I joined the Swansea branch during 2014 and am certain that I went down to the branch, filled out the cancellation forms and cancelled the membership before I left. I've only just now been going through my financial statements and it turns out even after 3 years Harlands are still charging me the £9.99 a month. I am trying at present to cancel my membership once again through the online cancellation form on the website of xercise 4 less; but I keep getting runtime error. There is no way for me that i can see to contact either group through emails. I also cannot login through the onsite portal to see my profile; as although my email address is correct; it still says I have no details relating to that email address. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated. I would love to get my money back considering I already cancelled but if I just did something wrong and had to cancel harlands payments through direct debit itself then fine - ill write it off as money lost. Just would love to get rid of them.

Hi, I received a text from CRC this morning stating they had sent me a letter a week earlier and to call them about it. From looking on the internet i released its Xercise 4 less related. i contacted Harlands who told me my direct debit was cancelled in late July (by my bank) so from then up to now i've not been paying any subs to the gym. I received an email from Harlands on 22nd July, saying: "Harlands administer the collection of all payments due under your agreement with Xercise 4 Less. Your bank have advised us that your July instalment has been returned unpaid "refer to payer" as there were insufficient funds in the account to pay the amount due. We will therefore debit your account on 2 AUG 16 for the total amount of £34.99. Please note that the submission for this will be made two working days prior to 2 AUG 16 and if this date is not convenient" i thought fair enough the money will come out on 2nd aug, but it didn't as the bank cancelled the DD, however i didn't realise this and Harlands / CRC apparently started sending letters out to me but to an address i've never heard of!! i.e. they had the wrong address on their systems. I called CRC today and the guy said if you pay within the next 30 days we will reduce your fees to £112.49. now i do owe Xercise 4 less subs to cover July to September but im not happy they are wanting so much. i find it grossly unfair when they had my address down wrong. they could have emailed me again, texted me, froze my account so i couldn't access into the gym to make me aware of this issue. The CRC guy said i will need to call back on 22nd nov to either pay the £112..49 or sort out other arrangements. He said it was my responsibility to pay and the letters sent out (to the wrong address!) were only courtesy. He also said i should have checked the payment went through on the 2nd, i told him i thought it would have gone through DD without an issue. i feel frustrated, will call my bank tonight to ask why the DD was cancelled. any advise on how to tackle CRC ?

Hi, I have a problem with Xercise 4 less due to me cancelling the dd after the 1st month. I didn't read the terms and conditions of it being a 12 month contract which resulted in them asking for £65 of admin fees. What do I know do as they want £300 and are threating to add more. I have cancelled the membership with the excuse of being redundant which is true since I'm 16.

Hello everyone, I am new here. Sorry if this problem has already been discussed before, but would really want some advice on the matter. I've joined exercise for less on the 18th of September 2017, and I wanted to join for a month to test out the gym, so the personal trainer there at the time said that I can join and cancel on the same day so that the charge would only be taken for September, they charged me 40 pounds, 20 for admin and 20 for the month. The contract I am on is a rolling contract. although on the terms and condition states that I shouldn't cancel the DD, but I did it anyway because I don't want them to 'accidentally' take another month's cash from me. Got an email from xercise for less (central support team) about arrears, called them and they told me I have to pay the October fee (20) and administrative fees( for cancelling) 25 ( 44.99 in total), Ive hanged up and complain to the gym front desk, they told me they will help contact harlands ( blah blah blah). Nothing happens until the 19 of October which Harlands sent me an email, demanding payment of the 44.99 or they are going to up the charges. I have written the reply below ( not yet sent), and was wondering if there is anything I should add or avoid? ------------- Dear Sir/Madam, Please note that the date I have joined xercise4less on the 18 of September is also the date I have filled in the online cancellation form which would have given you 30 days of notice of cancellation, I had been adviced by member of staff from xercise4 less in the Newcastle-under-Lyme branch to fill in the online cancellation form on the first day due to the fact that I was only interested to join for one month. No administrative fees will be given. Yours Sincerely ---------- Thank you for taking your time to read this. hopefully hear from you soon. Paarthurnax

Hi my son has similar problems with CRS and cancelled his direct debit payments after 14 monthly payments had been taken . Does anyone know if by leaving it a little bit late and not cancelling after 12 months is he now liable for another 12 months like a sort of rolling contract ? He doesn't have a copy of his membership to check the small print . At present they want approx £200 + with CRS' additional fees .

Hi, Just looking for some advice before I decide to contact/ pay Harlands. I took out a 11 month membership with Xercise 4 Less gym last year but didn't really use it so decided to cancel. My SnapDDA membership email states: The following payments have been taken by direct debit: I have made my 11 monthly payments and am therefore outside of contract. I cancelled my direct debit. I realise I should have contacted Xercise 4 Less to cancel the membership BEFORE cancelling the Direct Debit. I then received a letter stating: I have since also moved home and letters are currently going to my old address (my tenant kindly keeps them for me monthly). 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. I was thinking along the lines of this taken from Shabba180s thread: Im thinking of sending a copy via both email and normal mail to both Xercise 4 Less and Harlands: operations.manager.bolton email Xercise4Less Unit 1, Kirkstall Industrial Estate Kirkstall Road Burley Leeds LS4 2AZ c.service.icsharlandsgroup.co.uk email Harlands Services Ltd 2nd Floor, Rockwood House 9-17 Perrymount Road Haywards Heath West Sussex RH16 3TW I am in 2 minds whether to just pay the £34.99 and be done with all the hassle of sending further letters/ them adding on constant charges and taking possible legal action in future? How successful have people been in challeging their fees and has anyone been taken to court/ legal action taken against them? If I did want to just pay the £34.99 and be done with it what is the best way to ensure I get a proper cancellation/ no more demands from them? Many thanks in advance

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

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

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 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.

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

Hi, I have read allot of threads and can see how bad this company is. I signed up to the Xercise 4 Less Burnley gym online 14/01/17 I didn't have any money in my bank on the 28th as i get paid last working day of the month (2 days short) "Your first payment will be collected on or just after 28 January 2017 for an amount of £9.99 which consists of a joining fee of £0.00 and the first monthly payment of £9.99." I accept that I will have to pay the £25 admin charge + £9.99 even if I haven't even been at the gym 1 month yet! With this type of gym and now seeing what they are like I want out of the contract even if its £9.99 I have moved locations and live with my partner in manchester and go home the odd weekend (was going to use that gym when I was at home). Could I get out of the membership? the fact is that if I change my address via my bank and sent it in, that will be final, membership closed? I don't want debt collector letters coming to my partners address you see.

I signed up for a year membership @9.99 and have had membership for well over that time. I cancelled my direct debit now they are trying to charge me 25.99 and now another 25.99. because i never cancelled through their website. Can you advise me what to do next. Thanks Scott

Hello. I do not know how I should proceed - I am quite worried as I am in the process of wanting to purchase my first home and cannot afford to have silly companies like the ones above impose court junctions against my name / affect my credit rating... Around May 2015, I had the usual nonsense posted on here that Xercise4Less wished to claim £126 from me, for "prematurely" cancelling a DD with no notice. So in result, they sent the Zinc hounds after me, to which after A LOT of harrassment, they accepted all the proof i provided to them and closed my account. This was the final email i received from Zinc "Good Afternoon Mr XXXX, Thank you for your email correspondence which contents have been noted. This has been accepted by ourselves and no further contact will be made. King regards, Amy." Great. Yesterday I received an email now from CRS "Hello XXX We are writing in regards to the account that has been passed to us by Xercise 4 Less. Your file has recently been returned to us by the Zinc Group. Your CRS reference number is ...... and your outstanding balance stands at £126.49. We urgently need to speak to you about this matter and would be grateful if you would call us today on 01444 449165 between 08:30am and 6:00pm. We are happy to set up a payment plan if you can not afford to settle the balance in one go. We are also willing to consider a reduced settlement with you if this will help resolve the matter. Alternatively, if you would prefer us to call you, please confirm a suitable number to reach you on. Many thanks, Rob Avery CRS Collections Manager" I don't want to leave this floating, how can i tell them that this has nothing to do with me anymore, when will this stop . Thanks MN

Hey guys I was at the Xercise4less gym in Bradford on a 14.99 rolling contract i signed up for it on 8/10/2015 and the last direct debit to leave my account was on 7/4/16 I cancelled the direct debit and thought that was it - which is what i had been told by a staff member but evidently this wasn't true. Since then i have been receiving letters for £222 from harlands, moving to CRS and now finally SprattEndicott who are considering legal action. Funnily enough out of sheer laziness i only ever used the gym in the first two months and paid 5 Months of gym membership for nothing I have spoken to sprattendicott on the phone, having ignored the others so far, and they said to email them whatever response i have to say / stating my issue. If theres any more info needed il add it in Thanks for any help you guys offer!

My daughter cancelled her membership by sending a letter to her X4Less Gym, then cancelled her DD a month later. She recently received the Standard Harland's letter saying she owed a month's membership with their standard threats of Admin fees. She was outwith the main contract period. We wrote back to them, after looking at advice on this site, and told them she had cancelled and we wouldn't accept any fees. We enclosed a copy of the cancellation letter. Today we received a reply from Harland's, their reply was: "We can advise the Xercise for Less do not deal with cancellations by letters, in fact you would be required to provide them with 1 months notice via their website under the FAQ section" my highlighting. I found this statement incredible, no cancellation by letter, it goes beyond all common sense. I'm planning to write to them to highlight how ludicrous this statement is and tell them my daughter isn't paying anything but wanted to run it past the Forum first. Any advice appreciated. Thanks, Stephen

Hiya, I would really appreciate some advice on my specific situation. I have been a member of x4less since may 2015 and have paid my membership by direct debit with no problems until my latest payment (may 2016) I didn't leave enough money in my bank account and the direct debit bounced. My bad . Yesterday I received a letter from Harlands saying they are going to take £9.99 (instalment amount) and £25.00 (admin fee) on 2nd June. I have been reading through the forums and know that these admin fees are not enforceable. What is the best way to go now? I am thinking cancel the direct debit asap. I also now want to cancel my membership. Any advice on the best way to go about this would be appreciated. Thank you Emz87 :)

Hello, I'm wondering if anyone could help with this problem I have.. I'll start from how I first got to know about it, literally just as I walk in the house as I return from work and hour ago to a letter on the floor, There is more below about the options I assume you dont need to see that part but I can write the letter in full if needed. Now for the information behind the letter. . I signed up to Xercise for less in mid-2013 I believe, I stopped going after Christmas of 2013 but continued to pay ( dumb, I know.). l left a letter saying I would like to cancel membership and would not be interesting in renewing, in an envelope addressed - "FAO Manager" with reception at the gym in question in November or December 2014. I noticed a direct debit had came out in January this year so checked my online banking and noticed the DD was still in effect, I chose to cancel it thought nothing else of it. Fast forward to today and you can see the letter I have received. I haven't received any other letters as they have stated. Nor do I understand how a total of 119.97 minus CRS' so called 102.50 fees has come into existence. I have phoned the gym and asked to speak to the manager or persons in charge at 17:20 today, was told I would get a call back in 5-10 mins as he was busy with a customer. I still haven't had a phonecall back and here I am seeking assistance. As a precaution I've been reading other posts about said companies in question, and noticed a post made by a user regarding "The High Court case of The OFT v Ashbourne Mgt Svs Ltd" and I wonder, do this also relate to me? I have been a member over a year my contract is techincally fulfilled if this is true they should just accept the DD cancel as my membership termination regardless of receiving it in writing from me? Thanks, Dean.

Hi All (hopefully Slick too) I have been reading the forum in regard to my dealings with Harlands and Xercise for less and want to clarify the advice for my situation. I operated a joint bank account with my partner for some time and we both signed up to Xercise for less Glasgow in August 2014 with what I believe to be a 12 month £9.99 membership plan. To cut a long story short, my partner and I separated and the direct debit was cancelled as part of shutting the bank account down in February 2016 which has resulted in all the usual letters that have been documented and now contact from CRS. I hold my hands to the fact that I have not informed them of the cancellation. To this stage I have made absolutely no contact with any company or guise and would appreciate any advice from anyone. I must say - as a 30 year old guy I can be quite bullish, but some of the tactics employed to this stage could seriously frighten someone into paying with language and style of letters! Any help appreciated Thanks Brian

Hi, I have been receiving letters for month now telling me I owe £222.47 to Harlands. I have been reading here that I should ignore the letters. I signed up at the gym for 14.99/month via direct debit. I went once and cancelled the gym membership a few months after by cancelling the direct debit. This was around two years ago. I'm sick of getting these letters, I have just walked into the one from Spratt Endicott telling me that failure to reply to this notice within 7 days may result in legal proceedings to recover the above balance unless you contact us to discuss your repayment proposals. Continue to shred?

Hi everyone! I have read previous threads in this forum, but have began panicking and would much appreciate personal help! Long story short, my direct debit of £9.99 bounced on the 5th of August due to lack of funds, and I fully admit responsibility. I was on holiday until Tuesday, and returned to a letter dated 6th August saying that the £9.99 plus £25 admin charge will be taken from my account on the 16th, and will not be able to stop after the 14th (tomorrow). I emailed the company on Tuesday (after reading threads advising to stay off the phone) however have had no reply other than a generic thank you for your email which I received yesterday. In my email I stated I would be happy to pay the £9.99 on the 16th, however should they take the £25 I will be unable to pay my next monthly instalment and would need to cancel my membership. I was hoping they would waive the fee as this is a first time offence. I haven't used the gym in two months, so would be looking to freeze my membership anyway, but I don't want to cancel the direct debit if it will result in further letters and a damaged credit rating. I am desperate to get this sorted today so they don't take money I don't believe is theirs (admin charge). Any advice would be gratefully received! As a side note - I have since looked up my membership terms and conditions, and the email given at the time of joining says I have paid no admin fee and am paying £9.99 for 11 months. I joined in the gym, with a member of staff, however she charged me £10 admin fee and I was not told it was a year contract at any point. Is this enough of a reason to phone the gym and complain? Again thanks for any help!

Hello! My first post to the page! Iv'e seen many things posted about Xercise 4 less and CRS (Credit Resoloution Services) so i hope you can help me out. First of all it started with a text message on the 10th of December saying 'Please call CRS urgently on 01444449165 as we need to speak to you today. Thank you. ' i originally thought nothing of this, i just thought it was a spam message and quickly forgot about it and went on about life. It wasn't until the 18th December that i recieved a letter from CRS saying 'we regret that despite our attempts to reach an amicable resoultion to your account, you remain in arrears to Xercise 4 Less. We must therefore give notice that failing to reply to this letter withing the next 10 days will result in your account balance being passed to Zinc Group Ltd, one of the UK's leading providers of debt recovery solutions.' The account balance is £171.47 (I don't know where this figure was made up from) This is the only form of contact i have recieved from them. I originally cancelled my membership online where they asked me to fill out a form and take it into the gym. Due to my circumstances of not being able to go back to the gym (I was at University and it takes ages to get there) I rang them up on the phone and they assured me that it was all dealt with and it was fine to do so. This was the 29th of June.. (almost 6month ago, and first contact made now?!) I checked my direct debit and i paid the 12 full payments as it was a year contract. I'm just not sure how to deal with this from here, iv'e seen you recommend not speaking to them on the phone. Many Thanks! Nik

Hi, I desperately need some advice on how to deal with two letters I have received from CRS over the last month. I joined Exercise 4 Less during my time at University on a rolling contact of £14.99 per month. I left Hull in August 2014 to move back home after completing my degree, I didn't until November 2014 realise I had forgot to cancel my gym membership, after phoning up to try and cancel my membership over the telephone they informed me I would have to send in a cancellation form. I received the cancellation form at 15:17 on the 3rd of November 2014, which I printed off, filled in and posted the following day. On the cancellation form it says 'You are required to give one calendar month’s notice as per the terms and conditions of your membership. Please do not cancel your Direct Debit with Harlands as you may incur additional charges.' So I sent off the form and thought they would take one last payment and that would be that. Until July 2015 when I finally got online banking and realised that I was still paying for my membership via direct debit and cancelled it straight away, although I was annoyed I didn't think asking for a refund or anything as I didn't think it would be worth the hassle. But then on the 6th of November I got a letter from CRS saying that 'despite previous letters' that I now owed £222.47, yet this is the first contact I have had from anybody about Exercise 4 less since November 2014. So I decided to ignore it. I have just opened a letter from CRS dated the 26th of November (I have been away) saying 'Following their initial letter' (I thought you'd sent me ones previous ones to the one dated 6th November). Saying I have ten days to pay or their will be legal actions. Starting to panic what should I do?

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

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.