Mis-Sold a gym service, won't terminate contract?

Jlawson118 · 9 October 2017 at 3:15PM

A colleague at work recommended the gym he visited, offered by the Village Hotel chain, which is based just up the road from where we work. Getting a little fed up with the lack of facilities of my local leisure centre, I cancelled that and joined village.

Initially when I signed up, it was towards the end of August, and pretty much said on that website I pay £10 for September as like a trial, and my monthly payments will start from normal from October, paying my first instalment November 1st.

I've used the gym once since I signed up, because I became so busy with work and other things that have come around. And a few weeks ago I phoned up membership services to try and cancel this service where I was informed I was out of my cooling off period. I sent them an email stating that I was offered September as a trial, and a snotty email back was that 'no such marketing material was produced, you're tied in for a year, deal with it' basically.

It's honestly a beautiful establishment to visit but I just won't have the time to visit within the next year due to work and other commitments. It does say in my contract that I have 14 days to cancel, but in the initial sign up process, I pretty much signed that September was a trial. I paid the £10 as a trial and I don't want it back, I just want my contract terminated.

I'd like to cancel my direct debit but I've got fears they'll just chase the remaining balance. Despite the fact this has been mis-sold to me.

What's my best course of action?

powerful_Rogue · 9 October 2017 at 3:18PM

Jlawson118 wrote: »

A colleague at work recommended the gym he visited, offered by the Village Hotel chain, which is based just up the road from where we work. Getting a little fed up with the lack of facilities of my local leisure centre, I cancelled that and joined village.

Initially when I signed up, it was towards the end of August, and pretty much said on that website I pay £10 for September as like a trial, and my monthly payments will start from normal from October, paying my first instalment November 1st.

I've used the gym once since I signed up, because I became so busy with work and other things that have come around. And a few weeks ago I phoned up membership services to try and cancel this service where I was informed I was out of my cooling off period. I sent them an email stating that I was offered September as a trial, and a snotty email back was that 'no such marketing material was produced, you're tied in for a year, deal with it' basically.

It's honestly a beautiful establishment to visit but I just won't have the time to visit within the next year due to work and other commitments. It does say in my contract that I have 14 days to cancel, but in the initial sign up process, I pretty much signed that September was a trial. I paid the £10 as a trial and I don't want it back, I just want my contract terminated.

I'd like to cancel my direct debit but I've got fears they'll just chase the remaining balance. Despite the fact this has been mis-sold to me.

What's my best course of action?

Send them a "Letter Before Action"and then take them to the small claims court.

It will be a case of saying they said one thing and them saying they didn't.

They will also have the benefit of the contract you agreed to which states there is a 14 day cooling off period, which has since expired.

I don;t think you're going to have a lot of joy im afraid.

steampowered · 9 October 2017 at 4:00PM

It does say in my contract that I have 14 days to cancel, but in the initial sign up process, I pretty much signed that September was a trial.

This is the key part of your post.

What does your contract actually say? Did you sign a 1 year contract?

What does "pretty much signed" mean - did you sign that September was a trial or not?

If the contract clearly states it is a 1 year contract, you'll be liable to pay for this unfortunately.

If you want to claim that the contract was mis-sold, you need to be able to explain exactly what the gym told you that was untrue.

Jlawson118 · 9 October 2017 at 4:32PM

steampowered wrote: »

This is the key part of your post.

What does your contract actually say? Did you sign a 1 year contract?

What does "pretty much signed" mean - did you sign that September was a trial or not?

If the contract clearly states it is a 1 year contract, you'll be liable to pay for this unfortunately.

If you want to claim that the contract was mis-sold, you need to be able to explain exactly what the gym told you that was untrue.

It was on the website where I made the payment, and ticked to say I agreed to the terms and conditions. Those stated that September was a trial.

I got the welcome email with terms and conditions attached and didn't read those until it was too late, where they stated different

Fosterdog · 9 October 2017 at 5:29PM

What did it say would happen after the trial? These things usually say they automatically roll onto a twelve month membership unless you cancel within the 14 days. What date did you first sign up (whether full membership or a trial) and what date did you inform them of your wish to cancel?

IAmWales · 9 October 2017 at 6:28PM

Jlawson118 wrote: »

It was on the website where I made the payment, and ticked to say I agreed to the terms and conditions. Those stated that September was a trial.

I got the welcome email with terms and conditions attached and didn't read those until it was too late, where they stated different

Did you read the terms and conditions you ticked to say you agreed to?

Having just read them it is clear that if you sign up for one of the cheaper options, or use a refer a friend code, you're signing up to a twelve month membership and your right of cancellation is the first fourteen days, not fourteen days after the first month.

If you have a different version could you link to them please?

stuartJo1989 · 9 October 2017 at 9:26PM

Such a weird narrative though!

- You were initially using (and presumably paying for) your local leisure center

- You joined a new gym "which is based just up the road from where we work" (joined at "the end of August")

- You "used the gym once since I signed up"

- Then you "became so busy with work and other things that have come around"

Now you seem to be wanting to get out of the contract due to LACK OF USE, as apposed to "Getting a little fed up with the lack of facilities of my local leisure centre" which was your prior reason for switching.

You remind me of me to be fair! Pay for a gym membership (whether contracted or rolling) and making excuses for not going, be it extra workloads at work or life or crap facilities.

I just think you've been a bit silly in not reading the Ts and Cs and got caught out, although not being privy to the Ts and Cs I can't confirm that...

You *may* be liable for the whole 12 months, in wich case just sort things out and MAKE AN EFFORT TO GO!

steampowered · 10 October 2017 at 10:49AM

The law says that onerous contract terms need to be drawn to your attention.

This means that if the 12 month commitment was buried at the bottom of the T&Cs, rather than stated on the website, you may be able to get out of it.

On the other side of the coin, if the website clearly said you were signing up for a 1 year contract unless you cancelled the trial, then you'll be stuffed. Stating that September was a trial is not inconsistent with saying that you'll be moved onto a 1 year contract unless you cancel the trial.

In short, the law doesn't expect you read through 30 pages of website T&Cs to understand you were signing up to a 1 year contract, but it does expect you to read the website and your emails.

The difficulty is proving what you were told or not told when you signed up. Have a look at the welcome email - does it say anything about needing to cancel the trial? Do you still have a link to the trial webpage?

Mis-Sold a gym service, won't terminate contract?

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