Credit Resolution Services/Harlands/Xercise4less

[Makaveli84]

Hi everyone,

 

I'm new to CAG and have been reading through some of the posts of people who are facing the same dilemma as me. I'm not sure if I should have started a new thread or not.

 

My situation is as follows.

 

I joined xercise4less in January 2014 (Big mistake), I went a handful of times and stopped going but as I was in a contract I kept the payments up so that I wouldn't be in any breach of contract. According to the email i got

 

"Congratulations on joining Xercise Health & Fitness Club.

 

You are committing to a single £0.00 admin fee payment and £9.99 per month for a minimum of 11 months.

 

You have chosen to pay by monthly Direct Debit and we can confirm that the Direct Debit details provided by you are correct.

 

In December 2014 i sent a cancellation letter in through post as i couldn't hand deliver it at the time (stupidly i didn't make a copy as i hand wrote it nor did i ask for proof of posting as i put it in a mailbox). I left the direct debit active and allowed a payment of £9.99 to be taken on 05/01/2015 as the last payment so all together they have taken 12 payments of £9.99 which to me is the minimum of 11 months and also an extra month for the cancellation period, then i cancelled the direct debit.

 

Within 2 weeks of cancelling the direct debit i received a letter from hardlands saying that the direct debit has been cancelled and there's an outstanding amount of £9.99, i called the club up who referred me to harlands who said that no cancellation was received and therefore the amount is owed.

 

To cut a long story short they then sent another letter with a £25.00 admin fee and when i queried this i was past back and forth from them to the club. I didn't hear anything from anyone for a while then last month i got a letter from CRS credit solutions services saying i owe £171.47 and to call them, unwittingly i called them up and explained the situation, the man said the lowest amount we are willing to accept is £76.49 to settle the debt and close the account down, i said i wasn't willing to pay anything he said and i quote "then we recommend you seek legal advice".

 

Today i have received another letter saying " we would still like to reach an amicable resolution to this, however if you fail to respond to this letter, we will have no option but to commence further action to recover the monies owed. The options available to us are:

1- Legal action (in this they mention County court)

2-Outsource to external agents.

 

I called to discuss it which i now realise was a mistake, i got the same guy as last time who said we've already wasted enough time on this account and the lower amount offer expires tomorrow 29/05/2015, do you want to make that payment now or not, when i said no he said ok we'll prepare your file for action and ended the call.

 

I'm really sorry for the long winded post but i'm starting to panic over this. Any help or suggestions would be really appreciated.

 

Regards.

[honeybee13]

Hello and welcome to CAG. Yes, starting a new thread was exactly the right thing to do.

 

The forum gurus should be along later with advice for you; they'll know what to do. Don't worry.

 

My best, HB

[Makaveli84]

Hi Honeybee

 

Thank you for letting me know, im looking forward to hearing from the experts.

 

Regards

[fkofilee]

Slick is the guy to help... BUT...

CRS are not a company that take people to court... Simple.

 

Slick would probably say write to them, I say otherwise as I think youve done enough here.

CRS are completely powerless.

[Bazooka Boo]

Doesn't matter that they ''claim'' not to have received your letter of cancellation.

 

Your cancellation of the DD will have been enough to show them of your intention to cancel the agreement.

 

The best thing you did, was complete and satisfy your part of the agreement, by maintaining the monthly payments.

 

They're stuffed, there will be no court, you owe nothing, least of all their unlawful fees, just wait for slick to compose

one of his 'bog off' letters.

[Makaveli84]

Thanks for your advice fkofilee, im hoping i have done enough, it makes me sick how they think they can get away with it, sending threatening letters. I hope i can sort this out soon. I wish i could charge them for all the aggravation they've caused or just to apologise and say that they messed up.

[Makaveli84]

Hi bazooka boo,

 

I knew as soon as i stopped going that im going to continue paying so that this wouldn't happen but they seem to have slipped over £100 worth of fees in there some how. Im looking forward to hearing what slick will advise.

 

Thank you for replying to my thread

[fkofilee]

I have one...

 

 

Dear Sirs

 

G...G...G...Goooooooooo F*** Yourselves.......

 

Sincerely

Ex-Customer unwilling to pay extortionate fees....

[Makaveli84]

I have one...

 

I wish i could send that, i really had to hold my nerve when i was on the phone to that guy from CRS

[fkofilee]

Dont ring... Simple..

 

However, I wouldnt hold my nerve...Let off some steam about it... Resolves built up stress....

 

[Makaveli84]

I realised i shouldnt have called them, i was fuming when i got off the phone.

 

starting to feel a bit better now reading all the responses

[fkofilee]

Good, We are wise to all of this spew they give out...

[slick132]

Hi Makaveli,

 

I assume you have a copy of the letter you sent to the gym, but please confirm.

 

You've done everything right apart from not using RM Signed For delivery, or getting a free Certificate of Posting from the PO when you mailed the letter. We also recommend taking your cancellation letter into the gym and getting a staff member to sign a second copy that you keep as receipt for the letter.

 

For some strange reason, Harlands insist that you can only cancel X4Less agreements with the gym direct, although we always say you can cancel by contacting the gym OR Harlands. So you did this right anyway.

 

It's mad that gym cancellation letters have such a strange habit of "getting lost" so often.

 

Please confirm about the copy of the letter and we'll take it from there .................

 

[Makaveli84]

Hi slick132,

 

Unfortunately i dont have the copy of the letter i sent, it was template that they provided in an email that i received when i first joined. all i had to do was fill in the blank spaces like my membership number, address etc. It was already written out. below is what i sent i just hand wrote them in and put it in the mail box rather than going to the post office which i realise is a mistake, but didnt imagine any of this to happen.

 

I/We [*] hereby give notice that I/We [*] cancel my/our [*] agreement for the supply of the service administered by Harlands Services Ltd.

Reference number (Can be found on email confirmation): W__________________________

Signup date: __________________________

Name of consumer(s): _______________________________________________

Address of consumer(s): __________________________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Signature of consumer(s) (only if this form is notified on paper): ____________________

Date: _____________________________________

 

Thanks

[slick132]

Letter to Harlands :-

 

I refer to demands from Harlands/CRS about my gym membership.

 

I used the gym's own cancellation form to supply all details required when I cancelled. The form was sent to the [gym/gym's head office] by post in December 2014.

 

I allowed the final DD to be taken on 5th January 2015 and then cancelled the DD mandate.

 

Accordingly, I owe the gym nothing more and I'll pay nothing to Harlands/CRS. If you make any further demands, I'll make a formal complaint to Trading Standards.

 

Let us know how they come back (asking if you have proof of postage, no doubt).

 

[Makaveli84]

Thank you Slick132. I'll get this posted via recorded delivery asap and will update you once I hear from them.

 

Thanks again for your help

[Bazooka Boo]

Or use 'proof of posting' which is free from the PO counter.

 

They will of course ignore your letter, claiming that your a liar, and you must sell your Nan to pay for their

tea and biscuits!

[Makaveli84]

Yeah I will just ask for proof of posting. I don't want to spend money on anything to do with them. Thanks bazooka boo

[slick132]

Thanks BBoo,

 

Makaveli can get the free Certificate of Posting at the PO and keep the Cert as proof.