Credit Resolution Services (CRS) Extortionist!

[alternative-answer]

How desperate are CRS, yesterday I received another letter threatening court action with a fake looking court paper, now I know there's nothing they can do. They can only contract against your person which is a legal fiction created at birth when your name was registered. It is your name written in all caps that is a corporate entity, corporations can only do business with each other via contracting, if you don't contract, they can not act against you.

[DebtMan86]

Can somebody help me out please?

My girlfriend canceled her direct debit to her gym and stopped going assuming this would cancel her membership....

6 months later we get a letter saying that we have a debt of nearly £700 including charges and it has been passed on to a debt collection company called CRS.

 

We went to the gym to get a copy of the contract (which was never given to us) and it shows we have a 2 year contract to a company called Harlings who have the same address as CRS...

 

We can't afford that kind of money, the whole reason my girlfriend stopped going to the gym was because we can't afford it!

 

Some help and advice would be appreciated...

[Bazooka Boo]

My girlfriend canceled her direct debit to her gym and stopped going assuming this would cancel her membership....

6 months later we get a letter saying that we have a debt of nearly £700 including charges and it has been passed on to a debt collection company called CRS.

 

Unfortunately it isn't that simple! Most Gyms would have a min 12 month contract, then if you want to leave after the 12 months you would normally give them one months notice.

 

CRS are well known for chasing gym memberships.

They are not bailiffs, they may threaten you with 'Door step collection' and other such piffle, all the relevant letter templates, should you require them can be found here

 

But you can cross that bridge should you come to it.

 

You need to work out how much the monthly gym membership was, and that is then the only figure you should be concerned about. Ignore all of CRS' added extras.

 

Was it not explained to your girlfriend when she signed up that it was a 24 month contract? Why wasn't she given a copy of the signed contract when she joined?

Which gym is it as I've not come across a gym offering 24 month contracts before?

 

Who was the letter off informing you the debt had been passed to CRS? Was it the gym, and was it a default notice?

Have you received a letter from CRS telling you that they are now the owners of the debt?

 

You could send them the 'No debt is acknowledged' letter, this will buy you a bit of time. Just to get your paperwork together and some more advice of others on here:)

[DebtMan86]

Hi Bazooka, thanks for the reply,

 

According to the letter sent to us the amount of debt before charges is £486.40...though this does not add up as far as I can tell, it may include unspecified charges.

 

My girlfriend does not remember having the contract explained to her and she did not realize it was for a minimum of 24 months, she was not made aware of the appropriate procedures for cancellation of membership and it was not explained that the direct debit payments were not going directly to the gym but to a separate finance company. (Harlings)

 

The staff at the gym seemed to be as confused as we were when we asked for a copy of the contract only to discover they had our copy, I think it was incompetence on there part.

 

The gyms name is Results Health Club, I think they offer two options for membership, either pay a year upfront or a 2 year direct debit.

 

We have had no letter from the gym at all (so we could not have known anything was wrong) and the letter is from Credit Resolutions Service, who have the same address and trading name as Harlings. The letter says that the debt has been passed to them but there is no mention of ownership.

 

The letter threatened a collector and court if we did not reply promptly, we rang them and asked for our options in writing and a breakdown of there charges, after we receive it we where told to contact them immediately.

 

Do any of these threats have a legal basis?

 

What options do we have?

 

p.s. sry for the long winded reply but you guys can't help if you don't know whats happening...

[Bazooka Boo]

Got to go out, but just done a little searching and have come up with the following:

https://www.snapdda.co.uk/Clients/_MasterDocs/MasterTermsAndConditions.pdf

 

If the link doesn't work it's on this page.https://www.snapdda.co.uk/clients/Results/ResultsSnapDDASignup.aspx

 

I've checked all the clubs and they all offer a min 12 month contract, with no mention of a 24 month contract?

 

They are also members of the Fitness Industry Association

[advice needed]

any further news on these dimwits??

[alternative-answer]

They are a bunch of chancers, ignore anything they send to you, they clearly play on peoples fear and ignorance and this is the only way they trade. Absolutely scandalous that a company can be allowed to employ such tactics and be allowed to continue.

[advice needed]

CRS sent me this on friday!!

We recommend you get your Solicitor or legal advisor to contact

us immediately regarding your outstanding debt, our position

has been made quite clear.

As you have failed to pay your monthly instalments your file

has been referred to ourselves

[alternative-answer]

Chancers, chancers, chancers!!!! Ignore them, they cannot do anything.

[Bazooka Boo]

Unable to follow this thread, so many people have hijacked the original post, it is far too confusing now as to who needs what help and where?

People need to start their own threads to ask for advice and not just jump into the middle of someone elses simply because they are having the same problems.

[advice needed]

the original poster hasnt been back on for ages and other people are having similar probs, so its not too confusing...

 

anyways anyone heard anything else?

[Gettingrippedoff]

I haven't heard from CRS for about a month, very strange eh! Where have they gone?!

[advice needed]

got another letter from them this morning, saying they are taking it further if i dont make contact and settle this claim, another court form was attached!!

[dcwinter]

Make sure that you send them a letter stating that if they are to take you to court it had better be somewhere close to you. If they take you to court in the town they are based, send a letter to the court explaining this with a copy of the letter you sent them attached, otherwise they win by default which is what they want.

 

As for me, haven't heard anything because it's with the solicitors and has been for over 2 months now.

[alternative-answer]

I posted on this thread last year about CRS Credit Resolution Services who had been acting for ROKO health club. CRS sent me what looked like a notice making demands on my person to pay 3 months gym membership. I had a 12 month agreement and had exceeded the 12 minimum term, I wrote to ROKO to inform them that I am terminating my agreement and that I would not be paying anymore money. They passed it on to CRS who have harassed me since January this year. The upshot of all this is that I stayed in honour, I never refused to pay, I merely kept sending notices and asking questions, they even sent a fake court paper to scare me.

Today I received a phone call from Christine at CRS:

CRS: Can I speak to Mr ********

ME: Who's calling?

CRS: Christine from CRS, are you ******** ******?

ME: What is the nature of your call

CRS: Christine from CRS says, I can't give you that information until I know I am speaking to the right person.

ME: I can't give you any information until you tell me what the call is about

CRS: Christine say, we can't go any further with this and hangs up.

 

DO NOT contract with them by giving your name and any other details. To date NO action has been taken against my person.

[advice needed]

They sent me another letter this morning, after giving me a deadline date, which i couldnt meet and i told them that!

In this letter they are saying i owe the full amount now and they are proceeding with the next steps to recovery.

[dcwinter]

Heard anything else recently?

[advice needed]

nope not heard anything recently, anyone else??

[VR1981]

Hi All

 

I just received a letter from CRS regarding my membership with Golds Gym. I had called the gym and cancelled the membership at which point they said allright. I also cancelled my DD with the gym as they continued to take money out of my bank account.

 

Its been 6 months since all the above happened and since then I got a letter yesterday from CRS saying that I need to pay the gym and their collection charges. I have read through all the posts here and I am really worried. The total amount payable is £1000, which I cannot pay.

 

Called CRS - and they said that the gym has tried to inform you of the cancelled DD, correspondance to my old address - where clearly the contract was in my new address. I am confused and worried. Any advice.

[VR1981]

havent heard anything in the last 2 days from this group. Is there anyone who can help me

[PiNkWiThWhItEsPoTs]

I am having the exact same problem. I joined a Roko gym with my boyfriend in feb 09, when we joined he was the main account holder. 1 month after joining he lost his job and therefore i wrote a cancelled. Guess what.. we still have to pay, we didnt pay a joining fee of anything and on the membership terms and conditions it says we can cancel and at any given time with 3 months notice (which we would have payed i suppose) however roko felt we didnt have a good enough reason to cancel. To cut a long story short we changed the account to my name... as i already have a poor credit rating due to loans and bank charges etc. and i have now recieved a letter for Credit Resolutions service asking for £910 approx. which was my remaining gym contract and also £380.. a STANDARD CHARGE for the debt being passed on. Thats 35% interest on the original amount!!! anyway I have got away with calling them but they actually sent the letter to his adress... in red writing on cream coloured paper... is this allowed? I stupidly though did call them... i had to ask for more time by saying i am seeking legal advice... but when they went through security questions gave them my correct address.. stupid i know!!! Does anyone have any ideas or help on where to go from here... CRS are off my back until the 5th Oct 09.. this is when i need to let them no what i am doing. Thanks

[VR1981]

The other thing you are missing here - is that have you physically verified by going to the gym and checking that they have actually cancelled the membership.

 

In my case, the gymn still has my account open and there is still an outstanding amount of £300. So dealing with CRS is just part of a problem. If you want to complete the picture, dont forget the gym suckers.

 

To deal with CRS, just come up with a sob story and try to negotiate down - as much as possible.

[alternative-answer]

They have written and phoned, and at each turn I have batted them away by not entering into contract. You do not have a contract with CRS, never give them your name when they phone you, do not open their letters, simple write or put a label over your address saying NO CONTRACT and send it back to them. It's been 11 months sine they initially wrote to me and they have done nothing, because they can't.

[VR1981]

Will this really work. Considering its a debt referred to a collection agency - which is stated in the original gym contract. I have referred my case to the OFT. Dont know if they will do anything.

[CCNottingham]

hi, I am wondering if anybody could help me...I joined Roko over 2 years ago and paid with no problem my DD every month. My husband wanted to join in June so I added him on. They made me sign a new 12months contract (even though I hadnt finished the 2 nd year). My husband 's job got relocated away so within 14 days I informed them and they said it wasnt possible to cancel now!

This month I have contacted them as I am now pregnant and have been told by my GP that I cant exercise due to health issues.He wrote a letter to them and also I am going to work abroad. So i assumed that was plenty of reasons for them to understand that i wanted to cancel my membership. I received a letter saying that I had to pay the amount owed (over £900 for the year to finish!!!!) and they wont negociate or compromise. They have threatened me already with debt collectors and court....I am feeling really stressed out, dont need this right now.... Anybody has any advice please???

It would be greatly appreciated...

THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!