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Oakley Fitness TBW / debitfinance pursuaded me to part with 3 months + late charges


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Just came across this site this evening. It looks like I'm not the only one being pressured by a gym.

 

I finally gave in this afternoon and gave my cc details for a payment

1) to avoid "Failure to respond will result in your file being passed to a Debt Collection Agency which will include extra costs to yourself" and

b) that the small claim website said I had to continue payments in order to be able to claim anything.

 

I'm wondering if I can recover the amount I paid - I think I'll need your help and a bit of luck and effort.

 

I started a membership with Oakley in September 2019. I understood it to be for 12 months (i.e. a year).

 

I phoned up the gym late September (possibly 1st October) 2020 to cancel the membership - due to covid I purchased a power rack for myself.

 

I believe I was told that was fine and that I should cancel the DD and inform Debit Finance. I sent this email on 1st October in the afternoon.

 

1st October 2020

Hi,
Just as an FYI I have cancelled my membership (and DD) with Oakley Fitness in Tunbridge Wells.
Thx,

Scruffy

 

They replied:

20th October 2020

Dear Scruffy,

Thank you for your recent correspondence, the contents of which has been noted on your file.
We can confirm you have made 9 of the 12 instalments required to close the account. The 12th and final instalment will be collected on the 01/01/2021 subject to no further freezes.
Please provide your bank details by return for us to reinstate the direct debit.
Kind Regards,
DFC Administration Team 

 

I said:

 

20th October 2020

Hi

I think there’s a mistake there - I signed up for one year from September to September. I actually overran by one month. And I confirmed the cancellation with the gym.
Please advice why you think I am behind in payments.
Thanks,
Scruffy

 

They said:

 

10th November 2020

Dear Scruffy,

Thank you for your recent correspondence, the contents of which have been noted on file.

As stated in your terms and conditions you are required to make 12 payments. You have currently made 9 payments.

A cancellation has been applied to your account for once all 12 payments are made, your account will close.

Kind Regards,

S

DFC Administration Team

 

I replied

 

10th November 2020

Can you provide a copy of the terms you have pls? That’s not my understanding. The marketing material stated a year’s membership.

It all went quiet and I figured they'd sorted everything out.

 

On 22nd May 2021 I received an email

 

Account Name: ScruffyMcDuffy
Reference Number: 12345678 - Oakley Fitness (TWE) Ltd

We note that you have not responded to our correspondence on 10th May 2021 and the payment to Oakley Fitness (TWE) Ltd due on 1st May 2021 remains unpaid.

Please bring your payments (including a £30.00 late payment charge) up to date by clicking on the following link to make a payment online: https://pay.debitfinance.co.uk/XXXXX or contacting us on 01908 422 007, the full payment due is £49.99

 

Please ensure that your arrears are brought up to date immediately to avoid the service you receive being suspended by your service provider, if no payment received further charges will be applied as per the terms and conditions of your contract.

 

Yours sincerely

Administration Team

 

I've sent several emails trying to find out what is going on.

I phoned the gym who told me I had agreed to 12 monthly payments and told me to take the matter up with debit finance.

 

Their most recent email said:

 

 

21st June 2021

On review of your file it is disappointing to note that we have not received any response to our correspondence and note that your Direct Debit continues to be returned unpaid or you have cancelled it.

Failure to communicate with us leaves us with no option but to enforce the agreement.

 

There is £104.97 outstanding on your account and would ask you to make a proposal of how you intend to repay the debt.

Failure to respond will result in your file being passed to a Debt Collection Agency which will include extra costs to yourself.

.........

.

I finally got through to a rep at debit finance this afternoon.  

they wanted me to pay for 3 payments that they didn't take a membership fee for during covid and to extend my membership.

 

Given what they stated above I gave in understanding that I'd have to pay in order to be able to make a small claims court action (not sure my brain is working quite well on this).

 

Oakley Fitness finally provided me details (on the phone) of where I could get their T&Cs - on their Website of course. They and debit finance have not provided T&Cs despite being asked via email.

 

The only mention of term is:

 

2.8. If there are any outstanding arrears without notification of cancellation (within your 12 month agreement), you will be obligated to clear the full amount of the term agreed.

 

Is there a course of action I can take here?

Any chance of a result?

What should I do next?

 

 

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Go ring your credit card company now and tell them not to honour the payment nor any further request s.

 

You dont owe anyone a penny and no-one can do anything to you..

 

gyms dont do court

gym debts dont show on credit files

a DCA is not a BAILIFF

and has

ZERO powers on any debt no matter what its type.

 

stop phoning people too . Writing only

 

You notified them of wishing to cancel at the worst you might offer 1 month. No such thing as you must pay for 12mts. 

 

Dx

please don't hit Quote...just type we know what we said earlier..

DCA's view debtors as suckers, marks and mugs

NO DCA has ANY legal powers whatsoever on ANY debt no matter what it's Type

and they

are NOT and can NEVER  be BAILIFFS. even if a debt has been to court..

If everyone stopped blindly paying DCA's Tomorrow, their industry would collapse overnight... 

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Cheers - btw are you agreeing that their claim is invalid, or pointing out that it is unenforceable? (or both).

 

For my own peace of mind, what's likely to happen if I do manage to cancel the payment? - the DCA section looks a bit intimidating.

 

Writing only - is email okay or just postal?

 

They didn't want 12 months just the 3 months plus the "late" fees - but that doesn't make a difference right?

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no go read my post again carefully..

 

dx

 

please don't hit Quote...just type we know what we said earlier..

DCA's view debtors as suckers, marks and mugs

NO DCA has ANY legal powers whatsoever on ANY debt no matter what it's Type

and they

are NOT and can NEVER  be BAILIFFS. even if a debt has been to court..

If everyone stopped blindly paying DCA's Tomorrow, their industry would collapse overnight... 

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Sorry I'm not following - I've read your answer maybe 5-10 times carefully. I'm a bit dyslexic and it's late.

 

"You dont owe anyone a penny" - because I cancelled correctly after the 12 months, or the 12 months is not a valid term?

"and no-one can do anything to you.." because it's not fair to extend the period of the contract even though they only took 9 payment (and want 3 more)?

I didn't follow the "gyms..." set of quotes - are you saying that everything is fine because they never go to court?

 

Thx

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its not an agreement as they say... you signed nothing.., it's a contract and there are no gym contracts that can vary the industry standard of 1 months cancellation, just read a few john lloyds threads here...

 

the 12mts is not a valid term, you don't have to stay that long, you can cancel giving 1 months notice , i'e ideally your cancel and allow one more payment, you most certainly do not have to pay all 12 and most certainly no-one can charge any 'late fees' they are unfair and unlawful under FCA Rules and i notice debitfinance are regulated by the FCA tooo...:lol:so are breaking their rules and need reporting.

 

don't get had get that payment cancelled now.. else you'll never get the money back.

 

nothing anyone can do to you. get hat payment blocked or request it back. ring your card company now

 

next time stop talking to all these scammers.

 

 

  • Like 1

please don't hit Quote...just type we know what we said earlier..

DCA's view debtors as suckers, marks and mugs

NO DCA has ANY legal powers whatsoever on ANY debt no matter what it's Type

and they

are NOT and can NEVER  be BAILIFFS. even if a debt has been to court..

If everyone stopped blindly paying DCA's Tomorrow, their industry would collapse overnight... 

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Share on other sites

Hi Scruffy,

 

DX is right in that you need to try to get the CCard refund reversed immediately on the basis you were wrongly told you owed fees and late fees that were NOT payable. Tell the CCard provider the payment was made based of threats made by the gym's admin company about how much you owed.

 

Let us know how you get on with the CCard Co and ignore the gym and/or their admin company.

 

The 12 month agreement  should not have been extended because the gym was closed due to Covid - not your fault, or your problem.

  • Like 1

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7 hours ago, ScruffyMcDuffy said:

 

b) that the small claim website said I had to continue payments in order to be able to claim anything.

 

 

Also, please can you explain what was meant by the "small claim website". Please provide a link to it

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Hi BankFodder, I've had a look on my browsers and I can't find a link to the bit that made me think I had to pay then make a claim back. Anyone else reading this - my statement is likely wrong.

 

Hi slick132, dx100uk, thx for the detail of what to say to the CC company - they're not open yet.

 

I tried googling about the "certainly no-one can charge any 'late fees' they are unfair and unlawful under FCA Rules and i notice debitfinance are regulated by the FCA tooo...so are breaking their rules and need reporting."

 

Do you have links to specifics of the lawfulness of late fees?

 

Do you have advice about how to report this to the FCA?

 

And thx for you time and advice - having read several of the David Lloyd stories you mention similar points repeatedly. I haven't seen an FAQ which might help newbies like me get up to speed quickly - is that something you've considered? (though clearly it's an effort to do initially and subsequently maintain).

 

-- Scruffy

 

Gotta go and try the phone to the CC...

 

 

Quote

 

Oakley Fitness's Ts&Cs - from their website

 

2. Fees

2.8. If there are any outstanding arrears without notification of cancellation (within your 12 month agreement), you will be obligated to clear the full amount of the term agreed.

 

3. Cancelling Your Membership

3.1 Memberships cannot be cancelled prior to the agreed contract length that you have signed up for and the last payment has been made. A contract may be cancelled once the final payment has been made; this requires 30 days’ notice in writing to Debit Finance.

 

 

I felt I'd signed up to a 12 month term and was happy to honour that - I was not happy with the term being extended. I feel angry at the lack of correspondence, the threats, the additional fees.

 

dx100uk - when you say "the 12mts is not a valid term, you don't have to stay that long, you can cancel giving 1 months notice , i'e ideally your cancel and allow one more payment, you most certainly do not have to pay all 12" - are you saying that the terms and conditions are not valid or that it is unpractical for a gym to enforce them?

 

What you say seems to imply that anyone can start a membership and is entitled to cancel at any point. Is that the gist? (i.e effectively Ts&Cs are not worth the paper they're printed on and inherently against the rights of a consumer).

 

 

Spoke to the CC company - they can't cancel, but they are raising a dispute which MasterCard will preside over. I feel more supported and less alone in dealing with this than facing off Debit Finance or any appointed DCA alone.

 

Will let you know the outcome. 

 

Update on the small claim misunderstanding - on the which website 

WWW.WHICH.CO.UK

If you want to end your gym membership, it's likely you’ll be held to the terms in your gym contract. Read our guides to find out what to do.
Quote

Using the small claims court should cost you relatively little, but you’re required to pay the

fees needed to take a claim through the small claims court in advance.

 

I misread "the fees... in advance" to mean the gym fees in advance rather than the court fees in advance. Dyslexia rules! Hopefully no-one else will make that mistake.

 

 

 

From https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/450440/Unfair_Terms_Main_Guidance.pdf

 

Quote

2.6 Failing this specific transparency test alone, independently of the fairness test, does not make a term unenforceable against an individual consumer in the same way as a finding of unfairness. But there is a requirement that, if a term or notice has more than one possible meaning, and so is ambiguous, it should be given the meaning that is most favourable to the consumer. This is designed particularly to assist consumers in their own disputes with traders. Further, if a regulator considers that a term or notice breaches the section 68 transparency requirement, it can take enforcement action in the same way as when the requirement of fairness is considered to have been breached. Such action may be taken where a term or notice is ambiguous even if one of its potential meanings is not unfair.

 

Under that, to use a Theresa Mayism, "12 months" means "12 months" and not some convoluted extension.

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so time to just wait and hope mastercard can get things back.

 

it's far better to read here on CAG rather than the extensive research you've been doing elsewhere, we and particularly slick132 have doing it for years and years on the gym front and know inside out the answers you seek,. everything is in threads here you just have to read them.

 

there are 1000's of like threads here none have resulted in anyone paying anything 

please don't hit Quote...just type we know what we said earlier..

DCA's view debtors as suckers, marks and mugs

NO DCA has ANY legal powers whatsoever on ANY debt no matter what it's Type

and they

are NOT and can NEVER  be BAILIFFS. even if a debt has been to court..

If everyone stopped blindly paying DCA's Tomorrow, their industry would collapse overnight... 

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Share on other sites

Hi Scruffy,

 

I see no point reporting this to the FCA. The late fee charges are not lawful and not enforceable but you could say the same about Credit Card late fees - they're not lawful or enforceable but CCard providers continue to charge them.

 

As DX says, the threads here over many years all reflect the same thing - since a Test Case back in 2011, gym cases do not end up in court and do not affect your credit rating. Whether or not you cancelled at the right time, or in the right manner, the worst likely to happen is you get pestered by the Admin Co for a while.

 

With regard to the amount you paid by CCard before you found us, make sure they know you were charged unlawful late fees and felt threatened by the Admin Co.

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Hi slick132,

 

Inspired by all the above comments you guys made (thank you) I pointed that felt bullied and threatened by Debit Finance and that I felt I had no choice but to pay by CC and subsequently found out that the charges were unlawful and that their original claim for three additional months was unfair. The CC company complaints person was supportive. I've got to call them back tomorrow so we'll see what the next rep is like.

 

I see no point reporting this to the FCA

The point would be to establish the fact that the FCA agree and other people in this situation can refer to any ruling, judgement, opinion - else it doesn't carry as much weight in any correspondence.

 

-- Scruffy

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Reporting to the FCA will do nothing to help you or others who have gym m/ship issues. If you want to report this, it's your prerogative of course.

 

I hope you get the refund but I fear it's unlikely, when Mastercard themselves charge late fees.

 

Time will tell ............

We could do with some help from you

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                                            Have we helped you ...?  Please Donate button to the Consumer Action Group

 

Please give something if you can. We all give our time free of charge but the site has bills to pay.

 

Thanks !:-)

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I thought the guidance wasn't that fees for lateness were inherently unfair but they had to be justifiable as to the actual additional cost of pursuing late payments. Here the late fees are unfair as there is a dispute about cancellation not about lateness of a regular payment - with a cc company one is not arguing that one doesn't owe them the £19.99 for the gizmo you bought off amazon.

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any fees for doing something 'wrong' are a penalty , at the relevant time the FSA (now FCA) stated they would not investigate fees under £12, so everyone dropped them to that level, they didn't say either that £12 was lawful .

 

stop looking for ways to justify what they are doing is correct.

we've played this game for years and know full well the way to go.

please don't hit Quote...just type we know what we said earlier..

DCA's view debtors as suckers, marks and mugs

NO DCA has ANY legal powers whatsoever on ANY debt no matter what it's Type

and they

are NOT and can NEVER  be BAILIFFS. even if a debt has been to court..

If everyone stopped blindly paying DCA's Tomorrow, their industry would collapse overnight... 

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