Zinc/CRS/Harlands

[MahoneyUK]

Hello, just stopping by to bring you yet another issue with the infamous Harlands/CRS/Zinc triad.

 

me and my girlfriend joined the gym back in 09/14.

I went for about a month (typical) and then decided I did not want to go anymore, I cancelled my direct debit.

 

 

I have very recently sorted it out and gave Zinc an offer for what I owed exactly (11 x £9.99 payments),

did not take the offers they were giving me of course as these included 'charges' which obviously I am not liable to pay in any way.

They accepted this with no issues and as far as I am aware my side of things is sorted.

 

 

My girlfriend's situation isn't as simple.

She had sent them an almost identical e-mail as me (only things different were the number of months owed and hence, the settlement offer.)

She received a response saying that they would accept the offer,

however they would refer the remainder back to Harlands (i.e. themselves, as we all know they are in the same office, doh) to decide on.

My problem is that I don't know where that leaves my girlfriend.

 

 

Does this mean that they are technically still trying to incur extra charges on her that she isn't legally liable to pay?

Should we take that as a termination of agreement?

Should we tell them we are going to wait for Harland's verdict before any payment is made?

 

 

I would know what to do usually but the way they have worded their response seems a bit crafty in an attempt to strike fear and guilt.

 

 

I will provide the e-mails below for context.

Any advise would be appreciated!

 

Dear .....

 

Thank you for your email 18th August.

 

I understand that you are querying this amount from our client

and I can confirm that this balance is a result of the gym membership

that you signed up to with Xercise 4 Less Bristol for £9.99 a month.

 

In order to resolve the matter, we can offer you a settlement of £147.32 which can be paid in 3 monthly instalments.

Once payment has been made, we will close the account and return it to our client

 

If the settlement amount is not affordable, we would be happy to set up an affordable repayment plan on the full outstanding balance of £196.42.

 

Please contact us on the details below at your earliest convenience, so we can discuss the best way forward for you.

 

If we do not hear from you within 7 days, your account will fall back into the collections process and may run the risk of being returned to our client.

 

Kind regards

 

 

..............

 

Dear Holly,

 

Please see e-mail dated 20th Aug 2015 below for reference. This reply is further to said e-mail.

 

I regret I will have to decline your settlement offer.

The reason for this is because my agreement with Harlands is for a minimum term of 12 monthly payments of £9.99.

According to my records, I have currently paid 4 of these monthly payments and therefore have 8 more to pay,

equating to a total of £79.92.

 

 

This is of course different to the balance you claim is £196.42, and is also different to the settlement amount you have offered me for £147.32.

Therefore, I am currently only willing to settle with the amount equal to what I rightfully owe your client, Harlands, which is indeed £79.92.

 

 

I am more than happy to pay the full settlement of £79.92 immediately as I am in a position to do so at this moment in time.

I must add that if any further requests from yourselves or Harlands are directed at me to pay any more than the amount rightfully owed,

this will be regarded by myself as an attempt to incur penalty charges.

 

 

This would be an unlawful action on your/your client's part, and by continuing to request such penalties which are not enforceable by law,

it would therefore mean that I would have to consider my agreement with Harlands as terminated on this basis.

 

I look forward to your response.

 

Sincerely,

 

......

 

Good afternoon

 

Thank you for your email, the contents of which have been noted.

 

I would be happy to accept your payment of the undisputed balance of £79.92.

I need to make you aware that the remaining balance of £116.50 will be returned to our client

advising them of your dispute as they may wish to pursue the matter further.

 

If you are happy to continue on this basis, please confirm that the payment of £79.92 is an affordable amount

and you are up to date with priority bills such as rent / mortgage / council tax and utilities.

 

Please contact us on *** or 01789 273149 as soon as it is convenient, so that we can set up your repayment plan.

 

If we do not hear from you within 7 days, your account will fall back into the collections process and may run the risk of being returned to our client.

 

We look forward to hearing from you soon.

 

Kind regards

 

......

[dx100uk]

why are you paying ALL the outstanding months?

 

 

simple cancel the memberships and you will only owe 'until that month'

as per their T&C's?

 

 

dx

[MahoneyUK]

dx100uk, forgot to mention this was a minimum term 12 months!

Edit: surely if it is a minimum term I am obliged to pay at the very minimum, the minimum term?

[dx100uk]

I suggest you read a few threads in this forum.

 

 

dx

[i hate bailiffs]

Just because you get a scary letter does not mean that you have to pay it

 

Why oh why are you paying a debt collector

 

Any money if any should go direct to the gym

 

The debt collector has brought this non existent debt for a few £'s and made a packet

[slick132]

Hi Mahoney and welcome to CAG

 

Deal briefly with your case, you signed up to a 12 month agreement and gave no acceptable grounds for cancelling, namely, illness or injury; moving home or place of work; redundancy. That's why paying the 12 month's fees but no admin fees was a plausible option to avoid months of harassment from Harlands/CRS, Zinc, etc. However, I would have tried to pay the gym direct, as suggested by others.

 

Turning to your GF's case, if the email exchanges were with Zinc, reply saying :-

 

I refer to your email of xxdate.

 

I am not willing to pay £79.92 to Zinc, only to have Harlands still harass me for unlawful and unenforceable penalty fees.

 

Return the matter to Harlands if you wish.

 

Then you can deal with Harlands and offer them £79.92, but no admin fees on top.

 

If they refuse, write back confirming their attempts to charge unlawful penalties are unacceptable and you hold them in breach of contract. Accordingly, you will not deal with them further.

 

[MahoneyUK]

Hi slick,

 

Sorry for late response, I have been travelling!

I have forwarded to the mrs and now we shall see what happens!

 

Thanks

[MahoneyUK]

Client name: Xercise 4 Less

Outstanding balance: £196.42

 

 

 

Good afternoon ...,

 

 

 

Thank you for your email.

 

 

 

As we are unable to resolve this matter for you, I need to advise that we have now closed your account with Zinc and returned to our clients.

 

 

 

Please contact Xercise 4 Less directly for any further queries. We will advise them of your dispute as they may wish to pursue the matter further.

 

 

 

Kind regards

....

 

So do we wait for X4L to make the first move or should we initiate it?

[Bazooka Boo]

IMO I'd sit on your hands and wait, let them make the next move.

[slick132]

Hi Mahoney,

 

CRS will probably contact you when Zinc report back to them.

 

Keep us posted .............