Virgin Active/LA Fitness

[latay26]

Hi All

I was a member of Virgin active in 2004, I signed a Diamond contract that was cheaper as long as I kept going for a year. After a while I stopped going for various reasons but was happy to still pay the contract only now they want me to pay for a second year because according to them I am now in my second year & have to pay for that too :o My membership has been cancelled but they still insist I pay. Does anyone know, can they enforce this as I only signed up for one year not two??

My son is now having the same problem with LA Fitness :-|

 

Thanks

Liz

[Rob S]

It seems a bizarre way to do business. Most fitness clubs I have joined over the years have a minimum term of 12 months membership when you sign up, but you should be able to give notice to leave at any time after that without being liable for the whole year. Have you got access to the contract to view the T's & C's?

[latay26]

No but I will get onto them for that,

Thanks

[David Crabtree]

My Daughter has the same problem with Fitness First.They are insisting on her paying the full 12 months membership even though she hasn't visited the gym for months.She will have to look at the t's&c's as well- thank you

[demon_x_slash]

David - thing is, if she hasn't got a good reason for not going (illness, poor/dangerous exercising facilities etc) and she's still within her original 12 months , she will still be liable for the full amount.

[David Crabtree]

Thanks, My daughter has now found her Fitness First original contract! funny how things turn up when she has to pay out.

Anyway, carefully reading the contract very small print it does say that after 3 months minimum she can give one months notice in writing to cancel, even though the manager had told her strictly 12 months.- It's worth keeping these contracts in a safe place!

[demon_x_slash]

A-ha, then you've got nothing to worry about. If I were her, though, I'd make sure that the letter of cancellation is either sent Special Delivery or she hand-delivers it and gets a written receipt. Gyms tend to make a habit of 'losing' cancellation requests. I'd also consider a complaint to Head Office about the manager's insistence that a contract runs for twelve months, no exceptions.

[David Crabtree]

THanks for that. I think we will do both suggestions, although its me that writes the letters & she just signs them! - I suppose thats what daughters are for - to give their dads more problems to solve.

[demon_x_slash]

Being a daughter, I can't comment on that

[MagicalAni]

A-ha, then you've got nothing to worry about. If I were her, though, I'd make sure that the letter of cancellation is either sent Special Delivery or she hand-delivers it and gets a written receipt. Gyms tend to make a habit of 'losing' cancellation requests. I'd also consider a complaint to Head Office about the manager's insistence that a contract runs for twelve months, no exceptions.

 

You are right "demon_x_slash" I had the same problem. I sent LA Fitness St. Pauls a letter with 1 month notice by normal post on the 11th month, they just simply denied that they have received the letter and charged me the 13th month subscription. I smell rat

[susanmcorless]

Generally speaking companies will try it on stating you have to pay when legally you don't, so it is ALWAYS worth checking things out when this happens - this is why they do it because they know most people will just pay it.

 

I keep all agreements / contracts so I always have the backup if needed

[virginite]

If I am able to offer any asssitance please ask.

[CBR1100]

I too have been chased by Virgin and ARC (Europe) for membership arrears. I was a member for over 12 months then resigned giving a months notice. I was told that my membership had rolled over into another 12 months commitment and I must reinstate my direct debit. This clause was a complete surprise to me. Eventually I received a letter saying that the matter had been refered to ARC (Europe) and I would receive no further correspondance from Virgin.

Sure enough I received a letter from ARC the next day threatening legal action if I didnot pay £197 in 10 days. Furthermore the amount would increase each month in line with my alledged membership fees. I received one phone call which I didnot answer.

Here I played my joker. My mother-in-law noticed a letter in the Money Mail section of the Daily Mail 29th October 2008. This involved a Virgin customer in a similar situation. The Mail ("Money Doctor" Margaret Stone) contacted Virgin and the case was dropped, with Virgin stating that member of staff responsible had not shown "due care and attention" in explaining the contract.

I quoted this in a letter to both ARC and Virgin and by return of post I received a letter from ARC saying that they were not pursuing the case and my balance with them was clear with no black mark on my credit record.

I have not since received any written correspondance from Virgin, though despite the fact that they said I would receive no further correspondance they have been phoning and leaving messages for several days now asking me to contact them so "we can sort it out". I have not replied to these calls.

 

If you are having similar problems:

 

- dispute the debt on the basis of mis-selling;

- quote the letter inthe Daily Mail;

- do not answer any phone calls.

 

Good Luck!!

Edited January 29, 2009 by CBR1100
spelling mistakes

[alimalik]

i have had a gym membership with Virgin Active since Mar 2008, me and my husband joined together and wanted to cancel our membership.

I was told that i cant cancel my membership because it was a diamond membership. I joined the membership with my husband and as far as i was aware the membership was the same for both of us. My husband has been a member from 2 year previous to that. But he made a new contract so we can be on the same contract.

The lady who did the the contract with us obvisously didnt explained us everything. i still remember we had to wait 2 hours just to sign the contract. and every time since that, I had to wait at the counter to get my card checked because it was not allowed through. this is everytime I visited the gym for past 12-14 months.

I beleive this is mis-selling and i was not made aware that we were not on the same contract. Secondally I have been told it was a twelve month contract and because its the 13th or 14th month i have to pay for the rest of the year and cant cancel it. Please note that i have no intention to go to the gym again. As i have no trust in the organisation and the staff have done nothing to help but to make my every visit a problem. Every time i was told you have to come in the morning to sign some other document and when i went in the mornings they said come another day because they cant find the paper work.

Ali

I wanted to cancel the membership as i beleive that The staff who dealt with us have mis-sold us the membership and me and my husband are totally not satisfied with the service throughout the year.

Even if one is on a diamond membership they should atleast receive a letter from Virgin saying that your intial 12 months is about to end and you will have to pay for the full year if you don't cancel you membership.

they are worse than Credit card companies. This is how to force money out from innocent customers. My husband has gained many customers for Virgin prior to all this and we advise all virgin customers to think again what you got yourself into.

[dhughes23a]

I implore you all to write to BBC’s Send your story to Watchdog and it could feature in an upcoming programme, particularly at the moment in the ‘fitness season’.

Go to http://www.bbc.co.uk/watchdog/gotastory/

Click on Subject “Sport, Leisure and Entertainment”, then sub category “Health clubs and leisure centres”.

This is what I wrote:

Virgin Active gyms partake in a very unfair practice in the membership contracts. One of their membership packages the “Diamond Membership” requires that you sign a 12 month rolling contract. Therefore if you do not cancel the membership by "the seventeenth day of the twelfth month”, then you are automatically entered into another 12 month contact. Virgin Active do not send a reminder at the end of each 12 month period. The cancellation fee is the remainder of your 12 month contact. Therefore I am in a situation where I have been a member of Virgin Active Health Club for nearly 7 years and will need to pay in excess of £700 to cancel my contract. Do watchdog feel this is fair or acceptable? I am not alone on this issue, a quick Google search brings up many forums, e.g.

http://www.complaintsboard.com/complaints/virgin-active-c158480.html

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=603247

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1863703

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/gyms-health-clubs/221603-virgin-active-membership.html

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/gyms-health-clubs/63342-virgin-active-la-fitness.html

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/gyms-health-clubs/198470-virgin-active-health-club.html

[NoGym Bod]

I joined LA Fitness in February 2010. Having paid my membership regularly by direct debit I was concerned when I started receiving phone calls and being stopped at the turn styles when entering the gym for 'non payment' of my monthly fees. I checked my bank account to find that not one, but 2 payments had been going out each month. As requested I took my bank statement to the gym who advised they would rectify the situation.

The phone calls kept coming, and then the letters demanding payment of the arrears and threatening a £40 administration charge. The weeks went by and I was still being hounded by LA Fitness staff even though I was still paying 2 fees (which no one could explain to me why?)and after I spoke to each individual they said they would put a note on my account to state the problem was being looked into.

I then receive a phone call from my sister advsing me that 'she' owed me money!

Confused by my sisters comment, I asked her 'what for'? She advised me she had just received a phone call from LA Fitness staff who told her thay had been taking her membership fees from my bank account in error and that 'she' owed me money!!!

Angry that LA Fitness had not themselves notified me of their error I called the gym again and advised them that it was 'them' not my sister that owed me the money and I wanted a refund from them and in turn they would have to sort out my sisters membership with her.

Again LA Fitness advised me that the error would be rectified, although it would take a few weeks for me to receive my refund.

I am still, 3 weeks down the line, waiting for my refund. I have however received a lovely letter from LA Fitness' Debt Recovery Agency, advising me that as I have 'failed' to respond to requests from LA Fitness to clear my arrears they have cancelled my membership, added a £40 admin charge and forwarded my details to collect the remaining £263.91 (balance remaining on the years contract)

Ha ha ha ha (Although I wasn't laughing at this point), I could not believe the incompetence of these people. I drove to the gym yet again to have it out with the manager, who sent his minion to do the dirty work. When he did appear (after at least 20 minutes of me ranting in front of other gym goers about their incompetence) he advised he was with another customer and would get the other manager to call me the following day. He gave me his word the problem would be rectified...again!!

I received a lame voicemail message from the manager late afternoon the following day advising that my account is now clear and I will receive my refund shortly... and yet another lame apology.

This I am totally unhappy with... what about my credit rating that they have runied, what about the fact that I have been hounded for weeks over an error that was made by them, and yes... what about the incompetent person who set up a direct debit on my bank account for someone elses membership? And do they really think that a lame apology after all the grief I have had is going to make me want to return there? I think not!

Since posting this on Facebook it has been brought to my attention that this is not an isolated problem. It seems that LA Fitness are quite good at this kind of thing. A [problem] I feel to obtain money by deception. If you have had the same problem or know someone who has, then join this group and let's make sure these [problem] artists don't get away with doing this again.

LOL.. I'm waiting for the next round of letters saying I have igored correspondance from the debt collectors and then the white van to remove goods from my house for sale at auction!! Muppets!!

[Unfair Contract]

This is why i hate gyms! These articles have put me off for life. Good luck

[Matt212]

I have had same problems myself with Virgin and Arc they are very abusive I hoping this is end of it

[saqqara]

Why are you still pussy-footing around with them. Go to money claim.gov.uk, file a small claim for the return of the stolen money and your costs. Make it a joint action and includenthe DCA and sit back. Chances are they won't even go to court but if they do - show them your bank statements and correspondence and you'll get everything back pretty smartish!

[ARC_Bullies]

I can only stress other people's advice that you should not stress yourself over ARC's phonecalls. They try all sorts of intimidation and bullying tactics but in reality they will not go to court for anything under £300 and are unlikely to go to court for anything under £800.

 

Based on my experience, do the following:

 

1. Write a letter and send it to ARC, stating:

 

a) that your account with Virgin Active/LA Fitness, etc is in dispute (you don't have to give them any more details than this) and that you will not be paying ARC one penny since you have not broken any contracts.

 

b) that you do not wish to be contacted by phone UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE and upon advice from your solicitor/CAB office you need all communication from ARC to be in written form. If you want to be extra cautious, send this via recorded delivery so that they cannot deny receiving it.

 

eg:

 

Dear ARC,

 

Trevor Munn Ref: xxxxxx Re: Virgin Active/LA Fitness, etc Membership No: xxxxxxx

 

Further to my conversation with your staff member, upon advice from my solicitor please can all future correspondence from you be through written letters sent to the above address [and include the address!!!]

 

Please note that I do not want to be phoned at any time during this dispute as I want a record of all actions. The account above is in dispute and all future intimidating telephone calls from your company will be dealt with by you being informed that you must correspond through written letters.

 

Please acknowledge receipt of this email and update your records.

 

Regards,

xxxxxx

 

2. If you receive any phonecalls from ARC (they will keep calling you from difference numbers, the numbers I have for them are: 0845 270 7365, 07854 149603, 07854 149474, 07854 149153, 01932 251000!!) answer the phone (if convenient) and just state 'I have asked that I be not contacted by telephone but by written letter, please can I take your name so that I can update my records that you are in breech of my request?' If they talk about anything other than their name, just hold firm, and keep asking for their name, and then politely tell them that you look forward to receiving their letter.

 

3. I received letters from ARC for a period of 6 months. In this time, they wrote several letters detailing that this would be their last, that they are about to hand over to solicitors, that they are adding a penalty fee, all the while stating that it isn't too late to pay They will then send out solicitors letters (from Trevor Munn, who, I have it on good authority, is just ARC) saying that they are about to book you a place in court, but low and behold it's still not too late to settle this if you just pay now. I received the first of these 'about to book you a place in court' letters in April 2010 - since then they have went back to ARC sending me letters, it just goes round and round. They have since dropped their requested amount as a 'negotiation', despite me not asking for it and telling them that I wouldn't pay them even one penny. I can only stress that you hold firm, and do not give in to their unfounded claims and meaningless demands.

 

For any further advice, please email me on [email protected] and I can provide more help. I just hate to see people being bullied!

[TonnySilverman]

I'm very sorry that you had so many problems with your gyms. I read a lot of them la-fitness.****edconsumer.co m. But personally I visit LA Fitness for a year and get only satisfaction with my trainings. I hope you will resolve your problems asap:sad: