La Fitness Charges

[dommcd]

La fitness sent me a letter saying they had not recieved a payment (probably tried to take it a day early or something so the money wasnt there but not the issue) and started threatening all sorts and telling me the contract is non cancellable. So i contacted them to say that my 12 month contract had long since passed and as i had discovered that i could get it cheaper elsewhere despite them telling me otherwise-lying god dam salesman-i could cancel my contract any time i wanted to and so wished to do so immediately. (if they were going to be funny i didnt want to be with them anymore plus £42 is a lot of money unless you go all the time which i no longer had the time to do)

 

I also told them that i wasnt convinced that i owed them the money as i initially joined on a 6 week offer through a friend which i paid for up front plus some administration charge. when i joined properly i was told that when the 6 weeks ran out the first payment would be made so surely i was paying a month in advance and as i hadnt visited the gym at all within the period appealed to their sence of what would you call it decency or even just good customer reations not to charge it.

 

Obviously a mistake as they have neither of these things and as a response i got another letter slightly more threatening than the first. Then another letter came saying thank you for your request with reference to leave to do this we need 30 days notice in writing. Please note we havent recieved the requested notice thus leaving your account with an outstanding balance of £42.95 which is due and owing before we can terminate the agreement.

 

How can they say they had not recieved any notice how would they have known to send this letter. I sent them an email stating the fact that i wished to leave with immediate effect. It wasnt an ENQUIRY as to leaving it was me saying I WANT TO LEAVE for these reasons please ensure this is dealt with straight away. Surely an email is as good as a letter otherwise what is the point in being able to email them?

 

Anyway in order to be done with it i thought when i have the money i will send it and that will be the end of it

However they have sent me a letter with final notice written on it saying that i actually owe them £82.92 because they have added some late charge to it of £40 are they allowed to do this? I was quite willing to give them the £42 just to be rid of them but this seems a bit much plus it comes with this paragraph at the end

Faiure to comply with any of the above within the timescales indicated will result in your file being passed on to the collection agents without further notice. In adition interest of 8% above the bank of england base rate (can they do that) will be levied on this outstanding contractual balance plus an added late payment charge of £40. is that what they have already added or is that another charge that they will add again?

 

any advice would be apprieciated as i dont know what i can do if anything at all particually about this £40 charge. As I said before this all seems a bit much for 42 quid. I was with them for a year after my 12 month contract expied see where any kind of loyalty gets you. Im just glad i didnt renew it and tie myself to them permanetly.

[artoo]

My advice would be to write to them saying that their claims are not accepted, that you don’t believe you do owe them anything and that if they want to try and claim it they should go to court, where you will defend the claim. For £80 odd they wont do anything, and if you say the amount is in despite they can’t tell credit reference people etc…

[dommcd]

Thanks for the reply!

Does anyone know if the £40 late payment charge is unlawful in the same way that the bank charges are. Because its seems rather a lot more than any administration costs.

[Pete_hay]

I would advise against joining LA Fitness period! I was with them for three years on a group-wide membership, so that I could use gyms around the country.

 

Then, I turned up at a gym to be told my membership had lapsed. I phoned them and was told that I was no longer their problem, as they had sold my membership to another club.

 

The new club, which purchased my 'home club' took my money, but only has one club - which is terrible. Leaving me paying for a group-wide membership of LA Fitness clubs, but only receiving access to one grubby NuYuu club.

 

I have spend £20 on phone calls to LA's 0843 numbers, but still to no avail.

 

I have heard that LA will be off-loading a lot more fitness clubs, so join at your peril.

 

Avoid at all costs is my advice.

[dommcd]

Well I stopped going in July or August of 2006 when the problems began. I never heard from them again after the letters I sent and have never been back or had any desire to go back in over 3 years now. I have found much better (and cheaper) gyms to go to. Ones that arent full of posing to**ers and annoying personal trainers that wont leave you alone.

[Pete_hay]

They are really bad. They screwed up my contract - now want to charge me more to rejoin. They are just the pits. Never ever join LA if you don't want your health to suffer!

[NoGym Bod]

I joined LA Fitness in February 2010. Having paid my membership regularly by direct debit I was concerned when I started receiving phone calls and being stopped at the turn styles when entering the gym for 'non payment' of my monthly fees. I checked my bank account to find that not one, but 2 payments had been going out each month. As requested I took my bank statement to the gym who advised they would rectify the situation.

The phone calls kept coming, and then the letters demanding payment of the arrears and threatening a £40 administration charge. The weeks went by and I was still being hounded by LA Fitness staff even though I was still paying 2 fees (which no one could explain to me why?)and after I spoke to each individual they said they would put a note on my account to state the problem was being looked into.

I then receive a phone call from my sister advsing me that 'she' owed me money!

Confused by my sisters comment, I asked her 'what for'? She advised me she had just received a phone call from LA Fitness staff who told her thay had been taking her membership fees from my bank account in error and that 'she' owed me money!!!

Angry that LA Fitness had not themselves notified me of their error I called the gym again and advised them that it was 'them' not my sister that owed me the money and I wanted a refund from them and in turn they would have to sort out my sisters membership with her.

Again LA Fitness advised me that the error would be rectified, although it would take a few weeks for me to receive my refund.

I am still, 3 weeks down the line, waiting for my refund. I have however received a lovely letter from LA Fitness' Debt Recovery Agency, advising me that as I have 'failed' to respond to requests from LA Fitness to clear my arrears they have cancelled my membership, added a £40 admin charge and forwarded my details to collect the remaining £263.91 (balance remaining on the years contract)

Ha ha ha ha (Although I wasn't laughing at this point), I could not believe the incompetence of these people. I drove to the gym yet again to have it out with the manager, who sent his minion to do the dirty work. When he did appear (after at least 20 minutes of me ranting in front of other gym goers about their incompetence) he advised he was with another customer and would get the other manager to call me the following day. He gave me his word the problem would be rectified...again!!

I received a lame voicemail message from the manager late afternoon the following day advising that my account is now clear and I will receive my refund shortly... and yet another lame apology.

This I am totally unhappy with... what about my credit rating that they have runied, what about the fact that I have been hounded for weeks over an error that was made by them, and yes... what about the incompetent person who set up a direct debit on my bank account for someone elses membership? And do they really think that a lame apology after all the grief I have had is going to make me want to return there? I think not!

Since posting this on Facebook it has been brought to my attention that this is not an isolated problem. It seems that LA Fitness are quite good at this kind of thing. A [problem] I feel to obtain money by deception. If you have had the same problem or know someone who has, then join this group and let's make sure these [problem] artists don't get away with doing this again.

LOL.. I'm waiting for the next round of letters saying I have igored correspondance from the debt collectors and then the white van to remove goods from my house for sale at auction!! Muppets!!

[NoGym Bod]

Join my group on Facebook - 'LA Fitness tried to [problem] me' we need to get awareness out there about what these people are up to!! It's not on I am still fuming!!!

Edited May 14, 2010 by NoGym Bod
added more text!

[joegarner1]

Hi, i have read so much on these sites about LA fitness and there well trained & coached back office staff!! I am a previous member a few years ago so took up the limited offer of 6 months @ £19:99 per month so applied online, anyway last november i cancelled my DD last november but my stupid bank let them take Dec & Jan payments before i realised, i contacted LA fitness membership dept. and was told that they run "rolling contracts"!!!!!!!!!! so i told them to cancel the membership forthwith, the guy on the phone said that i needed to pay the presents months fee and a notice fee!! (I needto point out that after the 6 month fee expired they put me on there £39 fee, they said they sent me a letter advising me of this but as per usual we never get any letter of advice from them....only letter stating "we haven't received your payment")

Any way keeping to the point, i paid the final fee over the phone with my debit card, i had credit in the account so thought nothing of it, he even give me a closure number!!!

3 weeks later a letter from ARC credit management (LA's internal debt collectors) stating that i owe them not only the fee but another £48 to put in there pocket!!

I rang LA's members dept again and asked why they cant take the money from my account, the guy made some excuse along the lines of "i can see where he has gone wrong here...give me your card details again" so we went through it again, he gave me another closure number and off i went.

3 weeks later ARC again so i called members and spoke to a nice chap, i asked him why LA fitness cannot take money from people's account, i told him i thought it was a deliberate ploy to instigate the ARC dept, he advised me to go to my LA branch and pay over the counter which i did, great job done, 3 weeks later ARC phone calls, the aknowleged my final payment but was now demaning there £48 fee? i explained that i have done all i could to close this membership and pay the fee and that i will see them in court!!

Still getting calls now!!

 

DONT EVER JOIN LA FITNESS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Conniff]

You should take a read of this other thread:

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/gyms-health-clubs/220760-problem-la-fitness-nuyuu-4.html#post2940904

 

The owner came on and posted, but nothing has changed despite promises.

[Conniff]

I am still, 3 weeks down the line, waiting for my refund. I have however received a lovely letter from LA Fitness' Debt Recovery Agency, advising me that as I have 'failed' to respond to requests from LA Fitness to clear my arrears they have cancelled my membership, added a £40 admin charge and forwarded my details to collect the remaining....

 

And this is despite not having any Privacy Policy and not obtaining your permission or indicating they will pass your data to any third party.

Edited May 22, 2010 by Conniff

[IvanVoyager]

I've read all these comments and I was really shocked. I never had any problems with La Fitness. I Googgled this information and found about a hundred complains on La Fitness (****edconsumer.com). I like their gym and I don't want to leave it. But I think I should be more attentive with my payments.