ARC Europe

[swfcjon]

I joined a Virgin active gym a year ago, but with 4 months left I cannot afford to pay the membership. ARC phone me everday making threats, which I know they will do anything to get my payment. I cannot pay them any time soon, and don't really want to pay at all after I feel the gym mis-sold my membership, but they wont do anything about it and my only contact is with ARC. Whar exactly will ARC do, just keep phoning me for how long? Actually take me to court? Send round debt collectors? CCJ? THE DEBT IS £244.00, current situation is ; I informed them I cannot pay at this moment due to financial difficulty.

 

Thanks

[renegadeimp]

Tell ARC to bugger off and you are dealing with the OC direct. Should they continue to harass you, you will be making formal complaints to the regulators. Put it in writing and give them a couple of days to act on it.

 

A DCA has NO legal rights and cannot do ANYTHING whatsoever unless they have bought the debt. They certainly cannot take you to court.

[swfcjon]

Thanks,

 

How do I know if they have bought the debt? Will Virgin active give me this information.

 

What can they do if they have bought the debt?

 

Thanks

[renegadeimp]

They wont have bought it. Trust me. They just hire silly DCA's to scare you into paying.

 

If you are still worried, sit tight and one of the forum admins who has dealt with Gyms and DCA's for a long time, will come in when he sees the thread.

[slick132]

Hi swfcJon and welcome to CAG

 

Virgin Active just use ARC as a debt collector if you fall behind with payments or fail to pay what VA say you owe.

 

Can you say briefly why you say the membership was mis-sold.

 

Once we know this, we can suggest your next best move. In the meantime, next time they call, tell ARC you cannot discuss this and any communications must be in writing only but calls will be logged and recorded.

 

Keep a log of the time and date of every call you get from ARC, in case you need to make a formal complaint about harassment.

 

If VA or ARC have added any admin charges because of late or missed payments, you should refuse to pay them as they are penalty charges and not enforceable at law.

 

[thundy]

Sorry to bump an old thread if this is

 

I was under the understanding that a Gym cannot enforce their membership fees, regardless of what agreement you signed, if they do not allow access to their facilities. I.e if you miss a payment, and they refuse you access to their facilities until you pay your sub, they CANNOT chase you for those fees from a legal standpoint, because they have not provided you with the service during the time which you had not paid

 

I am happy to be corrected on this of course.

[renegadeimp]

They can chase you for arrears, but not extra.

[slick132]

Hi Thundy - this is not an old thread and we're waiting for Jon to respond.

 

Regarding the query you raise, you are wrong in the assertion you make. If you fail to pay current m/ship fees the gym can refuse you access to their facilities and they can chase you for whatever payments are overdue.

 

If you want to discuss this further, feel free to do this on your own thread, to avoid hijacking this one.

 

[thundy]

I'm not sure what part of my post was "Hijacking" the thread. I was merely stating something that i had read elsewhere that i thought might be relevant.

 

I'll avoid trying to be helpful in future lest i be accused again

[renegadeimp]

Its not hijacking. Its just a bad choice of words. Slick probably thought you had your own issue and needed help.

[slick132]

Hi Thundy,

 

No offence was intended - I didn't realise your comments were directed at Jon's case here.

 

Please feel free to continue to offer help and opinion where you can.