Harlands gym and CRS harassment! Help!

[Joshmine123]

Hi all

 

Me and my partner both joined a Harlands gym in October 2016 and it has been the worst decision we ever made.

 

When signing up we weren't given a tour round to see the facilities or offered any free-day passes or anything like that and was told me needed to sign a 6 month contract which was £22 via DD before we were even allowed in the gym. We reluctantly agreed because the gym is our local

 

 

was disappointed to find that there was a severe lack of equipment in the gym and was very unsuitable for our fitness needs.

 

 

For example it didn't have a squat rack, a bench press, and the dumbbells only went up to 30kg and there was only a single pair of each weight available.

 

 

Some of the equipment machines were also unusable as a few of the tread mills and cross trainers were constantly out of order, and to top it all off they were constantly redecorating the gym so it stunk of paint/solvents and there were always painters and decorators walking around when you were walking off.

 

 

Considering the size of the gym was also very very small, it was constantly overcrowded and the paints sometimes bumped in to you when you were working out!

 

After three months of disappointment and telling the gym staff our concerns, me and my partner informed a member of staff on the reception that we would be cancelling our DDs because of the above reasons and the fact

 

 

I had also been made redundant so we couldn't afford the memberships anymore as well as running a household. The member of staff agreed and said that was fine so I thought that would be the end of the case.

 

A month after this the letters and harassment from Harlands began.

They said that we had cancelled our DDs before the contract was up and demanded all monies owed to be paid as well as admin fees.

 

 

After reading this forum quite a bit,

I decided to heed other users advice of completely ignoring them which worked for a while.

 

 

After a few months of this, Harlands passed the debt onto CRS who are calling me and my partner every single day and sending us sham letters saying that if we don't pay the debt they will send bailiffs round to our house to collect it!

 

I know these guys are chancers and bank on people getting scared and paying, but I am determined to not let them win.

 

 

The amounts both me and my partner owe are roughly £180ish each after 4 months of £22 membership fee and then the same on top in admin fees. We last paid our memberships in January 2017.

 

Has anyone got any advice for me on what to do or should I just keep ignoring them?

 

 

I really don't mind sending a strongly worded letter to their head office or the manager of the gym but don't know how to word it or what to include apart from the obvious.

Ideally I just want them to bugger off and leave us alone!

 

Thanks in advance for all your help!

[dx100uk]

post up the threats of bailiffs if that's what they really state please

to PDF

follow the upload

 

 

I suspect it doesn't say will anything

but lets see.

 

 

dx

[slick132]

Hi Josh and welcome to CAG

 

....... saying that if we don't pay the debt they will send bailiffs round to our house to collect it!

 

If this is what Harlands/CRS actually said, please confirm the exact wording or post a copy of the letter hiding any personal data.

 

If you've been reading here, you'll know that Harlands and CRS are really the same outfit, and not the separate companies they'd like folk to believe.

 

Sending anything to Harlands/CRS is mostly a waste of time.

 

If you really want to get them off your back, a court claim against them for nominal damages for their harassment is a good option if you're up for it.

 

We'd offer advice, the cost would be minimal and you can claim back the court costs anyway.

 

If you're not up for this, just ignore Harlands/CRS but make brief written complaints to Trading Standards and The CMA.

 

Let us know what you think ..................

 

[Bazooka Boo]

Yes would be nice to see that threat in writing!

 

Besides, they've failed to uphold their part of the agreement, so it's them who owe you.

 

Get onto social media and embarrass them on there, warn off potential customers of the treatment they get.

[Joshmine123]

Hi all

 

I finally received the letters they have been sending me

(they were sending them to my old address, where I lived with a friend when I originally joined the gym)

and I have attached the most recent one as a pdf.

 

In turns out my friend at the old address got the impression that they would send the bailiffs round when I spoke to him over the phone,

 

but after reading the letters myself it doesn't specifically say this.

It does mention a County Court Judgement which I think he wrongly was referring to?

With the amount of letters been sent, I think he got confused but the amount i now owe is £240.50.

 

I have found the standard template in another post which I was going to send to them in writing, but just wanted to check with you lot to see if there was anything I needed to add in to the standard template after receiving this letter.

 

Thoughts?

Joshmine gym.pdf

[dx100uk]

as I said it doesn't say will anything!!

 

 

not sure where you are getting this notion of bailiff blindly tuning up

 

 

a DCA or their mates are NOT BAILIFFS

and have no legal powers whatsoever to do anything

just like ALL dca's they are totally powerless

they don't own the debt.

 

 

the only time a real bailiff can ever be involved is after you lose in court

and as gyms don't do court now anyway...= ignore them IMHO.

quite honestly if this has gone on for this long

id not do anything...

[slick132]

Hi Josh,

 

As suspected, this is the usual guff from Harlands/CRS.

 

As DX says above, do nothing and ignore their empty threats.