Warning Bannatynes Gym -Unfair Contract Terms

demondoctor

I don't like Duncan Bannatyne. He has got to be the most obnoxious, rude and arrogant dragon. Also I have seen numerous stories about his company and unfair rules etc. For example when he was charging for Kellogs cereal bars that were given to the gyms for free and intended to be given to customers for free as a 'try me' kind of thing.

allyaec

Just for anyone who has been told they had to give three payment notices to bannatynes:

I handed my notice in at my bannatynes gym on the 2nd of the August yet I was informed when I contacted my local bannatyne fitness gym that I gave my notice one day late and therefore would incur another payment (Novembers). I couldn't believe it as this means they would get another £52 from me (giving 4 full months notice).

I wrote a polite letter to head office of bannatynes explaining that in their T&Cs that i had to give 3 months notice, not 3 payments notice and said that taking another payment from me was unacceptable/taking advantage and would harm my financial situation.

They replied politely next day by letter saying that indeed I only had to give 3 months notice, not 3 payments notice and my contract would end in October, not November. It is always worth asking and being polite and going back to the fine print in T&Cs. I still think 3 months is harsh, but I knew about it and signed the contract. No doubt they will change the T&Cs from this wee loop hole for them to say 3 payments notice.

Allison64

I signed my 17 year old son and myself up for Banantyne's membership last October. I admit that I did not read the small print before signing but I took the trouble to ask the manager what the notice period was. I knew that there was a chance that we would lack the commitment to continue going and did not want to be locked into a long agreement. The manager clearly stated 'three months'. At this point, I signed the contract. A couple of months later, my son was not using it at all, so I wrote to give three months notice, as I believed was the requirement. At that point, I received a letter from them stating that the minimum membership term was 12 months. I wrote back to them and explained that I had been verbally advised that the notice period was 12 months. I feel strongly that I was misinformed and mislead when signing the contract.
After the three months, I cancelled the direct debit. I have now received an invoice from them for about £600, to cover six months of payments. I have tried to explain on the phone and in a letter that one of their managers told me three months. However, they are stubbornly refusing to listen.
I also tried to convey the point that if I was the type of person who does not honour agreements, I would not even have bothered to give three months notice.
All this is to no avail.
Does anybody have advice on this matter?
Thanks in advance

NMD_3

Hope people are still checking this thread out...

I joined a club for six months, which was the length of time I was staying in the town for work and as it came to end I gave my notice. I couldn't remember how long it was but I thought I'd better pop in.

I did just that and TALKED to the lady and she put it on the system - apparently. I may have written something but I don't remember doing so.

A couple of months later I noticed they were still taking my money out so I cancelled my direct debit.

I have now received letters and a call telling me that unless I pay for the months since I cancelled my payments they'll refer my case to debt collectors.

They say they have no record of my cancellation and they will ONLY accept written communication (no email). I watched the lady at the desk type into her computer and confirm my wish. Now, clearly, it is a matter of one person's word against another but they do have records which prove I haven't used their facilities in 6 months!

I'm quite angry as I signed a six months contract, fulfilled it, gave notice, paid my dues, they took more money than they should have and now they're demanding more. And NOW following the phone call they're willing to cancel my membership (no writing)! If a mobile contract expires all I need do is go into the shop or call them and it's fine.

Anyway, I told them I wont pay... am I going to get a knock on the door from some burly gents bent on causing me harm?

Mechanic

My experience of Bannatynes - Their sales person did not point out key terms and conditions and he told my wife and I that we could just cancel our standing order after two months. When we tried to cancel we were threatened with legal action and as a result have had to pay £760 over ten months even though we did not use the gym and made it explicitly clear at the time of joining that we only wanted two months membership. Despite numerous letters I have received no explanation and as far as I know there has been no investigation into the matter. I am very very upset.

Roolee

I am having an issue with them too. I sent them notice in writing but 3 months later got a letter saying my direct debit had been refused. I wrote again explaining that I'd cancelled my membership and therefore stopped the direct debit. Then I got a final notice invoice. I wrote again - this time to the head office and explained I had cancelled my membership and therefore would not be paying. I also pointed out that one of the reasons was because of their poor administration and reception staff at the club. I have now had a letter saying that they did not ever receive my two letters and cannot accept the copies. I therefore have to pay them 3 more months money.

It doesn't say in the terms that the letter cancelling the contract has to be sent recorded delivery. Plus I've double checked the postal address is correct.

It's a big con!

jnofrills

We are having the same issue; we cancelled our membership after 15 months by writing to bannatynes head office in July. We cancelled our dd from November, fully complying to their t&c. However, in November we received a letter from our local branch demanding payment!
We have been in dispute with bannatynes since, have forwarded copies of our original letter, made several calls and sent letters (by recorded delivery this time).
Their latest 'without prejudice' letter makes an offer to accept december as our notice and a further 20% reduction on fees that are apparantely due!
As far as we are concerned, we cancelled our membership in line with their contract and there is nothing due. We had no way of knowing our letter was lost?!
Does anyone know how we stand if this goes legal?

consumer2010

this is what bannatynes replied when i gave my notice. apparently 05/05/10 to 05/08/10 is not 3 months notice????

Hi

Your notice came in on 05/05/2010, hence you have not given us full 30 days notice for may. You have notified us already 5 days into the month hence it will not be counted as one month notice. June will be one full month, July one full month and august one full month.

Hence your last payment will be in August. This is as per your contract cancellation notice period.

geekinaseat

It seems pretty clear to me that Bannatynes business plan is to lock in their customers and try and eek out every last penny they can from anyone who wants to leave. It's a shocking practice and if I ran a business I'd like my customers to pay me becuase they wanted to not because they were forced into unreasonably long cancellation periods -in some cases extended by what looks like very dubious date accounting indeed!

I'd be very tempted to apply for dragons den just to ask him in person to explain these practices!

Wurf

We joined in october 2009 for 12 months and it was explained at the time about the three months cancellation period. Due to my wife losing her job earlier this year we approached the gym general manager and asked if there was any way we could cancel early or at least reduce the cost of our membership. Needless to say he went straight into quoting the fine print and softened the blow a little by giving us a few free passes for the kids to swim on a weekend.
Another couple of months later we asked again as things were getting tight financially and he said the best he could do was let us stop using the gym straight away and pay 50% of the remaining fees as a lump sum. How generous! Well we didn't have that sort of money lying around so it ground on until July when I went in and gave them the required 3 months notice and the manager agreed we could get away with only paying 2 of the 3 months remaining. I paid by cheque and thankfully have still got the stub and the till receipt as guess what... They are now chasing me for another 2 months membership and are saying they have no record of me giving notice.
Several calls later, they keep promising to look into it and call me back but never do. Every time I call it is the sales manager's day off and no-one else has the authority to do anything other than pass a message on which will be duly ignored. If I was a suspicious person, I would be thinking this is all a ploy to get more money out of people. They have had the best part of £1000 out of us over the last year.
3 months notice to cancel gym membership is ridiculous. Is that man not rich enough?