Harlands/CRS advice please

Hello, hope somebody can help me out, please. Basically took a Gym membership out however due to moving away and commute to and from the gym would have been a nightmare I spoke with the Gym who informed me to cancel through Harlands of which I did and they accepted as proof of cancellation. However, would not cancel my Gym membership stating I had arrears of £89.98, this included £39.98 for monthly instalments and £50.00 for the admin fees. of which I did offer to meet halfway to resolve the matter with a payment of £45 as I was not prepared to pat the fictitious admin fee. Anyhow moved address and did not hear from Harlands for a good while. Now recently CRS have started to email trying to chase me for payments. Did a little homework of which I now know Harlands and CRS to be the same. So sent The Gym, Harlands and CRS an email stating.


Re: CRS Ref No: ****** MP Fit Gym - Brighouse Ref. No: ***

I cancelled my direct debit in September 2017 due to moving home, having informed MP FIT Gym and HARLANDS via email.!

I provided proof of my new address to HARLANDS in the form of a bank statement and an itemised bill of which was received on the 08th December 2017, HARLANDS have copies of both and accepted as proof for cancellation.!

Apparently, I! had arrears of £89.98, this included £39.98 for monthly instalments (October 2017 and November 2017) and £50.00 for the admin fees. of which I did offer to meet halfway to resolve the matter with a payment of £45. The offer has now passed and no longer stands.

I will not pay you or HARLANDS Services Ltd any ‘administration fees’ as these are penalty charges and are unlawful and unenforceable.!

Adding charges, even as implied in the misleading membership terms and conditions, is unfair and amounts to penalty charges. Provision for cancelling the membership due to moving away from the facility is completely within the stated terms and conditions, as discussed in email correspondence.!

However, these terms and conditions are both misleading and unclear, as they do not state who the agreement is with. This is unfair.!

The average consumer who wishes to cancel is likely to give notice to their gym, as I did in September 2017, providing proof of my address.!

I wish you to withdraw all attempts to demand money from me via HARLANDS Services Ltd or their subsidiary companies forthwith and agree that I cancelled the agreement in September 2017. I also wish you to agree that there is no outstanding debt, balance, arrears, account (which you refer to but I do not believe exists), owned by me.!

If you disagree with the above, my intention will be to seek a court judgment.!

I will ask that the following be considered:

1. A declaration that all of your demands, including those of HARLANDS Services Ltd, are contractually enforceable.!

2. Nominal compensation at an amount decided by the court for MP FIT Gym and HARLANDS Services Ltd continual harassment.!

The route I shall take to resolve this will involve the county court, using the small claims court procedure.!


Sincerely,
_______________________________________________________________________

to which CRS replied with

Re: CRS Ref No: ****** / MP Fit Gym - Brighouse Ref No: ***

Further to your email, we initially wish to apologise that the agreed cancellation of your membership was not taken into consideration in our previous correspondence. The evidence is sufficient to support termination of your membership from the date the evidence was received (8th December 2017). There is no record of any attempt to cancel in September 2017 and the terms are clear that cancellation will be form the date evidence is received.

As such your balance has been reduced in relation to sums which had not become due on the date your evidence was received. This means we can accept £156.48, consisting of arrears already due on the date your evidence was received, in order to settle this matter.

Your comments regarding the terms being misleading and or unclear are noted but not accepted, and we can see no basis for these claims other than that the terms are not convenient to you personally in this circumstance.

As your payments were not honoured and you failed to rectify your breach of Agreement charges were applied to your account and your file was referred to ourselves for collection at which point you became responsible for our collection fees. These charges have been added to cover actual and necessary costs incurred because of your breach of contract, and are stipulated within the terms of that contract. It is our position that our charges are lawful and in line with all relevant guidance. We may, in some circumstances, be able to negotiate a reduction on these charges, but will not accept any offer of payment that gives no consideration to the costs these charges cover.

For the above reasons, we shall be pleased to negotiate on this sum, taking into consideration your concerns, but cannot agree to write off this balance.

If you believe now, or at any time in the future, that our course of conduct constitutes harassment, we recommend that you take any action you deem necessary. We are, however, aware of Section 40, subsection 1 of the Administration of Justice Act 1970, and Section 1, subsection 1 of the Protection from Harassment Act 1997. We are confident that we are not guilty of any offence because one or more of the exemptions within subsection 3 of both the quoted sections of these acts of legislation apply to this circumstance. It is our position that this balance is due, and our correspondence has been appropriate to the matter in tone, content and frequency and as such is reasonable.

Please contact CRS directly on 01444 449165 to discuss your account within the next 7 days. A suitable resolution can be organised.

Our lines are open 08:30am - 6:00pm, Monday to Friday.

Yours sincerely,

David Castle

Collections Department

Credit Resolution Services and CRS are trading styles of Harlands Services Ltd. Registered Office: : 2nd Floor, Rockwood House, 9 - 17 Perrymount Road, Haywards Heath RH16 3TW. Company Registration No. 2982925. VAT Registration No. 799 7113 70.
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Soo asking should I continue to argue with Harlands/CRS or ignore all correspondence with them, has anybody had any joy with Harlands/CRS and has any been to civil court with them.

Cheers