I'm 16 and Harlands and CRS are trying to get £100+ from me

[Watfield]

 I had seen an ad from a friend for a gym near me and they were offering a free trail period, I had decided to sign up.

 

Inputting my card details, but due to me being 16 and not having any sort of constant income I decided against staying with the gym and cancelled the direct debit.

 

Then I recieved an email saying I was still required to pay £27.99, however at the time my bank account had been closed so I was unable to pay anything.

 

Then they had incurred a late fee of £20,

I had called to ask why I had to pay for the initial fee and the late fee even though I've never been to the gym itself.

 

My bank account had been through a lot and had closed quite recently and I haven't been able to open up a new one until recently,

 

they've now sent a message saying that a new company has been employed to deal with the debt, which now totals to £116.49. And I highly doubt I'll be able to pay this.

 

Would anyone be able to help me with this please.

[dx100uk]

Moved to the gym forum.

nothing they can do to you

 

ignore everything

 

just read a few threads here

[brassnecked]

They never do court, and if they did would not be happy when tolchocked by court for suing someone under 18, which is a no no.

 

So safe to ignore as DX suggests.

[slick132]

Hi Watfield and welcome to CAG

 

Harlands were the company dealing with the initial DD and CRS are the "new" company involved ........

 

.......... except that Harlands and CRS are the same outfit, pretending to be different companies so you think the matter is getting more serious. But it's not !!

 

1. Did you sign up in the gym or outside of it, like online at home, or in a shopping centre.

 

2. Did you give your real date of birth when signing up, or one to make you appear to be 18+.

 

Ignore all contact, calls, emails, text msgs for now - you have no need to do what they want and they can do nothing about you ignoring them.

 

[Watfield]

I signed up outside of the gym online, and I think I might have made it seems I was over 18

[ericsbrother]

first thing to do is stop worrying about it, the letters are commonly called threatograms here as the dca has no interest in the matter and can do nothing other than threaten that their client may do so and so if you dotn send them a wad of cash.

Dca's arent bailiffs, they have no authority to visit you,cant seize goods and most of them dont hold a consumer credit licence so cant legally take money from you on behalf of the creditor

[slick132]

Hi Watfield,

 

If you signed up away from the gym, you had 14 days to cancel. Did you cancel within this time ?

 

If you were under 18 when joining, they cannot enforce any gym agreement with you as you were a minor.

 

You should completely ignore all demands for payments just now but keep us informed so we can suggest the right time to tell Harlands/CRS to back off !!

 

[Watfield]

Yeah I had cancelled within the 14 weeks.

[dx100uk]

weeks?

[Watfield]

Days sorry

 

[slick132]

Thanks and you should ignore all demands for contact or payment.

 

Keep us posted though

[Watfield]

Hi. Update. I have recieved multiple text messages from crs stating its urgent and I.must call then immediately.

[Rei4096]

Block the number and avoid all communication with Harlands/CRS/Zinc in future (whether it be written, email, text or phone call). It's not urgent - they're just trying to scare you into paying money that you do not owe. They have no legal grounds, especially since you're a minor.

[slick132]

Hi Watfield,

 

No matter what Harlands/CRS say or threaten, you should not respond to them at all - not by phone, email or letter.

 

There's nothing they can do so just continue to ignore them.

 

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

 

[Watfield]

Today they sent me an email saying they would take legal action and would file a court case against me  but would still like me to pay before they do so.

[dx100uk]

no they didnt

read it PROPERLY

doesn't say WILL anywhere

 

you should be bouncing and blocking emails from them