golds gym contract ( nothing new i believe )

[judasz]

hi dear all

 

i read tones of posts over hire about the gym problems and all is brilliant thx for help all of you first of all.

but i need a simple info /sample of letter/ or info what i should send to them ( gym / crs )

 

as i not the first one over hire with this problem i make my story short .

 

i joined golds gym on harrow last january 2014, ( btw, if any one can tell which gym we talking about in other golds gym post will be nice ) and i been using this gym for 4-5 monte,

then because i was living London and i move to sundown area witch is far away from gym ( 1 HR drive ) at least , i decided to canceled the gym.

on reception desk i told the lady i like to cancel my membership, i was told i can't do this until minimum 12 monte contract expired .ok, lady on reception desk told me she will put a note on my profile after last payment in january 2015 my membership will be closed and i don't have to come back with anything ( formal cancelation letter etc. ) so , after january 2015 february exactly i canceled my DD for this gym this means i was pay for gym for whole 12 month and 1 extra mont february as i should .

btw. 10 years ago i done exactly same thing with golds gym on hanwell and all was fine .

 

and there story is started, last saturday ( 01.08.2015) i received a letter from CRS as i own the gym and CRS 403.20 where ( as a result of this our fees totalling 133.20 been added ) so that means i own the gym 270 and 133.20 to CRS ( i think anyway )

as unexperienced person in that cases i called them up ( crs) this was pointless, i also called the gym ,pointless to, i spoke with citizen advice biro, they told me the best option is to talk to gym. ( pointless ).

 

what to do next ? as above i need info about letters i should sent, breakdowns of this amount ?

 

BTW. i moved from London last august , how they know my new address ? also what is important , when i joined the gym i fill up the form with address , email, tel.nb.

they didn't contact me in any of the above apart twice a week about promotions by text massage, they i my opinion try at least contact me if they had any problem ? no ?

 

and also if any one ask me how i know they didn't send me any letters , friend of mine live in my prevues address and all letters to me she keep .and i pick them up from time to time .

 

sorry for very haotic description of that case , i am just pist .... on all this and i don't even know what to ask.

 

hope someone help me with this. if anyone have any questions or any thing is not clear enough please ask .

 

thx a lot up front.

[judasz]

hi

any one can help ? please .

[slick132]

Hi Judasz and welcome to CAG

 

Did you tell the gym you were moving away from the area when you tried to cancel ?

 

If you moved away from the gym and there was no other Golds Gym near to your new address, you were entitled to cancel the gym agreement after 1 month's notice.

 

So the gym was wrong to make you pay for the whole 12 months.

 

We'll help you get CRS from bothering you any more when you answer my question above.

 

[judasz]

hi SLICK 132 , yes i told them i moving out far away from the gym , i dident know i can cancel with one month notice in that case.

what i can do in that case ?

thx a lot for help.

[slick132]

In theory, you could demand that the gym repays to you fees paid in excess of the 1 month notice they were entitled to.

 

Unfortunately, the gym is unlikely to repay you anything and will deny your version of events.

 

1. Did you cancel in writing or by speaking to them.

 

2. If in writing, do you have a copy of the letter.

 

I'll be back later ..............

 

[judasz]

i was speak to the receptionist , as i was aware i cannot cancel my membership( now i now i was wrong ) and she told me she will place note in system as i will not be around by end of my 12 months contract as i told i moving away., she said its fine and she will do this , also i was never told i have to give written notice to them .

[slick132]

Hi Judasz,

 

We will deal with Harlands/CRS shortly. Until then, ignore them and DO NOT call them for any reason.

 

You have no proof of what was said when you cancelled so reclaiming the amounts they made you pay may not be possible.

 

You gave the gym notice to cancel during the m/ship so you only needed to pay them 12 months fees, not 13.

 

Please tell us :-

 

1. Where did you move away to.

 

2. When did you go into the gym to cancel. Give us a rough date if you don't know the exact date.

 

3. When was the DD paid each month.

 

4. What was the monthly DD amount.

 

Here is a letter to send to Golds in Harrow to see how they respond :-

 

[Your new address]

 

Golds Gym

Sheepcote Road, Harrow,

Middlesex, HA1 2JN

 

Dear Golds Gym,

 

I joined your gym in January 2014 paying £35 per month.

 

When I was about to move away to Luton, I visited the gym in July to cancel my membership as I would be unable to use the gym at all after I moved.

 

I was told by the receptionist that I had to continue paying for the membership until I had paid all 12 monthly fees.

 

I now understand that your staff were wrong to tell me I had to pay the full 12 months plus a further month for the notice period. My last DD payment should have been paid on or around 1st August.

 

I require that you make a refund to me of the amounts overpaid for the months of September 2014 to February inclusive. I calculate the refund to be 6 months @ £35 = £210.

 

If you fail to repay within 14 days, I will be forced to seek a refund under the Direct Debit Guarantee Scheme.

 

I will also make formal complaints to Trading Standards and to The CMA about your failure to allow me to cancel when I moved away.

 

Finally, Harlands/CRS are making demands for even more in fees from February 2015 onwards and you must instruct them to stop immediately.

 

Yours faithfully,

 

Send this to the gym using Royal Mail Signed For Delivery and keep it the receipt safe.

 

Edited August 3, 2015 by slick132

[judasz]

thx a lot for all replays

i move out from Wembley / London to Leagrave / Luton ( M1 junction 11 ) on 06 of September 2014

i give them notice of cancellation sometime around Jul/August 2014 more like Jul as i had no time to use the gym.

monthly charges was 35 pounds per month.

i need to check all my bank statements for exact date of DD.

[slick132]

Hi Judasz,

 

Please come back and tell us :-

 

1. When you think you gave notice at the gym.

 

2. When the DD was taken each month.

 

[judasz]

i have it

 

1. the notice i am more than sure i give on JUL as i was packing up whole august and i know i will have no time for gym

 

2. every 01 of each month is my DD from account .

[slick132]

Hi Judasz,

 

I have now amended the letter in post #7 above.

 

If you agree with the content, copy it and send to Golds Gym as per my instructions below the letter.

 

Let us know if Harlands or CRS contact you again and tell us briefly what they say.

 

[judasz]

Thanks so much, i will be back soon as they reply , or i have any other info from any one of them.

Really appreciate all help, will be back.

have good day.

[judasz]

just a quick update

 

is over two weeks now when i send letter to gym - no response at all

 

my best friends ( CRS ) call me over week ago , i said to them i don t want to talk to them ,then they send ma another letter last week some time , and text massage asking to call them back asap.

 

do i should do any thing in that case ? another letter to gym?

 

any advice ?

 

thank you all.

[slick132]

Hi Judasz,

 

You told the gym what you intended to do - so now is the time to do it.

 

Contact the bank and tell them you require a refund of all DD's taken from 1st September onwards, due to the gym taking DD's they were not entitled to. Getting the refund should be quite simple but, if the bank cause you any problems, let us know.

 

Just ignore any contact from CRS for now.

 

Come back and confirm when the DD's from September onwards have been refunded.

 

[judasz]

Thx for replay once again, i will do it this week, i will call my bank and i will let all you know what is going on .

[judasz]

Right , story is strange , i just spoke with the bank(tsb) i told them all the story with my gym, and they will not pay the money back to me at all as they told me i broke the contract with the gym and they not be able to take the money back from them .

Also they ask me why i cancel the DD in January if i wasn't using the gym from august. That was lot of questions ( why?) and seems all my answers to them was wrong .... Its look like gym , bank and crs try to rip me off all together ... Any advice ?

[judasz]

Btw . CRS keep send me text messeges ... To call them urgently .

[slick132]

Ignore CRS for now.

 

The bank has no right to act in this way and you did not really need to go into so much detail with them.

 

Call the bank again and tell them the need to refund the DD taken from 1st September onwards because :-

 

1. The gym had no right to insist you continue to pay monthly when they should have allowed you to cancel.

 

2. You were entitled to cancel due to moving away from the gym.

 

3. The bank does not have the right to determine if you had the right to cancel the membership agreement.

 

4. The bank does not have the right to determine when you should have cancelled the membership agreement.

 

5. If they fail to repay the DD's immediately, you will make a formal complaint to the FOS.

 

If the bank still fails to repay the DD's, we can draft a letter for you to send to the bank.

 

[judasz]

Right, i will start the action tomorow than, what i will do without you ... Thx a lot .

[judasz]

Hello again, just find out after long fight with my bank have money for me , all 181 pounds , and look like two last payments r still pending , i try to find out what is going on with that , CRS keep sending me text and letters , what i should do next?

[slick132]

Hi Judasz,

 

Can you explain what you mean about "the last 2 pay'ts are still pending".

 

Ignore any phone or text msgs from CRS for now. You have no need to speak to them at all.

 

If they DO get through on the phone, hang up !

 

[judasz]

Lady on the phone dident explane me why is that with payments , i waiting for explenation letter from them , and i will call them to , to find out why is like that ... Will be back with answears . Thx for reply .

[judasz]

Right, i am back with details , bank paid me back 175 pounds based on my DD details and payments to the gym , what is look like 5 months money . Good enough for me , aparently gym make them lot of problems etc. and that what bank agread with gold gym.

Moving forward from bank as they not easy to deal with to what i should do with CRS now as they still send letters and text messeges ?

[slick132]

Is that the right amount of money refunded now.

 

I thought it should be £210 according to the letter I drafted.

 

[judasz]

Yes and now , as they told me they spoke with gym and gym and bank together decided when i left on august than one month notice ( paid ) have to be given on that therms , all is correct with money, i still waiting for letter from bank to see exactlly what happened as they mixt up badly all this situation, any advice about CRS?