HARLANDS AND CRS

[united7]

HI,

 

When cancelling my gym membership I did do with my bank (as told to by a member of staff at the gym).

 

I then received an email from Harlands stating I owed them £15.99 for a 1 month cancellation period, which was no problem. However they could only take the payment by phone or an online portal. Despite multiple attempts to call them (over 20 mins each call, of which I have call logs) I couldn't get through them. When trying to pay them by the online portal it showed an incorrect amount and didnt give me the option to pay it. I pointed this out to them over email and asked them to update my portal so I could pay as I was sick of waiting to get through on the phone. (they never did).

 

Then recieved an email from CRS saying I owe them £192 for a £16 debt! I stupidly called them and asked for a breakdown of these charges to which they said I had multiple missed payments fees and then their fee on top £60. when I pointed out the debt was £16 not the amount they have quoted me (I have an email from Harlands 2 weeks prior to my email from CRS stating I only owed £16 and they had waived all fees) they said it doesn't matter what the gym said once it is passed to them they can enforce it.

 

I will also add during my emails with Harlands where I pointed out they havent updated my portal I told them they could take the money from my account or to give me a call to which they said they could do neither. Yet Conveniently  now i 'owe' £190 CRS can call me multiple times!

 

They are now threating me with legal action. Any help, where do I stand? 

Edited April 24, 2019 by slick132
Spacing added to make post legible

[BankFodder]

Basically – tell them to go and do one.

Write to them a single letter and tell them that you have made all reasonable attempts to pay the notice fee and that you are not prepared to take any further steps and you are not prepared to pay anything else and that if they want to see you in the County Court you will bring this all to the notice of the judge.

After that leave it. The only other thing to say is that they are most unlikely to begin a legal action but if you happen to change address, make sure that you keep people updated of your new address simply to pre-empt the possibility of a back door default judgement as a result of court papers being sent to an old address.
That's probably about it

[united7]

Thanks for your response this is what I will do. I will keep you posted!

[BankFodder]

Hang on in case you get a different opinion from @slick132 who knows a lot more about this stuff than me.

[slick132]

Hi United and welcome to CAG

 

1. Were you able to cancel due to being beyond the minimum m/ship period.

 

2. When did you tell the gym you wanted to cancel.

 

3. When was the last DD pay't made to Harlands for the m/ship.

 

Ignore all demands and comm'ns from Harlands or others for now.

 

[united7]

Hi Slick. 

 

Originally my contract was with someone else and was a 12 month thing (which I was past) so I assumed it was a one month rolling contract. However when my gym changed ownership Harlands took over my DD (and put the price up).

 

I didn't tell the gym directly I just cancelled it with my bank due to miss information from my gym. The last DD payment was late last year probably around October time as this has been going on for a while with emails between myself and Harlands.

[dx100uk]

well no you did tell them you'd cancelled

the fact that you omitted to pay one extra dd after that date is somewhat immaterial now.

 

your problem is you've done all this by email.

you now need to stop using email and block and bounce them totally

 

using royal mail send harlands a letter

offer them one months payment as you cancelled the dd without leaving 30 days for the next  payment to be taken. but refusing to pay any unlawful admin fees.

 

if they fail to accept that.

you ignore everyone.

 

dx

 

 

 

 

[united7]

Ah I see, I assumed email would be best so I had a log of everything that was said. Would you reccomend sending Harlands or CRS the letter as the debt was with harlands but its CRS who are now chasing me (on the CRS email it says they are a trading name of harlands so they see to be the same company). Do you have any template lettrers that have been sent to them before?

[dx100uk]

Yes plenty here is past threads

Slick132 letter

Send it to harlands then forget about it all

[united7]

Thanks for your help I! will keep posted

[slick132]

Hi United,

 

Can you answer Q's 2 and 3 above with dates.

 

Please also state when the gym ownership changed and price increased.

 

Finally, you refer above to misinformation from the gym about cancelling. What did the gym tell you to do back then about cancelling ?

 

[united7]

Hi Slick I informed my bank to cancel the DD on the 10th December 2018. The last payment harlands took was on the 28th November. The Gym ownership changed on. I have checked the original email i received when I signed up an although my gym ownership since changed and the price increased the original agreement was still with harlands so that remained the same.

[slick132]

Ok so offer to pay as follows, in a typed letter to Harlands :-

 

I cancelled the DD mandate in December 2018 which gave notice to quit the gym m/ship.

 

I should have paid a final fee of £15.99 at the end of December 2018 and offer to pay you that now if you supply me with bank payment details and a reference.

 

My offer is valid for 14 days and will be withdrawn after then; or if you demand any higher amount.

[united7]

Thanks slick I will do that! 

[united7]

Hi,

 

Haven't had chance to send the letter yet as ive been away but thought id keep you updated. Just received an email from CRS today saying it will be passed to zinc after 10 days. From reading other threads they appear to have no more power than CRS and is just a scaremongering tactic? Thanks

[slick132]

Correct ! Zinc can be safely ignored.

 

Just send the letter suggested by post to Harlands.