Post Injury, GYMFLEX and BMF refusing to cancel membership

[mascotsunny]

Hello All,

 

I have an annual membership with British Military Fitness which was taken via Salary deduction through my company via third party provider GYMFLEX.

 

I trained with BMF for 2 months but had an injury on 1st of March in my left ligament and have not been able to train since.

 

I wrote to my company HR as advised by GYMFLEX ,

along with recommendation from my physio for 3 month no boot camps that BMF provides since its not a GYM but boot camp setup only in outdoor parks, and the response sent back is as follows.

 

'Thanks for your patience whilst we looked into this for you.

 

This has been raised to the gym and I'm afraid they are not willing to authorise a cancellation in these circumstances.

 

 

When you signed up to the benefit you confirmed that you understood it is a non-cancellable 12-month membership and there are no exceptional circumstances in this instance for us to go outside of the standard terms and conditions.'

 

I have looked up GYMFLEX website and they do mention that it can be cancelled if the GYM agrees as noted below

 

3.4 NON-CANCELLABLE MEMBERSHIP

Your GymFlex Membership is a non-cancellable 12 month membership.

 

 

In certain circumstances, and in line with your chosen GymFlex Gym’s own Terms and Conditions it may be possible to upgrade, suspend or terminate a membership.

 

 

This process is subject to a written request by your Employer and a Process Fee of £25 is applied by Incorpore Limited.

 

 

In the event a refund is agreed by the GymFlex Gym,

Incorpore will pass on the entire refund received by the GymFlex Gym,

less the £25 process fee and the Initial Set Up Fee.

 

But the GYM which in this case is BMF which doesn't have an annual membership and hence no terms and conditions either

They have a 6 month membership offer in which T&C mention that in case of injury, membership can be cancelled.

 

(i) Cancellation for medical reasons, relocation or redundancy

We may allow you to cancel your membership before the end of the minimum term if you have been a member and:

Have a medical condition that stops you from attending classes

Relocate more than 20 minutes drive from any of our venues (as measured by AA Route Planner)

Are made redundant

 

Can you kindly advise how I should proceed to take this further.

Having attended only 2 months, I will loose more than 200£ in this.

 

Thank You

Sunny

[slick132]

Hi MS and welcome to CAG

 

We've seen many cases where gyms make it difficult for a member to cancel a m/ship despite there being obvious good cause with GP evidence or opinion.

 

Just so I'm better informed, please briefly explain the relationship between you, your employer, your company HR, Gymflex and BMF.

 

We can then suggest your next best move.

 

[mascotsunny]

Cheers for responding, I totally lost this one.

 

To provide answer to your inquiry, I am a permanent member of staff with my company.

 

My employer provides annual flexible benefits and one of them is gym membership before tax deduction.

 

The third party through which they provide this benefit is engaged by the HR department and its GYMFLEX which finally liasons with the GYM.

Everything is offered to permanent employee via our company website allowing us to choose 2 times a year if we wanted a certain benefit in a yearly cycle which is open to employees twice a year

 

Basically NI is not deducted in my salary on this benefit. The regular cost would have been 34.50 a month and under this policy its 33.81 a month.

 

Hope this answers to some degree. Happy to answer any follow up questions and advise.

 

Cheers

Sunny

 

Hi MS and welcome to CAG

 

We've seen many cases where gyms make it difficult for a member to cancel a m/ship despite there being obvious good cause with GP evidence or opinion.

 

Just so I'm better informed, please briefly explain the relationship between you, your employer, your company HR, Gymflex and BMF.

 

We can then suggest your next best move.

 

[slick132]

Hi MS and glad you finally came back on this.

 

We've had many years' experience dealing with gyms and their admin companies. As I said before, we've seen many instances of members being denied the right to cancel.

 

If you are unable to attend the gym or classes due to illness or injury with no improvement anticipated, you have the right to cancel with 1 month's notice. Any attempt to deny you this right to cancel is unfair to you as a consumer and should be challenged.

 

Despite the comments you received from the gym via your Co HR, I think you need to complain as follows and give instructions that no further payments be taken from you.

 

You need to speak (or write) to HR again, saying to them :-

 

I refer to previous exchanges about my Gymflex membership.

 

As a consumer I have rights protected by legislation including The Consumer Rights Act 2015.

 

I am entitled to cancel a gym m/ship if I am unable to use the facility due to illness or injury. Even if T&C's relating to the gym m/ship say this is non-cancellable for 12 months, that is unfair to me as a consumer and I therefore challenge this.

 

I require that no further deductions for gym m/ship are taken from my salary.

 

Of course, you will have to decide how best to contact your employer's HR.

 

Let us know if you want further info from us. Also, bear in mind that your employer may have their own agreement with Gymflex so they're not able or willing to challenge Gymflex's opinion.

 

But this should NOT deter you from standing up for your own rights as best you can.

 

[mascotsunny]

Thanks Mate..

 

I have emailed my HR and so far have had no response but will keep the forum updated.

 

Cheers

 

 

 

Hi MS and glad you finally came back on this.

 

We've had many years' experience dealing with gyms and their admin companies. As I said before, we've seen many instances of members being denied the right to cancel.

 

If you are unable to attend the gym or classes due to illness or injury with no improvement anticipated, you have the right to cancel with 1 month's notice. Any attempt to deny you this right to cancel is unfair to you as a consumer and should be challenged.

 

Despite the comments you received from the gym via your Co HR, I think you need to complain as follows and give instructions that no further payments be taken from you.

 

You need to speak (or write) to HR again, saying to them :-

 

I refer to previous exchanges about my Gymflex membership.

 

As a consumer I have rights protected by legislation including The Consumer Rights Act 2015.

 

I am entitled to cancel a gym m/ship if I am unable to use the facility due to illness or injury. Even if T&C's relating to the gym m/ship say this is non-cancellable for 12 months, that is unfair to me as a consumer and I therefore challenge this.

 

I require that no further deductions for gym m/ship are taken from my salary.

 

Of course, you will have to decide how best to contact your employer's HR.

 

Let us know if you want further info from us. Also, bear in mind that your employer may have their own agreement with Gymflex so they're not able or willing to challenge Gymflex's opinion.

 

But this should NOT deter you from standing up for your own rights as best you can.