Another X4L/Harlands/CRS thread

[Rei4096]

Hey all, looking for a quick bit of advice here.

 

I signed up for a membership with X4L on the 14th of May 2018, and have only used the gym a handful of times in that time. I haven't been at all during 2019.

 

I now have free access to a local gym which a friend owns, so I cancelled my direct debit with X4L/Harlands on Jan 4th 2019. I then cancelled my membership via their Online Cancellation Portal not long after. After doing so, I received this email -

 

 

Dear -,

Thank you for completing the online cancellation form, this is an automated email receipt of your cancellation request.

Your final payment will be collected via Direct Debit from your account. Please do not cancel your Direct Debit with your bank, this will cause your account to go into default and you will not be able to use the facilities.

Harlands will cancel this for you when your final payment has been collected from your account and your 30 days notice has ended.

 

Then this email the following day,

 

Thank you for visiting the Xercise4Less cancellation portal, we are sorry to see you go but want to make sure the process is as easy as possible.

 

We can confirm your cancellation request has been noted on your account, your final payment will be taken by direct debit on the 14 JAN 19. Please ensure your Direct Debit remains active, we will automatically cancel this for you once the final payment has been taken.

 

You will still have full use of the facilities until the 14 FEB 19.

 

Your membership will be cancelled on the 14 FEB 19.

 

If you have any questions, please contact us on the helpline number below.

 

 

 

Never realised that I wasn't supposed to cancel the DD until they had taken their last payment, but I didn't think it'd matter since I haven't used their facilities in months, even after cancelling my membership (which they can check, because they use fingerprint scanning to allow you access at my gym).

 

 

On the 24th of January I received an email from HG (Harlands Group) notifying me that I owed them £45 because of admin fees.

 

Harlands collect payments on behalf of Xercise 4 Less. By agreeing to the Terms and Conditions of the membershipat time of signup, you have authorised your payments to be collected via Direct Debit.

We have previously sent you correspondence regarding your membership and note that you have not contacted us.

Due to this you have incurred a £ 25.00 administration charge on your account. Your outstanding arrears currently

stand at £ 44.99.

 

I sent them a reply letting them know that I would be fine paying the £19.99 for the remaining month of membership (which I never even made use of), but I would not be paying any of their silly admin fees. They never replied, and then on Feb 16th I received this email,

 

 

Thank you for your email.

 

The arrears of £69.99 does stand as you have not done the online cancellation form correctly. Please call us to make the payment and reinstate the direct debit so you can fill out the 30 day online cancellation form. You must do this before the 26th February 2019, if you do not call us by this date you will be passed to CRS.

 

If you have anymore enquiries please do not hesitate to call us.

 

So it has suddenly increased from £45 to £69.99?

 

Am I in the wrong here?

 

TL;DR - Cancelled via direct debit, then online using cancellation portal, received email saying not to cancel the DD (I already had by this point), offered to pay for the remainder of the membership (£19.99), now they're trying to charge me £69.99.

[dx100uk]

Ignore them

Block and bounce all emails

 

Nowt they can do to you

[Rei4096]

Thanks for the reply, will do.

 

I've moved since joining the gym as well, so they have my old address on file.

 

After reading previous threads it seems like they'll probably start sending a bunch of unwanted letters to that address, and I'd rather not bother my mum.

 

Do you think I should write/email them in order to let them know that I've moved?

Or just give no further correspondence?

[dx100uk]

Yes email address then block bounce them

 

For future readers..never use or give emails

[slick132]

Hi Rei and welcome to CAG

 

I suggest you write to Harlands confirming :-

 

1. Your new address is xxxx, if they want to write further.

 

2. You are willing to pay the final fee of £19.99 but no admin fees on top.

 

3. This offer is valid for 14 days only, after which you'll pay nothing.

 

4. You'll deal with them in writing only.

 

I know you done some of this already but put it in one final typed letter and get a free Cert of Posting at the PO Counter when posting it.

 

That's really all you need do apart from keep a log of log of all forms of contact from them, in case you need to complain of harassment.

 

Keep us posted ........

 

[Rei4096]

Quick update since it's been 4 months now

- they never responded to the letter I sent and the case got passed onto Zinc.

 

They try to phone/text me probably once or twice a week, I have never responded though.

Blocking the number doesn't help, seems like they have an endless supply of disposable numbers which is a bit annoying, but whatever .

They also send me the occasional email reminding them that I "owe" them money too.

I've never received any physical letters.

That's pretty much it.

 

For anyone who came across this post because they're in a similar situation to the one I was,

there is absolutely nothing to worry about.

Just ignore them.

These people are powerless.

 

They'll try to contact you endlessly and it's a tiny bit annoying, but eventually they'll bugger off.

Nobody will show up at your door.

Your credit score won't be affected.

Their whole business is based around trying to intimidate vulnerable people into paying money that they don't owe.

[slick132]

Hi Rei and thanks for the update.

 

Your post confirms what we're telling folk all the time - Harlands/CRS, Zinc and their pet "solicitors" continue to make demands but they fail to do anything substantial to back up their threats.

 

Hence our continuing advice to NOT respond to demands by letter, email or phone, because they'll do nothing that will affect your credit rating, or that will force you to pay.