Another Xercise 4 Less/Harlands Issue

[Kimnjinx]

Hi there,

 

I googled Harlands after receiving a letter from them and sure enough it led me here! I've been reading through other peoples issues but wanted to post my own.

 

I joined my local Xercise 4 less on a month by month bases in mid 2012. In November 2012 I switched to a year contract as it was cheaper. The final payment for this contract was on 19 December 2013. So on 9 December I posted the gym a letter of cancellation, as they require 30 days notice. As I did not hear from them I cancelled my DD on 15 January, as it was about to come out again on the 19th. Then on the 27th of January I received a letter from Harlands stating I had to pay £9.99 outstanding balance, £9.99 cancellation fee and their lovely £25.00 admin fee.

 

I spoke to Harlands who informed me I would need to speak directly to the gym to sort this out, so today I'm going to post a letter (recorded delivery) to my gym which looks like this:

 

To Whom It May Concern,

Please find enclosed my previous letter, dated 8 December, outlining my notice to cancel my gym membership.

After this was posted, and my final payment of £9.99 was taken on 19 December 2013, I cancelled my direct debit mandate with you, as I had every right to do so having given my notice.

Since then, I have received correspondence from Harlands stating that I owe £9.99 outstanding subscription, £9.99 cancellation fee and £25.00 default fee. I am happy to pay the cancellation fee as may be outlined in your terms and conditions, however any default fees imposed by Harlands are punitive and a penalty and thus unenforceable by common law.

Due to this, I can only assume that you did not process my cancellation as requested, and ask that you do so now. Please also inform Harlands that I will not be paying their ‘default fee’.

Please respond at your earliest convenience detailing the best way for me to pay my £9.99 cancellation fee, if needed I can come down to the gym at some point.

Kind Regards,

 

I just wanted to check that this seemed ok? I'm sure it won't be the last of it but I want to start on the right foot.

 

Many thanks for any advice!

[silverfox1961]

Hi and welcome to CAG.

 

You have done your research well and a short sharp letter like the one above is good (in my opinion)

 

As for speaking to Harlands. Don't! If you need to contact them again, do it by letter.

 

What may happen is that the gym will refer you back to Harlands. Your contract is with the gym.

[Kimnjinx]

Hi Silver,

 

Thanks for your response and welcome.

 

Yeah I made the mistake of calling Harlands in a bit of a worry before I'd seen the advice not to! I'll remember that in future

 

Thanks for that! I'll send it special delivery today and see what happens.

[slick132]

Hi Kimnjinx,

 

I really don't know what Harlands are doing these days. It used to be that they handled everything and that any contact with the gym was pointless.

 

Send the letter to the gym but DO NOT offer to pay a Cancellation Fee. I'm not at all sure this is referred to in the gym's T&C's and it may be something Harlands have started to charge as a little bonus for themselves.

 

You're right to refuse to pay any admin fee as this is a penalty, not lawful and not enforceable.

 

Also send a letter to Harlands :-

 

I was a member at Xercise4Less gym in [TOWN].

 

I cancelled in writing as required but you have told me to write to the gym to sort out dates and amounts.

 

You have told me I must pay a cancellation fee of £9.99 but I was not aware of this. Is it in the gym's Terms of membership.

 

I assume you will stop all demands until this is sorted with the gym.

 

Please send the letter as shown if you agree to it's content. I'm interested to see how they respond about the Cancellation Fee.

 

[Kimnjinx]

Many thanks Slick, I'll do that and see how they respond

[Kimnjinx]

Further to this, I've just noticed an email I received on 13 Jan but didn't pay too much notice to at the time, I'd completely forgotten about it to now. It states 'We Want You Back! We've noticed that you left us etc etc...'. Well I would have thought this was confirmation of my cancellation? I don't know whether I should make them aware of this just yet or wait and see what they say.

[silverfox1961]

I would hold that particular card back for a while and see what they say. If they do come back and say we have no record of your cancellation then you will know they have stated a 'mistruth' (politely put)

[slick132]

I assume the email was from the gym and not Harlands, but please confirm.

 

In any event, send off that letter asap.

 

[Kimnjinx]

I sent the letters off yesterday straighy away the email was from the gym so I'll keep hold of it for now.

[wilsonmg]

Hi Kimnjinix,

 

did the letter etc you sent bring this to an end for you ?

 

thanks

 

Mart

[slick132]

Hi Wilson,

 

You now have your own thread here - http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?430864-Re-Harlands-and-CRS-problems&p=4593628&viewfull=1#post4593628

 

[wilsonmg]

many thanks