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Fitlife Ltd - Associated Members Club
Sarah_Ross
Posts: 3 Newbie
I am yet another victim of this awful company called Associated Members Club/Fitlife Ltd. I live in Newcastle Upon Tyne. I did have two credit agreements with them, one of which was for me and the other was for my partner. My agreement has now been sucessfully transferred into somebody elses name. My partners agreement is still active, this being the one in which I was totally mislead into signing. I was told by the employee of Associated Members Club who signed us up that it would not be a problem for my partners payments to come out of my bank account as he salary is paid into my account so just for ease we asked that his payments could just come out of my account. I believed that I was only signing a form to authorise collection of my partners payments from my bank account but little did i know she actually had me sign the credit agreement which should have been in my partners name bearing in mind she told me my signature was only required for the purpose of collection of payment and not that I was taking over responsibility of his agreement.
Below is set out a copy of a letter that I wrote to Associated Members Club on 20th April 2008.
__________________________________________________ ______________
Associated Members Club
PO Box 781
Cheltenham
GL518WR
Also by email – [EMAIL="admin@associatedmembersclub.com"]admin@associatedmembersclub.com[/EMAIL]
20th April 2008
Dear Sir/Madam
[my name]
Membership No: ....
Gym Name.......
[my partners name]
Membership No: ........
Gym Name.....
I am writing with reference to the two gym memberships above which were signed up on 06th March 2008.
The reason myself and Mr Denholm decided to signed up to these gym memberships was due to the fact that I had received a letter posted through my door from Survey UK Ltd stating that I had won a free gym membership worth £750.00 which would cover the cost of a two year membership with the above gym club, for myself and, also, exactly the same deal for another person of my choice, that person being Mr Denholm. The letter stated that I had to contact Survey UK Ltd immediately to find out further details. I did this and spoke to a member of staff from their office who gave me the same details, as aforesaid, being that I had won a free gym membership worth £750.00 which would pay for gym membership fees for myself for two years together with the same deal for a person of my choice. I was given the name of an employee who works at Kicks gym on behalf of your firm. I telephoned the gym club and arranged to go down with Mr Denholm and see your employee.
Upon arriving at the club for the first time, we spoke with your employee who told us that we would each have to pay a service charge of £13.18 per month, over the two years of the membership for the upkeep, cleaning and maintenance of the gym. This monthly payment taken over the two year period totals to the sum of £331.44 each. This was not mentioned at all when I spoke with the member of staff at Survey UK Ltd who led me to believe that I had won these two memberships and that they were a gift free of charge.
Having the sum of £331.44 payable to yourselves not only by me, but also by Mr Denholm, is not, in my opinion, what I would class as having won a free gym membership for myself together with a gym membership for Mr Denholm on exactly the same terms.
Setting this aside, we decided to join Kicks as £13.18 per month was a lot cheaper than the gym membership fees that we were paying to our previous gym club.
Your employee sat us down and told us to sign the membership application forms along with the credit agreement forms which gave a blank section to fill in the details of a bank account from which the monthly service charge would be collected from by standing order.
Mr Denholm is my partner. His working salary is paid into my personal bank account and so I told your employee, with the agreement of my partner that the service charge payable to you by him would therefore need to come out of my bank account. We were told that this would not be a problem, and, all that was needed was for my bank account details to be inserted on his credit agreement and for me to sign to authorise that payment could come out of my bank account. Your employee, therefore, copied the bank account details which I had filled in on my own credit agreement onto the credit agreement belonging to my partner. She then marked my partner’s agreement with two crosses and told me I needed to sign in both places just to authorise payment of the service charge coming out of my bank account. Your employee told me, that my signature on the credit agreement belonging to my partner, was only needed for the purposes of authorising the collection of his service charge payment, which is what I was lead to believe.
Besides the fact that the gym is in no way suitable for me, in the sense that I find the cleanliness of premises appalling, the machinery looks like it has been bought in the early ages and the changing rooms are not very welcoming, I have successfully transferred my membership into the name of Mr Kenneth Rodgers (I hold written confirmation from you of this transfer).
Whilst in the process of this transfer, it has come to my attention on looking through the documentation which we were given to take home, your employee has failed to inform us that this was a non cancellable agreement. Moreover, I was lead into believing that the purpose of my signature being on the credit agreement belonging to my partner was only for the purpose of collection of his payment of service charge. This is not the case as, in fact, she told me to sign in the position where my partner should have signed, at the time of signing my partners agreement I was signing it on the understanding given by your employee that it was for the purposes of collection of payment only and not, in any way, in terms that I was taking responsibility for my partners agreement in any way whatsoever. I would never sign a credit agreement for or on behalf of anyone other than myself as I would not want to be left in a difficult position finding myself responsible should the terms of the agreement be breached in any way.
I am currently working in a firm of solicitors and have sought legal advice on the issues outlined in this letter. After looking at all copy documentation received from your employee and also your office my colleague has advised me as follows:
· In the copy signed documents which we were given when signing up to these memberships we were not given a copy of any document outlining the most important terms of the credit agreement which, by law, under the Consumer Credit Regulations, should be given to anyone entering into a credit agreement before signature. All that was explained to us was the fact that there was a service charge payable monthly and that we were able to transfer the membership over in the case of serious illness or departure to a location out of the area. This being the case the agreement is unenforceable in any event, unless you obtain an Order of the Court.
· If my partner’s membership is not cancelled forthwith my colleague will be prepared and willing to take this matter further.
I await hearing from you and I would be grateful if you could give this matter you most urgent attention.
Yours sincerely
S Ross
__________________________________________________ ______________
I got a response from them a whole week later (even though my letter stated in bold URGENT) saying that they could not do anything about it as it was out of their hands now and that I should contact Fitlife Ltd. So I copied this letter to Fitlife Ltd on 28th April 2008. I received a response from Fitlife dated 29th April 2008 although it was posted second class so i did not receive it until 01st May 2008. The letter said that they were sorry but there is nothing they can do about it and that they could not alter my repayment schedule or rescind the one agreement left. They told me that my credit agreement did include a pre contract info sheet which is lies as neither myself or my partner hold any such sheet. They did not mention at all my points raised with regard to me only authorising payments to come out of my bank account, not agreeing to take on the actual credit agreement on behalf of my partner.
I will be writting back to them today asking why they have not commented on this point which is the main reason i wrote to them.
Any help from anyone would be very much appreciated!!!!!!!
Sarah from Newcastle Upon Tyne
PS I am absolutely disgusted with this company and I am not under any circumstances going to drop this case.
Below is set out a copy of a letter that I wrote to Associated Members Club on 20th April 2008.
__________________________________________________ ______________
Associated Members Club
PO Box 781
Cheltenham
GL518WR
Also by email – [EMAIL="admin@associatedmembersclub.com"]admin@associatedmembersclub.com[/EMAIL]
20th April 2008
URGENT ATTENTION
Dear Sir/Madam
[my name]
Membership No: ....
Gym Name.......
[my partners name]
Membership No: ........
Gym Name.....
I am writing with reference to the two gym memberships above which were signed up on 06th March 2008.
The reason myself and Mr Denholm decided to signed up to these gym memberships was due to the fact that I had received a letter posted through my door from Survey UK Ltd stating that I had won a free gym membership worth £750.00 which would cover the cost of a two year membership with the above gym club, for myself and, also, exactly the same deal for another person of my choice, that person being Mr Denholm. The letter stated that I had to contact Survey UK Ltd immediately to find out further details. I did this and spoke to a member of staff from their office who gave me the same details, as aforesaid, being that I had won a free gym membership worth £750.00 which would pay for gym membership fees for myself for two years together with the same deal for a person of my choice. I was given the name of an employee who works at Kicks gym on behalf of your firm. I telephoned the gym club and arranged to go down with Mr Denholm and see your employee.
Upon arriving at the club for the first time, we spoke with your employee who told us that we would each have to pay a service charge of £13.18 per month, over the two years of the membership for the upkeep, cleaning and maintenance of the gym. This monthly payment taken over the two year period totals to the sum of £331.44 each. This was not mentioned at all when I spoke with the member of staff at Survey UK Ltd who led me to believe that I had won these two memberships and that they were a gift free of charge.
Having the sum of £331.44 payable to yourselves not only by me, but also by Mr Denholm, is not, in my opinion, what I would class as having won a free gym membership for myself together with a gym membership for Mr Denholm on exactly the same terms.
Setting this aside, we decided to join Kicks as £13.18 per month was a lot cheaper than the gym membership fees that we were paying to our previous gym club.
Your employee sat us down and told us to sign the membership application forms along with the credit agreement forms which gave a blank section to fill in the details of a bank account from which the monthly service charge would be collected from by standing order.
Mr Denholm is my partner. His working salary is paid into my personal bank account and so I told your employee, with the agreement of my partner that the service charge payable to you by him would therefore need to come out of my bank account. We were told that this would not be a problem, and, all that was needed was for my bank account details to be inserted on his credit agreement and for me to sign to authorise that payment could come out of my bank account. Your employee, therefore, copied the bank account details which I had filled in on my own credit agreement onto the credit agreement belonging to my partner. She then marked my partner’s agreement with two crosses and told me I needed to sign in both places just to authorise payment of the service charge coming out of my bank account. Your employee told me, that my signature on the credit agreement belonging to my partner, was only needed for the purposes of authorising the collection of his service charge payment, which is what I was lead to believe.
Besides the fact that the gym is in no way suitable for me, in the sense that I find the cleanliness of premises appalling, the machinery looks like it has been bought in the early ages and the changing rooms are not very welcoming, I have successfully transferred my membership into the name of Mr Kenneth Rodgers (I hold written confirmation from you of this transfer).
Whilst in the process of this transfer, it has come to my attention on looking through the documentation which we were given to take home, your employee has failed to inform us that this was a non cancellable agreement. Moreover, I was lead into believing that the purpose of my signature being on the credit agreement belonging to my partner was only for the purpose of collection of his payment of service charge. This is not the case as, in fact, she told me to sign in the position where my partner should have signed, at the time of signing my partners agreement I was signing it on the understanding given by your employee that it was for the purposes of collection of payment only and not, in any way, in terms that I was taking responsibility for my partners agreement in any way whatsoever. I would never sign a credit agreement for or on behalf of anyone other than myself as I would not want to be left in a difficult position finding myself responsible should the terms of the agreement be breached in any way.
I am currently working in a firm of solicitors and have sought legal advice on the issues outlined in this letter. After looking at all copy documentation received from your employee and also your office my colleague has advised me as follows:
· In the copy signed documents which we were given when signing up to these memberships we were not given a copy of any document outlining the most important terms of the credit agreement which, by law, under the Consumer Credit Regulations, should be given to anyone entering into a credit agreement before signature. All that was explained to us was the fact that there was a service charge payable monthly and that we were able to transfer the membership over in the case of serious illness or departure to a location out of the area. This being the case the agreement is unenforceable in any event, unless you obtain an Order of the Court.
· If my partner’s membership is not cancelled forthwith my colleague will be prepared and willing to take this matter further.
I await hearing from you and I would be grateful if you could give this matter you most urgent attention.
Yours sincerely
S Ross
__________________________________________________ ______________
I got a response from them a whole week later (even though my letter stated in bold URGENT) saying that they could not do anything about it as it was out of their hands now and that I should contact Fitlife Ltd. So I copied this letter to Fitlife Ltd on 28th April 2008. I received a response from Fitlife dated 29th April 2008 although it was posted second class so i did not receive it until 01st May 2008. The letter said that they were sorry but there is nothing they can do about it and that they could not alter my repayment schedule or rescind the one agreement left. They told me that my credit agreement did include a pre contract info sheet which is lies as neither myself or my partner hold any such sheet. They did not mention at all my points raised with regard to me only authorising payments to come out of my bank account, not agreeing to take on the actual credit agreement on behalf of my partner.
I will be writting back to them today asking why they have not commented on this point which is the main reason i wrote to them.
Any help from anyone would be very much appreciated!!!!!!!
Sarah from Newcastle Upon Tyne
PS I am absolutely disgusted with this company and I am not under any circumstances going to drop this case.
0
Comments
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On a personal note, I would remove the details included in your letter above i.e, your partners name, this is after all, a public forum, your letter is fine without the names mentioned.;)Click here for Martins (MSE) advice on who to contact with Debt Issues - YOU HAVE NO REASON TO USE A FEE PAYING DEBT MANAGEMENT COMPANY- THEY CANNOT DO ANYMORE FOR YOU THAN THOSE LISTED IN MY LINK ABOVE.
All information given by myself is offered informally and without prejudice - if in doubt seek help from a qualified and insured professional0 -
Hi Sarah.
I just wondered if you have been back in touch with Survey UK Ltd to let them know that their "free" prize/gift is not actually free? Who are Survey UK Ltd? Are they an ethical company and do they truly believe these gym memberships are being offered to their prize winners for free? Do other gyms charge a service charge? Is the gym trying to re-coup some of their losses for offering these "free" memberships as prizes?
I think you should inform Survey UK Ltd about this service charge. I mean you only signed up because you said it's cheaper than your existing gym I understand that but if I had "won" that prize, there is no way I'd have signed any agreement to pay £13.18pcm and I'd have been so embarrassed for the "friend" I took along too.
Could they, Survey UK Ltd, be reported for misrepresentation to the Trading Standards people? Maybe if you suggest this to them they may fight your corner too - make it a two pronged attack.
Hope you haven't spent too much on solicitors yet!
It's a good job it wasn't a round the world trip (oh but you have to pay for the flights by the way and you only find this out when you get to the airport!)
Hope you get it sorted.
PooOne of Mike's Mob, Street Found Money £1.66, Non Sealed Pot (5p,2p,1p)£6.82? (£0 banked), Online Opinions 5/50pts, Piggy points 15, Ipsos 3930pts (£25+), Valued Opinions £12.85, MutualPoints 1786, Slicethepie £0.12, Toluna 7870pts, DFD Computer says NO!0 -
I too have been taken in by this.
I am on a small pension, and can do without the added expense, not just for the gym, I don't mind that, its the extra travelling costs.
I didn't realise that it would be costing me so much extra, since trying to stop my membership I have found out that it is a so-called non-cancellable agreement, it wasn't explained to me.
I believe that I should have had a copy explaining all this before I signed, as laid down by the law in the Consumer Credit Regulations.
As I did not have this information, I think that I am within my rights to cancel the agreement, i.e. cancel my Direct Debit.
I have e-mailed Associated Members Club informing them that I intend to stop payment, but so far have not had a reply.
If I cancel my Direct Debit, how do I stand, what will be the consequences.
If anybody knows, please tell me.0 -
Hi JayGee
I have also fallen foul to this scam. I unwittingly joined up and then decided to cancel that same evening by going back to the gym, I caught the girl just leaving who quite sternly said that I couldn't cancel now as the paperwork had been posted, and all in the space of 45 mins with no postbox for a mile, I clearly saw the envelope in her bag! Really angry with myself I contacted Associated Members Club by email and registered post to cancel my membership the next day, and yes... you guessed it no response whatsoever. I am now waiting for money to be taken from my account to confirm whether they have cancelled my membership or not. Can you tell me if this transaction shows as a direct debit on your bank account? I don't think it will, and hasn't so far as they have been crafty and got us to sign up with a bankers order?? Whatever one of those is?? Let me know how you are getting on.
Regards
Nat0 -
Myself and a friend have also been caught up in this…….
All the posts on this company/s are exactly the same for us
We are so upset that we are in this situation
AMC (Associated Members Club) are now a dissolved company? Now trading as The Millennium Experience t/a AMC. They don’t answer phone calls or reply to emails by email, they do reply though by letter in the post (Pigeon carrier in this day and age).
Fitlife Ltd is the company you sign the credit agreement with. They don’t have a phone number?!
Lyle Hill Ltd collect the payments for Fitlife Ltd. They, however do pick up the phone (but refuse / make out they don’t have a phone number for Fitlife Ltd?!!!) they reply to emails by email and send letters.
The lady working on behalf of AMC that we saw in the ‘said’ gym no longer works for AMC, I wonder why???
I have sent emails, and letters in the post on behalf of myself and my friend explaining (the day before the membership/s were valid from) that we don’t want the membership/s and credit agreements. All we get back from AMC is a similar (Template) letter saying that they have no control over our credit agreement and to get in touch with Fitlife. So on sending letters to Fitlife/Lyle Hill our reply from them is that they have no control over the cancellation and to get in touch with AMC…….well who does have the control???
All we want is for this all to be written off, cancelled, no longer and put it down to bad experience. We thought we had WON a prize and then to find out that we had to pay approx £17.00 per mth was a bit of a surprise, we had to pay (in cash) £10 per person there and then (we did) and sign there and then because the offer/prize was up within 24 hours, feeling a bit pressured and guilty that we don’t do much fitness we signed and paid. We have cancelled our direct debits with our banks and this maybe a bad thing but were thinking that we wouldn’t ever get a refund
It’s so unprofessional for a company not to have a phone number let alone not talk on the phone! If only they did then it wouldn’t take a week or more to send letters and get a letter in reply. We have received treating letters from Lyle Hill & Fitlife obviously because we haven’t paid, saying we only have so many days to sort it out, but they won’t talk!!! So because of there inadequacy we are getting nowhere fast……They will/would be quick enough to take our money but not quick in replying to our requests.
So where do we go from here???
Signed: very fed up, with a banging headache :mad:0 -
Have you reported them to your local trading standards and to the trading standards office nearest their office?If you've have not made a mistake, you've made nothing0
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No I've not.....but I will tomorrow AM - Thank you0
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Trading Standards, Central office homepage: http://www.tradingstandards.gov.uk/
-Please note, you can search by inserting the postcode in the top right hand cornerIf you've have not made a mistake, you've made nothing0 -
This has happened to me, I know exactly what you all are going through.
If you are sure that they didn't discuss with you before you signed the agreement that it was non-cancellable/binding, and even more importantly, that they did not give you a Pre Contract Information sheet to read, again, before you signed the agreement then this will be a way out.
My "Pre Contract Information sheet" was in fact hidden as a copy under another copy and the top agreement, so i wasn't aware that it was there.
What you do is write them a letter,stating that you are cancelling your standing order and your credit agreement for the gym membership. Say that the survey uk slip was misleading and that you believe you were tricked into signing the agreement.
Inform them that as they failed to give you the Pre Contract Information sheet prior to signing the Agreement, they haven't complied with the Consumer Credit(Disclosure of Information) Regulations Act 2004. As you were given the sheet after you signed, under the Act the agreement can only be enforced by court order, which Trading Standards advise is highly unlikely to be granted, given the circumstances.
Then send copies of the letter to Lyle Hill Ltd, the AMC and Fitlife Ltd(i was given a local po box address by trading standards, so hopefully they can help you with where to send your copy to "fitlife", but im suspicious that this is just the gym anyway!)and make sure you keep a copy yourself.
Although we may well get debt collectors letters, as long as we keep a copy of the letter to show them if necessary, showing that we cancelled the agreements, they wont do anything. They are not going to let it go to court, are they!! That would mean exposing themselves for the scumbag con artists that they are!
I was advised what to do by a trading standards officer who knew exactly how to deal with them as he has helped hundreds of others get out of this.
So thanks go to him and i hope you are all successful, and we will all be wiser next time, won't we!!!0 -
I have just signed up Monday, like the gym but am concerned after reading this.
Although the Associated Members Club form says on the back that if the health club closes down they will attempt to arrange fitness facilities for you in another health club within a 10 mile radius and it says if this is not possible your membership will be automatically canncelled without any commitment to you.
Would FitLife still demand payment?
My "Pre Contract Information sheet" was in fact hidden as a copy under another copy and the top agreement, so i wasn't aware that it was there.
Same here got the reciept today and it appeared underneath I was not aware I had signed it at all. When I did sign up I was told that I had a week to cancel so am wondering now what to do. The rate quoted is the same as the gym membership if you sign up for a three year deal. To do a one year agreement with the club (they don't do 2 year ones costs £25 per month).0
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