Trying to cancel Bannatyne membership

shawnni

Please help. My son took a gym membership with Bannatyne in May 2009. He paid one months D/D and we had to cancel it (also done in writing to them) We heard no more until the other week after receiving a letter for payment of over £600. I emailed them twice and phoned them twice and just received a response today saying they will take 20% off the fee leaving just over £500 (they also denied receiving a letter). Ple. . He is no longer in employment and has no money to pay for this hence the reason membership was cancelled. He could not forsee that he would be unemployed so what is he supposed to do, he is only 18 years old and i don't want him with a bad credit rating at his age. Please help me as he is utterly distraght by this situation and i don't know what else to do

Morgan_Ree

Did he sign a contract?

beanielou

Sorry to be blunt but he will have signed a contact most likely for a year & he will be liable to pay amount due.He needs to check the terms of his contract.

shawnni

I myself have not seen the contract, but they said he can only cancel 90days before the 12 month comes to an end.
If he not got the money though what will happen to him

Morgan_Ree

The gym will keep pestering him for the money, if he doesn't pay it will eventually be passed to a debt collecting company where charges will be added on

His best bet is to call the gym and negotiate reduced payments
Something is better than nothing

shawnni

Thanks for you replies very much appreciated.
I think it totally ridiculous they can hound people, genuine people like this. The thing is they can't get blood out of a stone. I'm just concerned for him and his sanity. i will see what else i can do, may just tell them to go to court cause he just doesn't have the money

MrsTinks

Unfortunately gym memberships are notoriously difficult to get out of - if he can't pay then it will as mentioned go to a DCA - worst case it might go to a CCJ but I haven't heard of any going to that for a gym membership - someone else might have though.
The DCA will more than likely lie and threaten all matter of stuff but if he can't afford to pay then he can't afford it. If all he can afford is £1 a month because he's unemployed then that's what they'll have to settle for. Sadly this probably WILL affect his credit rating
The upside is that if it goes to a DCA he MIGHT be able to negotiate with them if they have bought the debt outright and agree to pay off the full or part of the debt if they agree to remove the default on his file... but that's an extreemly big might...

Morgan_Ree

Going to court will increase the debt to a silly amount. If £500/£600 is upsetting him that much how upset will he be when it's doubled, if not more?

To be fair it's not the gyms fault he can't afford it
Is he not claiming some sort of benefit which could contribute to payments?

ailsajayne29

hi, ive had something similar just after my year, they want to hold me to the three month cancellation thing. Get in touch with membership enquiries, explain the situation, but im afraid all they will do is offer to arrange a replayment plan (during which of course he still cannot use the gym facilities) or offer a reduction, they offered me a 10% reduction... sorry tis not better news but they seem pretty determined!

CashRequired

Some gym's allow you to "freeze" your membership for a while, might be worth asking if he can put it on hold until he can afford the payments again. But basically he will most likely have to honour the contact eventually.

Gym's are a pain in the butt, its crafty having 12 month contracts, took me ages to break free from David Lloyd.

taxi73

It is all in the contract and what he's been told is right.You take out a 12 month contract and have to give notice 90 days before the 12 months to be able to leave.If you are past 12 months you then can give 90 days notice at any time.
If he has a full use membership he can lower it to the lowest membership available but he still owes the money.
It will go against his credit rating if he doesn't pay..whether it be a CCJ or be passed to a DCA.