Crs, harlands & xercise4less problems

[DanFromLondon]

Hello everyone,

 

This is quite a complicated case, but I need some advice on how to deal with it as I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed by it all.

 

 

 

1. Signed up to Xercise4Less Nottingham in September 2014. Was led to believe that I was joining on a rolling contract, and also was never given a copy of the contract or any paperwork for that matter

 

2. Went into the branch to freeze my membership for 6 months (free of charge as I am a student). My student ID was photocopied and they said that the freeze would then commence after a few days of processing or whatever.

 

3. Checked my direct debits in June to find that payments to Harlands (£9.99) had still been going through the whole time! Whilst my membership was supposed to be frozen!

 

4. Phoned and phoned to no avail, with most phone calls ending due to no-one even bothering to pick up the phone. Phoned the Leeds branch (their HQ I believe) and was told that I'd receive a call back in half an hour. They didn't call me back. I emailed the front desk and also submitted my story through their website's customer support page. Still no replies/ people saying they didn't know what to do.

 

5. Finally got through to someone (Olivia) who knew what was going on! She found my freeze application form in a drawer at the Nottingham branch. She informed me that it had simply never been processed because whoever was working on reception that day must have forgotten. It turned out that the receptionist then left the job that weekend, so my form was sat in a desk drawer for months without anyone knowing about it!

 

6. Persistently tried to contact Xercise4Less to get my money back but yet again found myself running down dead ends. Really poor customer service as per usual. I emailed Tim Slaven, a receptionist, and explained the situation and that I wanted my money back. This is his reply:

 

Hello Daniel,

 

I have chased this up for you and our head office have decided that it's best to freeze the membership but still allow access to the club.

The reason for this is that you are still in contract. When taking out this contract you agreed to paying Xercise4Less 12 payments. If Xercise4Less were to action this refund you will have had a 12 month contract for the price of 6. This would also cause a breach in the contract agreement.

 

I apologise for any inconvenience that may have resulted from your membership not being frozen.

 

 

Kind regards,

 

Tim Slaven

 

7. I replied to Tim, but he also then went dead on me and I was left with nowhere else to turn in terms of contacting people at the gym, so I turned to Barclays (my bank) and got an indemnity payment. Barclays took back my money and refunded it into my account. I thought that would be the end of it.

 

8. I received the notorious CRS - IMPORTANT - PLEASE CALL US... letter on 20th October 2015. They say that my account balance stands at £222.43. It was sent to my home address in London (perhaps my 2nd address on my Xercise4Less account)

 

They claim to have sent me previous letters but they must have been sent to my uni halls address (I am now a second year student living at a different address).

 

9. I've phoned CRS (a mistake, I know) and told them that I would not pay a "settlement fee, as a good will gesture". I missed a call from them this morning.

 

What do I do now?

 

Please help!

[dx100uk]

you simply now ignore them.

 

 

they are not bailiffs

 

 

dx

[dx100uk]

see above [was wrong thread last post]

[slick132]

Hi Dan and welcome to CAG

 

The answer here seems simple to me.

 

Work out how many DD's were taken by Harlands after the gym agreed to freeze your m/ship.

 

Contact your bank saying the Harlands DD's were taken without your knowledge or consent, so you require a refund under the DD Guarantee Scheme.

 

Once you have the money refunded by the bank, Harlands will contact you saying they want your money back or they'll take action. This is nonsense and there's little they can, or will, do about it.

 

You will then go back to Harlands saying you have no faith in the ability of the gym after they failed to process the freeze.to handle. And you also have no faith in Harlands ability to handle the admin for your m/ship as they are impossible to contact and a nightmare to deal with.

 

On reflection, when you went to move away for your Uni term, you should have given the gym a month's notice before you left, and cancelled on the basis of moving away from the gym. That would have been the most simple option.

 

Let us know when your bank has repaid the unfairly-taken DD's. And ignore any requests from Harlands/CRS that you contact them. They have no right to make such demands and you have no need to contact them at all for now.

 

[DanFromLondon]

Thanks Slick!

 

Barclays have already refunded the Direct Debits to me so I've got my money back.

 

My Dad wants me to send a letter to CRS, is this something that's necessary? and how would I go about structuring it?

[slick132]

Hi Dan,

 

Sorry, I see now at item 7. above that you got a refund from the bank under the DDGS already.

 

Please confirm :-

 

1. The date you went in to freeze the m/ship and payments.

 

2. How many DD's were paid in total by you.

 

3. Of these, how many has the bank now refunded.

 

YD is quite right saying you should write to CRS (actually to Harlands). We can help with this once we have all the info we need to tell Harlands what has happened and why.

 

[fluteboy]

CRS are a cowboy organisation. Want proof? Visit their homepage, and halfway down, observe the following quote:

 

"The ethos of treating customers fairly is imbedded in our culture"

https://creditresourcesolutions.co.uk/

 

Imbedded, huh? With such a shaky grasp of the English language, it is a wonder anyone can be bothered to take them seriously.

[DanFromLondon]

Hey Slick,

 

I went in to freeze my membership on the 30th of January 2015.

 

I have made 9 DD payments, 5 of which have been refunded by Barclays.

 

Thanks ever so much,

 

Dan

Edited October 31, 2015 by slick132
Quote removed - bad format

[slick132]

See here about X4Less failing to process membership cancellations - http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?454761-Xercise4LessProblems-highlighted-on-WATCHDOG(4-Viewing)-nbsp

 

Seems they're no better at processing a m/ship freeze !!

 

When were the DD's refunded by your bank ?

 

Have Harlands/CRS written to you specifically mentioning the fact that you have had some DD's refunded under the DDGS ?

 

Edited November 2, 2015 by slick132
spelling !!

[DanFromLondon]

I can't say I'm surprised

 

Barclays refunded me on August 3rd 2015.

 

Nope, CRS or Harlands didn't mention the refunded DDs in the letter they sent me.

 

Also, just something to add, received a text from CRS today saying: It is urgent that we speak to you today. Please call CRS...

 

I will ignore it, unless advised otherwise.

 

Once again, thanks Slick and everyone else who has contributed here

[slick132]

Hi Dan,

 

I would write to X4Less Head Office saying :-

 

Membership at Nottingham

 

I am both angry and unhappy because :-

 

1. I was not given the option to cancel the gym agreement when moving away to attend Uni.

 

2. The alternative option offered, to freeze the m/ship, turned into a complete farce with my freeze application left sitting unprocessed in someone's desk.

 

3. Harlands continued to take fees from my a/c when they should not have done.

 

4. I had terrible trouble contacting X4Less and, even when I did get a response (Tim Slaven), he went quiet on me.

 

5. I am being chased for payments and admin fees by Harlands/CRS who are a nightmare to deal with.

 

For these reasons, I have got a refund of the DD's paid after the freeze should have been processed from my bank.

 

I also have no faith in your ability to handle the m/ship properly and consider the agreement ended forthwith.

 

Also, send a copy of this to Harlands with a letter saying :-

 

I enclose a copy of my letter sent to X4Less, the contents of which are self-explanatory.

 

I do not expect to hear from Harlands/CRS again.

 

Get a free Certificate of Posting for each letter when you send them from a Post Office.