Another Xercise4Less, Harlands

[Boogles]

Hi everyone.

 

Sorry for yet another post dealing with Harlands. I've read through the other posts and I'm in a similar situation to many others on here. However, as a student this is still a potentially scary situation for me and I'd appreciate some advice.

 

Basically, I started a gym membership with Xercise4less on the 18th of March 2013. I went intermittently, then moved into a new student house around September of the same year, and then moved house again in September 2014. I tried to cancel my membership by going in branch around December 2014 and saying that I'd relocated and no longer needed to use their gym. The lady at the desk seemed to say everything was ok, and I left.

 

Last Thursday I was checking my bank statements and saw £9.99 every month go to Harlands, which, with a quick google, I found to be the direct debit for xcersize4less. I immediately rang the gym I'd signed up to, and requested to cancel my membership and to get reimbursed for all the monthly payments since December 2014. The man on the phone told me cancellations were dealt with centrally and I'd have to fill out a form online. I asked to see if there was any record of me cancelling back in Dec 2014, apparently there was no record. With their word against mine, I cut my losses on reclaiming the DD payments and cancelled my direct debit with them through online banking.

 

I then filled in the online cancellation form, explaining my situation. There were also boxes you had to check to submit the form:

 

"30 Days Notice: I understand that by submitting this form I am giving 30

days' notice to cancel my gym membership with Xercise4Less. During this time

if my direct debit due date falls within this time, one further direct debit

will be taken from my account.

Direct Debit Guarantee: I understand that Xercise4Less will cancel my direct

debit for me after the final payment has been taken in my notice period and I

am not to cancel this myself.

Direct Debit Cancellation: I understand that I should not cancel my own

direct debit.

Cancellation Confirmation: I understand that Xercise4Less will email me on

the address I have provided above confirming my cancellation and until I

receive the confirmation email after all membership checks and verification

processes have been followed no action has been taken on my account."

 

Today I got an email through saying the following:

"Thank you for getting in touch with us, we have looked into your account and we can see that you are In Default, this means that you have either cancelled your direct debit or you have missed a payment. Please call the membership support team on 01132038602 so we can move forward with your cancellation request.

 

Healthy Regards,

Xercise4Less Team"

 

I rang the number, and the guy said I'd cancelled the direct debit, and consequently incurred a £25 fee, on top of the final DD payment of £9.99, and another seemingly arbitrary payment of £9.99. He said if I agreed to pay up this afternoon, he could reduce the fee to £29.99, by graciously reducing the admin fee from £25 to £20. I tried asking if there was any way I could pay just the £9.99 DD fee I owed, but he basically said no. He said I had to ring back today if I wanted the reduced fee.

 

I'm just a povvo student and really can't be dealing with extra £20 charges, but I accept that I should probably pay the next £9.99 installment. Looking on here, it seems like I might be able to just ignore their pestering and offer them the £9.99, but a few things worry me:

- The fact I checked the boxes saying I shouldn't cancel my DD on the online cancellation form

- The fact I spoke with them on the phone, which apparently is a bad way to do things

 

Other threads on here show these fees could get significantly worse than £29.99 so I'm wondering if I should swallow my pride and take the easy way out, even if the fees are technically unlawful and unenforceable.

 

Many thanks for the help.

[fkofilee]

Ring your bank and do a DD recall on all the payments. Its under the DD Guarantee.

[slick132]

Hi Boogles and welcome to CAG

 

1. Have you completed and submitted their cancellation form referred to in para 5 above.

 

2. I assume you've NOT reclaimed any of the DD's taken after December 2014 but please confirm.

 

3. On what date each month was the DD usually paid.

 

4. On what date did you visit the gym and cancel in December 2014.

 

Do NOT speak to the gym or to Harlands/CRS for any reason. You're not obliged to speak to them and need to keep everything in writing only.

 

Depending on your reply to Q 1. above, you may have compromised your position by using the gym's own cancellation form after you already visited the gym and cancelled adequately in Dec'r 2014.

 

Harlands will say anything to get you to pay what they want. We always recommend that you refuse to pay their admin fees, as you'll have read in other threads here.

 

[Boogles]

Hi!

 

Thanks for the reply! I just rang up and asked for when I last entered the gym was. Apparently this was the 16th of February this year, which means I have been completely wrong about the date I tried to cancel my membership. Is this going to be a problem?

 

 

1) I submitted the form last Thursday. The email yesterday was in reply to that cancellation request. However, in December 2014 I didn't complete any form, I just told the person at the desk I wanted to cancel my membership.

 

2) I have NOT reclaimed any of the DD fees yet. I was under the impression that, without any evidence in my favour of having cancelled (I guess other than not having entered the gym for several months), I wouldn't be able to.

 

3) The direct debit payments were going out on the 16th of every month. I submitted the cancellation form last Thursday, the 26th of November

 

4) I can't honestly remember the date, apparently it wasn't even December after all, with a last entrance in February. It was a long time ago and I received no receipt or anything like that

 

It's a bit embarrassing that I got the month wrong for the previous cancellation, and now I'm even starting to doubt myself with no evidence anywhere of my attempt! I feel all this probably means reclaiming the fees is a lost cause. Will having included this mistake in my cancellation request cause any problems?

 

After the phone call yesterday, I haven't made any further contact. I'm assuming that I owe them the next installment of £9.99 but not any of the extra charges, based on what people on other threads are saying?

 

Many thanks for all your help

[slick132]

Hi Boogles,

 

So please confirm (best guess) the date you told the gym in person that you wanted to cancel.

 

[Boogles]

Hi Boogles,

 

So please confirm (best guess) the date you told the gym in person that you wanted to cancel.

 

 

I'd say March the third or so as a best guess.

 

Really appreciate all the help, you guys are great!

[slick132]

Hi Boogles,

 

You don't need proof that you cancelled verbally. There's enough evidence that X4Less "lose" cancellations regularly.

 

If you cancelled verbally around 3rd March, that's the date you can use.

 

Do you want to work on the basis that you cancelled then, and reclaim DD's paid beyond the month's notice period. If so we can help you do this.

 

Edited December 8, 2015 by slick132
typo

[Boogles]

Hi again - so sorry for the late reply, things have been hectic with upcoming exams and deadlines.

 

If possible, it would be great to reclaim the DDs. However, I don't want to make things any more difficult than they need to be, ideally resolution about the admin fees is the priority, will trying to reclaim the DDs from then escalate things?

 

There has been no further contact from Harlands or Xcersize4Less, however they still have my old address so any mail will be being delivered there. Should I inform them of my new address? Honestly I quite like not being barraged by scary letters, but I guess I should probably let them know, especially if we end up having to correspond through written letter.

 

Thanks

[slick132]

Hi Boogles,

 

You should let Harlands know your new address, so you know what they're up to at all times.

 

However, you can ignore Harlands/CRS for now. The address change can be dealt with in due course.

 

First off, you need to contact your bank and reclaim the DD's taken after you visited or told the gym you wanted to cancel.

 

After you cancelled, you had to pay one further payment. Reclaim all further payments using the DD Guarantee Scheme via your bank, which should be a simple process.

 

Let us know when this is done and we'll take it from there.

 

[Boogles]

Thanks for the advice!

 

I have reclaimed the direct debits from April this year, to exclude the one further March payment that I owed them after cancelling.

 

So far, I have not heard anything back- no news is good news?

 

Thanks for all the help.

[Bazooka Boo]

No doubt they will contact you again in the new year,but nothing to worry about, you've paid your dues, but be prepared to make formal complaints about the gym and their tin pot powerless DCA.