Letter from CRS, Credit Resolution Services

[Liam2014]

Good afternoon everyone,

 

I'm just after some advice really, back in April I cancelled my membership that I had with a gym due to a recent work redundancy at the time, and at the time I stupidly thought that just cancelling the direct debit would be the end of it. Anyway, I got a phone call a couple of weeks later from the gym stating that they had detected that my direct debit had been cancelled and I discussed the matter with them, they were totally fine about my reasons to cancel but they just wanted a £30 fee to cancel the membership and be done with it.

 

Unfortunately at the time I did not have the spare money and I explained this to them and I was told by the member of staff that this was totally fine and gave me 4 weeks grace to try and get myself back on track to be able to afford the fee.

 

Anyway, 4-5 weeks had passed and I stupidly forgotten all about it & I never even heard from them at all after that, I also managed to find another job at the same time too. Fast forward to 2 weeks ago (10th July), I received a letter from this company called Credit Resolution Serves - stating that they've been "employed" by my old gym to chase up arrears and the fact that this is because I've ignored all previous letters that I was supposedly sent (this is total rubbish, as I never heard from the gym again and I've never received a letter from this CRS company before!)

 

Anyway, the bottom line is that somehow they have managed to cook up a calculation that in total, I now owe them £216.50 !! They have stated that this needs to be paid immediately and if I pay it early, they will offer a discount from the outstanding balance.

 

There is no way that I am paying these con artists £216.50. However, I am at a bit of a loss end as to what I do now and how I should proceed, I haven't had the time to contact them yet as it stands because I work 8.30 to 5.30 Monday - Friday and their office is only open on them days between 9 -5. I really need to do something now as they are texting me on average 2-3 times a week now and I am getting sick of it.

 

I understand fully that I should of been more vigilant and more aware of this beforehand so it didn't get to this extent, but I feel that their ridiculous fees and the total figure that I apparently owe them is absolutely scandalous. I'm half tempted to go back to my old gym and try and work this out and offer them £50 upfront (£20 extra is included as a gesture) to resolve the matter and be done with it but I imagine that they would probably won't want to know because they have already sold the debt on.

 

If any of you on here could offer me some advice then I would greatly appreciate it.

 

Many thanks - Liam.

[fkofilee]

Okay, first off dont worry.

Dont deal with the DCA, they normally just blow a lot of hot air.

 

Did you get the 4 week grace and £30 in writing?

They cant put this on your Credit File so dont worry.

 

Honest suggestion, deal direct with the gym. Get it sorted

[Liam2014]

Many thanks for your fast response and advice, I'll try not to worry but I am a bit of a worrier at times haha. I know that it probably won't go to court and I know that they won't come to my address as I actually moved away back in May and therefore this letter was redirected from my old address.

 

I've just in fact been up to the gym but unfortunately I did not get anywhere as such but they were quite helpful, even though the manager there is not all that clued up with this sort of thing in general as it will be the gym's head office that sorts out this sort of thing, he has reassured me that he is going to contact them on Monday regarding my file and see how they can proceed with this but he said that it may be a possibility that they could just take a one off payment and finish it completely, and it won't be anywhere near the £200+ figure. We will see though!

 

When they gave me the 4 weeks grace, it was solely over the phone and not in writing unfortunately but after that phone call - they never got in touch with me again and then fast forward to 2 weeks ago is when I first got that letter from CRS.

 

Liam

[slick132]

Hi Liam,

 

You've not said what gym this was although I assume the admin was handled by Harlands.

 

Because of the redundancy, you had the right to cancel the agreement and cancelling the DD mandate is considered adequate notice of your intention. Having said that, it would of course have been better if you confirmed matters in writing. That way, you have proof of what's been said. Keep to letters or emails from here on, and stay off the phone completely.

 

The amount demanded by Harlands/CRS represents the balance due for the minimum term of the agreement plus admin charges. This is NOT payable in your case.

 

I suggest you write to Harlands/CRS saying you cancelled the DD mandate and informed the gym verbally of the redundancy. However, you now realise you should pay one final month's fee to the gym for the required notice period.

 

Tell them you'll pay this to the gym direct when you can afford it, Then pay it off asap perhaps in 2 or 3 instalments if you can't pay it in one go.

 

Also tell Harlands/CRS that you will not be paying any admin fees as they are unenforceable penalties.

 

Let us know what further demands you get and we'll advise as necessary.

 

[Liam2014]

Hi Liam,

 

You've not said what gym this was although I assume the admin was handled by Harlands.

 

Because of the redundancy, you had the right to cancel the agreement and cancelling the DD mandate is considered adequate notice of your intention. Having said that, it would of course have been better if you confirmed matters in writing. That way, you have proof of what's been said. Keep to letters or emails from here on, and stay off the phone completely.

 

The amount demanded by Harlands/CRS represents the balance due for the minimum term of the agreement plus admin charges. This is NOT payable in your case.

 

I suggest you write to Harlands/CRS saying you cancelled the DD mandate and informed the gym verbally of the redundancy. However, you now realise you should pay one final month's fee to the gym for the required notice period.

 

Tell them you'll pay this to the gym direct when you can afford it, Then pay it off asap perhaps in 2 or 3 instalments if you can't pay it in one go.

 

Also tell Harlands/CRS that you will not be paying any admin fees as they are unenforceable penalties.

 

Let us know what further demands you get and we'll advise as necessary.

 

 

Please accept my apologies for the really late response regarding this matter, I've been mega busy recently and only just thought to update this thread with any further progress!

 

With regards to your above question, yes my old gym membership was handled by Harlands. Since my last post on here, I had my old gym call me a couple of weeks back again stating they finally heard back from CRS themselves regarding this matter CRS did not want to know about me settling this matter with the gym directly and therefore the gym could not do anything else to help me out unfortunately and they even admitted to me that CRS's policy and procedure of hassling and harassing people like this is quite frankly disgusting.

 

Not only that, but to my surprise the guy on the phone who worked for the gym told me to follow this bold piece of advice - which is to ignore all future contact with CRS be it the letters, phones calls & text's that are from CRS as they technically cannot do anything and after a couple of months they will forget about it and stop I couldn't believe what I was hearing lol.

 

Anyway, that was 2 weeks ago. Since then, I've had about another 5 text messages from CRS and another letter from them last week which basically is just a re-print of my original letter than I received from them and still chasing the same amount too.

 

I have still not sent them mail contact at all in relation to this matter but if the contact gets more regular and more harassing then I may just do that. I may not be taking the best route as most of you may agree but I really do not want to have to retaliate but loosing my temper with them and sending them a really long winded & lengthy letter...

 

Liam

[slick132]

Hi Liam,

 

The advice from the gym staff member may be reasonably correct but you should cover yourself better, rather than simply ignoring CRS.

 

No long-winded letter is needed and it can be as simple as this, sent to Harlands:-

 

Dear sir or madam,

 

Membership at xxxxx Gym

 

I refer to my membership at xxxx Gym which started in xxxx month xxxx year.

 

In xxxx month, I was made redundant. I told the gym staff and cancelled the DD mandate, both actions being acceptable methods of cancelling the gym agreement.

 

I realise I should have paid one further month's fee for the notice period and am willing to offer this to you now, for 14 days only. If you confirm in writing that you accept my offer in full settlement of all I owe, I will pay it promptly.

 

If you fail to accept within 14 days, or you insist I pay a higher amount, or you insist I pay your Admin Fees, I will pay you nothing.

 

Your Admin Fees are not lawful or enforceable and I'll not pay them.

 

Yours faithfully,

 

 

Send that to Harlands so you cover your back.

 

[Liam2014]

I agree with you 100%, I don't want to have to go down the route of totally ignoring it.

 

Thank you very much for posting up the simple response letter as well, I will get that filled out tomorrow & I will post it out to them

 

Liam