Xercise4Less - Harlands - CRS - Zinc Ltd - Problem

[Bigboss9]

Hi sorry to hijack the thread. And apologies for the read. But I'm in a similar situation to OP. After using the advice in the forum I sent a letter via email, stating I would pay the £9.99. I was a memeber for 3 years and on a rolling contract, but I didn't send a cancellation form. As I didn't know it existed. Ended payment in June 16. So I quoted the £9.99 letter. And they responded with this:

 

 

Dear Mr XxxxX

 

Re: CRS Ref No: 8413859 / Xercise 4 Less Ref No: W4015982

 

We wish to advise that cancelling your Direct Debit was not adequate notice of your intention to cancel. The terms of your agreement specifically state that you must give notice in writing. We have received extremely similar claims before, citing the case of the Office of Fair Trading versus Ashbourne Management Services Ltd. As evidence that cancelling the Direct Debit was sufficient. If you believe this case grants you the right to terminate the contract by cancelling your Direct Debit, we believe you are mistaken with regards to Mr. Justice Kitchin's ruling. Such a statement does not appear anywhere in Mr. Justice Kitchin's judgement.

 

A legal precedent can only be drawn from a ruling but the statement you rely upon appears in the Penal Notice issued specifically to Ashbourne Management Services Limited, advising them what they must and must not do.

 

This only applies to Ashbourne Management Services Limited because contracts 1-13 examined in this case were found to be unfair and thus unenforceable. Xercise 4 Less's contracts have not been supplied by Ashbourne Management Services Limited and have never been deemed unfair by a judge. There is, therefore, no reason to believe that the terms regarding how a member may terminate their agreement will not be enforceable in other instances.

 

We are unable to accept your offer of £9.99 as sufficient to settle this debt because more than one month has passed without payment. As you did not complete the cancellation procedure, the club were bound by the contract to hold your membership open for you. A service has been provided during this time, at cost to the club, whether you attended or not.

 

With regards to your comments that our charges are penalties, it is our position that all charges applied to this balance are to cover actual and necessary costs and thus are not penalties. Lord Dunedin, when considering whether charges stipulated at the outset of the agreement were penalties, set out in Dunlop Pneumatic Tyre Co Ltd v New Garage & Motor Co Ltd (1914) that:

 

"It is no obstacle to the sum stipulated being a genuine pre-estimate of damage, that the consequences of the breach are such as to make precise pre-estimation almost an impossibility. On the contrary, that is just the situation when it is probable that pre-estimated damage was the true bargain between the parties ( Clydebank Case, Lord Halsbury; Webster v. Bosanquet, Lord Mersey)."

 

The above applies to the charges of £25.00 applied by Harlands and also in regards to our own collection fees of £66.50 both of which are pre-estimates of the average costs incurred from defaulted agreements, but which vary from case to case and cannot be precisely calculated in advance. We believe, therefore, that these charges do not constitute a penalty and are thus fully enforceable.

 

For the above reasons it must remain our position that the balance of £207.47 is correct and due. As a goodwill gesture we are willing to accept the reduced sum of £132.47 as final settlement of this debt if paid in full within 7 days of this correspondence. Payment can be made by Credit/Debit card by calling us on 01444 449165. Alternatively, cheque/postal orders should be made payable to Credit Resolution Services and sent to CRS, 2nd Floor, Rockwood House, 9-17 Perrymount Road, Haywards Heath, West Sussex, RH16 3TW.

 

A payment plan can also be set up if you are unable to settle in full, although we do charge a little extra for this.

 

If you are experiencing financial difficulty, there are organisations who offer free debt advice and assistance such as Step Change (0800 1381111), National Debtline (0808 8084000) and your local Citizen Advice Bureau.

 

Please ensure a payment or response is received within the next 7 days, so we can avoid further action being taken.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

David Castle

 

Collections Department

 

The typical response is do nothing, can you guys advise what I should do? They have also added £26 for having to find my address

[slick132]

Hi BB and welcome to CAG

 

I've moved your post into your own thread that you can use from now on.

 

It looks like you failed to cancel properly but then used a CAG template letter to offer to pay them the 1 months fee that you owed.

 

Their reply is a standard Long-Winded one that argues everything as per their normal response.

 

If I were you, I'd ignore all contact from Harlands/CRS, Zinc and Spratt Endicott for now but keep us posted.

 

There are just chancers !

 

[Bigboss9]

Yeh I was unsure of what to do! I live back at my parents, and I just didn't want my mum to have to encounter bailiffs or anything like that! Cheers mate, out of curiosity what is the next step they normally take?

[slick132]

Hi BB,

 

You will not have anyone turn up demanding payment at your parents' home. Gym m/ship disputes don't involve bailiffs in 99.9% of cases from many years of experience here at CAG

 

The events will normally follow the pattern of - Harlands/CRS; Zinc; then Spratt Endicott.

 

They'll all make threats but it's hot air and the letters always say we MAY, or this COULD. Keep us posted and take comfort from the hundreds of threads here that show absolutely NO court action.