Gym Cancellation - Am I in the right?

[DebQ]

Hi all,

 

Looking for a bit of help here. I am in debate with my old gym regarding cancellation of my membership.

 

My 12 month membership's commitment end date was the 28th of February. I gave notice to the gym on the 19th of January that I was cancelling and did not intend on renewing the contract. They claim that I am still due to pay on the 1st of March as the contract cannot end until one month after the commitment end date.

 

Here is what it says in my contract agreement:

 

"You may terminate this agreement in the following circumstances:

(a) by giving the club at least 1 full calendar month notice expiring at any time after the end of the commitment period. Your membership will then terminate on the latter of (i) the end of the 1st calendar month following the month in which you give notice or (ii) the end of the commitment period."

 

Here is how I see it:

 

I gave at least 1 full calendar month's notice, so my membership should then terminate on the latter of (i) the end of February (since I gave my notice in January) or (ii) the end of the commitment period.

 

They have also sent out a letter now stating that they have enlisted a debt recovery team to regain the £29! And that my terms and conditions state three months notice period, which is not correct.

 

Am I in the right or the wrong?

 

Thanks all!

[slick132]

Hi Debs and welcome to CAG

 

Please reply to the following Q's :-

 

1. Name the gym and any admin Co. that handles the DD's.

 

2. The date the DD was normally paid each month.

 

3. When you gave notice to the gym, how was this done - eg in person, phone call, writing, email ?

 

Looking at the T&C's quoted above :-

 

You may terminate this agreement in the following circumstances:

(a) by giving the club at least 1 full calendar month notice expiring at any time after the end of the commitment period. Your membership will then terminate on the latter of (i) the end of the 1st calendar month following the month in which you give notice or (ii) the end of the commitment period."

 

I'm not a lawyer but I'm pretty sure those T&C's were written by someone with no qualification in law. IMHO they make absolutely NO sense at all because they are contradictory.

 

They don't allow you to end the m/ship at the end of the initial 12 months.

 

In the meantime, don't reply at all to the demands. And read other threads here to see how folk are being pestered and harassed for money they don't owe.

 

[DebQ]

Thanks for your reply, Slick.

 

I am not sure of the admin co that handles the DD, but the gym is called Gym64 and it is only a small franchise. The DD's were always paid of the first of the month.

 

I agree that the contract is contradictory and they seem to be trying to manipulate it to benefit themselves. I have quoted the contract back to them in previous emails, but they just dismiss it with other jargon that isn't in the contract.

 

It is very frustrating.

[slick132]

Hi Debs,

 

It's probably best to simply ignore the gym's demands after putting your views across one last time.

 

What did you tell them about the T&C's when you queried them in your email - just the relevant bits please.

 

[DebQ]

Exactly what I put in the initial post.

 

Quoting back to them their own words in the contract and then explaining my view on it. I have done this twice since January. Their first response was:

 

"The contract does state you must give 1 full calendar months notice after the commitment end date for yourself as this date is the 28th of February 2017, 1 full calendar months notice will be the month of March as it has to be after the commitment end date, you can email in before this date as you already have done and we will accept the email however the earliest you can cancel is after the the payment for March 2017 has been collected."

[slick132]

I would go back to them one last time setting out what you need in brief and clear terms.

 

If you want, I'll draft a quick reply for you later this evening.

 

[DebQ]

Much appreciated! Thank you.

[slick132]

Hi Debs,

 

You haven't replied to my Q 3. above - please do so before using this letter.

 

Send this to the gym at their postal address. Send by post and get a free Certificate of Posting at the PO when you send it.

 

Or take 2 copies to the gym and have a staff member sign one copy as proof of them receiving it.

 

Dear sir or madam,

 

I refer to previous exchanges about my membership.

 

My 12 month's membership commitment ended on 28th February and I gave notice on 19th January that I was not renewing.

 

The payment you took in February was the last one due, making 12 payments made in total. Hence I owe you nothing more.

 

I have taken advice in this matter because your T&C's are ambiguous. Your interpretation of the T&C's is, at best, incorrect if not deliberately misleading.

 

If you make any further demand for payment, I will make formal complaints to Trading Standards and The CMA.

 

Yours faithfully,

 

But before you send this, please reply to Q 3. AND ALSO please make sure the Feb payment was actually the 12th one paid.

 

[DebQ]

Thanks so much for your help with this.

 

Sorry, my notice was given by email. February was definitely the 12th and final payment of the commitment as they said I would have to sign a new mandate in order for them to take the March payment.

[slick132]

Hi Debs,

 

That's all fine and you should send the letter now, or take it to the gym.

 

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