DW Gym ... ARC EUROPE DCA... Now Major Law Solicitors

[Coyledinho]

Hi guys, new to this but tried reading as much as possible on other threads to get an idea of what to do

but my situation is slightly different so hopefully someone can help.

 

Went into DW Milton Keynes back in August last year to cancel my membership.

Spoke to just a young girl working behind the front desk who let me know what i already knew..

. its fine I've made a note of you giving your notice and 1 months payment will have to be taken still.

AT NO POINT DID I SEND A LETTER OR RECEIVE ANY WRITTEN CONFIRMATION.

 

Money was taken in September which was fine ...but it was also taken in October.

I wasn't in a position to visit the gym at the time as i was in sheffield

- tried calling a number of times to query but either was left on hold or the person i needed to speak to wasnt about to take my call.

 

 

I decided to just call my bank and get them to cancel the direct debit so nothing was taken in November

and they also got back for me the money from October.

STILL NO WRITTEN EVIDENCE OF ANY KIND.

 

I received emails over the coming weeks from DW saying they were unsuccesful taking direct debit from my account.

I applied to these emails explaining my situation but heard nothing back.

 

 

Then in December i received a letter from ARC Europe stating they were trying to take £94.00 on behalf of DW.

Maybe foolishly ignored this letter but now it has been passed onto Major Law

who are looking for £94 plus £25 court fee plus £50 solicitors costs and £7.52 annual interest.

saying i have 14 days to pay or they MAY issue the claim.

 

I feel foolish cus i signed no cancellation form when i went in or sent a letter to DW all i have is 2/3 unresponded to emails

from the time they tried taking my direct debit again unsuccessfully.

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[fkofilee]

Right Slick132 will be along shortly...

 

However ARC Europe NEVER go to court on Gym Debts. Major Law are just as bad for this...

They use it as an escalation point... Look at how they use the word "May"

 

Post up the letter removing personal info!

[dx100uk]

major law are not real but fake/tame solicitors

 

 

simply the next desk at ARC, with a diff bloke in a diff coloured skirt

theat puts a diff letterhead in the same printer as the last guy.

 

 

as with all DCA's

they are NOT BAILIFFS

 

 

and have

NO SUCH LEGAL POWERS.

 

 

dx

[slick132]

Hi Coyle and welcome to CAG

 

When did you join the gym and was it a 12 month initial agreement.

 

You refer to "unresponded to emails". Do you still have these and what did they say.

 

The relationship with the gym, ARC and Major Law is different to that between other gyms, Harlands and CRS. Harlands pretend to be CRS when chasing unpaid fees.

 

ARC use outside "solicitors" to threaten their gym members. But DX is right in that we have not seen any gym cases go to court recently.

 

Please confirm exactly what the letter from Major Law says, or post a PDF with personal info hidden. I'm very interested to know exactly what they are demanding, and/or what they are threatening.

 

Do not respond to ARC or Major Law for now. And don't worry about the threat of escalating admin fees as we always challenge these, contending that they are unlawful and unenforceable penalties.

 

Edited February 19, 2015 by slick132

[Coyledinho]

Hi guys,

 

Thank you all so much for your help so far with this and feedback.

Definitely starting to take a weight off my mind.

 

The emails said the same as i put on here:

 

i explained i had been in and verbally cancelled membership in august and given 1 months notice.

Payment was taken September AND october, so i had cancelled the direct debit and they would not be able to get funds from my account.

Pointed out they would also see from their records i didnt attend the gym since late august, early september shortly after cancelling membership.

 

Hopefully that should have attached the letter i received yesterday.

I've still not made any contact with ARC or Major Law.

 

 

I should point out at this point i will be out of the country from the end of next week till 3rd March

so obviously a bit worried im going to come back from holiday with another letter demanding more money.

 

Thanks in advance.

[Bazooka Boo]

Too small can you upload them as a PDF instead of Jpeg?

 

Don't be worried by their computer generated threat letters, we can all get our computers to print off letter templates

threatening all and sundry for money they don't owe.

[Coyledinho]

Thought so... ive uploaded via my work computer which is a bit dated to say the least. here is the letters contents word for word:

 

Date: 16th February 2015

 

Re: DW Sports fitness

Balance £94.00

 

Dear Sir,

 

We act for DW Sports Fitness and have been instructed to contact you for recovery of the above debt which we understand

is still outstanding. We have been referred to previous correspondence sent to you by ARC (Europe) limite and are not aware of any

reason as to why payment is not due.

 

A County Court Claim has now been prepared and is ready to be issues against you in Northampton County Court. The following costs will be

added upon issue:

 

Debt Balance £94.00

Court Fee £25.00

Solicitors Costs £50.00

Annual Interest (to be adjusted pro rate) £7.52

TOTAL £176.52

 

As you can see the issue of court proceedings will mean that the amount you owe our client will increase by £82.52

 

You are required to send a payment today. Please call our clients agent, ARC (Europe) Ltd directly on their Legal Help Line and ask for

the Legal Manager, Martin Wicks (they also accept payment over the phone by debit or credit card) For full details of how to pay ARC visit their website

 

You may want to seek independant legal advice or advice from a debt counsellor or Citizens advice bereau or similar organisation on this matter

 

IF YOU IGNORE THIS LETTER WE MAY PROCEED TO ISSUE THE CLAIM IN 14 DAYS TIME AND WITHOUT FURTHER NOTICE.

Edited February 19, 2015 by Coyledinho
added letters contents

[dx100uk]

load of twaddle

 

 

they can demand what they like

 

 

ignore them.

 

 

DCA's are NOT BAILIFFS

[Bazooka Boo]

This is pretty much word for word the same as another thread on here.....

[Coyledinho]

could you point me in the direction of that Bazooka to have a look? or do you know the jist of what happened there?

 

Thanks again for all your help so far

[Bazooka Boo]

There are loads of them, just type DW Arc in the search bar above and it'll bring them all up.

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?441612-DW-Sports-ARC-Ltd-amp-Major-Law&highlight=DW+Arc

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/search.php?searchid=5335339

[slick132]

Hi again,

 

Majorlaw are not demanding payment of the higher amount. They have simply said what you could have to pay if they took court action, which they will not.

 

You've not replied to the Q's I asked above. You need to give answers so we can offer you our best advice :-

 

1. When did you join the gym and was it a 12 month agreement (or maybe a No Contract Rolling M/ship).

 

2. Do you still have the actual emails that you sent the gym when you cancelled, in case they are needed.

 

When you answer my Q's we can draft a letter to send to gym, ARC and/or the sol'rs. This can be sent before you go on hols as there's plenty of time.

 

[Coyledinho]

Hi Slick123 sorry for missing your questions.

 

Errrm couldnt possibly give an exact date but i joined the gym over 3 years ago now around July August time 2011 if i was to guess. Couldnt possibly say either but i'd assume it was a rolling 12 month contract as i dont believe it was ever stated to me it would be done on a month by month basis.

 

I have 1 email that is still on my outlook account in reply to a Final Direct Debit Demand.

 

I had already had the bank get back money from the month previous and block this direct debit.

 

This from them to me:

 

Final Direct Debit Reminder

 

Dear Coyledinho,

 

Your membership remains in arrears for December 2014 and will shortly be passed to ARC Europe Ltd to recover this balance on our behalf. Please note that accounts passed to ARC Europe Ltd will incur an additional £25 administration charge.

 

It is in your interest to make payment to your local fitness club no later than 21st December 2014 in order to settle this account and prevent further action.

 

Please contact your local DW Fitness Club as a matter of urgency

 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

My reply dated 21/12/2014 :

 

To: DW Fitness Clubs

 

I have been into my local DW on three occassions and tried to cancel my membership and on each occasion was told it was fine and no further payment would be taken. This never happened and i was still having direct debits taken out after the agreed date.

 

You will be able to see from your records i have not used my membership in months and have no intention of keeping my membership. The direct debit has been cancelled and you will not be having any more money from me after being let down numerous times in the past.

 

Kind Regards,

Edited February 20, 2015 by slick132
answer another question; removed name

[slick132]

Hi Coyle,

 

Did you get any reply from DWF or ARC to your email of 21/12/14 ?

 

In the meantime, you could write to Majorlaw saying :-

 

Dear sir or madam,

 

I refer to your letter of XXdate which threatens court action if I fail to pay £176.52.

 

This matter is in clear dispute with the gym and ARC Europe and you have no right to make such demands.

 

If I hear from you again, you will be included in a formal complaint to Trading Standards and/or a complaint to the SRA.

 

Yours faithfully,

 

We'll sort a reply to ARC over the w/end.

 

[Coyledinho]

No this was another reason i was worried i didnt have a leg to stand on ... bar my initial contact with the girl behind the counter and that unresponded to email i sent as a reply to DW i have made no contact with any of them and they have not acknowledged anything i have previously sent.

 

Thank you so much again for your help... i will get that emailed across to Major Law straight away.

[slick132]

Hi Coyle,

 

Don't worry about the lack of contact, proof or paperwork. This will NOT work against you and we're used to gym cases like this.

 

I'd write to DWF's Head Office as follows :-

 

Dear sir or madam,

 

FORMAL COMPLAINT

 

In August 2014, I visited my gym and gave notice to cancel to the girl on the desk. I was long-past any minimum initial membership period. She said this would be passed on to be processed as necessary. I allowed the September DD payment to be paid and thought that would be an end to the matter.

 

In October however, DWF took a further payment to which you had no entitlement. I therefore cancelled the DD mandate with my bank and got the October fee refunded by my bank under the DD Guarantee Scheme.

 

I received further emails from DWF questioning why my DD's had not been paid. I replied to these but had no replies or acknowledgements.

 

When ARC made contact with me, I knew they were mistaken and assumed they'd speak to DWF and realise they were wrong to demands further money from me.

 

I have now received a letter from Majorlaw Solicitors threatening legal action court fees, costs and interest.

 

You need to contact ARC and Majorlaw and ensure that they make no further demands of me.

 

If your gym staff failed to process my cancellation promptly, that is not my problem. If you allow anyone to harass me for further payments, I will make a formal complaint to Trading Standards. I may also take court action myself seeking damages for my time and trouble, and the stress this has caused me.

 

I will be away until 3rd March and, by my return, I expect to have your assurance that you will not allow any further demands to be made in this matter.

 

Yours faithfully,

 

Send from a post office and get a free Certificate of Posting.

 

Now go and enjoy your hols !!

 

[Coyledinho]

Hi Slick,

 

Thanks very much for your help

- i wrote a formal letter out and posted to DW on saturday and emailed Major Law to the address on the letter they sent as per your instructions.

 

Not expecting to hear anything now till i'm back next week i guess but i'll be sure to keep you updated.

 

Regards

[slick132]

Hi Coyle,

 

Look forward to an update when you're back

 

[Coyledinho]

Hi Guys,

 

Back from my trip and found this email sitting in my inbox..

. thought i would obviously check first of all how to respond:

 

Hi Daniel,

 

I am emailing you regarding the letter of complaint regarding your arrears you sent to head office.

 

 

They have passed it on to myself to look into this and contact you.

 

 

I am the new Front of House Manager at the Milton Keynes branch and would like to try and resolve this with you as best I can.

 

 

Please can I ask that you provide a copy of the receipt you would have been given when you cancelled in the club.

 

I understand that you are away until the 3rd March so I am not expecting any correspondence back until after then.

 

Kind Regards

Jess Keeler

Front of House Manager

DW Fitness Milton Keynes

[slick132]

Hi Coyle,

 

My reply would be :-

 

I refer to your email of xxdate.

 

I was given no receipt when I cancelled.

 

I see no reason to contact you further about this matter as I cancelled in an acceptable manner and paid all I owe.

 

I trust you now accept the matter is now ended and any further demands will be referred to Trading Standards as a formal complaint.

 

Keep us updated .............

 

[Coyledinho]

Hi all,

 

me again... i should mention straight off the bat that i only just sent my email this morning to DW as i had been away again but got my response back just now. Here is my email and the reply from them... please advise

 

Hi Jess,

 

Thanks for your email. Apologies for the very late reply. I was actually away on short notice again with work straight after getting back 3rd March so have been going through a backlog of emails this week.

 

I was given no receipt when I cancelled my membership unfortunately, only told that one more direct debit will come out and that would count as me giving my notice. I'm not sure if there is a system is in place whereby you can see when someone last entered the facilities but that would show i have not used the gym for quite some time as i had no reason to believe anything other than what i was told at the time was the correct procedure.

 

I trust you now accept the matter is now ended as I cancelled in an acceptable manner and paid all I owe. and any further demands will be referred to Trading Standards as a formal complaint.

 

Many thanks,

 

Dan Coyle

 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Hi Dan,

 

Not a problem with the delay in getting back to me. It has allowed me time to thoroughly go through our scans and old receipts from last year. Unfortunately as there is no proof of cancellation I cannot close your account and the arrears will need to be paid for.

 

Kind Regards

 

Jess Keeler

 

Front of House Manager

[slick132]

Dear Jess,

 

I refer to your email of 18th March, sent in response to my email to you earlier on 18th March..

 

I already told you I was given no receipt when I cancelled but that changes nothing.

 

I will not pay you anything further and I may simply ignore further demands from you.

 

Also, as stated in my earlier email, a Formal Complaint will now be made to Trading Standards.

 

After this, don't reply to them until you've told us of any developments.

 

[Bazooka Boo]

What dullards!

 

No payment will be forthcoming, I am available for any court appearance you feel you could bring regarding this

trivial matter, my damages will be considerable.

No further correspondence will be entered into.

Regards.

[Coyledinho]

Hi guys ... long time since my last update but here we are ... annoyingly my email inbox decided to delete itself so all i have to go off now is the original email and first reply to Jess from DW which i stuck into a seperate folder. I have resent the messages suggested to her this morning ... but i received this from ARC Europe again (i have not responded)

 

Dear Mr ......

ARC Reference: ,,,,,,,

RE: DW Sports Fitness

Balance: £94.00

 

We are writing in response to your recent correspondence sent to our solicitors, Majorlaw Ltd.

 

Please note that ARC (Europe) Ltd is a collection agent, acting in good faith on the instructions received from a disclosed principal, namely DW Sports Fitness. We have been instructed by our client to manage your account and we are therefore authorised to contact you in connection with the above. We have acted in accordance with our client’s instructions and within current collection legislation, rules and guidance. We reserve the right to produce our correspondence to any Tribunal, regulatory body or investigating authority to prove our compliance and good conduct in this matter.

 

We understand our client received a complaint from you on 25 February 2015 and responded on 28 February 2015 however they received no response from you. They have confirmed that you did not cancel your membership in accordance with the agreed Terms and Conditions as you are required to provide one full calendar month written notice. In the circumstances, please provide proof of cancellation in order for us to refer the matter back to our client for further instructions, i.e. a receipt from the Royal Mail confirming delivery of your notice to cancel or a letter/receipt from our client acknowledging your notice to cancel.

 

In the absence of such proof we remain instructed that the above balance is outstanding and must be paid. You can make a secure payment to ARC 24 hours a day with your debit or credit card by visiting our web site or by calling our automated payment hotline on 0845 0268889. Alternatively you can telephone us on 01932 251000 to make a payment by debit or credit card or you can use the following bank details to make payment:-

 

Bank name: n/a

Account name: ARC Europe Ltd

Sort Code n/a

Account Number: n/a

Reference Number: n/a

 

We have placed your account on hold for 14 days pending your proof or payment proposals. However, if we do not receive this, we will be required to pass this account back to our solicitors, Majorlaw Ltd for further action.

 

Please be advised that emails replied to this address will not be answered. All emails must be sent to email address

Yours Sincerely,

 

Miss Neesom

Compliance Administrator

 

ARC Europe Ltd

Kent House

Churchfield Road

Walton On Thames

Surrey

KT12 2TU

 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Any help again will be amazing! its shocking how they never asked questions when the account was going unused for months but they were happy taking money but as soon as i noticed the error and blocked it they go all Rambo on you! Shocking service.

[Bazooka Boo]

Ah yes the good old game of letter tennis, you can either a)ignore them, OR

b) send them one final email clearly stating that the agreement was cancelled when you stopped the direct debit, therefore no further money OR correspondence will be entered into.

 

Have you made a formal complaint about DW and their third party clowns yet?

 

1.One can give notice to cancel by words or by conduct, to the gym, the gym admin Co, or to a staff member.

 

2. Notice can be in a written letter or email ........

 

3. ........ or in an oral statement in person or by phone ........

 

4. ........ or by cancelling the DD mandate.

 

5. Or otherwise.

http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20140402142426/http://www.oft.gov.uk/shared_oft/consumer-enforcement/ams/order.pdf