Need advice - gym cancellation

[zenmaster2010]

Hi all

 

I have a friend that had a bad experience with a member of staff, alongside general hygience of a gym, and therefore decided to cancell her Direct Debit.

 

This of course, has prompted a letter from the gym demanding the rest of the monthly payments (about 6 months payments of a 12 month agreement)

 

Having looked at the terms and conditions in which she agreed online by ticking a "I agree" box, I have noticed that there is nothing mentioning her rights, or her cancellation rights.

 

Basically the Terms and Conditions just cover the gym, are very basic, and dont appear to give her any rights what-so-ever.

 

I would say this is a unfair agreement, and wondered if someone would be so kind to have a look. I am hoping that she might be able to get out of paying the rest of the payments, but I am no lawyer

 

I have posted their terms at this address: TERMS & CONDITIONS PRINCIPLE - Anonymous - xT7DtPP4 - Pastebin.com

 

As you see, the terms dont seem to give her any rights - such as a cancellation process, them failing to provide a good service etc.

 

Any help would be cool.

 

Best

[slick132]

Hi Zenmaster and welcome to CAG.

 

Was the problem with the staff member, and the concerns about hygiene, discussed with the management at the time.

 

They should have been given a chance to remedy the probs. Better still if the grievances were put in writing.

 

If they still failed, then cancelling would be reasonable.

 

[thetruth23]

Yes, I believe you would have rights if they failed to provide you with an adequate service, ie. hygienic facilities. But as mentioned previously, I think you would have to make an official complaint and give them reasonably time to fix things.

[zenmaster2010]

Hi all, no complaint was made. Just cancelled the Direct Debit, which seems the worst move my friend could have made ?

[SharpmanTF1]

look at rule 16 - tell your friend to breach one of their rules - bobs yer uncle - membership terminated, no more payments

[dx100uk]

those terms and conditions were written by a child and are totally unenforceable in law.

 

ignore them totally.

 

dx

[zenmaster2010]

Thanks all for your replies SharpmanTF1, terms 16, says they "may" cancel, and if they think you are not trying to get out of paying, so not sure about that one ?

 

dx100uk, on what basis do you think the terms are unenforeable, I would need more info to clarify in my mind, with all due respect

[dx100uk]

to remove any chance of wrong typing by whomever did that txt.

 

scan your T&C docs

 

remove all pers info inc barcodes etc but leave all figures and dates.

goto one one of the many free online pdf converter websites

convert the image to pdf format.

open a new msg box here

hit go advanced below the msg box

hit manage attachments below that box

browse to your pdf file and upload it

hit close this windows at the bottom below upload it box

 

dx

[zenmaster2010]

thanks dx100uk

 

Please find attached their terms and conditions.

 

Out of interest, I have seen these exact terms on another thread, for another gym on this website. I wonder if its a generic one.

 

Best wishes

MasterTermsAndConditions_0709.pdf

[Conniff]

Which gym is this zenmaster ?

[zenmaster2010]

Hi Conniff, just a gym in Leicester

[zenmaster2010]

those terms and conditions were written by a child and are totally unenforceable in law.

 

ignore them totally.

 

dx

 

Could you explain the reasons why ? With all due respect, I would need to clarify in my mind if I'm going to challenge these.

 

Also, they are now charging £50.00 admin letters, in which they have sent two, so any help would be grateful.

[Conniff]

One thing that stuck out like a sore thumb is:

 

7. 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.

 

That is not an admin fee, it is a penalty. You cannot decide how much an admin fee is until you have done the admin so cannot predict that it is £25.

 

You should name the gym so we know who we are talking about.

[zenmaster2010]

Abbey Sports Leicester is the name of the Gym

[zenmaster2010]

Hi all, the letters are actually from Harlands, which there are a few posts about them.

 

I'm gonna send a letter asking for proof of the agreement, and I will take it from there.

[zenmaster2010]

Hi all

 

Ok, sent a letter requesting for information regarding who the agreement is with, harlands or the gym, along with other information. They chose to reply with a waffle about the web signup process. With this, I sent a reply saying that not happy with their response, and also that they failed to provide information to exaplain who I have an agreement with.

 

Also in this reply, I kindly asked them to stop bothering us, otherwise we will take them to court.

 

Lets see what happens!

[zenmaster2010]

Hi all

 

PLEASE HELP!!!

 

Please can any of the members that wrote that Harlands Contracts are worthless, please, please can you explain the reasons why. We have now recd letters from a debt collection agency. And we dont know what to do.

 

Thanks

[dx100uk]

so what!

 

dca's have NO LEGAL POWERS

 

ignore them!

 

 

dx

[zenmaster2010]

Why cant you explain what you written here ?

 

Whats the point of asking for help on this forum, if all you get is vague answers ? that actually dont help.

terms and conditions

were written by a child and are totally unenforceable in law.

 

ignore them totally.

[dx100uk]

that ans does help, but its not meant to be taken in the way you are taking it.

 

T&C are just that, they are not binding, they are not the law in this case,

they are of their own 'guesswork'. very poorly written, thats what has been pointed too

 

but anyhow. out those to one side they are irrelevent.

 

what you have is a threat-o-gram

 

its what DCA's do, and very well, its worked on you.

 

they have no legal powers

 

they can do nowt to you

 

there are many many threads in this forum

 

just take a read of a few of them and you'll soon get the idea.

 

the more you read the stronger we become.

 

dx

[slick132]

Hi Zen,

 

If you are troubled by the DCA contact, drop them a line saying:-

 

I refer to your letter of xx date, and deny that I owe anything to you or anyone you claim to represent.

 

I have already written to Harlands requesting information and they have failed to provide it. Accordingly, any alleged debt is now in dispute and, if you continue to pursue payment, you will be reported to Trading Standards and the FOS for breach of the OFT Debt Collection Guidelines.

 

Also write to Harlands again pointing out that they have failed to provide you with adequate answers to your letter of xx date and they must withhold further collection activity until they respond properly. Threaten them with TS and the FOS as above.

 

As DX says, read other threads in this forum to get a feel for how others are challenging gyms their Admin Co's and their DCA's.

 

8)

[zenmaster2010]

Hi dx

 

Thanks for the reply.

 

I really am thankful that there is this forum, and am thankful for your time.

 

I hope you can understand my point though, from someone who doesnt understand law or what is binding and not binding etc.

 

To be able to challenge these letters, and to grasp a understanding of what I am dealing with, I need to know facts, for example, "this contract is not valid because of ...."

 

To simply say "...were written by a child and are totally unenforceable in law" is postive, but it doesnt help me to understand exactly the reasons why, and I need to know the reasons why, so I am confident to challenge.

 

With all due respect, I dont have the confidence to challenge, by going on the fact of someone saying on a forum that it was written by a child.

 

All I was asking is, if you would be so kind to explain a little, so I can research and gain some knowledge.

 

I am not a lazy person, and dont just expect people to do things for me. I am happy to research, but everything I have researched points back to the contract being binding, and therefore liable to have to pay the money.

 

So, as you can imagine, your posts give me strength, but not enough to help us through.

 

Best wishes

 

 

Johnny

 

[dx100uk]

ta slick

 

dx