Xcersise4Less/Harlands/ PAID admin fees and continually harrassment

[Jscott123]

Upon reading this forum I realise how unlawful Harlands group really is and that I was ignorant in dealing with these idiots previously.

 

So, I joined xercise4less back in March 2019 on an £18.99 p/m DD basis.

 

I received this email at the end of may stating:

 

Harlands administer the collection of all payments due under your agreement with Xercise 4 Less. Your bank have advised us that your May instalment has been returned unpaid "refer to payer" as there were insufficient funds in the account to pay the amount due. 

We will therefore debit your account on 7 JUN 19 for the total amount of £43.99 made up as follows: 

Instalment Amount    £18.99
Administration Fee    £25.00
Total Due    £43.99

 

At this point I had no clue who these malicious people actually were and realised upon speaking with my bank that I did have insufficient funds in my account so I then I just went along with harlands and agreed to pay the 43.99 which would be debited out my account on the 7th June.

 

Then June 10th came and I received this email from Harlands:

 

Your bank have advised us that our submission of £ 43.99 to cover the previously returned instalment plus the
administration fee has been returned "refer to payer". You have now incurred a further £ 25.00 administration fee and
are £ 68.99 in arrears.
Your next instalment is due in a few days time but we will not make another submission until the outstanding £ 68.99 is paid.

 

So after receiving this email I personally went into my bank to discuss this matter and they offered to pay the second £25 admin fee as under the DD guarantee as they said they thought it was a fault on their behalf, so I paid the full £68.99 by direct debit which inlcudes 2 x 25 admin fee and 1 late payment. - Which I now realise was very stupid of me.

 

Now come 9th July I have been sent ANOTHER email saying this:

 

Your bank have advised us that our submission of £ 43.99 to cover the previously returned instalment plus the
administration fee has been returned "refer to payer". You have now incurred a further £ 25.00 administration fee and
are £ 43.99 in arrears.

 

God knows what they are talking about by this point but the DD has not came out my account for 18.99 so they have added another admin fee of 25 and I am now 43.99 in arrears haha. I do not particularly know why it failed to come out again.

 

I have tried to cancel my membership via phone but its no use and the online portal doesnt allow me to cancel due to the arrears not being paid as I dont inted on paying the fee.

 

I am just wondering how should I go about cancelling this membership without paying the admin fee and also is there any legal action I could take against Harlands as they have took £50 in unlawful fees from meas it stands and are harrassing for a further 25.

 

 

 

 

[Jscott123]

Also I have now cancelled my DD with Harlands as of 15th July.

[dx100uk]

Get the funds back under the dd guarantee

then Write not email

one letter offering the missed 1st payment as full settlement then ignore everyone.

nothing anyone can do to you

[slick132]

Hi JS,

 

I'm not clear from your post above so please :-

 

1. Check with your bank and tell us if any amount was actually paid by DD to Harlands in May, June or July and, if so, what amounts for each month.

 

It sounds like your bank SHOULD have paid the DD's as agreed by you. However, in truth the bank has done you a favour by NOT paying Harlands.

 

Answer my Q #1 and then we can advise how best to proceed. My current view is you owe for May if that was unpaid but you don't owe for any notice period as Harlands have breached any agreement between you by trying to use the DD mandate to collect unlawful admin fees.

 

[Jscott123]

Thanks for your help.

 

1. I did then proceed to pay the may direct debit after it failed to come out, via their online portal- + £25 admin fee on top of that. The bank did not allow junes payment to come out so I do owe them one month payment.

Edited July 16, 2019 by Jscott123

[slick132]

Wrong ! (in my opinion)

 

You paid the missed May gym fee but also paid their £25 unlawful admin fee as well.

 

So the £18.99 you owed for June cancellation/notice period) was more than covered by the admin fee.

 

I suggest you write to Harlands saying :-

 

1. You consider the gym membership ended due to Harlands forcing you to pay an unlawful admin fee.

 

2. The £25 admin fee you paid in May more than covers the fee payable for June.

 

3. You will pay nothing more and will simply ignore further demands from Harlands/CRS or Zinc.