LA Fitness/ARC Europe Problem

[spinner123]

Hi,

 

I am facing increasingly aggressive demands from ARC Europe for payment of £320 (now threating to take me to Northampton Court with additonal fees) for a debt with LA fitness. Despite repeated phone calls to LA Fitness stating that I do not owe them money, and calls to ARC Europe saying the same, no one is listening to me and I am now have various threats stating that the amount I owe will be stepped up should I delay any longer. My monthly payment was only £50 so am not quite sure how they've arrived at such a high figure.

 

I signed up for a 12 month gym contract with LA fitness in the middle of Jan 2014 and paid every month of my contract when it was due, up to and including the payment at the beginning of Jan 2015, and so was a paid up member until the end of Jan 2015. I cancelled the direct debit (to stop Feb's payment being taken) and told a member of staff in the gym that I would be quitting (in December) I'm fairly sure I called the head office as well, though it is six months ago now and LA fitness claim they have no record of the call.

 

What is the best way to respond to their demands and should I do it by post or by e-mail?

 

Many Thanks

[slick132]

Hi Spinner and welcome to CAG

 

You should write to either party in writing only. Otherwise, you can end up playing email tennis and getting nowhere fast.

 

You say you signed up for 12 months but have you checked your gym agreement to see if that is what it was called. This could be relevant to your case.

 

If it was called a 12 month agreement, then you had every right to cancel without notice after paying the 12th monthly fee.

 

Otherwise, you effectively gave notice to cancel by cancelling the DD mandate. In this case, you need to offer to pay one further months fee for the notice period.

 

But that is the limit of what you owe. The admin fees added are unenforceable penalties. And the ongoing monthly fees are not payable so they'll have to take a jump, as the most you owe is just £50 !!

 

Check the agreement and let us know.

 

Also, read other threads here to see how others are dealing with their gym cases.

 

Ignore ARC for now, until you're ready to reply fully. They have no power or authority and this will not affect your credit rating.

 

[Conniff]

No more phone calls, in letter only and if they are failing to respond, then send the letter by recorded delivery.

[spinner123]

ARC Europe wrote back to me saying that after my initial term I am required to provide one full calendar month notice in order to cancel membership and claim I need to provide proof of the phone call or letter I sent them, this will be difficult given it was 7 months ago. They have also cut the demand to £156 (from over £300) as a gesture to close the account, my one month notice plus my 'two month arrears' removing all the administration fees however this was limited to 14 days and has now passed since I was away when it arrived.

 

However, I now also have a demad from fidelite credit management for this la fitness debt , they claim they have been 'authorised to recover the above debt which has been outstanding for some time.' Who are these people and who should I now reply to out of ARC Europe, fidelite and LA Fitness?

[slick132]

Hi Spinner.

 

Can you answer my Q from post #2 :-

 

You say you signed up for 12 months but have you checked your gym agreement to see if that is what it was called. This could be relevant to your case.

 

When you've done this, we can decide who you should reply to, and what you should say.

 

[spinner123]

Hi Spinner.

 

Can you answer my Q from post #2 :-

 

 

 

When you've done this, we can decide who you should reply to, and what you should say.

 

 

It says it was a minimum term and that it requires one months notice to terminate after the minimum term

[Conniff]

Is that the actual wording ?

[renegadeimp]

The fact theyve offered a discount on the alleged amount owing speaks volumes.

[spinner123]

Words to that effect, I don't have it still but remember the rough wording

[slick132]

Hi Spinner,

 

You could write offering to pay one final fee to end the matter, conditional on them accepting the offer in writing within 14 days, after which the offers is withdrawn.

 

Or you can refuse to pay them anything on the basis that you joined for 12 months and paid as required before cancelling the DD mandate.

 

The choice is yours.

 

[spinner123]

Hi Spinner,

 

You could write offering to pay one final fee to end the matter, conditional on them accepting the offer in writing within 14 days, after which the offers is withdrawn.

 

Or you can refuse to pay them anything on the basis that you joined for 12 months and paid as required before cancelling the DD mandate.

 

The choice is yours.

 

 

I really don't feel I owe them anything, is it reasonable of them to expect me to still have proof of terminating the contract when did they didn't contact me for 3 months after they didn't receive the DD payment? It seems to me they just left it some arbitrary amount of time before contacting me saying I owed them notice and arrears.

 

Is there anyway I can say either send court proceedings within 28 days or close the case? I am going to refuse to pay but I don't want this to drag on and on, it seems fairly clear cut that they wouldn't recover thei money in court.

[slick132]

Hi Spinner,

 

Based on the views in your last post, you could reply to ARC :-

 

I refer to your letter of xxdate.

 

I cancelled in an acceptable manner by speaking to gym staff before cancelling the DD mandate, after the initial minimum membership period was over. I don't have proof of that discussion, nor do I believe I need it.

 

If you want to take court action, please proceed without delay. I will defend my position vigorously.

 

Otherwise, I suggest you and Fidelite to stop bothering me, failing which, formal complaints will be made to Trading Standards and The CMA.

 

[Conniff]

I'm not sure you should include the 'no proof' bit, that seems unnecessary.

[slick132]

In this case, I stand by the drafted letter as there's no reason that Spinner would have "proof" of a conversation with the gym.