Harlands penalty fees

[jotty]

I joined my local gym 6 weeks ago on an offer, at the time I was not told it would be an agreement handled by Harlands and outside agency, but I the time I specifically asked for a certain payment date to go out when I get paid.

To my shock I got a letter recently from Harlands saying that they administer the account and because they had been unable to collect the first payment, not on the day I specified ! and had charged me £25 on top of the initial £15 fee. I emailed them immediately but got no response, this morning they have tried again on the wrong date and are now charging another £25 fee.

 

This is a nice little earner for them, I am happy with the gym but what can I do about the penalty fees. For info I dont recall ever signing a credit agreement.

[rebel11]

Hi jotty

 

Heres an interesting link:- http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?289741-council-gym-harlands-collection-need-advice-please

[slick132]

Hi Jotty,

 

What worries me is that the 2 failed DD attempts by Harlands will probably incur bank charges which may be even more than the £25 penalty fees that Harlands charge.

 

Until you get this sorted, I suggest you cancel the DD mandate with the bank.

 

Write to Harlands saying:-

 

Because of your refusal to take the DD at the time of the month which I specified, the DD was not paid by my bank. This will have caused me to incur bank charges twice, for which you are responsible.

 

The "admin" fees which you seek to charge me are unlawful penalties which you have no right to charge.

 

I have had to cancel the DD mandate with my bank until we agree the date on which you take the DD each month.

 

I realise that this may put your membership in jeopardy but you need to sort this or you'll get hit by more bank charges every time they try and take the DD when you have insufficient funds to pay it.

 

They may also say you have no right to cancel the DD and that you now owe the full amount due under the m/ship agreement for the full initial term. You can counter argue that you owe them nothing as they failed to take the DD's in accordance with your clear instructions (which I assume you made known to the gym, who will have just ignored them and passed the paperwork onto Harlands to process).

 

For info I dont recall ever signing a credit agreement.

You probably haven't. But you have signed a m/ship agreement for an initial fixed term. Was it 12 or 24 months ?

 

8-)

[jotty]

Had a response back from Harlands and they are digging their heels in over the penalty fees, does the Ashbourne case now affect all these companies as I am dying to send them back a suitable response.

[slick132]

Hi Jotty,

 

they are digging their heels in over the penalty fees

Do you mean the penalties they have charged, or penalties charged by the bank.

 

Have you checked to see if you incurred any bank fees due to the failed DD pay'ts.

 

Did you cancel the DD as suggested.

 

You didn't respond about the length of the contract - is it 12 or 24 months.

 

8-)

[jotty]

Sorry Slick.

 

The fees are £25 for every missed payment, even though I have explained to them about my requesting a specific date. And yes on top of this I have been charged £12 each time by the bank. I took your advice and cancelled the dd after the last charges which amounted to 3 months so £75 plus £36 min.

 

The agreement for was for 3yrs and I have only been able to use the gym once as they froze my membership.

 

I am now getting letters demanding the full 3yr amount or else !.

[slick132]

Hi Jotty,

 

As your contract was for 3 years, you will be covered by the High Court ruling made against Ashbourne Management Services Ltd on 27th May 2011. It was ruled that contracts of this length are "Unfair" to the consumer and, accordingly, it will be unenforceable.

 

Read about it here - http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?289465-Office-of-Fair-Trading-v-Ashbourne-Management-Services-9th.March-2011&p=3249914&viewfull=1#post3249914 Read through the OFT's Summary linked in post #13.

 

You can then write to Harlands saying :-

 

1. The contract is unenforceable following the High Court ruling against Ashbourne due to the 36 month minimum contract term.

 

2. Their admin fees of £25 each are unfair penalties and not enforceable.

 

3. You hold them accountable for the bank charges incurred by you as a consequence of their failure to take the DD's on the date each month that you clearly specified.

 

To get the bank charges back, I suspect you may have to take court action and I'm not certain this is worth doing.

 

But, if you can at least get Harlands to back off re their demands and acknowledge that their contract is worthless, that'll be a result.

 

8-)