Another Harlands Story

[agy]

hello everyone.

 

I am in deep mess with harlands, due to automatic membership renew.

i joined Bromley Self Defence in May 2013 with my son.

Monthly fee was ridicules but because I was attacked carjacked few months earlier I would pay for

anything that will restore confidence and ease the stress.

I paid monthly £80.

anyway I have signed the contract. from what i understood i was tied up for 6 months, but

after 8 months I realized that they keep charging me.

at that time me and my son didn't attended classes anymore.

I cancelled my DD and start receiving letters from Harlands demanding monthly repaiment and admin fee.

I contacted Bromley Self Defence but received information that my contract stated that i will be renew with contract after 6 months if didn't cancel in advance and that also Harlands sent me letter

saying i have two weeks to cancel or will be renewed.

i didn't received any letter.

now my balance is £210 and I seriously don't know what to do.

please advise me, this is beyond my understanding.

[slick132]

Hi Agy and welcome to CAG

 

Have you checked through the m/ship agreement that you signed. We need to know exactly what it said about what happened at the end of the first 6 months. Let us know. If you have trouble understanding it, I will ask you to forward a copy of the agreement to me.

 

If we think they have taken DD payments from you that they were not entitled to, we will recommend that you seek a refund via your bank. But let us have the information we need first, so we can advise you properly.

 

Don't worry too much about this - we will help you sort it out and you will NOT have to pay them all that they're demanding. The gym may not be willing or able to help you in this matter. But we'll help you deal with Harlands. Their admin fees are probably not payable at all.

 

[agy]

hi,

thank you for your reply and reassurance.

seems I am doomed. there is note about automatic renew.

Edited April 10, 2014 by agy

[renegadeimp]

What was your contracted minimum term?

[agy]

6 months. finished in November 2013.

[renegadeimp]

Then you would be on a rolling monthly sub. As long as you cancel giving a clear months notice, you would owe nothing. i think you need one of slicks letters for this.

[agy]

Yes, probably, but I still need to pay all this money plus admin fee.

I haven't been remained about renew ( they stated I was).

I know mistake on my part is not giving them a notice, surly, but I just wonder how I can reduce the payment if this possible.

[renegadeimp]

No you dont have to pay what they say. Dont fall for harlands silly tricks. When slick is around, he will advise you on what to do in order to get rid of these parasites.

[slick132]

Hi Agy,

 

Can you confirm where these classes were held as I'm not sure if this is a gym, a council facility, etc.

 

Are you certain it is Harlands that handle admin for the m/ship. I ask this as the agreement refers to DFC or Debit Finance Collections PLC and this is not a company normally associated with Harlands.

 

Can you hide personal data and post a copy of the other side of the agreement. I need to see this before offering further comment.

 

Thanks

[slick132]

Sorry, forgot to say, I very much doubt you will have to pay what is being requested.

 

[agy]

hello everyone.

my mother has had nasty fall. I was looking after her for few days and with work in between I had no time to open my laptop.

i will attach the contract details.

BSD is a private business. they used to run classes in gym in bromley and keston, now they had their

facility.

Edited April 16, 2014 by agy

[slick132]

Hi Agy and thanks for the further doc'ts.

 

On the T&C's, s.9, it says the agreement will be renewed for a further term equal to the original initial period AND that you would be notified of the Renewal Period and the Renewed DD pay'ts. Did you receive such a letter.

 

Then on the other doc't headed Customer Contract, under the heading "Giving notice to cancel", it says payments will continue to be taken after the initial minimum unless you cancel in the month before the end of the first 6 months. It goes on to say you can cancel at any time after the initial minimum period by giving a month's notice.

 

So, in my opinion, you were notified the agreement and the DD pay'ts would continue after the first 6 months. And you were entitled to cancel after the first 6 months by giving a month's notice. Cancellation of your DD mandate does count as giving notice to cancel so I think you may have to make just one further pay't to end the matter.

 

Can you now please let me know :-

 

1. The date you cancelled the DD mandate.

 

2. Did you tell the gym or Harlands about the DD cancellation by email, letter, phone call, etc or did you NOT tell anyone.

 

I will then draft a letter to send Harlands,

 

[agy]

oh, well.

I didn't received any letter, but in their statement I did and as a result of anger I didn't notice them about cancellation.

I just cancelled DD.

I can see clearly now that I scrued this big time.

stupid me.

[renegadeimp]

Youre not screwed. Follow slicks advice and youll get it sorted.

[slick132]

Hi Agy,

 

You've not screwed this up and we'll help you get it sorted !

 

Letter to Harlands :-

 

Dear sir or madam,

 

I refer to your demands for payment of xxdate which I dispute.

 

You are aware that I cancelled my DD mandate on xxdate and this was adequate notice of cancellation (as per the High Court case of The OFT v Ashbourne Mgt Svs Ltd). Although I had finished the initial 6 months membership, I now realise I should have given you a months notice before cancelling the DD mandate.

 

In the circumstances, I am prepared to pay you one further month's fee of £xx.xx but I will not pay any admin fees which are unenforceable penalties.

 

If you confirm in writing that you will accept £xx.xx in full settlement of all monies due to you, I will pay it promptly.

 

If you fail to accept my offer within 14 days or you insist that I pay more, my offer will be withdrawn and I will pay you nothing.

 

Yours faithfully,

 

Harlands tend to argue for ages but we've found you can just ignore them after a while.

 

[agy]

hi slick,

 

letter sent, cant wait for the outcome.

thank you again.

 

I wish Happy Easter to all.

[agy]

hi everyone.

just updating.

I received respond from harlands regarding my letter.

They still demanding whole amount of £290.00 by the 16th May 2014, otherwise they

will passed to in-house collection team CRS with further fees.

 

I your opinion , should I respond to that or not.

also, I am worried if they pass it to CRS would this affect my credit score in future?

[renegadeimp]

Ignore them. They know they cant do anything and if a silly DCA gets involved you can tell them straight up that there is no debt and you will be filing formal complaints if they harass you. You can say the same to harlands. Dont worry about your credit score, i cant say ive ever heard of harlands putting a marker on it for their spurious charges.

[slick132]

Hi Agy,

 

You gave Harlands the chance to accept one further month's payment but they refused or ignored the offer, despite you saying it was limited to 14 days.

 

Do not worry at all about CRS. This is just Harlands wearing a different hat !!

 

This matter will not affect your credit rating as gym m/ship "debts" are no longer reported by the CRA's.

 

I suggest a brief letter to Harlands :-

 

I refer to your letter of xxdate.

 

I offered to pay a final month's fee but you chose to decline or ignore this. My offer has expired.

 

If you continue to demand payments, either as Harlands or CRS, I will make a formal complaint to Trading Standards.

 

As far as I am concerned, the matter is now closed. I reserve the right to ignore further communications or demands from you but they will be reported to Trading Standards.

 

Let us know if/when you you hear further from them.

 

[agy]

I will definitely let you know.

 

Many Thanks.

[agy]

hi again,

 

no reply to my last letter but instead I have one from CRS demanding and extra £104.40.

my balance is now £394.40. is scary.

[slick132]

Hi Agy,

 

My advice would be to ignore CRS for now.

 

However, if you feel the need to respond, you can tell CRS :-

 

I refer you to your demand for £394.40 which is ludicrous.

 

My letter to Harlands/CRS of xxdate [my draft in post #19 above] said I would report further demands to Trading Standards and this will now happen.

 

Your ridiculous demands will continue to be ignored.

 

Let them continue to add their daft charges if they want. You can just continue to ignore.

 

Keep us updated.

 

[agy]

I don't feel I need to reply, but I have bad experience with debt collectors.

few years ago we sold the house, tenant of the people who bought it, somehow was using my details

(I think she must have some of my letters) to catalog shopping. It took me nearly two years to clear my name.

I getting a goosebumps seeing a red letter.

I will try to ignore it for now and will see.

many thanks slick.

[renegadeimp]

DCA's cannot do anything to you. Especially these muppets. Follow slicks advice and youll be fine.

[agy]

Hi everyone.

 

Unfortunately, again harlands story.

My previous posts in here from 2014. Since then I did hear from them until last Friday. I have received letter from Debt collectors stating that they add another £36 and demand the payment. They also mentioned that they were looking for me as I moved houses. Yes, I did in April 2015, but from June 2014 - April 2015 no more correspondence from them.

My, question, again as mention in previous posts to ignore it. Should I ignore it?

I the last post Muldy mentioned that they managed to get CCJ against her. I am worried.

Appreciate any advice,

thank you

agy