Esporta, ARC and Trevor Munn

[GBT]

Hi All

I have spent a few hours looking through the forums and am reasonably confident that this particular case will not get to court but I was after some process advice. Summary - son was cajoled into joining Esporta gym in Leeds by smooth talking, high pressure salesman who got him to sign the CCA at the end of the sales pitch. Saleman clinched the deal on the basis that Son only needed to tell reception that he wanted to cancel and all would be OK.

Son fell out with Esporta after 3 months of ARC chasing his best friend (who did not complete the application form process i.e. he did not sign anything) for unpaid membership fees. Eventually, after much to-ing and fro-ing, they dropped this. Son advised the cretins on the desk that he was so angry with them that he would certainly not be renewing his membership once the 12 months minimum period had expired and would be cancelling his DD once the final payment was made.

He completed 12 months and duly cancelled his DD. Bring on letter from Esporta, reply from Son stating he gave notice as advised by the salesman (now left the business). ARC then engage and advise the 'debt' was 3 months as per the contract plus expenses and fees. Total £162. I was submitted to their usual agressive, wind-you-up-til-you-lose-your-rag-then-hang-up tactics.

 

I have contacted TSO/Consumer Direct and used my house insurance legal aid and both told me the same thing. If it states clearly that 3 months is needed you are likely to lose a court case.

 

Read in the posts on the forums that this doesn't seem to be the case.

 

Son has sent a letter to Esporta general manager (attached) but no response and now another letter from Munn with extra costs added.

 

The costs they show are different to those shown in the Esporta contract ie they claim £20 admin fee where the contract states £15. Interest is charged at 8% which I beleive to be excessive. Would this be sufficient to throw it out of court if it ever gets there?

How do I get them to hear the case in Leeds rather than Northampton?

 

Any idea what the next steps should be?

Do I chase Esporta and tell ARC it is under dispute so back off?

Do I tell ARC the terms and conditions of the original contract are unfair and see you in court to discuss?

 

I reckon I'll have 6 months of aggro from ARC - the usual time it seems, but given that Esporta is going under I'd like to close this before it get complicated by administrators winding up the company or new owners chasing the 'debt'.

 

Thanks

GBT

esporta desist letter1.doc

[spamheed]

I think in the first instance you would need to clarify what exactly is shown in the terms and conditions of the agreement that was signed,

 

also check carefully because a lot of these agreements are actually membership agreements and not finance agreements.

 

since the contract was for 12 months, find the stipulation which refers to auto-renewal and cancellation terms.

 

Since the original 12 month contract has ran its course, depending on what the agreement contains I would argue that rather than cancelling the original agreement, I just simply declined to renew, or take out a further contract

 

If they do go through the Northampton route, you will have the option at that time to refer the account to your local county court

[GBT]

Thanks spamheed

The contract contains a statement that the membership can be terminated by "3 months written notice" although it also states on one of the documents "3 months notice" no mention of written!

 

Its this that I am objecting to most strongly. As my son:

gave around 4 months verbal notice that he would not be continuing his membership & he wasn't advised at the time that he should put it in writing,

was told that he could cancel verbally by the cretin that signed him up then he should be free to walk with no costs under the Verbal Misrepresentation Act 1967.

 

The 3 months is patently an unfair period as Esporta do not actually suffer any loss by him cancelling (ie there are no associated costs that they need to cover even if he is not there).

The manager is hiding and ARC are chasing so would rather push Esporta into cancelling this rather than deal with ARC but not sure who should be dealing with this.

ARC's original letter states the "account has been passed to us for collection" so does this mean they own it or are just trying o collect?

Should I sent the CCA & postal order to Esporta to identify who is the real owner of the alleged debt?

 

GBT

[spamheed]

Thanks spamheed

The contract contains a statement that the membership can be terminated by "3 months written notice" although it also states on one of the documents "3 months notice" no mention of written! if the method of informing about the notice period is not stipulated in the agreement ie in writing, then it is not part of the agreement and cannot be used as part of the enforcement process

Its this that I am objecting to most strongly. As my son:

gave around 4 months verbal notice that he would not be continuing his membership & he wasn't advised at the time that he should put it in writing, he didn't cancel, he decided not to renew, since there was no cancellation, there is no case to answer

was told that he could cancel verbally by the cretin that signed him up then he should be free to walk with no costs under the Verbal Misrepresentation Act 1967. they will always deny this - always best to get everything in writing and check the small print - hindsight is a wonderful gift

 

The 3 months is patently an unfair period as Esporta do not actually suffer any loss by him cancelling (ie there are no associated costs that they need to cover even if he is not there).

 

The manager is hiding and ARC are chasing so would rather push Esporta into cancelling this rather than deal with ARC but not sure who should be dealing with this. the contract is with the gym, take it up with them and ignore arc as they are just a bunch of chancers

 

ARC's original letter states the "account has been passed to us for collection" so does this mean they own it or are just trying o collect?

Should I sent the CCA & postal order to Esporta to identify who is the real owner of the alleged debt?

 

GBT

 

you would generally cca whoever is making the demands, but i would send it to the gym and see what they come up with.

[GBT]

Thanks spamhead.

Your comment made me review what I have and the only thing that is signed - the Credit Agreement - states:

Membership start date 30/04/08, Commitment period end date 30/04/09 and underneath these dates:

 

"membership may be terminated with 3 months written notice given at any time to expire on or after the minimum commitment period" on one side of the agreement and

 

"your membership continues indefinitely until expiry of 3 months notice of termination given at any time to expire on or after the minimum commitment period" on the reverse.

 

A clear contradiction and indication that they don't really have a leg to stand on as the credit agreement is only for 12 months - regardless of what is on the back of the agreement.

 

So, as you point out, the membership automatically ends with the agreement (as that is all that was signed up to), the fact that they then want an automatic renewal by implying this continues beyond the 12 month agreement is not enforceable especially as they have the statement about 3 months notice highlighted under "important points about your membership"

 

I think we'll continue to sit this out as Esporta have passed our desist letter to ARC who promptly rang us and son again and met with - "put it in writing - we will not speak with you". 2 weeks on, no follow up letter from ARC!

Fingers crossed!

 

One thing that did cross my mind is that even though the forums are really useful, it would be even stronger if we had a register of everyone in a similar situation that eventually got Esporta/ARC to give in and drop the action against them. This would give everyone case evidence that would stop ARC/Esporta dead in their tracks in future - anyone know if this exists?

 

Cheers

GBT

[hacksaw]

Hi GBT

 

I had exactly the same problem with Esporta last year in a London club, when they contradicted themselves in the notice period.

 

I tried to cancel after one year but they said I need to give 3 months notice, so in effect I would have to be with them for 15 months. My 13th month was free, so I only had to pay for two months, although I wasn't happy about this.

 

Eventually after an exchange of letters and threatening them with court action, in addition to quoting the Unfair Contract Terms Act, they only asked for payment of one month, instead of two, which I accepted.

[GBT]

Latest update

 

Despite making it very clear months ago that we will see them in court as the termination notice clause is not enforceable, we have now received two letters from a scottish collection agency SCOTCALL debt collection services.

The first one back in September advising that their clients Esporta (interesting as previous correspondence from ARC stated the debt had been passed to them) had engaged them to collect the debt and unless they get something within the week they MAY make a doorstep call.

I did nothing and waited, preparing the family for the fun and readying the harrassment and trespass call to the police if they did turn up.

 

Fast forward middle of October and a second letter from Scotcall advising that they had not heard anything and would be recommending to their client that court action would be necessary to recover the debt unless we paid within 7 days.

 

Still not responding - I thought "please refer to my original statement - see you in court!"

 

Cannot believe that these people cannot understand that all of the calls, red letters, threats, increase in debt value, passing to solicitors, more threats, passing to doorstep collection agents, more threats amount to basic harassment and, if I ever do get to court, undermine their case.

 

I'll post updates as they arrive for the amusement of the forum.

 

GBT

[KHH]

Hi all,

I've had a lot of help from this site and from other peoples experience with Esporta/arc/Trevor Munn so here is where I stand at the moment with Esporta.

 

I signed a 12 month contract and decided to cancel my membership after 20 months giving a 3 months notice in writing (not recorded delivery ) which they claim they did not receive and I also sent an email 1 month before I terminated my contract, what more do they want I hear you ask?.

Well Esporta still wanted me to pay for another 3 months notice because they didn't receive my letter (Cheeky B******s) which I refused so they passed my details to ARC and this is when i started getting several phone calls from ARCs charming employees which after a few calls I told them not to speak to me over the phone anymore and only contact me via post (Which really winds them up, I recommend it ).

Note: keep a note of dates & times of all the calls, and if you can get a name.

 

I then started receiving letters from T Munn which to be honest scared me @ first but when you read them properly you know they're just bluffing. They keep threatening court action but do absolutely nothing about it. I Ignored these letters and when ARC called again I told them that they will never see 1 penny of my money so take me to court and stop being so generous by giving me all these last chances.

 

Esporta then called me and told me that they would settle for 1 month payment which I was going to pay then decided why should I give them any money especially after months of harassment, so I sent them a letter telling them that they have 2 choices 1) take me to court or 2) close my account if they do neither then I will take the matter to court myself. After months of harassment I have not heard anything from these Muppets for 5 weeks.

Please don't pay these guys a penny stand your ground, do not speak to them over the phone Only via post.

You will probably receive a couple of letters from T Munn threatening court action followed by a few more calls from ARC (More scare tactics).

 

These guys just try & bully people into paying up money they don't owe. We need to stand our ground and not part with a penny.

 

Good Luck Guys and don't take any sh*t from these idiots.

 

Here's a couple of phone numbers that really helped me.

 

Trading Standards 020 8545 4018

Consumer direct 08454 04 05 06

 

Hope this helps.

Edited January 4, 2010 by KHH

[Its WAR]

Has this affected your credit rating?

[KHH]

No it will not affect my credit rating.

Edited February 1, 2010 by KHH

[willarch]

After reading all these Emails Do something he might not like as he bombards others.Bombard him with emails at,[email protected]

[GBT]

No it will not affect my credit rating.

 

As far as I am aware, your credit rating can only be affected if you get a CCJ and fail to pay. This requires a trip to court and not just empty threats.

GBT

[Its WAR]

An adverse credit report is a more important issue than any outstsnding fees. So is anybody certain that a credit agreement with esporta does not get reported?

[KHH]

As far as i'm concerned i'm not paying a penny to esporta I've just received a letter from Scotcall threatening to come to my house, i have a pregnant wife and a very ill tempered dog that does not like strangers not sure which one is more dangerous so I've now decided to pass all my information to trading standers and take Esporta to court myself (I've F***ing had enough)

since they haven't got the balls to do it themselves.

Will let you know how it goes.

[markmod]

I've just been through 6 months or arguments, letters, nasty phone calls, Court letters etc etc, then at the final push they backed down and let me walk away.

 

My membership was on suspension for a few months and following redundancy I didn't have the magical '3 months pay off' for them, things got nasty and the price went from £180 to £230 to even £280 with court costs!! they offered me a special offer of £150 to walk away.

 

I stood my ground wrote a letter to head office asking for some compassion, understanding and the fact ARC were intimidating and distressing, causing even more stress to an already difficult time, oh and I had reported ARC to OFT and Trading standards.

 

A victory for the small man, ARC are nothing but intimidating bullies.

 

Take note and stand your ground, they are just playing the percentage game, the more people give in the richer they get.

[Its WAR]

The agreements with esporta do allow them to report defaults without first obtaining a ccj.