Cancelling Bannatynes Membership

[Argyll]

I informed (in writing) my local Bannatynes gym I was leaving. I was under the impression that under the new OFT ruling the cancellation period was 30 days. This would have meant my contract ended on 14 February.

 

However I received a letter from Bannatynes informing me my membership would not end until 28th February as its 30 calendar days. When I called Bannatynes they explained this was in my contract. I'm sure I have the contract somewhere so I haven't checked yet but surely any ruling would supercede this?

 

I know it's only 14 days but I've already made plans to join another gym on 14 Feb and do not wish them to overlap.

 

Is the 30 day calendar rule valid or is this another case of them trying it on?

[slick132]

Hi Argyll,

 

To be sure on this, you would have to check the T&C's of your agreement.

 

However, it makes sense to me that your cancellation should be effective up to the end of a month, or it should coincide with the usual DD payment date.

 

So for example :-

 

1. You give notice to cancel on, say, 14th Jan and the last DD payment would be taken in early Feb leaving you free to use the facilities up to 28th Feb.

 

2. You give notice on 14th Jan and the normal DD date and m/ship date is 22nd Jan. So you would pay the final DD on 22nd Jan leaving you free to use the gym up to Feb 21st.

 

In any event, you will see from the experiences here of others, that arguing about 14 days is simply not worth it.

 

Unless you can show from the T&C's that the gym is wrong, pay as they suggest and then cancel the DD.

 

[Argyll]

I understand what you're saying but it doesn't seem quite right to me. For instance if I decided to cancel two days after my DD it would mean I would have to wait 58 days to cancel. This makes the 30 day cancellation ruling by the OFT a bit of a farce.

[slick132]

I think the aim of The OFT was to :-

 

1. Stop gyms signing members up to agreements for more than 12 months.

 

2. Ensure that members could leave in the event of moving home, redundancy or illness/injury.

 

3. Get rid of unfair terms that required you to give 3 months notice to quit.

 

Agreements reached with The OFT will hopefully make m/ships fairer for gym users.

 

In your case, you are talking about 14 days and, unless your T&C's say you don't have to cancel in that certain way, it's not worth arguing with the gym.