely £25.00 admin fee. I spoke to Harlands who informed me I would need to speak directly to the gym to sort this out, so today I'm going to post a letter (recorded delivery) to my gym which looks like this: I just wanted to check that this seemed ok? I'm sure it won't be the last of it but I want to start on the right foot. Many thanks for any advice!

Interesting reading from Scoop read here http://www.stalbansreview.co.uk/news/11364174.St_Albans_landlady_in_court_accused_of_conning_tenants/

Banks are cheating their shareholders rather than negotiate with debtors. I am appealing to anyone out there who had a settlement offer rejected only to discover their debt was sold on. I have two examples, with full paper trails proving that Santander turned down settlement offers of up to 50 pence in the pound but within a few months sold those debts to Arrow Global for 16.2 pence in the pound or probably less. In these cases Santander and Arrow Global both insisted they would accept nothing less than the total owed from the debtor. If I held Santander shares I would want to know why they turned down at least 33.8 pence in the pound just because it was the debtor’s money and not Arrow Global’s. These above referenced cases were only two out of one million accounts bought by Arrow in early 2013. The total ‘loss’ incurred due to Santander’s determination to punish the debtors was almost £3000. That’s the loss on two accounts out of one million. As Santander was not the only bank having a ‘basement’ sale there must be many more debtors out there who had their offers rejected before the debt was sold on. Even if they did not or could not make an offer surely the Banks should give them a last chance to settle at a rate slightly above that offered to the debt collectors? I know Santander is a Spanish Bank but I have a very strong feeling that many other UK banks, including those who wave their begging bowl at the taxpayer when they mess up are merrily involved in the same practice. I am sick of people quoting Polonius with his infamous ‘neither a borrower nor a lender be,’ but let us not forget that Polonius was a fool. A bad debtor is not necessarily a bad person. Many, through no fault of their own have lost their jobs /income and their debts may include car loans and credit card balances not racked up by buying Gucci Handbags but School Uniforms and boiler repairs. The way the banks and I am afraid to say the moral majority treat debtors is a disgrace. The bankers (please feel free to apply rhyming slang!) approach to debt is one dimensional. There is only one punishment regardless of how many times you explain your situation or however hard you work to try and resolve the problem.You may not always wind up in court but you are harassed, bullied and let’s remember the branding on your credit file. Please remember that I do not need any personal details. Just confirmation that your bank rejected your offer then sold on the debt. If you offered more than 16.2 pence in the pound the chances are you were cheated. Then I can confidently start to campaign. Many may say I am wasting my time but this is a disgraceful situation and I feel I have to do something. I will be posting this on ‘the other website’ because I need as many examples as possible. Many Thanks.