Harlands/CRS/ hertsmere leisure problems

[Satinade]

Hi there,

 

I signed up for a 12 month contract in December with a £15 pay nothing else till February, I moved out of the area in January and told the gym (who said it was fine) I sent them a confirmation email later reiterating my cancellation and they replied saying just let harlands know and it will be sorted. I didn't hear anything from harlands for a while so i assumed cancellation had gone through, I later checked my spam box (a once a month phenomenon) and found an email requesting evidence, which I sent them straight away (although admittedly 20 days after they sent the email). They rejected my evidence because my full name wasn't on all 3 pages (only 2 of the 3) and asked me send them something else, because I was renting and not lead tenant I had to request a letter from the council which took 3 weeks to arrive. I sent it over and they said I owed them £100.

Considering I cancelled 14 days before my first direct debit was due, I don't think I owe them anything.

They've been harassing my parents (at their address) and me, despite telling them I've sought advice from CAB.

They've now referred me to CRS who have been harassing me every other day and want me to pay over £500.

 

Can someone please help? The anxiety their harassment is causing me and my family is just not acceptable. Every letter I've sent them (including numerous copies of those posted by Slick in other threads) have come back with saying 'no, pay us'. I'm at the end of my tether!

 

Thanks in advance

 

Satin

Edited July 4, 2015 by slick132

[fkofilee]

Slick will be along shortly. Empty threats from these folks.

Hold steady...

[slick132]

Hi Satin and welcome to CAG

 

Please see my PM sent to you.

 

Edited July 4, 2015 by slick132

[slick132]

Hi Satin,

 

Stop stressing about this - Harlands have no power or authority and we can help you put them in their place!!

 

Harlands are simply trying it on and you should report their actions to Trading Standards and to The CMA.

 

If you gave the gym notice to cancel, that is ALL you needed to do. You did not need to contact Harlands at all and, even if they wanted further evidence, they cannot delay cancelling the gym agreement.

 

Letter to Harlands :-

 

Dear sir or madam,

 

I insist you deal with this matter in writing only. I will not deal with this matter by telephone and Harlands/CRS must stop calling me and/or my parents.

 

All calls have been logged and a complaint for harassment will be made if necessary.

 

I cancelled my gym agreement by contacting the gym in person at the gym, followed by confirmation in writing.

 

I now know that I had no obligation to contact Harlands about the cancellation and you had no right to deny or delay the cancellation.

 

CRS are now demanding over £500 which is utterly ridiculous. If I receive any further demands from Harlands/CRS, formal complaints will be made to Trading Standards and The CMA.

 

Yours faithfully,

 

Get a free Certificate of Posting from the PO when you send this and let us know how they reply.

 

Also, if you get any other demands before Harlands respond, let us know. They are really taking the pee with this case.

 

Edited July 4, 2015 by slick132

[Satinade]

Hi Slick,

 

CRS have just sent me this:

"Your email of 3rd July 2015 has been forwarded to ourselves as Credit Resolution Services has been employed by Hertsmere Leisure in the capacity of a debt recovery agency to resolve this matter.

 

We have investigated your disputes and in doing so have contacted Hertsmere Leisure who have advised us that:

 

"Ms ... advices "I informed the centre of my relocation over 10 miles away, giving more than 14 days notice, as required by contract T&C's." However contract T&C's state: Members who pay by direct debit, must notify head office , in writing, 14 days before the date of their next direct debit payments. Letters should be addressed to: Harlands Group, C/O Hertsmere Leisure, Unit 8, Borderlake House, Lowbell Lane, London Colney, Herts, AL2 1HG. Emails should be sent to

 

The earliest instance either Hertsmere or Harlands has record of you making contact regarding your relocation and desire to cancel was on 22nd January 2015, which was less than 14 days prior to your February 2015 instalment becoming due. Your February 2015 instalment would therefore be due even if cancellation had been granted at that stage.

 

We have also reviewed previous correspondence in conducting our investigation and can confirm that we do not agree with Harlands position regarding the evidence you supplied on 25th February 2015. Regardless of to whom the letter is addressed, you are clearly referred to as a tenant of the property on several occasions and the contract for the tenancy bares your signature. We can see no valid reason why this evidence should not have been accepted and as such are happy to grant a cancellation posthumously from 25th February 2015.

 

As such we have removed £550.74 from your balance, consisting of £407.00 membership fees (11x £37.00) £107.74 collection fees (applied at whichever is greater of £66.50 or 36% of the overall debt) as these were yet to become due at the time your evidence was received. We have also removed a £36.00 trace fee as you had previously supplied your new address to Harlands and it was their error in not updating these details when they passed the file to us.

 

It remains our position; however, that you are liable for your February 2015 instalment of £37.00 as this became due less than 14 days after your initial request to cancel and was already due when your evidence was supplied. For this second reason it also remains our position that you are liable for the first of two £20.00 administration charges that have been applied.

 

We are therefore prepared to accept the sum of £57.00 to settle this balance if paid in full within 30 days of this correspondence.

 

You may have noticed a difference of £86.50 between the amount previously quoted and the sum we have advised we are willing to accept, even after the £550.74 reduction. This is because you have incurred a second £20.00 administration fee and our minimum collection fees of £66.50 for failing to make payments due under your agreement. This remains the case regardless of the cancellation of your membership from 25th February. We have agreed to accept the sum of £57.00 to settle on the basis that it is reasonable to assume that had your evidence been accepted at the time it was supplied the matter may have been resolved prior to any further charges being applied. If, however, we are unable to resolve this matter with a payment of £57.00 within the next 30 days of confirming acceptance of your evidence and confirming your February instalment remains due, then we shall see no reason why the further charges of £86.50 would not remain due also and shall therefore commence recovery action against you for the full balance of £143.50.

 

Payment can be made by Credit/Debit card by calling us on 01444 449165. Alternatively, cheque/postal orders should be made payable to Credit Resolution Services and sent to CRS, 2nd Floor, Rockwood House, 9-17 Perrymount Road, Haywards Heath, West Sussex, RH16 3TW.

 

A payment plan can also be set up if you are unable to settle in full, although we do charge a little extra for this.

 

If you are experiencing financial difficulty, there are organisations who offer free debt advice and assistance such as Step Change (0800 1381111), National Debtline (0808 8084000) and your local Citizen Advice Bureau.

 

Please ensure a payment or response is received within the next 30 days, so we can avoid further action being taken.

 

Yours sincerely,"

I maintain that I emailed the gym on the 7th of January (I've sent them a copy of that email)

What should I do?

[slick132]

Hi Satinade,

 

........and as such are happy to grant a cancellation posthumously from 25th February ........

OMG !! Has someone died ?? :rofl:

 

I think they mean "retrospectively" !

 

Also, they say Harlands made an error about the change of address - Harlands and CRS are the same business !! But we're used to Harlands/CRS coming back with their lengthy replies, in the hope they can convince people that they actually owe what's being demanded.

 

You say, "I've sent them a copy of that email". Did you send this to the gym or Harlands ?

 

[Satinade]

Hi Satinade,

 

OMG !! Has someone died ?? :rofl:

 

I think they mean "retrospectively" !

 

Also, they say Harlands made an error about the change of address - Harlands and CRS are the same business !! But we're used to Harlands/CRS coming back with their lengthy replies, in the hope they can convince people that they actually owe what's being demanded.

 

You say, "I've sent them a copy of that email". Did you send this to the gym or Harlands ?

 

 

 

I thought that was the case, so it doesn't really make much sense.

I just replied to the email offering them the attached email. Is there anything else I should send them? I really don't think I owe them anything (hopefully!)

[slick132]

Hi Satinade,

 

I'm inclined to reject their offer to pay them £57 or any amount. However, you may feel this is worth paying to get rid of Harlands/CRS. Only you can decide this !

 

If you want to reject their offer, you could reply to Harlands by written letter saying :-

 

I refer to your letter/email of xxdate.

 

I am not convinced by your gestures or explanations and remain certain that I owe nothing more in respect of the membership.

 

I am confused by your references to Harlands and CRS as if they are separate, when they are, in fact, one and the same.

 

I will not pay you anything more but will refer further demands to the relevant bodies, namely Trading Standards and The CMA.

 

[Satinade]

This is the latest. These guys are like dogs with a meaty bone!

Unfortunately I'm a medical student that can't even afford next month's rent so I certainly can't afford to be paying off companies like this to get them off my back .

 

 

Further to your email of 21st July 2015, we confirm that whilst the evidence you have supplied is sufficient to demonstrate you request cancellation on the grounds of relocation more than 14 days prior to your February instalment becoming due, we are unable to grant any further reduction on your balance because of this. The reason for this is that that the terms of your agreement state at the top of the section entitled "CANCELLATION OF THIS AGREEMENT" that:

 

"ANY cancellation for the below reasons will not be effected until the appropriate proof is provided and received."

 

Your evidence was received on 25th February 2015 and as such the cancellation procedure had not been completed until then.

 

For the above reasons it is our position that all payments which fell due prior to the 25th February 2015 would remain valid.

 

For the above reasons the balance of £143.50 is correct and due. As a goodwill gesture we shall be willing to extend our previous offer to accept the reduced sum of £57.00 as final settlement of this debt if paid in full within 7 days of this correspondence.

[slick132]

Hi Satin,

 

I would simply ignore them for now.

 

It's not reasonable that you cannot cancel until you've sent them evidence, when such evidence may not always be available when you move or are ill, injured, etc.

 

Harlands are unlikely to be persuaded by reasonable arguments so let them get on with it ...........

 

Next threats are likely to come from CRS who are just as toothless !

 

[Satinade]

Hi there Slick,

 

I've just been sent the below message - what should I do from here? I'm nervous my credit rating is going to be effected but they've now withdrawn the lower amount so I would have to pay the full £500!

 

 

Our position remains as previously advised. If you are not willing to set up a payment plan with us, we have no alternative but to proceed with further action against you. We will hold this for a further 7 days. If you advise us again that you do not intend to pay, we will continue our collection procedure, but will not continue to enter into further correspondence as our decision has been made.

 

With regard to your request that we contact you in writing only, we are happy to do this only as long as it remains reasonable to do so. If at any time it is no longer reasonable for us to correspond with you in writing (for example if you fail to respond to written correspondence), we may still attempt to contact you by other means.

 

If you believe now, or at any time in the future, that our course of conduct constitutes harassment, we recommend that you take any action you deem necessary. We are, however, aware of Section 40, subsection 1 of the Administration of Justice Act 1970, and Section 1, subsection 1 of the Protection from Harassment Act 1997. We are confident that we are not guilty of any offence because one or more of the exemptions within subsection 3 of both the quoted sections of these acts of legislation apply to this circumstance. It is our position that this balance is due, and our correspondence has been appropriate to the matter in tone, content and frequency and as such is reasonable.

 

Payment can be made by Credit/Debit card by calling us on 01444 449165. Alternatively, cheque/postal orders should be made payable to Credit Resolution Services and sent to CRS, 2nd Floor, Rockwood House, 9-17 Perrymount Road, Haywards Heath, West Sussex, RH16 3TW.

 

A payment plan can also be set up if you are unable to settle in full, although we do charge a little extra for this.

[fkofilee]

Satinade...

 

Do not worry! ... Gym debts are not reported on CRA Files unless subject to a CCJ , and even then its a struggle to get to that point. Harlands wont do court, they dont own the debt

 

The nerve that they charge extra for a payment plan! Yikes!

[slick132]

Hi Satinade,

 

You need to read other threads here. If you had done so, you will see the advice repeated regularly - This will NOT affect your credit files !!

 

Just ignore their letter for now and keep us posted.

 

Remember, the £500+ they're demanding is mostly made up of their unlawful and unenforceable admin (penalty) charges.

 

After CRS, you may hear from Zinc, an external DCA. They don't tend to stick around long when you deal with them confidently.