Direct Debits and Fitness First-URGENT Help Please!

Dr.Shoe_2

My daughter took out a subscription with Fitness First and then lost her job. She told them about it and they agreed to suspend the account. For good measure she cancelled the direct debits too (she was also paying for her mother too).

However, in spite of all this they have continued to attempt to take direct debits making her over £300 overdrawn due to bank charges. Apparently they are changing the reference numbers and submitting them as "new claims" without my daughter's permission. AFAIK this is illegal and against the DD guarantee.

Can anyone tell me if they are exploiting some kind of loophole or if their actions are wholely fraudulent.

According to the very helpful lady at the bank it is illegal and a perennial problem where most people don't know what to do about it. She did suggest the FSO...

Gers

The only help I can offer is that Banks are bound by the Direct Debit Guarantee and if the money is being taken outwith the terms of the contract then they should be refunding it.

http://www.bba.org.uk/bba/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=828&a=10383

Dr.Shoe_2

Yes. The third clause is the important one here I think and the basis of our complaint to the FSO.

phoenix_dragon

Fitness First did much the same to me. Two years ago I took in a letter to cancel my membership, and was told that the next payment would come out, but after that it would be cancelled. I was surprised and angry to see that another payment came out, and I called the branch. The manager was a complete ******, and when I told him that they must have lost the letter, he said that they had never lost a letter before, so was calling me a liar without actually using the word.

I went absolutely mental, and after I went into the branch the membership was cancelled. I even reported them to Watchdog, but after it was all cancelled and I'd calmed down I lost the will to fight. After some research, it turns out they do this sort of thing a lot.

Has your daughter spoken to Fitness First since she found out that they are still taking the direct debit?

JohalaReewi

I had a similar situation recently and a poster said this...

I see this was cancelled direct with your bank.

Ask your bank for their evidence from the Originator (SP) that you agreed to a new DDI. Without this the bank will not have agreed to a new DDI on your account - if they did, it is they that are in the wrong...big time!!!
For a start, the bank itself would be liable for the DD's it deducted from your bank account plus any consequential losses you may have incurred, (Note: Not the Originator) but the breach in customer assurance which would possibly see them having brought the whole DD scheme into disrepute would be the huge thing (if such an event did actually occur)

You can see the original post here...
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.html?p=27844397&postcount=13

Also see a later post in the same thread...
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.html?p=27882233&postcount=18