GYM MEMBERSHIP mis-sold to my boyfriend

[Ok22]

Heya.

 

Me and my boyfriend joined a gym in a hotel close to our house. It was for six weeks as a promotional trial and when the date ended my boyfriend went to cancel it but was told by a very helpful girl at the desk that he can sign on and when he wants to cancel he needs to give 28 days notice. so...he joined again thinking that he could cancel after 28 days.

 

now...when we first joined I signed for the 6 six weeks and he signed for the six weeks, two different documents but payed through direct debit from my bf account.

 

when he signed another contract after those 6 weeks i was not present.

 

now the trouble is that we wanted to cancel , and I found out that there was no possibility to cancel. after long discussion with one of the team leaders there i was offered a suspension of accounts for a year or reduction in the fee. I did not want to go for any options but my boyfriend went alone to talk with the woman and took the reduce membership. he realised that was another of their marketing/seling strategies and we want to know if we can do anything about it?

[citizenB]

Do you have a copy of terms and conditions ?

 

Will try and find some help for you.

[Ok22]

We were never given any other contracts or any terms and conditions. we did not even receive an acknowledgement of the change of contract through the post. after the initial 6 weeks trail period we did not received any other paperwork.

[citizenB]

Ok, some one will look in on you some time over the weekend.

[Ok22]

Thank you very much

[slick132]

Hi OK and welcome to CAG

 

Please confirm what gym or club you joined.

 

Did your BF sign for you, to join for a further period or is your membership finished.

 

now the trouble is that we wanted to cancel , and I found out that there was no possibility to cancel

Regarding your BF's membership, you may be able to argue that the staff were wrong to tell him that he could not cancel. If he joined or re-joined on the understanding that he could cancel at any time with 28 days Notice, they should have allowed him to do this.

 

You may have some protection against the gym's actions from CPUTR. See my advice on another thread with a similar issue - http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?318285-What-could-i-do-to-cancel-fitness-first-membership-Please-help!&p=3539681&viewfull=1#post3539681

 

You can see the relevant section of the CPUT Regulations here - http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2008/1277/regulation/5/made

 

[Ok22]

Heya,

 

 

 

The gym is the one inside Hampshire court hotel gym, Basingstoke.

 

 

he signed for me, without him actually signing the documents, even though when we joined we did not have a joint application but two different forms and one direct debit.

 

I gave up trying to solve with them , we did not even been seen by a manager with the issue but the head receptionist, who is the only one that apparently deals with cancellation and who I had been chasing for weeks before an answer given.

While we are pursuing this further my Bf accepted a reduction in fees only because we were told they can either temporarily suspend for 12 months but after those 12 months we have to pay the remaining contract or take a reduction in fees.

 

At the moment I am writing a letter to their head office in Leeds and the information given by you is very helpful.

 

Should I cancel the direct debit? we are savings for a mortgage now and we do not want to affect our credit.

Edited January 28, 2012 by Ok22

[Ok22]

He did not even been presented with a new contract and all was done on the computer-few clicks here and there .

[slick132]

Should I cancel the direct debit? we are savings for a mortgage now and we do not want to affect our credit.

Although they will threaten all sorts of action, possibly even court action, they will not do this. Nor should they post adverse credit data against your credit records.

 

Accordingly, you could cancel the DD mandate by writing to your bank. They will then start chasing you for missed payments and will add on admin fees but they have no right to charge or enforce such fees.

 

So if I understand correctly, you are now both signed up for 12 months. Is there an Admin Company dealing with the m/ship issues as I assume you are not dealing with this with the hotel themselves. Which company is handling this.

 

Can you confirm the approx dates you signed up and for how long on each occasion. I'm not clear on how many times you signed for 6 weeks and when you were told you were, in fact, now apparently in a 12 month contract.

 

You should argue on the basis that you were only signed up on the 6 week basis and that you should not have been made to sign up again on a longer contract.

 

[Ok22]

So if I understand correctly, you are now both signed up for 12 months. Is there an admin Company dealing with the m/ship issues as I assume you are not dealing with this with the hotel themselves. Which company is handling this.

 

I only signed once when we joined the first time. at that time we receive terms and conditions. it was middle of august 2011.

I decided I was not very keen on the gym and because I was not going frequently and at the middle of september my boyfriend and his friend went to the gym and was the day he was supposed to cancel.

This time I was not there, I did not sign anything and he did not sign a document either. The lady explained my bf that he only needs to give 28days notice and he said yes to the new arrangement. The changes for both of us were done on the computer, and we never received any copies.

 

We tried to solve it with the hotel but after weeks of trying to get out we were told that we can only temporally suspend it or accept a reduction in fee. Joe accepted the fee reduction while we decided to pursue this further.

We have not used the gym at all since probably november, we live in a different country now. We knew we would be relocating at the moment we took the first contract-6weeks and Joe would have not signed to 12 months without knowing we can cancel it. At that time I was undertaking security checks for the role that I am in now.

 

The hotel in Basingstoke is administrated by QHotel and we decided to write to them instead. Should we send a copy of the letter to Basingstoke as well? should we write only to Basingstoke?

Edited January 29, 2012 by slick132
used quotes box

[slick132]

Hi OK and thanks for the further info.

 

I suggest you cancel the DD mandate by writing to the bank.

 

Then keep an eye on the bank account to make sure no payments are made to, or taken by, the gym.

 

Write to the gym saying something like :-

 

Dear sir or madam,

 

Gym mebership for [OK22] and [OK22's BF]

 

I refer to the gym memberships for myself and for [OK22's BF].

 

When we first joined in August 2011, we made it very clear that we wanted no long-term contracts as we could not commit to using the facilities for any more than a few weeks.

 

When we tried to cancel the memberships after 6 weeks, we were talked into joining for a further period. We were told very clearly that we could give 28 days' notice to cancel at any time.

 

When we then tried to cancel, we were then told we now have a 12 month contract with no option to cancel with 28 days' notice.

 

In any event, we have now left the UK which was why we would never have joined for a further period, without being able to cancel.

 

The DD mandate has been cancelled and the bank informed to pay you nothing further.

 

We are cancelling with immediate effect for the following reasons :-

 

1. We were deliberately misled by the gym's sales staff into believing that we could cancel with just 28 days' notice.

 

2. We signed nothing to confirm our agreement to a 12 month contract, whether it allowed us to cancel with 28 days' notice, or not.

 

3. This is a Misleading Action as defined by Section 5 (2), (a) and (b) of the The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 (CPUTR).

 

4. This is also, therefore, an offence (under Section 9 of the Regulations) which can be reported to Trading Standards for investigation.

 

An further communications from you about this will be ignored. If you choose to pursue payments or cause any DCA to do so, you and the DCA will be reported to the OFT who are taking a keen interest in the behaviour of gyms and their admin companies. In this connection, you may wish to see the High Court case brought by the OFT against Ashbourne Management Services Ltd in March 2011.

 

Yours faithfully,

 

 

OK22; OK22's BF

 

Send this to the gym by Recorded Delivery so you have proof of postage. If you are outside the UK just now, send the letter to someone in the UK and have them mail it for you.

 

Edited February 12, 2012 by slick132