your personal training uk

[trueblue924]

hi gents after a bit of advice,

 

 

my brother took a personal training course and passed

he got his certification and took a job being self employed in a local gym

 

 

under your personal training they made him sign up to a membership of £400 a month

so he could take personal training sessions in the gym and it had a minimum contract of 6 months.

 

 

around two months into this contract he moved away,

he sent them documents with his updated address to prove he no longer lived in doncaster where the gym was

and he now lived in manchester so was unable to complete the contract,

they have since said he is still liable for the contract even though he cant use the facilities with the distance he now is,

 

 

he also seems to have had an agreement with harlands

yet they seem to have cancelled it fine with the bank statement of his new address.

 

 

your personal training have now passed this onto a debt collection agency

and they are hassling my brother for the money which we believe as he no longer lives near the gym

he should not have to pay any outstanding amounts.

 

can anyone please advise me the best way forward we have tried to explain this to them but they are having none of it.

 

i have attahced a word document of the contract with them

and have removed his personal details if anyone can help it would be much appreciated.

[martin2006]

Who is the dca?

[trueblue924]

the dca company is daniels silverman think i have attached the contract right as well

contract.doc

[maroondevo52]

Hi,

 

I've unapproved your attachment, could you please remove your name and re-post.

 

Thanks,

 

Scott.

[slick132]

Hi TB,

 

This isn't the usual type of problem we see here, where someone is having trouble leaving their gym and being harassed by Harlands. These m/ship agreements allow a facility user to cancel in the event of moving away. Furthermore, if an agreement did NOT allow cancellation due to moving away, health reasons or redundancy, the agreement is deemed unfair and unenforceable.

 

This case does not involve a membership agreement and appears to be a business agreement between the Licensor (a personal training franchise) and the Licensee (YB)

 

It involves YB being a personal trainer who signed up to a 6 month agreement for him to provide training for customers at a venue in Doncaster. £350 was payable as a sign up fee and then a further £1600 was to be paid over months 3, 4, 5 and 6. Thereafter, the agreement rolled on monthly costing £400 each month. From what I've read, the agreement does not allow for cancellation by the Licensee in any circumstances.

 

I'm going to seek advice about whether this business agreement should allow for cancellation in circumstances that I mentioned in para 1 above.

 

Approx how far away did YB live from the gym before, and after the move to Manchester.

 

Edited May 15, 2016 by slick132

[dx100uk]

yes you need to be a little bit cute with this one.

and be aware DS read this forum too.

so be careful what you post up.

 

 

dx

[slick132]

Hi again,

 

Site Team Andyorch gave the following link to the British Franchise Association :-

 

https://www.thebfa.org/about-bfa/code-of-ethics

 

5.4 The essential minimum terms of the agreement shall be the following:

the rights granted to the franchisor

the rights granted to the individual franchisee

the goods and/or services to be provided to the individual franchisee

the obligations of the franchisor

the obligations of the individual franchisee

the terms of payment by the individual franchisee

the duration of the agreement which should be long enough to allow individual franchisees to amortize their initial investments specific to the franchise

the basis for any renewal of the agreement

the terms upon which the individual franchisee may sell or transfer the franchised business and the franchisor's possible pre-emption rights in this respect

provisions relevant to the use by the individual franchisee of the franchisor's distinctive signs, trade name, trade mark, service mark, store sign, logo or other distinguishing identification

the franchisor's right to adapt the franchise system to new or changed methods

provisions for termination of the agreement

provisions for surrendering promptly upon termination of the franchise agreement

 

I think this may not help YB. The agreement provides for termination but not for EARLY termination.

 

Was there a good reason for the move to Manchester when YB had committed to a 6 month agreement, or was the PT just not working for him.

 

[trueblue924]

well it wasnt working out but the main reason our sisters is a single parent and her young lad isnt very well so he is going to be helping out with all that for a while as well, he couldnt really get out of it.

[trueblue924]

in answer to the distance question he lived 7.3 miles from the gym when he lived in doncaster and niow he lives in manchester it is 66 miles

[slick132]

Hi TB,

 

As I said earlier, I've not seen a similar case to this before, where the issue is for a personal training franchise.

 

In my opinion, YB has agreed to pay the amounts totalling £1,950 and I think he may be obliged to pay. He doesn't have the protection offered to consumers with regard to unfair contact terms.

 

We see Harlands chasing folk here for anything from £50 to £500 or more but they never take it further because they know they're unlikely to win at court.

 

But in YB's case, there's nearly £2,000 at stake and Daniel Silverman may have a better chance of winning if they took court action. Best option is to search the web for other cases where someone has had to cancel a Franchise agreement early.

 

Let us know what the sol'rs or Harlands say or do next.

 

[trueblue924]

Harlands have cancelled fine and say we owe nothing it's the your personal fitness that say we owe the money as he has two terms and conditions one from Harlands about the gym membership which they cancelled once they had the bank statement showing he lived in Manchester. I don't understand how it would work though as if his membership was cancelled he would not be able to go into the gym to even trian anyone anyway yet they are still claiming he owed the money to them. Every where I look online also is just about standard gym memberships and not this type of agreement so don't know what to do going forward

[slick132]

Hi TB,

 

I've added spacing to your post making it easier to read. Please use spacing when posting.

 

Having re-read your first post, am I right to assume there were 2 separate agreements, both administered by Harlands ?

 

1. A personal m/ship at the gym where YB trained himself and then went on to be a PT through the Your Personal Training UK Ltd franchise. This would have been for £10 to £20 per month and Harlands allowed him to cancel when he proved he'd moved away.

 

2. A franchise agreement with YPT which was paid via Harlands and committed YB to pay £1,950 over 6 months. This is why Daniels Silverman are seeking payment of the unpaid balance which I believe may be payable regardless of YB moving away.

 

Even though he may owe the balance due under the franchise agreement, I would challenge any admin or penalty fees being sought on top.

 

The franchise agreement makes it clear that 3 months notice is required to end the agreement (item 11.5 of the franchise agreement). YB would be wise to give this to YPT in writing 3 months before the 6 month agreement ends to limit his liability.

 

[trueblue924]

yes that is what it seems however the harlands one didnt have any charges, which is why they most likely just cancelled with no problems.

 

it is the francise agreement that is really causing the issues, i cant really find out much information about cancelling them early for any reasons. so it looks like he is stuck having to pay the amount outstanding, i just would of thought they were unfair conditions to not allow any type of early termination charges, but i take it they are covered by different terms

[slick132]

Hi TB,

 

Yes, the rules about consumer agreements and business agreements are different.

 

As stated earlier, I suspect YB has an obligation to pay for the franchise set-up he agreed to, and he should make sure he cancels as required by the agreement T&C's.

 

[trueblue924]

yeah he has cancelled now,

i have told him he will just have to bite the bullet

it just seems strange that they would be able to charge for the use of facilities

he has not been able to use as the mebership was cancelled when he moved away

so wouldnt be allowed access to the facilites to even use the services he is being charged for,

 

 

also in the agreement it does state that as part of their responsibilities

they have to market him using their marketing streams,

 

does anyone know what that would mean and could he argue that that has not been completed on their side

so they have broken the agreement as he received no calls or any enquiries as a result of anything they claim to have done.

[slick132]

Hi TB,

 

Did YB cancel in writing and get proof of posting. Who was the cancellation sent to.

 

Re your first paragraph, you're confusing the personal and business issues here.

 

YB can't use the gym facilities because he cancelled his m/ship when he moved away. But he has to pay for the remainder of the instalments because he is bound by the business agreement he entered into.

 

Re your last 2 paragraphs above, the Agreement says :-

 

5.1 The Licensor will carry out the following during the term of this Agreement

 

5.1.6 actively promote and market the Business via YPT marketing streams

 

That could mean advertising in gyms, in magazines, on the web, etc. A Google search for "personal trainer doncaster" does give a result for YPT but ONLY on the 3rd Google page !! Personally, I would very rarely look beyond the 1st Google results page but they are there, just not with a high SEO ranking.

 

If YB wants to argue in this respect, he really needs to do some research if he's going to be able to challenge them successfully, or at all.

 

[trueblue924]

yes he has cancelled and they have confirmed he is cancelled they are just chasing him for the amount they believe he owes, it doesnt look like there isnrt really an option to fight it, if he choses to in regards to there terms around advertising, what would be the best way to do that, thanks for all your help with this.

[slick132]

Hi TB,

 

I really can't help with your last question as I don't know enough about what YPT do (or don't do) to advertise the services their appointed Trainers offer.

 

YB may just have to pay and learn his lesson from this experience.

 

[Liverpool6]

Hiya,

 

Interesting to read about your brother and the YPT contract in Doncaster... the same thing has literally just happened to me!

 

I was just wondering which gym in Doncaster was it? And what was his problem with it?

[slick132]

Hi Liverpool and welcome to CAG

 

If you want to discuss your case further at all, start a new thread on the gym forum using this - https://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/newthread.php?do=newthread&f=260

 

Give us a little info with dates, etc and we'll do what we can to help or advise.