Virgin Active trying to cancel after moving house, unsuccessful

[danielvmn]

Hello All,

 

I'm having trouble with Virgin Active in Friern Barnet, London.

I signed with my wife in April/2012, she on a 12 month contract and me on the monthly membership.

We were told we could cancel the 12 month contract if we moved somewhere that would not be feasible to frequent the gym, so we were happy to sign for it.

Ended up we had to move in September, our new home is 2 miles from the gym and it takes more than 30 minutes for a bus to get there, so it's not feasible for us to continue, but they denied the contract cancellation and the manager was quite rude, I don't know what else to do, it's completely unfair for them to keep charging us, they claim we don't live far enough to guarantee a contract cancellation, he expects us to walk 2 miles to the gym!!

 

I sent an email to memberfeedback@virginactiv e.co.uk and if it's still unsuccessful, I'm ready to go apply for a small claims court action to solve this.

 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks

Edited November 21, 2012 by slick132
Removed name to retain anonymity

[BSC]

Hello All,

 

I'm having trouble with Virgin Active in Friern Barnet, London.

I signed with my wife in April/2012, she on a 12 month contract and me on the monthly membership.

We were told we could cancel the 12 month contract if we moved somewhere that would not be feasible to frequent the gym, so we were happy to sign for it.

Ended up we had to move in September, our new home is 2 miles from the gym and it takes more than 30 minutes for a bus to get there, so it's not feasible for us to continue, but they denied the contract cancellation and the manager was quite rude, I don't know what else to do, it's completely unfair for them to keep charging us, they claim we don't live far enough to guarantee a contract cancellation, he expects us to walk 2 miles to the gym!!

 

I sent an email to memberfeedback@virginactiv e.co.uk and if it's still unsuccessful, I'm ready to go apply for a small claims court action to solve this.

 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks,

 

It's 2 miles away - hardly unreasonable and you most definitely have not moved away!

 

Walk, ride, bus, car, etc. - 2 miles is on your doorstep

Edited November 22, 2012 by ims21

[slick132]

Hi Daniel and welcome to CAG

 

I removed your name from your post above - best to remain anonymous as the forums are open to, and watched by, everyone including banks, gyms, etc.

 

Most gyms say cancellation may be considered if you move 10 or 15 miles away. Although this is certainly not established in law, a court would consider what is reasonable given the individual circumstances.

 

I would certainly advise against taking court action as you would probably fail if you relied solely on the issue of being 2 miles from the gym.

 

Although you say the bus takes over 30 mins, you could walk it in less than that.

 

On the issue of distance, you won't get the gym to cancel.

 

[danielvmn]

Hi Daniel and welcome to CAG

 

I removed your name from your post above - best to remain anonymous as the forums are open to, and watched by, everyone including banks, gyms, etc.

 

Most gyms say cancellation may be considered if you move 10 or 15 miles away. Although this is certainly not established in law, a court would consider what is reasonable given the individual circumstances.

 

I would certainly advise against taking court action as you would probably fail if you relied solely on the issue of being 2 miles from the gym.

 

Although you say the bus takes over 30 mins, you could walk it in less than that.

 

On the issue of distance, you won't get the gym to cancel.

 

 

Thanks slick for an informative and non condescending reply!

 

Also thanks for the tip regarding my name.

 

I can see I maybe was misinformed and 2 miles seems like an acceptable distance, but I'm really frustrated that what used to be a 5 minutes walk, became a 35+ minutes walk, as there was no specifics about distance in the contract, it's frustrating to rely on their judgement.

 

I will follow your advice and will analyse my options for the further actions.

 

Thanks

[Bazooka Boo]

Dan you could always use the 2 mile distance as part of your warm up prior to your workout in the gym, then as a warm down afterwards?

 

Or walk/jog their and bus it back?

[BSC]

Daniel,

 

Sorry if I appeared condescending but surely you can see that being two miles away is no distance whatsoever.

 

I'm 3 miles from my gym, 45 miles from my office, 4 miles from a supermarket and none are an issue. That's part of life I'm afraid. If you have anything right on your doorstep you are extremely lucky.

 

If you surveyed 100 people what % do you think would say 2 miles is a long way.

 

Sorry if the answer wasn't what you wanted and that it may have been read in a different way to that it was intended but I was just trying to be factual and honest.

 

Regards

 

BSC

[danielvmn]

No worries BSC, thanks for the info, it's just that I don't have a car or bycicle, I would only have the option to walk. And Bazooka, I also thought about this, but it's just the change of circumstance that will impact my daily routine as the only reason I joined was because it was 5 minutes from my doorstep.

 

Thanks

[Bazooka Boo]

You sound like me Dan, concrete thinking, give it a thought over the weekend to get used to the idea and give it a go, if you have a bike then you could always cycle to the gym?

 

I don't like change either, but sometimes it is good to have a rock in your way...

[BSC]

You sound like me Dan, concrete thinking, give it a thought over the weekend to get used to the idea and give it a go, if you have a bike then you could always cycle to the gym?

 

I don't like change either, but sometimes it is good to have a rock in your way...

 

It's a pebble

[Bazooka Boo]