Accidently cancelling E4L gym membership

[koshizee]

I am in urgently, need your help and advice guys.

 

Me and my mother signed up to E4L around July last year which we have been using fine for past four months.

 

my father noticed a strange direct debit leaving their joint account, which he didn't recognised so he cancelled it.

This we later found out to be from Harland or E4L, £11.99.

 

He cancelled this direct debit via bank and then mother got an email from them, stating the account is now in default.

A £25 admin fee has been added alongside the month where the monthly payment has not been released.

 

Additionally, my mother has not been well due to a heart condition so she not even had the chance to use their service around Nov/Dec.

 

I contacted the harland team and mentioned that mother been in hospital and my father accidently cancelled the contract.

 

They,

however, would not accept this and persist in paying the £25 fine and a months membership, which we decline.

We are OK to pay the monthly fee but not the fine.

 

I believe my father, recently, went back to the bank to reinstate the direct debit.

 

What is the best way on moving forward?

 

Any advice will be appreciated thank you very much

 

KoshiZee

[dx100uk]

cancel the DD

they'll take the admin fee which you are correct you shouldn't be paying.

 

its NOT A FINE!!

[fkofilee]

they'll take the admin fee which you are correct you should be paying.

 

You shouldn't be paying it he means

[BankFodder]

Make sure you put in writing to them that you will not be paying the £25 admin fee – unless they can give you a detailed breakdown as to how they have arrived at that figure and how it reflects any actual losses.

[dx100uk]

opps thank shouldn't

[slick132]

Hi Koshi and thanks for starting the thread here.

 

My comments are about YM's gym m/ship - not your own.

 

Tell YD to cancel the reinstated DD or Harlands will use it to collect whatever they say is owed, including their admin fees.

 

Don't contact the gym or Harlands by phone at all as this will get you nowhere in resolving the issue.

 

We'll assist with a letter to the gym and Harlands once YD has cancelled the DD mandate so please confirm when this has been done.

 

[koshizee]

Thank you guys for your detailed response.

 

If my mother wanted to stay with E4L will she still need to pay the fine? If she rejoined would it be a new or an old contract?

 

Seem like she still wants to use the gym as it was canceled accidentally.

 

Is there anyway we can keep the DD without paying the admin fee?

[dx100uk]

where do they use the word FINE please?

 

dx

[slick132]

Hi Koshi,

 

If YM wants to remain a member despite the health issue, she (or you) needs to contact X4Less Head Office at Leeds.

 

Simply tell them YD cancelled the DD mandate in error and she wants to stay a member but ONLY if they agree to waive any admin fees that Harlands seek to charge.

 

If the gym refuses to help, YM should cancel the DD immediately as Harlands will use it to claim whatever they want.

 

Keep us updated ...........

 

[koshizee]

Will do - Thanks a lot of guys for your priceless advice.

[koshizee]

Hi,

 

I am planning to contact them this afternoon.

 

In the meantime, i have received an email from Harland replying back to an email which I sent a week ago.

 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

We thank you for your email.

 

The charges that have recently been applied to your account have been done so in line with your membership Terms and Conditions.

 

The amount of this charge is representative of the cost of the administration relating to your payment being returned unpaid. This includes collecting information from the bank, manually returning the payment, issuing a notice letter or email and dealing with any correspondence in relation to the payment from the member.

 

Once each payment has been returned unpaid, a letter or email is issued detailing the charge, the reason it has been applied and when we will attempt recollection of the initial monthly amount and the additional amount.

 

May we confirm, £25.00 is the amount deemed by our directors as representative of our costs in dealing with the administration involved with a missed or returned payment.

Upon agreeing to the terms and Conditions of your membership, you have in turn agreed to these charges.

 

Please contact our offices before the 20th January 2018 to avoid any further charges from being incurred.

 

If you have any further questions please do not hesitate to contact us.

 

We are sorry for any inconvenience that this may have caused.

For all Enquiries Call Harlands : 01444 449033 () Quote Reference : xxxxxxx

 

Office hours: Monday to Friday, 9am - 5pm

 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

I will see if i can get E4L to waive the admin fee if not I will get my father to cancel the DD immediately.

[mariner51]

Get father to pay the Admin Fee. His cancelling the DD triggered it!

 

 

Harland's response is fair & reasonable IMO.

[koshizee]

Hi,

 

I spoke to E4L representative and they have suggested either way if we stay or leave we will have to pay £25.

 

They have said if you stay - You will have to pay £25 on top your entire contract over £100 or £25 admin fee and missed payment £11.99.

 

I want to know - if we decide to cancel the DD, where do we stand and what do (Harland) have authority to do?

[dx100uk]

simple ans is they can do nothing

just lots of scary letters

then the powerless fake CRS DCA letters

DCA's are not bailiffs anyway and have ZERO legal powers on any supposed debt.

 

plenty of threads here to read

 

and as gyms don't do court

and neither appears on credit files

its all total useless hot air

[slick132]

Get father to pay the Admin Fee. His cancelling the DD triggered it!

 

 

Harland's response is fair & reasonable IMO.

 

............ apart from the fact that Harlands seek to charge an admin fee which is effectively a penalty and therefore wholly challengeable.

 

Koshi,

 

If YM is happy to pay a £25 penalty fee for this error, that's entirely her prerogative.

 

If she's not happy, let us know and we'll suggest a letter to send the gym saying Harlands must waive the admin fee or she'll cancel.

 

[koshizee]

Hi Slick,

 

Please, can you proceed with the letter template?

 

It's worth me trying this route if it fails, then to get my Mother to pay.

[slick132]

Letter to the gym's Head Office in Leeds :-

 

Dear sir or madam,

 

I refer to my membership at xxxx gym for which my DD mandate was cancelled in error by my husband.

 

I want to remain a member but am not willing to pay the admin charges which Harlands want to charge.

 

If you confirm in writing that you'll instruct Harlands to waive their admin fees, I will reinstate the DD mandate.

 

Or if you prefer, I can start a new membership as long as you confirm Harlands will not use the new DD mandate to collect the old admin fees.

 

Yours faithfully,

 

I would certainly cancel any active DD until you get a written reply from the gym.

 

Ignore any demands or contact from Harlands/CRS.

 

[koshizee]

Thank you - I have sent them an email and I will keep you all posted, on the progress.

[dx100uk]

NO NEVER USE EMAIL

we said WRITE A LETTER

 

you've simply given them a free way to harass you now and they'll ignore the email too

[slick132]

Send a hard copy to -

 

Xercise4Less

1, Kirkstall Industrial Estate

Kirkstall Road

Kirkstall

Leeds

LS4 2AZ

 

Get a free Certificate of Posting from the PO as proof.

 

If they reply to you by email, let us know so we can advise further.

 

[koshizee]

quick update; they have replied with the following via email:

 

Good morning,

 

Thank you for your email

 

Unfortunately we will be unable to remove the charges applied as you have agreed to the terms and conditions of your membership in which advises you that if a payment is missed, you may incur an administration charge of £25.00.

 

Kind regards,

 

 

----------

 

What is the best way to proceed from here?

[dx100uk]

you block and bounce their emails back as undelivered.

 

nothing you need to do at all.

[slick132]

Is this from X4Less or Harlands ?

 

[koshizee]

Is this from X4Less or Harlands ?

 

 

This was from X4Less

 

 

Membership Enquiries

 

Head Office

 

Head Office

Xercise 4 Less

Unit 1, Kirkstall Industrial Estate

Kirkstall Road

Leeds

LS4 2AZ

 

Via email.

[slick132]

You now have 2 choices :-

 

1. Write to the gym saying YM will pay Harlands admin fees (they may now want more than just 1 x £25 admin fee) to resume the m/ship.

 

OR

 

2. Tell the gym they are wrong to allow Harlands to charge unlawful admin fees so, consequently, they are in breach of your agreement which you now consider terminated.